Pokémon Aquamarine Version

Hey-o!

So, I have a general, pretty vague idea for a Pokémon hack I want to make, most likely based on FireRed. The basic premise is that I want to make essentially a sixth Generation III game, link compatibility and all, meaning no new… anything that can be transferred to another game via link functionality, so no new Pokémon, moves, items, abilities, or anything like that.
The title "Aquamarine" was chosen for kind of fitting both naming schemes for Generation III handheld games at once. There's a type of jewel called an aquamarine, and it also could be read as "AquaMarine [Blue]", matching the "ElementColor" naming scheme of FireRed and LeafGreen.

The thing is, I do still want it to be interesting and fun and worth playing. Some basic ideas I had for things I want to include in it were…

• A story with a greater focus on the journey the protagonists go through rather than on stopping the enemy team. For example, characters such as the rival would have more fleshed-out characterization and personal arcs. The story would, however, remain within the series' usual E, maybe E10+ parameters.
• A large region full of secrets to uncover in the form of rare Pokémon, items, locations, story details, and more.
• What I certainly hope is a somewhat more inclusive character creation setup with adjusted options at the start of the game. Instead of choosing between playing as a boy or a girl, the player chooses whether to use a "Cool" or "Cute" appearance, with both appearances being relatively gender-neutral, and the player being referred to exclusively in ways that do not specify gender in the main game. While I would just add a third option to the list, doing it the way I've outlined was chosen in order to retain…
• Full link functionality with Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, FireRed, and LeafGreen versions, as well as, hopefully, Pokémon Colosseum and XD: Gale of Darkness. While this wouldn't matter much for those simply emulating the game, it would be a lovely feature to have for anyone who'd rather opt for a reproduction cartridge.
• Access to Johto Pokémon that do not appear in Hoenn's Regional 'Dex, such as Pineco or Sneasel, within the main game. (i.e. before postgame)
• Access to certain limited Pokémon that are no longer legitimately available in Generation III, such as Mew, Celebi, Jirachi, and Deoxys. These Pokémon's acquisition circumstances would be fine-tuned to match legitimate acquisition specifications, so as to permit their transfer all the way through to Generation VII.

The thing is, one thing I definitely want is for the game to be relatively easy to create a fully-functioning reproduction cartridge of, should somebody want to commission one—or build one themselves—in order to play the game on actual Nintendo hardware. I don't know what issues the real-time clock may present for the creation of a full-featured physical cartridge, but if they are relatively easy to manage for skilled repro cart creators, I'd totally be open to using Emerald as a base instead of FireRed and implementing things like Berry-growing, daily events, Secret Bases, Contests, etc… Even day and night, if possible.

I was just wondering if anybody had any feedback on this! I realize it's still a pretty simple and basic idea, but I thought it'd still be helpful to hear what people have to say!

Gosh, thanks! I'm really flattered you think so, and that's certainly the goal I'll be aiming for!

Also, I looked it up, and it turns out that full link functionality with the official GBA installments should be totally workable! I had kinda suspected this, but it looks like issues only crop up when data that would be used during multiplayer activities is modified; in the case of Pokémon, this means data for Pokémon, moves, holdable items, and abilities.
If that data was different between the two games, it'd cause funkiness during trading and all kinds of potentially disastrous mishaps during link battles.
However, if it's left alone, as was my plan, everything should work just fine, provided the data for the link activities themselves isn't tampered with or anything.
Not sure about compatibility with the Orre games or Generation IV Pal Park transfer, though, but those can be worked around by sending Pokémon through an official GBA installment as an in-between, anyway.

And, I also have some more info to share! I feel a little foolish for neglecting it in my opening post, but I can share it here, too!

First, the game will use the Johto starter trio, as the Kanto and Hoenn starters are already easily available through FireRed/LeafGreen and Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald, respectively!

Next, I have a few character concepts!

• The PROTAGONIST (AQUA*): An adventurous youth from the big city's residential district who dreams of traveling the world alongside Pokémon companions, aiming for the ultimate goal of becoming a Pokémon Master.
• The RIVAL (BRIAR): A troubled kid whose original home is unknown, and who moved to the protagonist's hometown as a very young child following some sort of event they and their family don't seem comfortable talking about. Briar and the protagonist are the same age, and the two have been friends since childhood. Briar suffers from fairly severe social anxiety, and as a result, they can come off as blunt, snarky, or cold when interacting with strangers. However, Briar is an extremely caring, thoughtful, and devoted friend to those they trust and feel comfortable around. Briar, Thomas, and the protagonist all leave home together to explore the region, take on the Pokémon League challenge, and complete the Pokédex. Briar uses the Starter Pokémon with the type advantage against the protagonist's.
• PROFESSOR MELANIE REDWOOD: A kindly—but scatterbrained—old Pokémon researcher whose house and laboratory aren't far from the homes of the protagonists. Professor Redwood is a restless busybody who works passionately on several projects at once, and has a tendency to get lost in her work. As her constantly-packed schedule prevents her from going gallivanting across the region tracking down all its numerous Pokémon species, she instead enlists Briar, her grandson Thomas, and the protagonist to assist her with the momentous undertaking.
• THOMAS REDWOOD: Professor Redwood's friendly and gentle-hearted grandson. While he is friends with the protagonist and Briar, he hasn't known either of them for quite as long as they've known each other. Chatty around strangers and quick with a smile, Thomas makes many friends wherever he goes. While he isn't as interested in becoming a Pokémon Master or defeating the Elite Four as the protagonist and Briar are, he nonetheless adores Pokémon and derives great joy and fulfillment from exploring and discovering new Pokémon species. He, Briar, and the protagonist all leave home together to explore the region, take on the Pokémon League challenge, and complete the Pokédex. Thomas uses the Starter Pokémon with the type disadvantage against the protagonist's.

*While I would say that the protagonist doesn't have a true "canon" name, this is the default, version-based name that I would have be used for them in spinoff media and such as a placeholder, equivalent to "Red" and "Blue" for the Kanto protagonist and rival, respectively.

Now, Gym Leaders! I thought it would be neat to base them around the unused badges in Pokémon Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow's item data! Rest assured, while their names are currently undecided, they will, of course, be puns based on their specialty types. What I have thus far, with no particular planned in-game battle order, is...

• An Electric-type Gym Leader. They give the Crackle Badge. (かみなりバッヂ lit. Thunder/Lightning Badge)
• A Gym Leader whose type specialty could be one of multiple possibilities, but I'm thinking Bug- or Water-type. Their strongest Pokémon will be either a Pineco/Forretress or a Shellder/Cloyster, and they give the Shell Badge. (かいがらバッヂ)
• A Psychic-, Ghost-, or possibly even Ground-type Gym Leader. A highly compassionate and spiritual individual who gives the Haven Badge. (おじぞうバッヂ lit. Ksitigarbha Badge)
• A Flying-type Gym Leader. They give the Falcon Badge. (はやぶさバッヂ, lit. [Peregrine] Falcon Badge)
• An Ice-type Gym Leader. They give the Chill Badge. (ひんやりバッヂ lit. Cool Badge; "cool" being meant in the temperature sense)
• A Dark-type Gym Leader. They are the final Gym Leader, and they give the Trust Badge, (なかよしバッヂ lit. Friendship Badge) being passionate about the importance of showing compassionate and extending one's hand in friendship even to outcasts and misfits. In keeping with this theme of friendship, their strongest Pokémon is Umbreon.
• A showy, romantic florist and Grass-type Gym Leader. They give the Rose Badge. (バラバッヂ)
• A Fire-type Gym Leader. They give the Blaze Badge. (ひのたまバッヂ lit. Fireball Badge)

Keep in mind that the badge name lengths had to be shortened in some cases to fit the twelve-character limit for item names! Additionally, a different word was picked for the English name of the かみなりバッヂ to avoid overlap with Lt. Surge's Thunder Badge, and the unused Gold Badge (ゴールドバッヂ) was passed over due to the name having been used for Sabrina's Marsh Badge—with the spelling changed to ゴールドバッジ—in the Japanese version of the final game.
Also, if anybody has better translations for those Japanese badge names, or better ideas for localized names for those with significantly-changed names, feel free to let me know! But do remember that the name can't end up longer than twelve characters total—i.e. counting "...Badge"—and won't be used if it overlaps with the name of a canon Gym Badge!

Finally, here are all the Pokémon that are absolutely, definitely going to be available within the game's region without trading!


Please note that this is not going to be the complete Pokémon roster! These are just all the Pokémon I definitely want to include, either due to their sparsity within the Generation III games, or due to their traditional ubiquity within the series. My end goal for Pokémon roster size is somewhere around 200, and I am, in fact, looking for ideas for more Pokémon to include to make the roster more robust, diverse, and balanced, so if anybody has any Generation I~III Pokémon in mind that they think would compliment or balance out this list, please don't hesitate to share!

Would be interesting to see it turn into a Hack.
Looking forward to it :)

So, I've been having a lot of thoughts about this idea lately, and some pretty major things came up that I feel I should run by people.

Firstly, it came to my attention that there were unused Pok?mon game title trademarks for Topaz, Tourmaline, and Moonstone versions for Generation III, which, while obviously provisional names for the projects that would go on to become Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, intrigued me nonetheless, and I had a thought:

What if there was a set of three Pok?mon games with a "Three Central Characters" similar to Generations IV and V, but which version you choose determines which one of their roles is filled by the player character?

My thought was that each of these characters/roles would have two designs, to fill out the "Cute"/"Cool" style options for each version, and between both games they weren't the player character in, each design would get used in one game. i.e., the protagonist of Moonstone uses their Cute design in Topaz and their Cool design in Tourmaline, and the player's choice of the two in Moonstone. That's just an example.

Additionally, the relative starter advantages would remain consistent between games. Using the default version names as character names a la Red, Blue, and Leaf/Green, let's say? Topaz beats Tourmaline beats Moonstone beats Topaz, in terms of starter selection. So if you're playing Topaz version, Tourmaline would have the starter that yours beats, while Moonstone would play the Rival-like role with the starter that beats yours. Similarly, if you were playing Moonstone version, while you would have the advantage against Topaz, Tourmaline would be your "rival" instead, having the starter that has the edge against the one you picked.

This is probably the biggest part of this idea, but I also had the thought that, depending upon the version, you'd take a different path through the game's region, with wild and trainer Pok?mon rosters and levels in various areas adjusted accordingly between versions, in addition to the usual adjustments to account for exclusive Pok?mon.

They would all follow largely the same story, but from different perspectives, and the times and locations in which the characters' paths would intersect would be kept consistent between games, too, so you'd be able to see the same rival encounters from both sides, and rival characters would each use at least one exclusive from the game they represent in each of their three possible teams.

I also had a few other ideas, such as the first three Elite Four members being fought in a different order and possibly with different teams in each version such that each one gets to be in each placement on the battle order lineup exactly once. The fourth Elite Four battle will be consistent across versions, because it's the most fleshed-out and there are reasons why it has to be the final of the four.

Additionally, on the subject of the region, I was thinking of trying to incorporate the Sevii Islands into it, as probably-unoriginal an idea as that is, because I really do like them as areas and feel they're deserving of more elaboration and focus. I sorta did my best to cram them all onto an Emerald-sized map, here, and linked them together. I'm taking some liberties with their supposed distance from each other in order to make a more fun and interconnected region layout.



The thing is, this is still pretty small for a region layout, even with the added "routes" and other areas. I already have an idea for what I want to put in that empty area in the center of the islands, but there's still a gigantic open space encompassing? pretty much the entire western half of the region map. I'm thinking of basing that half off of Shikoku, since Cianwood City is really the only location that's located on the Pok?mon world version of that island, and the Kanto, Chubu, Kansai, and Ky?sh? + Okinawa areas are already accounted for in Kanto, Johto, and Hoenn, respectively; the equivalent geography of real-life Chubu would be the middle section of the combined Kanto+Johto area.

What do you all think?

Incidentally, the red bar on the bottom represents the place where the bottom UI elements of the Pok?Nav come up, and I'm treating that as the effective lower border of the non-cosmetic aspects of the map. In keeping with the official region maps from Generation III games, there must be at least a one 8x8-pixel tile buffer between any visitable area and any given map border. The region name label in the upper right-hand corner is also being treated as effectively a "border", as well, for these purposes.

Topaz Light said:

Hey-o!

So, I have a general, pretty vague idea for a Pokémon hack I want to make, most likely based on FireRed. The basic premise is that I want to make essentially a sixth Generation III game, link compatibility and all, meaning no new… anything that can be transferred to another game via link functionality, so no new Pokémon, moves, items, abilities, or anything like that.
The title "Aquamarine" was chosen for kind of fitting both naming schemes for Generation III handheld games at once. There's a type of jewel called an aquamarine, and it also could be read as "AquaMarine [Blue]", matching the "ElementColor" naming scheme of FireRed and LeafGreen.

The thing is, I do still want it to be interesting and fun and worth playing. Some basic ideas I had for things I want to include in it were…

• A story with a greater focus on the journey the protagonists go through rather than on stopping the enemy team. For example, characters such as the rival would have more fleshed-out characterization and personal arcs. The story would, however, remain within the series' usual E, maybe E10+ parameters.
• A large region full of secrets to uncover in the form of rare Pokémon, items, locations, story details, and more.
• What I certainly hope is a somewhat more inclusive character creation setup with adjusted options at the start of the game. Instead of choosing between playing as a boy or a girl, the player chooses whether to use a "Cool" or "Cute" appearance, with both appearances being relatively gender-neutral, and the player being referred to exclusively in ways that do not specify gender in the main game. While I would just add a third option to the list, doing it the way I've outlined was chosen in order to retain…
• Full link functionality with Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, FireRed, and LeafGreen versions, as well as, hopefully, Pokémon Colosseum and XD: Gale of Darkness. While this wouldn't matter much for those simply emulating the game, it would be a lovely feature to have for anyone who'd rather opt for a reproduction cartridge.
• Access to Johto Pokémon that do not appear in Hoenn's Regional 'Dex, such as Pineco or Sneasel, within the main game. (i.e. before postgame)
• Access to certain limited Pokémon that are no longer legitimately available in Generation III, such as Mew, Celebi, Jirachi, and Deoxys. These Pokémon's acquisition circumstances would be fine-tuned to match legitimate acquisition specifications, so as to permit their transfer all the way through to Generation VII.

The thing is, one thing I definitely want is for the game to be relatively easy to create a fully-functioning reproduction cartridge of, should somebody want to commission one—or build one themselves—in order to play the game on actual Nintendo hardware. I don't know what issues the real-time clock may present for the creation of a full-featured physical cartridge, but if they are relatively easy to manage for skilled repro cart creators, I'd totally be open to using Emerald as a base instead of FireRed and implementing things like Berry-growing, daily events, Secret Bases, Contests, etc… Even day and night, if possible.

I was just wondering if anybody had any feedback on this! I realize it's still a pretty simple and basic idea, but I thought it'd still be helpful to hear what people have to say!

Click to expand...

I get what you're saying about everything being link compatible, because in the past I wanted to do this. But I'd have to vote against it. Here's why.

Maybe 10 years ago, people were trading pokemon from Rom Hacks/bootleg romhack carts onto legitimate games. But that's simply not the case anymore. The people that are migrating Pokémon from gen 3 games all the way up to Sun & Moon today are few and far between. Additionally, most people are playing Rom hacks on their Android or tablet, so trading wont be an issue anyway. If their emulator supports trading, then you have a great point, it could cause confusion and problems, BUT if their emulator supports trading, nothing is stopping them from trading with other Rom hack games anyway that DO have different Pokémon and fakemon and it will cause the same confusion and problems.

I think when you're making a ROM hack, it's best to assume they're going to play solo, because most people do anyway. If they do go and trade, the player knows the consequences.

Additionally, with the amount of ROM hacks that are out now and how many new ones are constantly appearing, and the fact that there's about 1000 pokemon now, you're gonna want to add different Pokémon just to stay competitive.

That's just my opinion though, not sure if you or anyone else feels that way also, but that's how I see it

Mega Swadloon said:

I get what you're saying about everything being link compatible, because in the past I wanted to do this. But I'd have to vote against it. Here's why.

Maybe 10 years ago, people were trading pokemon from Rom Hacks/bootleg romhack carts onto legitimate games. But that's simply not the case anymore. The people that are migrating Pokémon from gen 3 games all the way up to Sun & Moon today are few and far between. Additionally, most people are playing Rom hacks on their Android or tablet, so trading wont be an issue anyway. If their emulator supports trading, then you have a great point, it could cause confusion and problems, BUT if their emulator supports trading, nothing is stopping them from trading with other Rom hack games anyway that DO have different Pokémon and fakemon and it will cause the same confusion and problems.

I think when you're making a ROM hack, it's best to assume they're going to play solo, because most people do anyway. If they do go and trade, the player knows the consequences.

Additionally, with the amount of ROM hacks that are out now and how many new ones are constantly appearing, and the fact that there's about 1000 pokemon now, you're gonna want to add different Pokémon just to stay competitive.

That's just my opinion though, not sure if you or anyone else feels that way also, but that's how I see it

Click to expand...

This is definitely a legitimate point!

However, I'm afraid that I'm pretty much settled on not adding new Pokémon or otherwise creating incongruities with official Generation III games that would affect link compatibility. A significant part of the appeal of making fan projects like this for me is that, because there's no legal way for me to make money off of them, there's no reason to even try, removing the necessity to attempt to maximize consumer base size as a factor and allowing me to focus on just creating what I, personally, want to create, without worrying about some decisions costing the work "customers". Seeing as I'm not making it for money, anyway, and that I'm completely fine with what I create not being everyone's cup of tea, why not just make it 100% a passion project based on what I want to do?

Authenticity is another thing that's important to me, at least on some levels. Since I am myself and not Satoshi Tajiri, or Junichi Masuda, or even a part of GameFreak or Creatures Inc. at all, of course I'm not going to make a hack that's exactly what a theoretical third set of official Generation III GBA Pokémon titles would've been like, but I do want to make my hack something that, while still possessing its own unique personality and appeal, at least doesn't feel jarringly out-of-place next to RSE and FRLG. To me, a big part of that is taking into account things that I feel the official Pokémon developers would be and historically have been conscious of when adding new games to an existing Pokémon generation, and one of those things is link compatibility with existing installments. This likely sounds like an unusual thing to be hung up over, and, to be frank, it probably is, but please understand that this is a conscious, willing decision on my part, and not something that I feel constrained into doing and would opt not to do if I felt that that was a legitimate option.

I absolutely don't mean to imply with any of this that I'm going to be ignoring feedback, because that's most certainly not the case. However, the feedback I will primarily be looking for will be that which pertains to stuff along the lines of game balance, writing quality, the pacing of either of those two aspects of the game, etc., rather than the underlying broader plans and concepts behind—and my personal goals in making—the game… Essentially, I absolutely want to hear what people have to say about how well I'm making what I'm making, but if their suggestion is just that I make something else, well, I'm afraid those folks will simply have to look elsewhere. I hope that's understandable.

I do not get why you are trying to make this into a hack that could easily be turned into a cartridge.
Because those who take hacks and convert them into cartridge and sell for money are gonna do it anyway.Most of them dont ask for permission either, they just do it and gain money off of it.

in the end you're only gonna make their job easier.

otherwise it sounds like a pretty solid and wholesome hack. good luck!

Very late reply, but the reason has to do with my stance on reproduction cartridges in general.

If you're getting them from a reputable distributor who's upfront about what they are, I tend to see the money paid as being given not in exchange for the game itself, but rather in exchange for the service of putting the game onto a fully-functional cartridge for whatever game system it's for.
I should hope it's generally understood that both you and honest reproduction cartridge creators know that if all you want is just to play the game at all, it's very easy to avoid paying for it.

So, my intent is to make it easy to put on a cartridge so people can play it on flash carts or commission reproduction cartridges in order to play it on actual hardware.

I also intend to have the game open with a disclaimer similar to what was done for the Mother 3 fan translation, so it'll be immediately-obvious to anybody playing that it's a fan-made game and not official, and to attempt get their money back if they were scammed by a disreputable reproduction cartridge seller.

Additionally, if someone were to get scammed into buying a cartridge for the game without getting it from a reputable reproduction cartridge seller, well, that's not their fault, and I don't wanna punish them for it. The goal of bootleggers is just to make the sale at all; once they've made it, I doubt they really care how the buyer feels about what they got out of it as long as they don't give the bootlegger trouble for it, and I doubt they're terribly appreciative of repeat customers, so making the game not play nice with being on a cartridge really doesn't hurt the bootleggers nearly as much as it hurts the people buying the game, whose fault the situation isn't.

For my part, since I would be the one responsible for the contents of that cartridge, I'd want to make it so that the person buying it at least gets a solid, fully-playable game out of it, even if they were scammed, which the game itself would be set to warn them about upon booting it up.