First Hack of the Quarter - 2012

[Mallowigi]

Certainly I won't vote Crystal Dust since it may be a great Crystal remake, but well, it's a REMAKE, so I won't vote it.

Then remain Snakewood and Dark Future. I like Snakewood. Original story, funny references and new features; however the fact that it is based on the ugly Ruby still bothers me, but well, this is negligible.
But there is Dark Future. A GSC hack. Something from the 2G. I've played it a little and while the modifications are not really visible, it's really pleasant to go back to the Gameboy generation to play Pokemon outside of the original games.

So for this one, I'd go for Dark Future

[Lugiaz Soul]

I voted for Crystal Dust because I have actually played through the whole thing and tried to catch 'em all again. At times I felt like I was actually playing what Game Freak had been developing, till the DS was announced. So they cancelled their project and Diego HACKED Game Freak and released this awesome game. The End.

P.S. Even if crystal Dust doesn't win, I will always know which game I enjoyed the most

[sako]

I vote for pokemon snakewood because it has a very interesting and unique storyline..... i really like pokemon crystal dust so it was a hard choice.... but i voted for snakewood because the betas of crystaldust was just the same old storyline as the crystal for the gbc with no extra events or twist in the tale like shinygold and liquid crystal however it had nostagic music and AWESOME ghraphics..... eventhough snakewood did not have good graphics its scripts and storylines and sprites made up for it...... so yeah snakwood is the hack i choose

[Mystery Man]

I voted for Dark Future; I had the most fun playing that hack out of the three. It diverts from the ordinary Nintendo plot while also having many other strong points.

[Mr. Magius]

I'll go for Dark Future. I'm a little biased since it's a GB game (a.k.a. nostalgia!), but it looks like it's really an award-winning hack, and should be up there with the rest. It's really unique and well-done.
Overall, though, they're all great games. Good luck, guys!

[kkj1116]

My vote goes for Dark Future. Here's why:

1. Truly unique storyline that doesn't involve zombies (cliche, reminds me of "nazi zombies" craze that every Call of Duty player had). Seriously, you collect orbs and there's cutscenes of the evil team, and there's a war 1000 years ago that no one knows about, there's a wild Onix rampaging about, and there's an abandoned lab with a password. There are so many post-apocalyptic scenarios in modern media, come on.. I'm confused to find that mere zombies and a wasteland Hoenn is 'unique' compared to a brand new region with all the said above.. And also, I'm guessing that Miksy is going to add the feature of playing multiple playable characters, as he implemented Final-Fantasy-esque style of hacking multiple characters travel in one sprite..

2. It is a GSC remake. This might be a cheap shot but a ton of resources have been dedicated to Ruby and Fire Red hacking to the point you see any newbie create these hacks. I've kept up with Dark Future for a long time since Miksy quit his Crystal version, and he's created better scripts, found out more about how the game works, and even learned Assembly programming, all on his own. All of which has not been accomplished before in a GSC hack (with the exception of Pokemon Prism). It'd be unfair to say that this amount of work will go unnoticed (or not as noticed as a Ruby hack) simply because it doesn't have a unique story [and again, look at point 1 for why it is as unique or more unique]. Hacking is not purely storyline based; if it were, you could go to fan-fiction. Hacking is reverse engineering the game.

* I also admit I have a biased point of view, being a GSC hacker.

Edit: Having played Cutlerine's A Grand Day Out, I tried Pokemon Snakewood. And I have to say, I was wrong in implying that it was not unique. It is, in my opinion, equally as unique as Dark Future but in a different way. However, Dark Future still holds my vote for these reasons:

Snakewood is a Ruby hack while Dark Future is a Gold hack. Due to the different tools and amount of resources available for each version, they have to be judged differently. Snakewood has an interesting plot but that is its prime attribute. As a doomsday scenario of Hoenn, the graphics seem the same. Previous commentators have reasoned that it is because it takes in Hoenn, but Hoenn nevertheless should look ruined. Blighted ground, skeletons in streets, wilting grass, destroyed buildings are not to be seen. What could have been a great graphical work is instead reduced to rocks. Ruby and Fire Red hacks are the two kinds of hacks where exceptional graphics have been implented, and Snakewood would have won my reconsideration if its prime attribute had not been only the enthralling storyline and humorous dialogue. Although there's not much that can be done with Color generation graphics, Dark Future has new trainer sprites (the old sprites are repalletted), an interesting plot as well (albeit more serious), and revolutionary scripting and ASM programming not implented in other Gold hacks.

[Mateo]

I agree with kkj1116. My vote goes to Dark Future, because it is truly the most unique experience I've seen among the ones listed. I've seen a lot of the hard work that has been put into this hack, and I think it is coming together really well. You can really see the effort put into it, because there are so many new features that weren't in original Gold, and everything has been changed around (with the exception of some of the graphics, but really, who cares about the graphics anyway? They don't make the game.) I also keep it on my phone to play when I'm off somewhere (which is something I can't say for the other two).

Again, Dark Future has my vote.

[Rodriguezjames55]

i hate fakemon but snakewood is awesome @NarutoActor play the game before insulting it and for the story was so good i was distracted from the bad sprites

Spoiler:

like when you think Alicia is your friend then BANG she one of the four horse man Gleis the seven deadly.....

criticize after a game play

[ElitePokes]

poke crystal got my vote

snakewood is kinda funny but not my type of game and df seems good but i dnt play gbc games anymore
crystal dust is a remake of my fav poke game thats why i voted it

[fanp]

Of the three, i will vote in CrystalDust

[gam3r!]

Snakewood for the win ! It will be great if the "Award" Section transformed to "Awards" and basically i think it's one of the best yet underrated ( and crazy) hacks in pokecommunity...it's one of it's kind. Asimov ( and the 9 other members of DEADLY SEVEN) will be proud of it !

[Red_Blue_Green]

I'm voting for Crystal Dust, i love Pokemon Crystal and a remake of that game would be amazing.

[DrFuji]

Whelp, that wraps up the first Hack of the Quarter competition.

Congratulations Cutlerine, you'll be getting your champagne in the mail and well done to miksy91 and diegoisawesome for showing Emulation what you're made of. We hope that everybody enjoyed the contest while it lasted because the next one will be held in the far-off reaches of November.

Closed~