To me, it's gotta have easy-ish advancement, like I should know where to go when I need to go there, no hand holding, just like a solid directive at all times, if not just a name of a town or route. The worst times I've had playing Hacks, and even the actual games is when the game is super cryptic, or just doesn't tell you anything at all. If there are Fakemon, they have to look somewhat decent. Like better then I would make in half-an-hour. Tiles-wise, I don't really care about the tiles, as long as they aren't lazily done. Actually, here's what makes one good for me: A solid clear story line (Not like B/W/B2/W2, where you just go in a straight line the whole time), sprites that had time put into them, and a decent success rate, what I mean is that the game doesn't pull cheap gimmicks over your head. Just for an example, in Pokemon Fire Red: Generations, Misty's first Pokemon is a Luvdisc that knows Sweet Kiss, Lovely Kiss, Attract, and Water Pulse. That is the most annoying move set ever! You HAVE to one hit the thing or else you have to deal with luck through sleep, confusion, and infatuation! Anyways, rant over, Those things make a good game IMO!