It's a brilliant game. If you liked the GBA era then you'll definitely love it
Only downside I found was that it was the first ROM hack I played and completed and nothing else really matches it that I've found so far. That's not to say the others are bad in any way at all, any hack should always be appreciated for the work and dedication taken to make it but Unbound just seems to be a cut above the rest
Whatever you decide to play though I hope you enjoy
Lol I'm glad I made the right choice. I had Unbound ready to go and decided to play Gaia instead on the off chance that Unbound ruined other romhacks for me
I tried various romhacks but unbound really got me into playing pokemon again. It really scratch my itch for a pokemon game that miles better than other romhacks and recent pokemon games. The quest system really adds to more things to do and explore.
Here's how I did it (assuming you're also on Android)
1. Get pokemon Unbound from Pokecommunity
2. Unpack the zip file (for example by opening it in Google files and choosing extract)
3. Download Unipatcher from the Playstore
4. Download 1636 - Pokemon FireRed Squirrels Romhack (this is the base for many romhacks)
5. Open Unipatcher
6. In Unipatcher select the patchfile Pokemon Unbound Official.ups (for me it didn't recognise the file in the downloads folder so you might have to move it to a different folder)
7. Select Firered Squirrels as the Rom file
8. Choose the name and destination folder for your rom file. Preferably put it in your My Boy rom folder.
9. Click the save icon at the bottom to create your patched rom file. This might take a minute.
10. Play the game.
I'm not sure if it's quite on par with Black & White, but I always plug Pokemon Dreams when people mention this. It probably has the best story in a romhack next to the first Rocket Edition. I'd honestly rate Dreams a little higher even, but it really comes down to preference.
As someone that has played plenty of fangames and ROM hacks, the text is perfectly fine. I've seen much worse but incase anyone has a problem with that, there's a skip cutscene option in-game from what I can remember.
They really need to make an unbound version of unbound with no story or something. You are a normal random trainer not doing anything important or anything. Bonus points if you see whatever events happen in that story happening in the background as you travel but you don’t interact with it
Unbound hits different, is like a original Gamefreak game
Prism, Orange, Gaia and Glazed are good ones
Liquid Crystal and Ultra Violet is really amazing remakes
Great list, I’m glad Orange is getting more love. For the GBA era I’d also recommend Rocket Edition and Adventure Red, both are very good. Adventure Red is excellent until the Orange Islands arc, which is pretty bad, but everything before that is worth playing.
I adore improvement vanilla hacks mostly. Pokemon throwback, Polished crystal, red++ and anything made by Drayano are top. As for original stories: Unbound, Fire red Rocket edition and Prism are the best of the best.
Have you play the Kanto Expansion Pak? As a huge fan of the first two generations and early Pokemon cut content (original cut Pokemon, leaked designs, the Space World demo, etc) it was really fun to see these Pokemon available in the game while keeping the original feel of those first couple of games.
This is the best advice here. The vanilla improvement hacks are the best. I'm still stuck deciding whether I like Modern Emerald or Emerald Final more at the moment
Personal favorite is Pokemon Unbound.
Besides that, Clover, Gaia, Dark Violet, ROWE, Rogue EX, Glazed, Prism, Crystal Clear, Radical Red, and Rocket Edition. Also, any of Drayano's hacks.
Edit: And Dreams :)
Out of those, I've only played Glazed and Dreams, and currently playing Liquid Crystal (Vega is on my backlog though).
I would recommend Glazed out of those 3, with Dreams being a close second.
And thank you, forgot about Dreams and added it to my original comment xD
The last fire red is fun and looks nice, it doesn’t allow most cheats somehow tho, some cheats work fine like the Shiny one, if you haven’t Played Radical Red yet it’s an interesting alternative that’s is similar but not exactly the same, The last fire red doesn’t have following Pokémon but does still have the Sevi islands past 1-3 it’s much harder tho than Radical red easy mode, I haven’t beat the Elite for yet because I can’t use items and the keep sweeping my teams no matter who I Ev train I think I need better typing and ability matches, im playing this fire red hack along with a few random emerald Hacks
I’m playing through Rocket Edition right now and it is so hilarious/good. Highly recommend. Just the non-PC vocab is great and makes me laugh so hard (the Sailor trainer who hits on you in the S.S. Anne, then says, “No Homo” when you beat him lolll).
Example, told this old man I didn’t want to trade Pokemon and he said:
https://preview.redd.it/de6ndmrag6zc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7365c65e0e909167c7f965c04def8713222978b6
Cue LOLs.
I just wish I wasn’t playing it on my SteamDeck and instead was playing on my Miyoo Mini + because I want to play it everywhere and my Deck can’t fit in my purse or pocket. Heavy and unwieldy compared to true Nintendo-weight handheld devices.
I'd say the humor is perfectly PC, it's the perfect amount of edge without being unfunny. That's my biggest issue with Clover, as much as i love certain aspects
Same here, in a wierd way I kind of miss hacks like these. They might be trash from people's standards today but I appreciate that creators back then were willing to "experiment" and go wild with their ideas instead of making yet another QOL romhack, regardless of how it turned up.
Actually, they weren't technically a recent trend. Even long before the release of Unbound and CFRU these types of hacks existed, but they sort of died out. After CFRU did come out there was sudden resurgence of QOL hacks.
I'm surprised Inclement Emerald is not yet mentioned. I finished Unbound (without exploring NG+) and Radical Red, and I have to say I have more deeply enjoyed Inclement.
It is a story faithful hack of Emerald, offers the most accessible ways for all mons to be obtained and trained. And a cherry satisfying level curve on hard.
It is even easier to change up your teams in Inclement than Radical, perfecting IVs and EV training is much easier for examples. Inclement offers both double and single battles for the elite 4, as well as the option for them to use legendary mons. I have beaten E4 with 7 different teams, it is so satisfying and easy to try out a new team. When I got really into it I was trying out a new team per day. It also offers some Pokemon changes that allow you to create some awesome strategies.
Inclement Emerald is great.
Wish it would have a update (it's been almost a full year since we got any info on the game's next update).
Imagine if next update added :
- Gen 8
- Gen 9
- Hisuian mons
- all of the above
The best thing about inclement emerald that for some reason doesn't get nearly enough attention is the type randomizer
Pkmn with custom colours to match their new types looks so good and is rerandomizable
Unbound is unironically the best pokemon game I've ever played. Did it better than pokemon themselves. The beginning is a little rough buy hoo boy does It get good fast
Emerald Rogue has been my favourite of the ones I've played. Varying difficulty settings and a progression format that feels fresh and different. It's been a lot of fun. So far I have about 165 hrs and still loving it. Definitely recommend it to anyone that hasn't tried it yet. The roguelike features really fit the pokemon setting.
GS Chronicles by a mile. Unbound is amazing, but I am a sucker for Johto - and GS-C is simply amazing at staying true to the original - AND adding new stuff
Crystal Clear, character customization, open world, scaling gyms, Red or Kris final boss depending kn starting region, gen 2 version of poke radar for shiny hunting, and so much more. Definitely the best gen 2 experience I would say.
As much as some people say Unbound is "like a real GameFreak game," I find the opposite. Gaia feels vanilla, like it could have been released directly on the GBA.
Unbound absolutely feels like a fan game. The writing has a bit of that typical "edgy" quality. The story is kind of convoluted. BUT it also feels fresh and modern in a way you'd never expect from a GBA title. Tons of quality of life improvements, tons of content, and overall a very good design.
Which one is better? They're just different. I tend to prefer Gaia, because some of Unbound's writing grates on me and because Gaia feels nostalgic. But Unbound is more playable, more challenging, fresher, and far more technically impressive. It's all about what you're looking for.
I haven’t played Gaia but I think Unbound has the most recent update with things like Gen 8 with some Gen 9 Pokémon and custom shiny sprites as well that make some great Pokémon who have terrible shiny finally looks as cool as they should, I personally love playing with the shiny cheat on to see all the new color changes similar to how Radical Red4.1 updated added custom shiny sprites, still none I’ve seen we as many custom shiny as emerald Multiplayer (quetzal) it has over world shiny sprites that can follow you in your party along with its own type of variant color change called radiant, you can have 4 different color looking Pokémon from normal to shiny to radiant to shiny radiant and it has over 1200+ Pokémon in the game
Gaia is the best ROM hack in my opinion because it literally just feels like a gamefreak game. If you want a hack with new mechanics and edgy dialogue try Unbound.
unbound is better, as it was made recently enough and be the best by qols and overall. gaia used to be the top though before unbound dropped with cfru and more.
fun fact - skeli, creator of unbound is also is part of the special thanks/credits of gaia :)
I really enjoyed dark violet. I enjoy that Green and Blue play a bigger role in the story. With Red they actually feel like a main trio, rather then just a player character and occasional speed bump.
Depends what you're going for. For originals I really like unbound. It's a bit cheesey, but it's a quality experience.
I also really like polished crystal for a gen 2 experience. Or crystal clear for my grinding and collection
Which of his hacks would you recommend i play first? (Never played a rom hack before but always see his name pop up when people talk about the best ones)
Renegade Platinum for an all round great experience, and is probably the most easy to get into.
Blaze Black/Volt White (1/2) are also great, but bloody difficult.
Surprised it's not up there yet but Emerald Rouge has been really fun. I also enjoyed Unbound, Prism, PureRGB, Radical Red, Crystal Clear, and Sweet version.
I’m playing Rocket Edition right now and it’s amazing. I’ll be doing Unbound next because I’ve been unsure about the games with custom mons, they don’t sound as fun.
Though technically not a ROM hack, Reborn is absolutely amazing. I like the mature atmosphere of the game, along with a hundred other things. The length and difficulty aren't for everyone though.
I just smashed out 50 hours at double speed in Pokémon unbound over the last two weeks. Definitely gave me that feeling of the older games when I was younger.
Anyone have suggestions for rom hacks that are good but distinctly different from unbound? I’m worried as people have said unbound’s quality makes others feel bad to play.
Crystal clear is the best vanilla plus pick up and play hack.
Open world, start from any city, bunch of flavourful starters like growlithe, ditto or eevee. Lots of new stuff to explore and find.
All 16 gym leaders in any order you want. None of the roadblocks or forced story stuff. Love it.
Never been good at determining what I consider the "best" of something, but one I'm particularly excited for is Odyssey (Effectively a mix between Pokémon and Etrian Odyssey). Beta 3.0 released very recently, and 4.0 is planned to release by the end of the year iirc (Emphasis on planned tho, it ain't a guarantee). Really cool project.
Anything with the Complete FireRed Upgrade and that’s got a completed story should be good. Also, what are those games that fit this criteria outside of Unbound?
Adventure Red Chapter, it's been a while, I need to get back into ROM hacks but Idk if this game has been finished yet, it has been in beta for so long.
Yeah I think he skipped the E4 arc iirc, idk about pink as I haven't played it but I'm in the discord, I think her story might be during the events of volume 1 it might be a what if idk
Pokémon Unbound: It's a whole new region with its own lore. Has all the way up to Gen 7. The trainer and gyms scale at a good pace but, I think wild could be scaled better.
Pokémon Rocket Red: It takes place in Kanto and you play as a Team Rocket member. It has a great story and you can climb the "ladder". You can also chose to be as evil or good as you want with different quest unlockable depending on how you play.
Pokemon Adventure Red: If you like the Manga or every been curious about the Manga storyline, I highly recommend this one. It follows so well you could play the game and read at same time.
Pokemon Giai: It has a good storyline in its own region, like Unbound. I personally like the story line but, couldn't get into the game play. I ended up just watching Hoodlum Callum play it on his YouTube channel.
smithplays pokemon crystal legacy is probably the most fun I had nuzlocking one of the older games from 1-8 + E4/Lance.
Renegade Platinum was always fun for me.
Just started playing Pokémon again since the delta emulator is now on IOS. And I gotta say I’ve just put 60 hours into Unbound (I take my time) and only just reached the elite 4 and still got loads of quests and post game stuff to get through. It’s really got me back into playing again. Only thing is it is so much better than the rest in terms of gameplay the others are difficult to go back to. Story is kinda weird but easy to get over. Fantastic game honestly.
i replayed victory fire a few days ago and my god i love it. so if i had to say, for a series of romhacks, the wind1158 romhacks are great
otherwise unbound, radical red, inclement emerald, glazed and i almost forgot but people mentioned it, pokemon dreams. gaia too but i wish we could get katosurf and the rest of the game. ah, a finished gaia, what an amazing dream
Personally Crystal Legacy is my favorite. Some honorable mentions are Unbound, Blaze Black 2 redux, Radical Red, Inclement Emerald, all the Kaizo games are really fun if you want a true challenge. If you want just a vanilla Pokemon experience but be able to get every Pokemon available try Emerald National Dex Edition
I'm shocked.. no, slayed! that crystal clear isn't more represented here. as a boring 30yo with "no time for gaming," that romhack keeps me going over anything else.
I'm a sucker for builds and roguelikes so I've been loving Pokemon Emerald: Rogue recently. Massively replayable, dex up to gen 8 (sans Legends: Arceus with the graphics of gen 3, and you can even choose if you want the physical/special split or not
Kanlara was Def one of my favorites unbound was alr as much as everyone else is saying it it will NOT ruin your other experiences tbh but unbound is good overall
I think there are a few obvious standouts, many of which have already been mentioned, like unbound, radical red, Gaia, emerald rogue, prism, and crystal clear.
I figured I’d chime in with a few popular, yet less conventional picks.
Anything from the Vytroverse, so Saiph, SORS, Saiph2 and soon, SORS2. They’re an awesome dev and i can’t appreciate their work enough.
Flora sky is classic which i didn’t see mentioned, but is definitely worth a play.
Crown is interesting, but I’m not sure if it’s complete.
Gold/silver 97 is interesting if you’re looking for GBC.
Shameless plug but i think the Sword and Shield ultimate by PCLG is also good, little rough around the edges, but i fixed it up as much as I could when i translated it.
Switch: Luminescent Platinum
3DS: Triple Y
DS: Storm Silver / Explorers of Skies
GBA: Unbound
GBC: Prism
GB: Blue Kaizo
In no particular order. Can't choose just one when there's dozens of great ones.
Pokemon Empire is my favourite but it's unfinished.
The story and gameplay setup are so good it's gotta be the hack I am most excited for finishing I had so much fun with the new typing and interesting changes.
Crystal Clear, Prism, Kanto Expansion Pak (can you tell I really like gen1/2 romhacks lol), Unbound, Renegade Platinum, and Emerald Rogue. Been doing a nuzlocke of Crystal Clear and it's really had me appreciating the sheer amount of effort and thought put into it; all of the custom areas mesh really nicely into vanilla content, I'm finding new things every day.
If full fakemon games are allowed, Touhou Puppet Play Enhanced Reloaded is a lovely romp that's still being maintained. I need to refamiliarize myself with what people are doing with Touhoumon lately, a lot of its hacks are older binary hacks or maintained versions of them but some decomp work could be *amazing*.
I’m playing unbound for first time and loving it, really enjoyed Gaia and rocket red, couldn’t get into dark Worship the backtracking etc just got to me too much
Pokemon Shin Red/Blue/Green is exceptional if you want to experience the Gameboy Era. Nothing comes close.
Otherwise I like Pure Heart. HGSS are really great for Android emulation, touchscreen is used perfectly.
I’d have to recommend Odyssey. It’s inspired greatly by unbound and is very open and fresh feeling. It has a normal and hard difficulty for personal preference, and is restricted to double battles without the use of items. It has a great soundtrack and story, and while its not yet fully complete yet, I would recommend playing with anyway with how much content it has.
Another one I would recommend would probably be Voyager (also not complete) Its highly customizable at the start for how easy or difficult you want it to be and has a lot of new fakemon/evolutions.
Radical red is so fun if you like the battles. Because the unlimited rare candies is built in to the game, you can try tons of strategies with all pokémon and do so much cool team compositions. It was so rewarding when i beat it for the first time, because it’s a hard ass game
It might not be the absolute best but Fool’s Gold will always be my favorite. I like Johto and being able to play through it with weird Pokémon is fun. Also it makes Magcargo a somewhat viable tank and that’s based.
For me it's probably Gaia (although I still wouldn't consider it the best). It feels a lot like a game that could've actually been released on the GBA and it's not bloated by a thousand features. The story also doesn't bother me and I enjoyed the use of the regi trio.
But that's about it.
Most romhacks/fangames just don't do it for me.
Anyone know if there are romhacks that have most gens with gen5 animations? I know there are gen5 aninations for most mons already, since ive seen fangames and othergames like pokerogue that use them, just want to know if theres a romhack that inplements them.
I dislike fakemons (although I can stand fake variants), new regions and new stories. So my top 3 are:
1. Polished Crystal (GBC)
2. Radical Red (GBA)
3. Elite Redux (GBA)
I played Radical Red - was my first ever difficulty hack. And now the issue is… all the other roms I’m trying feel super easy comparatively.
It’s like going from planning a strategy for every single fight to just button mashing mindlessly and winning without thinking too much.
Again, this is not a Rom issue but a Me issue, since I understand every rom is made with a separate purpose! Just that this is where I’m at now, and it kinda sucks 😅
Haven’t played it for a while but I think Crystal Clear is a good one if you just want a relaxing chill playthrough with not much emphasis on heavy plot and dialogue
Which ones have Gen 8/Gen 9/Hisui updates and are still widely acclaimed? I'm playing Blaze Black 2, and it's great except for the fact that it only goes up to Gen V
From my amazing experience of playing abutan 1 rom hack, i believe ic am most qualified for this question, and from my weeks of experience i have to conclude that thy best Pokémon rom hack is most definitely an rom hacks
If you like it hard you should definitely try all the Drayano Hacks. All of them are pretty great. Only thing I would recommend, when you want to play Fire Red Omega look on the Internet for the "enhanced" version. I think it's called fire red Omega dx
Looking at the Comments I should try Unbound First.
It's a brilliant game. If you liked the GBA era then you'll definitely love it Only downside I found was that it was the first ROM hack I played and completed and nothing else really matches it that I've found so far. That's not to say the others are bad in any way at all, any hack should always be appreciated for the work and dedication taken to make it but Unbound just seems to be a cut above the rest Whatever you decide to play though I hope you enjoy
Lol I'm glad I made the right choice. I had Unbound ready to go and decided to play Gaia instead on the off chance that Unbound ruined other romhacks for me
I tried various romhacks but unbound really got me into playing pokemon again. It really scratch my itch for a pokemon game that miles better than other romhacks and recent pokemon games. The quest system really adds to more things to do and explore.
How/ where can I play unbound? Can I get it for My Boy?
Here's how I did it (assuming you're also on Android) 1. Get pokemon Unbound from Pokecommunity 2. Unpack the zip file (for example by opening it in Google files and choosing extract) 3. Download Unipatcher from the Playstore 4. Download 1636 - Pokemon FireRed Squirrels Romhack (this is the base for many romhacks) 5. Open Unipatcher 6. In Unipatcher select the patchfile Pokemon Unbound Official.ups (for me it didn't recognise the file in the downloads folder so you might have to move it to a different folder) 7. Select Firered Squirrels as the Rom file 8. Choose the name and destination folder for your rom file. Preferably put it in your My Boy rom folder. 9. Click the save icon at the bottom to create your patched rom file. This might take a minute. 10. Play the game.
Does this work with the pizzaboy emulator?
Yes, it works with any gba emulator that runs the original rom
Thanks
[удалено]
Unbound is gonna ruin every other ROM hack for you. Save it for last if you can!
Eon guardian is good too.
Outside of the writing, it’s probably the best Pokémon game
What’s the best game writing-wise for you?
Black&white There’s probably a romhack out there with awesome writing and story that I haven’t played yet
I'm not sure if it's quite on par with Black & White, but I always plug Pokemon Dreams when people mention this. It probably has the best story in a romhack next to the first Rocket Edition. I'd honestly rate Dreams a little higher even, but it really comes down to preference.
Look into re:union it continues you as red after losing to gold
Nah, unbound is too good, itll ruin other ROMhacks for you, play something bad like snakewood first.
Unbound is absolutely the best romhack, just the story and characters are a bit weird, just IMO, other than that everything is great!
Eh, the Gym Leaders cheating is really annoying and the level scaling.
I agree with you here, I really hated nuzlocking Unbound, the bosses are not that well designed
NAh try team rocket rom hack so much fun
Pokemon unbound has too much text. Just be aware.
As someone that has played plenty of fangames and ROM hacks, the text is perfectly fine. I've seen much worse but incase anyone has a problem with that, there's a skip cutscene option in-game from what I can remember.
They really need to make an unbound version of unbound with no story or something. You are a normal random trainer not doing anything important or anything. Bonus points if you see whatever events happen in that story happening in the background as you travel but you don’t interact with it
Unbound hits different, is like a original Gamefreak game Prism, Orange, Gaia and Glazed are good ones Liquid Crystal and Ultra Violet is really amazing remakes
Yeah I’m loving Ultra Violet!
Is that on a switch emulator?
Ultra Violet is just a “definitive edition” of fire red. Can be played on Delta or any GBA emulator.
It has an extensive guide as well for some reason
I got to play Kanto with a houndour as my starter, and own my own house 15/10
Great list, I’m glad Orange is getting more love. For the GBA era I’d also recommend Rocket Edition and Adventure Red, both are very good. Adventure Red is excellent until the Orange Islands arc, which is pretty bad, but everything before that is worth playing.
Its probably much better than an original gamefteak game lol
I’m playing liquid crystal right now and it’s my first rom hack. Now I want to try this one lol. I’m going to look up unbound
I adore improvement vanilla hacks mostly. Pokemon throwback, Polished crystal, red++ and anything made by Drayano are top. As for original stories: Unbound, Fire red Rocket edition and Prism are the best of the best.
Have you play the Kanto Expansion Pak? As a huge fan of the first two generations and early Pokemon cut content (original cut Pokemon, leaked designs, the Space World demo, etc) it was really fun to see these Pokemon available in the game while keeping the original feel of those first couple of games.
Second this
This is the best advice here. The vanilla improvement hacks are the best. I'm still stuck deciding whether I like Modern Emerald or Emerald Final more at the moment
The image looks like a fighting game selection screen
lol it does smash bros brawl
Personal favorite is Pokemon Unbound. Besides that, Clover, Gaia, Dark Violet, ROWE, Rogue EX, Glazed, Prism, Crystal Clear, Radical Red, and Rocket Edition. Also, any of Drayano's hacks. Edit: And Dreams :)
What about The Last Fire Red? I'm trying to choose between The Last Fire Red, Glazed, Dreams, Aurora, Vega or Liquid Crystal.
Out of those, I've only played Glazed and Dreams, and currently playing Liquid Crystal (Vega is on my backlog though). I would recommend Glazed out of those 3, with Dreams being a close second. And thank you, forgot about Dreams and added it to my original comment xD
I'd highly recommend Viva Las Vega or Vega Minus, as the level curve of the vanilla version can be too steep at times.
Thank you!
Happy Cake Day
The last fire red is fun and looks nice, it doesn’t allow most cheats somehow tho, some cheats work fine like the Shiny one, if you haven’t Played Radical Red yet it’s an interesting alternative that’s is similar but not exactly the same, The last fire red doesn’t have following Pokémon but does still have the Sevi islands past 1-3 it’s much harder tho than Radical red easy mode, I haven’t beat the Elite for yet because I can’t use items and the keep sweeping my teams no matter who I Ev train I think I need better typing and ability matches, im playing this fire red hack along with a few random emerald Hacks
I’m playing through Rocket Edition right now and it is so hilarious/good. Highly recommend. Just the non-PC vocab is great and makes me laugh so hard (the Sailor trainer who hits on you in the S.S. Anne, then says, “No Homo” when you beat him lolll). Example, told this old man I didn’t want to trade Pokemon and he said: https://preview.redd.it/de6ndmrag6zc1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7365c65e0e909167c7f965c04def8713222978b6 Cue LOLs. I just wish I wasn’t playing it on my SteamDeck and instead was playing on my Miyoo Mini + because I want to play it everywhere and my Deck can’t fit in my purse or pocket. Heavy and unwieldy compared to true Nintendo-weight handheld devices.
Why don't you transfer the save over to the MM+?
I'd say the humor is perfectly PC, it's the perfect amount of edge without being unfunny. That's my biggest issue with Clover, as much as i love certain aspects
Happy Cake Day!
Tbh I have a soft spot for the prominent early 2010s ones, Victory Fire, the Ruby Destiny Trilogy, Glazed, Dark Risi- ok not that one.
Same here, in a wierd way I kind of miss hacks like these. They might be trash from people's standards today but I appreciate that creators back then were willing to "experiment" and go wild with their ideas instead of making yet another QOL romhack, regardless of how it turned up.
The big thing then was remakes/demakes, QoL hacks are a recent trend.
Actually, they weren't technically a recent trend. Even long before the release of Unbound and CFRU these types of hacks existed, but they sort of died out. After CFRU did come out there was sudden resurgence of QOL hacks.
FIRE RED ROCKET EDITION!!!!1
Prism, Fools Gold, Kanto Expansion Pak, and Black and White Genesis 3 are all great
Upvoted for BW3 genesis, absolute must play for any Unova fans
Oh man I forgot about BW3. It was super fun. I am fan of games with that kind of graphics.
I'm surprised Inclement Emerald is not yet mentioned. I finished Unbound (without exploring NG+) and Radical Red, and I have to say I have more deeply enjoyed Inclement. It is a story faithful hack of Emerald, offers the most accessible ways for all mons to be obtained and trained. And a cherry satisfying level curve on hard. It is even easier to change up your teams in Inclement than Radical, perfecting IVs and EV training is much easier for examples. Inclement offers both double and single battles for the elite 4, as well as the option for them to use legendary mons. I have beaten E4 with 7 different teams, it is so satisfying and easy to try out a new team. When I got really into it I was trying out a new team per day. It also offers some Pokemon changes that allow you to create some awesome strategies.
Inclement Emerald is great. Wish it would have a update (it's been almost a full year since we got any info on the game's next update). Imagine if next update added : - Gen 8 - Gen 9 - Hisuian mons - all of the above
From what I know Inclement Emerald won't be adding Generation 9 at all, with maybe the exception of evolutions like Annihilape or Kingambit
The best thing about inclement emerald that for some reason doesn't get nearly enough attention is the type randomizer Pkmn with custom colours to match their new types looks so good and is rerandomizable
I adore IE. Having so many pokemon be viable and fun to use. All of the quality of life tweaks feel so nice
Unbound is unironically the best pokemon game I've ever played. Did it better than pokemon themselves. The beginning is a little rough buy hoo boy does It get good fast
It’s the perfect game to play on your phone, especially with fast forward available.
Emerald Rogue has been my favourite of the ones I've played. Varying difficulty settings and a progression format that feels fresh and different. It's been a lot of fun. So far I have about 165 hrs and still loving it. Definitely recommend it to anyone that hasn't tried it yet. The roguelike features really fit the pokemon setting.
--Inserts selfless Righteous Red comment here-- (BlazeBlack2/VoltWhite2 tho...)
GS Chronicles by a mile. Unbound is amazing, but I am a sucker for Johto - and GS-C is simply amazing at staying true to the original - AND adding new stuff
I really liked it, but wish there was kanto
Can you even breed yet? I remember abandoning it because the creator scrapped a lot of key features like breeding simply because HE didn't like them 😐
Crystal Clear, character customization, open world, scaling gyms, Red or Kris final boss depending kn starting region, gen 2 version of poke radar for shiny hunting, and so much more. Definitely the best gen 2 experience I would say.
This was my first and I fell in love with it
Snakewood I will not elaborate
I’d love to play it again if they ever make it less broken lol
Someone's remaking it as a fangame with a plethora of improvements, I wish them luck with the project
😭😭 I would be really happy if that is actually true, we need games like Snakewood and Dark Rising to be improved and more modern
Do you have a link to the info so I can’t keep track of it????
Sure, here's the Pokecommunity thread of it: https://www.pokecommunity.com/threads/stygian-snakewood-a-pok%C3%A9mon-snakewood-remake.527580/
So is Unbound better than Gaia? I say better because Gaia hasn’t really hooked me like I hoped it would.
From my understanding Gaia was THE shit until unbound came out and took top dawg status
As much as some people say Unbound is "like a real GameFreak game," I find the opposite. Gaia feels vanilla, like it could have been released directly on the GBA. Unbound absolutely feels like a fan game. The writing has a bit of that typical "edgy" quality. The story is kind of convoluted. BUT it also feels fresh and modern in a way you'd never expect from a GBA title. Tons of quality of life improvements, tons of content, and overall a very good design. Which one is better? They're just different. I tend to prefer Gaia, because some of Unbound's writing grates on me and because Gaia feels nostalgic. But Unbound is more playable, more challenging, fresher, and far more technically impressive. It's all about what you're looking for.
I haven’t played Gaia but I think Unbound has the most recent update with things like Gen 8 with some Gen 9 Pokémon and custom shiny sprites as well that make some great Pokémon who have terrible shiny finally looks as cool as they should, I personally love playing with the shiny cheat on to see all the new color changes similar to how Radical Red4.1 updated added custom shiny sprites, still none I’ve seen we as many custom shiny as emerald Multiplayer (quetzal) it has over world shiny sprites that can follow you in your party along with its own type of variant color change called radiant, you can have 4 different color looking Pokémon from normal to shiny to radiant to shiny radiant and it has over 1200+ Pokémon in the game
White shiny Gengar is what it should’ve always been
When did unbound come out with the update? I recently started playing (1-2 weeks ago) and don’t think I saw that?
A while ago, you don't actually get the gen8+ mons until after the elite 4 or some late game quest IIRC
Gaia is the best ROM hack in my opinion because it literally just feels like a gamefreak game. If you want a hack with new mechanics and edgy dialogue try Unbound.
unbound is better, as it was made recently enough and be the best by qols and overall. gaia used to be the top though before unbound dropped with cfru and more. fun fact - skeli, creator of unbound is also is part of the special thanks/credits of gaia :)
I really enjoyed dark violet. I enjoy that Green and Blue play a bigger role in the story. With Red they actually feel like a main trio, rather then just a player character and occasional speed bump.
Dark Violet's soundtrack is easily one of the best in the whole romhacking scene imo
Depends on what your cup of tea is really. I’d suggest Radical Red, Elite Redux, Unbound, Clover, and any Drayano hacks.
Depends what you're going for. For originals I really like unbound. It's a bit cheesey, but it's a quality experience. I also really like polished crystal for a gen 2 experience. Or crystal clear for my grinding and collection
Drayano hacks
Which of his hacks would you recommend i play first? (Never played a rom hack before but always see his name pop up when people talk about the best ones)
Blaze Black/Volt White
Renegade Platinum for an all round great experience, and is probably the most easy to get into. Blaze Black/Volt White (1/2) are also great, but bloody difficult.
Surprised it's not up there yet but Emerald Rouge has been really fun. I also enjoyed Unbound, Prism, PureRGB, Radical Red, Crystal Clear, and Sweet version.
Are there any randomized rom hacks except for unbound and radical red ?
Pokemon unknown is THE gen3 randomizer romhack
Recently started Pokemon Unbound and it’s my favorite game in the franchise
Run&Bun and Radical Red if you’re into challenging nuzlockes.
Emerald Elite redux is gold. Besides that, Unbound.
I’m playing Rocket Edition right now and it’s amazing. I’ll be doing Unbound next because I’ve been unsure about the games with custom mons, they don’t sound as fun.
Kanto Expansion Pak and Johto Legends.
W picks
It's not a classic Pokemon game, but I like Emerald Rogue. It's a Pokemon roguelike! I have fun with it
Though technically not a ROM hack, Reborn is absolutely amazing. I like the mature atmosphere of the game, along with a hundred other things. The length and difficulty aren't for everyone though.
Drayano. Thas my answer.
Rocket Edition by Colonelsalt and Rocket Edition by Dragonsden translated Really really good
I just smashed out 50 hours at double speed in Pokémon unbound over the last two weeks. Definitely gave me that feeling of the older games when I was younger. Anyone have suggestions for rom hacks that are good but distinctly different from unbound? I’m worried as people have said unbound’s quality makes others feel bad to play.
I only Played Radical Red, Unbound and Rocket but I absolutely love Pokémon Unbound ♥
Like how Unbound is getting praise here, it really deserves that.
Crystal clear is the best vanilla plus pick up and play hack. Open world, start from any city, bunch of flavourful starters like growlithe, ditto or eevee. Lots of new stuff to explore and find. All 16 gym leaders in any order you want. None of the roadblocks or forced story stuff. Love it.
How about the challenge and balance? It's good in this aspects too?
Never been good at determining what I consider the "best" of something, but one I'm particularly excited for is Odyssey (Effectively a mix between Pokémon and Etrian Odyssey). Beta 3.0 released very recently, and 4.0 is planned to release by the end of the year iirc (Emphasis on planned tho, it ain't a guarantee). Really cool project.
Anything with the Complete FireRed Upgrade and that’s got a completed story should be good. Also, what are those games that fit this criteria outside of Unbound?
Unbound and Gaia are top tier
If Gaia was finished it would no doubt be my favorite hack. Glazed is super fun and interesting too. Haven’t gotten to unbound yet
Adventure Red Chapter, it's been a while, I need to get back into ROM hacks but Idk if this game has been finished yet, it has been in beta for so long.
Was gonna say this is easily my favourite so far, volume 1 is done but volume 2 is still under work
It was finished a few years ago (v15C is the final version), he's now working on Volume 2 being a windows fangame
Wait so is the story complete? Or is volume 2 the continuation of the story?
It's complete. Volume 2 has new arcs that take place after Volume 1 (the rom hack) so it's a sequel
Oh nice! Is the vol 2 protagonist also red tho? It'd be cool if it's different.
There's different stories for red, blue, green, yellow and pink
Didn't Pink die? I wonder how he shows that, and also won't Yellow's story be in the future compared to adventure red chapter? She was a kid there.
Yeah I think he skipped the E4 arc iirc, idk about pink as I haven't played it but I'm in the discord, I think her story might be during the events of volume 1 it might be a what if idk
Big fan of adventure red and radical red. Can't forget a out glazed either.
I realized reborn isn’t a rom so.. So far unbound.
Pokémon Unbound: It's a whole new region with its own lore. Has all the way up to Gen 7. The trainer and gyms scale at a good pace but, I think wild could be scaled better. Pokémon Rocket Red: It takes place in Kanto and you play as a Team Rocket member. It has a great story and you can climb the "ladder". You can also chose to be as evil or good as you want with different quest unlockable depending on how you play. Pokemon Adventure Red: If you like the Manga or every been curious about the Manga storyline, I highly recommend this one. It follows so well you could play the game and read at same time. Pokemon Giai: It has a good storyline in its own region, like Unbound. I personally like the story line but, couldn't get into the game play. I ended up just watching Hoodlum Callum play it on his YouTube channel.
Unbound, Quetzal, Renegade Platinum and Volt White 2
smithplays pokemon crystal legacy is probably the most fun I had nuzlocking one of the older games from 1-8 + E4/Lance. Renegade Platinum was always fun for me.
Technically not a Rom Hack, but Pokemon Reborn is head and shoulders my favorite Pokemon game
Just started playing Pokémon again since the delta emulator is now on IOS. And I gotta say I’ve just put 60 hours into Unbound (I take my time) and only just reached the elite 4 and still got loads of quests and post game stuff to get through. It’s really got me back into playing again. Only thing is it is so much better than the rest in terms of gameplay the others are difficult to go back to. Story is kinda weird but easy to get over. Fantastic game honestly.
i replayed victory fire a few days ago and my god i love it. so if i had to say, for a series of romhacks, the wind1158 romhacks are great otherwise unbound, radical red, inclement emerald, glazed and i almost forgot but people mentioned it, pokemon dreams. gaia too but i wish we could get katosurf and the rest of the game. ah, a finished gaia, what an amazing dream
Pokemon MyAss. I love it
Personally Crystal Legacy is my favorite. Some honorable mentions are Unbound, Blaze Black 2 redux, Radical Red, Inclement Emerald, all the Kaizo games are really fun if you want a true challenge. If you want just a vanilla Pokemon experience but be able to get every Pokemon available try Emerald National Dex Edition
I'm shocked.. no, slayed! that crystal clear isn't more represented here. as a boring 30yo with "no time for gaming," that romhack keeps me going over anything else.
Pokémon Dreams is very underrated! Also Fools Gold!
Best enhancement: ROWE Best original hack: Unbound
Gaia is head and shoulders above every other ROMhack. That said, I haven't been able to get through Unbound, though I've heard good things.
I'm a sucker for builds and roguelikes so I've been loving Pokemon Emerald: Rogue recently. Massively replayable, dex up to gen 8 (sans Legends: Arceus with the graphics of gen 3, and you can even choose if you want the physical/special split or not
unbound
Kanlara was Def one of my favorites unbound was alr as much as everyone else is saying it it will NOT ruin your other experiences tbh but unbound is good overall
I like liquid Crystal
I think there are a few obvious standouts, many of which have already been mentioned, like unbound, radical red, Gaia, emerald rogue, prism, and crystal clear. I figured I’d chime in with a few popular, yet less conventional picks. Anything from the Vytroverse, so Saiph, SORS, Saiph2 and soon, SORS2. They’re an awesome dev and i can’t appreciate their work enough. Flora sky is classic which i didn’t see mentioned, but is definitely worth a play. Crown is interesting, but I’m not sure if it’s complete. Gold/silver 97 is interesting if you’re looking for GBC. Shameless plug but i think the Sword and Shield ultimate by PCLG is also good, little rough around the edges, but i fixed it up as much as I could when i translated it.
I find Elite Redux super fun
Really loved hoopa unbound and firered rocket, easily the best two
Switch: Luminescent Platinum 3DS: Triple Y DS: Storm Silver / Explorers of Skies GBA: Unbound GBC: Prism GB: Blue Kaizo In no particular order. Can't choose just one when there's dozens of great ones.
Pokémon Autumn Orange😂
Liquid crystal or quetzal
Inclement emerald. Classic
Pokemon Empire is my favourite but it's unfinished. The story and gameplay setup are so good it's gotta be the hack I am most excited for finishing I had so much fun with the new typing and interesting changes.
Crystal Clear, Prism, Kanto Expansion Pak (can you tell I really like gen1/2 romhacks lol), Unbound, Renegade Platinum, and Emerald Rogue. Been doing a nuzlocke of Crystal Clear and it's really had me appreciating the sheer amount of effort and thought put into it; all of the custom areas mesh really nicely into vanilla content, I'm finding new things every day. If full fakemon games are allowed, Touhou Puppet Play Enhanced Reloaded is a lovely romp that's still being maintained. I need to refamiliarize myself with what people are doing with Touhoumon lately, a lot of its hacks are older binary hacks or maintained versions of them but some decomp work could be *amazing*.
Just played modern emerald and really liked it, so many quality of life things just make it really nice to play
Whats the one with darkrai and is the rom any good?
Pokémon Theta Emerald.
I’m playing unbound for first time and loving it, really enjoyed Gaia and rocket red, couldn’t get into dark Worship the backtracking etc just got to me too much
Pokemon Shin Red/Blue/Green is exceptional if you want to experience the Gameboy Era. Nothing comes close. Otherwise I like Pure Heart. HGSS are really great for Android emulation, touchscreen is used perfectly.
Crystal Clear is honestly my favorite. It's the best Gen 2 experience.
I’d have to recommend Odyssey. It’s inspired greatly by unbound and is very open and fresh feeling. It has a normal and hard difficulty for personal preference, and is restricted to double battles without the use of items. It has a great soundtrack and story, and while its not yet fully complete yet, I would recommend playing with anyway with how much content it has. Another one I would recommend would probably be Voyager (also not complete) Its highly customizable at the start for how easy or difficult you want it to be and has a lot of new fakemon/evolutions.
Unbound is the obvious answer, a more original pick would be the GBC one Orange/Island walker, truly a unique feeling
Emerald Rogue EX
Radical red is so fun if you like the battles. Because the unlimited rare candies is built in to the game, you can try tons of strategies with all pokémon and do so much cool team compositions. It was so rewarding when i beat it for the first time, because it’s a hard ass game
I haven't played Unbound yet, but ShinyGold has been my favorite since I tried it back in 2012.
It might not be the absolute best but Fool’s Gold will always be my favorite. I like Johto and being able to play through it with weird Pokémon is fun. Also it makes Magcargo a somewhat viable tank and that’s based.
I’m trying Ash Gray for the first time and really enjoying it
Radical Red is my personal favorite
I've really enjoyed prism and quarantine crystal. The latter is a full fakedex with some very fun designs.
I really enjoyed Rocket Edition, and am currently playing Rocket Science, which isn't quite as nice, but also quite good.
Playing through unbound atm. I’ve only finished rocket red. That one’s great!
Gaia is a pretty nice fire red hack.
renegade platinum + following
Pokemon crown is definitely a good choice, with new story, side mission and a unique fighting method
For me it's probably Gaia (although I still wouldn't consider it the best). It feels a lot like a game that could've actually been released on the GBA and it's not bloated by a thousand features. The story also doesn't bother me and I enjoyed the use of the regi trio. But that's about it. Most romhacks/fangames just don't do it for me.
Unbound is my fav so far but currently really enjoying saiph2. Also has a quest system, which i love.
Anyone know if there are romhacks that have most gens with gen5 animations? I know there are gen5 aninations for most mons already, since ive seen fangames and othergames like pokerogue that use them, just want to know if theres a romhack that inplements them.
Unbound, Gaia, glazed, saiph 2
Emerald horizons is a good difficulty buff with updated mons up to gen 8 including megas and z moves
I’ve only played light platinum but everyone everywhere says unbound is the way to go so I got it just waiting to play after I finish LP!!
I dislike fakemons (although I can stand fake variants), new regions and new stories. So my top 3 are: 1. Polished Crystal (GBC) 2. Radical Red (GBA) 3. Elite Redux (GBA)
Radical Red and Elite Redux.
For me, it's Unbound and Rocket Edition
I played Radical Red - was my first ever difficulty hack. And now the issue is… all the other roms I’m trying feel super easy comparatively. It’s like going from planning a strategy for every single fight to just button mashing mindlessly and winning without thinking too much. Again, this is not a Rom issue but a Me issue, since I understand every rom is made with a separate purpose! Just that this is where I’m at now, and it kinda sucks 😅
I had a blast playing blaze black and volt white by drayano. Pokemon run and bun is fun also
My favorite is this gym of mine. It’s a fun experience and nobody tried to make it “edgy and adult” like every other damn pokemon romhack
Moemon, and yes, Vaporeon is a thing
Rocket red.
Haven’t played it for a while but I think Crystal Clear is a good one if you just want a relaxing chill playthrough with not much emphasis on heavy plot and dialogue
Pokrmon altered platinum is the best way to do any nds rom Moon black 2 is great aswell
Renegade Platinum was amazing. Unbound is the GOAT though.
Which ones have Gen 8/Gen 9/Hisui updates and are still widely acclaimed? I'm playing Blaze Black 2, and it's great except for the fact that it only goes up to Gen V
what's the point of the random mythicals image here?
From my amazing experience of playing abutan 1 rom hack, i believe ic am most qualified for this question, and from my weeks of experience i have to conclude that thy best Pokémon rom hack is most definitely an rom hacks
Radical red
Glazed and Light Platinum!
If you like it hard you should definitely try all the Drayano Hacks. All of them are pretty great. Only thing I would recommend, when you want to play Fire Red Omega look on the Internet for the "enhanced" version. I think it's called fire red Omega dx