The good and old feeling of exploration

Hi! First time here, what an awesome community you all have.

I want to talk about something with all of you. Do you remember the feeling of being in a undiscovered world a wonderful place with a lot of awesome creatures? Well as may know this feeling belong to the past, the new Pokemon games are no longer about adventure, game freak change their level desing and motives.

I want that feeling back, and my only hope are this rom hacks. I've played a few like the awesome Crystal Clear, this rom is a perfect example of what I'm talking about.

Now I'm asking for your help guys, share with me roms that make you feel this way, share with me your adventures.

Thanks for reading!

I'm sure you've already played rocket red edition but if not it's pretty awesome. Also gs chronicles has been fun.

Definitely will try rocket red, it looks awesome, a very original premise. Thanks!

A big part of that feeling has to do with the art direction's choice of perspective. The maps for gen 1 and 2 games aren't actually all that big. Recreate them in a 3D environment with a free camera and they feel lifeless, small, and empty.

The reality is that the gameboy had a small screen with a 66mm diagonal length. The direction called for a fixed overhead view that is focused to an area of 9 by 10 character spaces. While it's enough to keep the screen from feeling cramped, the player's view is constrained quite a bit. This constraining does a lot to make the maps feel much bigger than they really are, and it encourages the player to explore around to see what lies beyond the edge of the very limited screen. Frankly, modern Pokémon games lose this because the player sees too much.

When you think about it, your typical 1st route should be about 2 screens by 3 screens in size. And your character should take up about 10% of a screen. This assumes the viewing angle is a top view.

Move to a behind-the-shoulder view and suddenly you need maps to be a lot bigger to maintain the illusion. You need more buildings, rock formations, trees, and other things that block line of sight in order to compensate and make the area feel filled.