Have any questions about Pokémon ROM Hacks that you'd like answered?

If they're about playable ROM hacks, tools, development or anything Pokémon ROM Hacking related, feel free to ask here - no matter how silly your questions might seem!

Before asking your question, make sure that you've tried searching for prior posts on the subreddit or Google. ROM hacks and tools may have their own documentation and their communities may be able to provide answers better than asking here. The Pokécommunity Discord server is also a great place to ask questions if you need a quick response or support!

Looking for recommendations or a new ROM hack to play?

The PokéROM Codex is an updated list of all the different ROM hacks available, listing features and more in a simple-yet-detailed, mobile-friendly format. It is made and managed by u/themanynamed, has a Discord server and can be contributed to by viewers.

This is a safe hack-sharing site that doesn't share ROMs and links to the official release threads! Instead of asking for recommendations or download links on the subreddit (which break the rules), please refer to the Codex as it is safe, legal and contains a lot of information on each hack.

A few useful sources for reliable Pokémon ROM hack-related information:

• PokéCommunity
• PokéCommunity Discord
• PokéROM Codex
• Previous Question Threads

Please help the mod team by downvoting & reporting submission posts outside of this thread for breaking Rule 7. Please avoid answering questions that break this rule as well to deter users from breaking it.

Before I begin, I want to thank the creators of this rom, and everyone who worked on it, for making a great game I thoroughly enjoyed, despite the criticisms I am going to level at it.

You did a great job.

TL:DR Score at the end.

So- I recently spent several hours playing through the Red Rocket rom hack three separate times. I wanted to get as thorough a sense of the game as possible. First, I did not steal from any trainers save the big ones (Gym leaders, Major Characters, etc) Second, I played where I only stole the little girl’s Sparrow at the beginning. Finally, I played a round where I stole from everyone and didn’t care for my bounty. I wanted to see the vast differences in the endings, if there were any.

I am going to review each part of the game and give it a ranking 1-10. I don’t do percentage points. So no 5.6 or 7.1

First, the Dex and the Pokemon.

8/10. Its a mostly Kanto dex with some Jhoto Mons at the very end. Considering this is a retelling of the original Fire Red and Leaf Green Games, I really liked that they didn’t slap all the new mons in there. I liked that they added fairy types and some new moves. It made catching (or stealing) Clefairy worth it. That said- I wish they added Sylveon. As far as I saw, it wasn’t added. Its my favorite Eeveelution.

Mechanics

7/10. There were a lot of new ways mechanics were implemented- I liked having to sneak into the Safari Zone, stealing a bike, and the various side quests. I especially liked that they tied using HMs to legality. You had to be a trainer and get the badges to do so legally. Really tied into how you can’t do these things before getting the badge. That said, I wish fishing was easier to do earlier. And I wish reputation tied more into the story. Sure, you can get certain goodies or missions with your reputation… but it could have been implemented differently.

Story

8/10. It’s an interesting one. I personally liked the gritty retelling of a classic game. I liked that it leaned into a darker timeline. It gets a bit edgy at times but I think it’s pretty interesting!

Writing. (Note: Story and Writing are not mutually exclusive.)

4/10. There are parts of this game that I really think are written well! I think some of the jokes are funny and even got a chuckle out of me. But… I genuinely think the writer has (or had) some issues with women. It gets really incel-y at parts. Namely, with most of the women characters (aside from Gym Leaders, who are unchanged mostly) Adriana is nothing more than some passive woman who is very blasé about Giovanni’s decisions that affect her livelihood- only to later become some pearl clutcher who is standing firm for him. Then we have the underground prostitute who is portrayed as dumb and uneducated and needs help from various men… which, if you do that, it leads you to recruiting her to be a Nurse Joy alongside another stereotype of a woman. The Nurse Joy in question sends you to beat up her boyfriend for suspected cheating… who wasn’t cheating and was just watching a Jynx. Which I can’t even begin to unpack that-

But by far the worst character assassination is that in Agatha, the elite four member. She plays a bigger role in this game, but only as a power hungry gold digger who flip flops on Oak the second he gains or loses power. And then Oak kills her. And he isn’t even prosecuted for it (not enough evidence, despite you witnessing it.) so that was terrible. And also- a Nazi joke makes it in via one of the Rocket Grunts hailing Giovanni like he was Hitler. Gross.

I know its not anything new to have mediocre or bad writing in a Pokemon game or rom but man this one was bad at points. Which sucks- I think the plot has potential and the rom was interesting for what it set out to do.

Overall, I give the rom a 6/10. Worth a playthrough at least once… but it definitely needs a re-write.

Ko-fi is a platform where you can upload files and users can easily download these files for free, with the option to donate if you want. However, the money making aspect of Ko-fi is very clear: to download, you have to enter how much you're donating (with $0 being an option) and the number of downloads is marked as "X sold." Notably, Emerald Seaglass, as well as several other ROMhacks, exclusively use Ko-fi for distribution.

Ko-fi inherently provides the number of downloads of a ROMhack which is an extremely useful metric. Platforms like Pokecommunity or Google Drive do not provide this information.

Ko-fi is user friendly and makes it easy to showcase your ROMhack and facilitate downloads.

The implication of donating can rub people the wrong way, especially because most ROMhacks are built on top of open source. A Romhack certainly has unique value additions created by the creator, but it is on top of work created by other community members who will not see any of that donation money. On the other hand, when you release your code/assets/etc to open-source, you are implicitly agreeing that other people can use your contributions, even for commercial gain. No one gets harmed by a ROMhack that solicits donations.

All in all, do you view it as "scummy" for someone to use Ko-fi as their main way of distributing their hack?

Version 1.24.6 of Shin Pokemon is now live. This update features even more bugfixes as well as being able to get japan-only event pokemon like the fabled Dragon Rage Magikarp.

There are added improvements to the AREA function of the Pokedex for those who want to catch 'em all with the randomizer active. Pokemon that fall within the super rod encounter tables will display a nest icon in the AREA function. Also, if a pokemon can be encountered on the currently loaded map, a message will display if it is found within the grass, water, or by super rod.

Battle clauses are now supported in link battles. There is a clipboard in the colosseum to set the clauses, and the game merges the selection by the two players together. Note that link battles only work between Shin Pokemon instances of the same update version, and a version check is run between the two players.

Do check out the Trainer Guide PDF I made that goes over everything Shin Pokemon has to offer.

Shin Pokemon is a remaster of Pokemon Red, Blue, and Green that boasts:

• Improvements to AI

• Quality of life improvements

• Over 200 bugfixes - the most of any Gen 1 rom hack.

• A whole host of bonus features including a built-in randomizer and nuzlocke mode

Available at:
https://github.com/jojobear13/shinpokered/releases/tag/1.24.6
or
https://rhpz.org/shin_pokemon

https://preview.redd.it/cbece7gpyy0e1.png?width=1431&format=png&auto=webp&s=0c14e48af161e85477da70e85e6b8bf123f35d49

Sorry for another post about Kawaii, this will be the last one until a big update! I just wanted to let those interested know that I've made a discord server for the hack: https://discord.gg/Kray4YFZ

This will be where I share updates on the hack's progress, come up more ideas and work with those who want to help out! Let's make this a fun community 🌸

(just a side note though, this is my first time making a server so any help with setting it up properly would be very appreciated 😅)

So, yeah!

Clearly you guys like Rocket Edition, but I couldn't tell which version got the most upvotes, so I need to poll this.

T

View Poll