Emerald hack: Pokémon Emerald Horizons - Emerald Difficulty Hack [Complete, v1.11e ft. New Rocket Storyline, Boss Gauntlet, Gen 1-8, Side Quests, and QoL features]

[hoopyfreud]

Man, the challenge mode E4 are HARD. Managed to get through them with some degen strats, though!

 

[BrandonXL]

Looker, that may be the issue. I thankfully didnt save after getting the coin case so I'll try to look for Looker before I comment further.

If my understanding of your situation is correct, did you return to Littleroot at any point to speak with Prof. Birch and register him in your PokeNav? In any case, I've put out a patch that prevents interacting with Birch from blocking out Looker. However, for your file to work properly, I'll need to edit it manually so that the Rocket Quest works as is.

Man, the challenge mode E4 are HARD. Managed to get through them with some degen strats, though!

I'd love to hear what strats you used and what fight was the most tricky!

 

[looneyman1]

I DID get his pokenav info actualy, but I will go back to Littleroot again to look around. I will tell you how it went

 

[hoopyfreud]

If my understanding of your situation is correct, did you return to Littleroot at any point to speak with Prof. Birch and register him in your PokeNav? In any case, I've put out a patch that prevents interacting with Birch from blocking out Looker. However, for your file to work properly, I'll need to edit it manually so that the Rocket Quest works as is.

I'd love to hear what strats you used and what fight was the most tricky!

Much less creative than my original E4, honestly - the battlefield conditions were intense enough that it really did feel like I needed raw stats and coverage far more than anything else. A big part was figuring out how to weave in 2 layers of toxic spikes on each fight. For Wallace, I actually save-scummed for a double protect because the only way I could come up with to cook the fight was:

1. Lead Tox/Ray, lay toxic spikes, swap Ray to Aegislash to tank double ice moves
2. Bunker on Tox (poisons Poliwrath), Toxic Kyogre with Aegislash
3. Bunker again on Tox, swap Aegislash for Blissey
4. Second layer of spikes on Tox, swap Blissey to Aegislash to null Close Combat from Poliwrath
5. Bunker again on Tox

Then the next turn Tox usually dies, but that ensures that almost everyone gets Toxic applied. Palkia and Gyarados are a bit of an issue, but it's fairly manageable, and eventually Kyogre thunder cleans up.

As far as fight difficulty, I think Wallace might have actually been the hardest with this setup. Phoebe second, probably. But figuring out how to set up under the Kyogre/Poliwrath gun was a fun puzzle!

One thing that was fun, actually, was TM-ing in the middle of the E4 to replace Dragon Pulse on Ray with Flamethrower for the Glacia fight. I couldn't figure that one out until I realized I could just... add a fire move.

 

[BrandonXL]

Much less creative than my original E4, honestly - the battlefield conditions were intense enough that it really did feel like I needed raw stats and coverage far more than anything else. A big part was figuring out how to weave in 2 layers of toxic spikes on each fight. For Wallace, I actually save-scummed for a double protect because the only way I could come up with to cook the fight was:

1. Lead Tox/Ray, lay toxic spikes, swap Ray to Aegislash to tank double ice moves
2. Bunker on Tox (poisons Poliwrath), Toxic Kyogre with Aegislash
3. Bunker again on Tox, swap Aegislash for Blissey
4. Second layer of spikes on Tox, swap Blissey to Aegislash to null Close Combat from Poliwrath
5. Bunker again on Tox

Then the next turn Tox usually dies, but that ensures that almost everyone gets Toxic applied. Palkia and Gyarados are a bit of an issue, but it's fairly manageable, and eventually Kyogre thunder cleans up.

As far as fight difficulty, I think Wallace might have actually been the hardest with this setup. Phoebe second, probably. But figuring out how to set up under the Kyogre/Poliwrath gun was a fun puzzle!

One thing that was fun, actually, was TM-ing in the middle of the E4 to replace Dragon Pulse on Ray with Flamethrower for the Glacia fight. I couldn't figure that one out until I realized I could just... add a fire move.

Nothing wrong with your strategy, especially given the odds! I know of a few people that people Challenge Mode, but I also haven't really seen the teams that have done it. I think your writeup provides valuable insight for anyone looking to try it themselves. Also, happy to see you also found Ho-Oh :)

 

[looneyman1]

I forgot to mention this sooner but I DO like how the way this game is set up it is forcing one to change pokemon a lot more than one normally would during a playthrough. There is one complaint I feel that may be warranted and at the moment my pokemon are all approaching level 30 at this point. Given that the curve will eventually hit 90 by the 8th gym and the elite 4, I believe it might be a good idea in a future patch to change the evolution levels of most level-up evolutions. The early game bugs make sense to evolve at 7 and 10 (with Scatterbug evolving at 9 and 12 meanwhile) but I feel having a Blaziken for example by the fourth gym seems a bit overpowered, even factoring the difficulty of the gym leaders. Especially as several pokemon available by this point will be able to mega evolve.

 

[hoopyfreud]

Nothing wrong with your strategy, especially given the odds! I know of a few people that people Challenge Mode, but I also haven't really seen the teams that have done it. I think your writeup provides valuable insight for anyone looking to try it themselves. Also, happy to see you also found Ho-Oh :)

Thanks!

Out of curiosity, what did you use when you tested it? Most of what I did feels like it came down to, "take my 3 strongest offensive pokemon that don't have more than one terrible matchup against the E4 types and support them with tanks that can spam burn and toxic" but I'm wondering if I did overlook any viable strategies... I was playing with the idea of an explosion Ferrothorn, but I decided that without trainer info it was going to be too annoying to learn the fight iteratively. I'm pretty confident in the Ray/Kyogre/Ho-Oh offensive lineup, but maybe Choice Scarf Darkrai could have cheesed it?

 

[looneyman1]

I THINK I found a problem. According to the game docs, Stantler does not evolve despite Wyrdeer being in the game. Whats more is Stantler lacks Psyshield Bash in its level up listings.

 

[BrandonXL]

Thanks!

Out of curiosity, what did you use when you tested it? Most of what I did feels like it came down to, "take my 3 strongest offensive pokemon that don't have more than one terrible matchup against the E4 types and support them with tanks that can spam burn and toxic" but I'm wondering if I did overlook any viable strategies... I was playing with the idea of an explosion Ferrothorn, but I decided that without trainer info it was going to be too annoying to learn the fight iteratively. I'm pretty confident in the Ray/Kyogre/Ho-Oh offensive lineup, but maybe Choice Scarf Darkrai could have cheesed it?

I did some pretty cursory testing on Challenge Mode just to make sure it was doable; I knew if each individual fight was doable, then (logically) there are comps that could conquer it. Mainly, things like hyper offense (Scizor, Banded Rillaboom). Challenge Mode was actually implemented before Darkrai was available as an encounter, but now that I think of it, Darkrai would probably make most of the run pretty trivial. I'm certain a Sunny Day team or Trick Room team could probably cause some havoc, too.

I THINK I found a problem. According to the game docs, Stantler does not evolve despite Wyrdeer being in the game. Whats more is Stantler lacks Psyshield Bash in its level up listings.

Wyrdeer, Ursaluna, Overqwil, and Kleavor are among the Hisuian evolutions that are exclusive to their gift encounters. Others, such as Hisuian starters, can be obtained via evolution. I locked those gifts mons behind NPCs just to incentivize a little exploration. This is intentional for these particular mons.

 

[Ragna239]

Much less creative than my original E4, honestly - the battlefield conditions were intense enough that it really did feel like I needed raw stats and coverage far more than anything else. A big part was figuring out how to weave in 2 layers of toxic spikes on each fight. For Wallace, I actually save-scummed for a double protect because the only way I could come up with to cook the fight was:

1. Lead Tox/Ray, lay toxic spikes, swap Ray to Aegislash to tank double ice moves
2. Bunker on Tox (poisons Poliwrath), Toxic Kyogre with Aegislash
3. Bunker again on Tox, swap Aegislash for Blissey
4. Second layer of spikes on Tox, swap Blissey to Aegislash to null Close Combat from Poliwrath
5. Bunker again on Tox

Then the next turn Tox usually dies, but that ensures that almost everyone gets Toxic applied. Palkia and Gyarados are a bit of an issue, but it's fairly manageable, and eventually Kyogre thunder cleans up.

As far as fight difficulty, I think Wallace might have actually been the hardest with this setup. Phoebe second, probably. But figuring out how to set up under the Kyogre/Poliwrath gun was a fun puzzle!

One thing that was fun, actually, was TM-ing in the middle of the E4 to replace Dragon Pulse on Ray with Flamethrower for the Glacia fight. I couldn't figure that one out until I realized I could just... add a fire move.

Looking forward to your strat on boss gauntlet

 

[hoopyfreud]

Looking forward to your strat on boss gauntlet

It was pretty similar, just with Landorus-T over Blissey and screensaver Grimmsnarl over Toxapex. Wallace was the big obstacle there, too, actually. I ran Spirit Break and Foul Play as Snarl's other two moves, but I'm not certain that's actually optimal.

E: Worth noting, this team dies to turn 1 Kyogre water spout. You have to just pray for turn 1 ice beam into Lando or your run is instantly dead 30 trainers in.

 

[Targaryen]

Hello there.
After three hours, finally beat Roxanne. The first grunt of Team Aqua also take some time but Roxanne was a nightmare.
My final team was a surprise. Im not used to pokes too different from gen 1-3 but I was leveling up the others and got a Alolan Sandshrew that I thought was shiny .
But in the end I used this Sandshrew, Drilbur, Marill, Pancham and Tyrogue.

Now gonna take a rest and later continue it. Great rom

 

[Zimrence]

So the core was already formed pre-Petalburg? That's awesome; I think Gigalith and Dugtrio might've had a hard time in the Wallace fight, admittedly, but maybe we'll see them one day haha. What was the hardest fight for you? And what was maybe the most enjoyable side quest?

Sorry, I was at a place without internet access. As for my hardest fight, it was when I had to partner up with Steven to fight against Team Rocket and Team Magma. My most enjoyable side quest was battling Pokémon with high stats. Since I couldn't catch them, I used Wobbuffet to Destiny Bond them, making them faint together with my GOAT.

 

[looneyman1]

It took quite a few tries but I finally beat Watson. Venusaur, Donphan, and Alolan Persian were the MVPs in this fight.