Welcome!
Since you're completely new, lets presume you don't have much, if any knowledge of programming. That would mean you're in the right place; Binary hacking generally focuses on using tools to edit a ROM for the desired outcome.
For reference, the other method is the disassembly method, where you edit the rom at a code-level, and render the whole thing "from scratch". It's a little closer to full-on software development; but I digress.
◽ Step 0: Bookmark this page for yourself.
It's a wonderful directory that should basically have all the tools you'll need, and you can return and download them as you need them rather than downloading a nebulous amount of stuff all at once.
◽Step 1: Decide what ROM you'd like to hack!
The 3rd generation of games are pretty much the most common to work on; they seem to have the most tools, meaning you can do the most things to a 3rd generation game.
◽Step 2: Find yourself some ROMs
In a perfect world, you'd have all the games, and all the peripherals needed to manually dump your own ROMs.
But it's 2024, and honestly who the hell cares. Look for "Pokemon FireRed Squirrels Rom" on Google and you'll find it among the first few results.
While you're at it, you may as well get an Emerald/Ruby/Red/Gold/Crystal ROM.
◽Step 3: Get organized
Set up a little filesystem for yourself.
Clean (unedited) ROMs go in one folder, your tools go in another, and then your project(s) go in another.
◽ Step 4: Start small
I used to moderate here, many many moons ago. Back then I used to have to approve people's threads before they'd be posted to the forum, and let me tell you something, my friend.
Every. Single. Newcomer. Wants to make the BIGGEST and BEST ROM hack the world has ever seen, with all the regions (plus 3 new ones!), returning characters (including ASH!!!) and all the new mechanics from modern games. They have an excellent idea for a story (which means they've thought about the final boss battle and how badass it's going to be), and they have zero experience so if anyone could sign up to help with all the other stuff, that'd be great.
Those threads almost never got approved, and in the rare cases they did, they never lasted long. Starting too big always, always lead to things petering out and flopping, before anything even started.
So start small. All these difficulty-hacks you see where it's "Pokémon Emerald but the gym leaders are all Double Battles" or "Pokémon Fire Red but the whole 386 Pokédex is available", are all actually good templates to follow as learning exercises.
There is no starting point too small. So, pick a point and start.
For me, I came to really enjoy mapping. I'd edit the base maps, learn about movement permissions, and the little character 'events', and how they were configured to walk around. Then I eventually learned about the tiles of these maps and how they were structured, and eventually started making my own. One map leads to another and eventually I had a little region started for myself.
I'll stop here at the risk of bombarding you with text. I also must recommend YouTube for tutorials; while this site has a plethora of excellent guides, sometimes it can be so much more helpful to hear someone explain something in real-time, so bear that in mind as you start playing around with things.
Happy hacking to you!
