What's your "must-have" feature when choosing a hack to play?

Many ROM hack players have a certain feature that's non-negotiable for them - if a hack doesn't have something, it will make them much less likely to try it. As examples, some people won't play a hack that doesn't contain the Physical/Special/Status split, or Mega Evolution. I don't have any "non negotiable" features myself, but I do love to see a custom region! It's awesome to see what kinds of worlds people build and explore a totally new and unique set of towns, cities and landmarks.

It's not really a feature as such, but I prefer a game that feels fast. So typically that means short dialogue, few cut scenes, either quick or little backtracking, and no more than a few mandatory trainers on each route.

If we're talking about real features. Hmm… I've never seen a hack with it, but automatically fully-healing your party after each battle would guarantee I'd try it.

Auto-run. Once you've experienced it, there's no going back. Holding the B-button or fast forward just to move quicker is a pain.

I think an expanded bag space is also must. Being only able to only hold 42 items and having to use the PC to store the rest is just annoying. There's isn't much worse than finding an item in the middle of a route and not having space for it.

I think the physical/special split is a must-have feature nowadays. It's part of the core series since 2006, so that's 14 years now. It's really awkward to go back to 3rd gen mechanics.

Otherwise, I personally prefer to play games in new regions, rather than playing a re-imagination of Hoenn or Kanto. But what's more important is the polish. It should *feel* like an official game. Gaia does this really well, among others.

Pokemon expansion definately is one of the most valuable feature to add to a rom,in the end this is what we are about....Pokémons,
so the more the better

Feature wise, nothing really. As long as it's solid Pokémon Gameplay I'm alright.

Graphics are where I lie.
I like the graphics to make sense.
Few tile errors, no graphic style clashing. Etc.

So, everything fits, no Gen V graphics with Gen III etc. That stuff looks super bad.

I personally prefer hacks and fan games that will at least show me IVs and EVs with exact numbers and no graphs like in base game Sun and Moon.

I like it even more if there is a way to improve IVs in game. I played Reborn with a mod that made it so when I maxed an EV stat it could reset the EV to 0 and improved its IV stat by 1. I thought it was a really good design choice for the mod so that later in the game I could grind my pokemon I had always been using to be strong enough for the end game fights like the gauntlet.

Propably working codes. Things like codebreakers, action replays and gamesharks. I'm using "cheats" to bypass designed limitations.

For instance:
- Wild modifiers. Don't want to play around with starters that are (once again) forced on me. I would rather gather a small team on my own. Don't need help. Advanced Starter won't change scenario in my case.
- Don't want to "catch'em all". And especially legendary ones for that is simply dumb. I remember playing Gold remake not to long ago. Developers there were pretty much forcing pokemons on the player - even legendaries. For what reason? If you remove a core of a legend from a legend, then you're also making this pokemon world soulless. Legends should be -by my own standards- unobtainable. Out there for imagination only - and also to keep things in perspective. But never reduced to a battle item or record in a pokedex.
- Walk through walls/No dark-like effect. Don't want to use stupid HMs like "flash", "rock smash" or "cut". These are a waste of space! And why even Pokemon are doing everything? This stupid trainer is just using them left and right becase His Path Must be Unobstructed? I believe that this trainer of ours should do something more than just use others. If you can't progress on you own then what type of a champion are you? Paper-made tiger? Hence i usually gather HMs and then use walk-through walls on rocks, bushes and water. I have the designed option unlocked, but won't touch it. My dude can bypass silly obstacles and swim. He can't fly; he ain't from Baam so no wings on him. Flash doesn't make any sense to me and never did. Every damn phone in our world has this basic feature called "flashlight". Don't tell me that this hyper-advanced pokedex can't even do that...
- Nature/EV/IV settings. I can save an abstract amounts of time during ev/iv training with codes. This is not for competitive purposes outside the game; just for my pure entertainment. It's not a very important thing but a feature. A small thing to do really, so why wasting hours after hours?
- Teaching techniques that are by default unlearnable to a certain Pokemon. I like "Bullet Punch". I would like if Aggron could use that. He can't. Unless i use codes. I mean, the move makes sense so why not?

Those are all just a small details but for me those are opening many doors.

I love Nuzlocke friendly hacks with raised difficulty where I have to think about every move I make to even be able to succeed in a simple trainer battle. Even forcing me to restart multiple times because I wiped out.
GOD-like features:
- A solid variety of mons on each route so that my team is unique every single play through.
- Forcing me to buy and use heal items instead of abusing the free health care systems like Pokemon Centers and alike.
- Pseudo Legendary should feel like a huge deal to the point where I'm literally jumping in my seat celebrating when I finally get my hands on one.

Quality of life changes are always welcomed, but not at all necessary for me personally.
Less important features:
- Revamped Movepools and Abilities.
- Expanded Pokedex.
- Custom sprites, HUD, OW, tiles etc.

I don't mind a story as long as it's secondary to the actual game-play. I simply can't expect the average hacker to make a solid story, but original concepts helps a lot.
And yeah, I refuse to use cheats what-so-ever. I'm here to play the game bro.

i hate it when there is lots of pokemons in each route.
i love it when they add more pokemons to trainers + make their A.i smarter.
till now ive never seen a gba/ds game with these two combined
i tried dray's hacks
they fulfill the difficulty change but too many pokemons fills ur party so early on.

I love good original stories, but the things I find it difficult to pass up are updated battle mechanics, movesets and abilities. I'm a big fan of some of the newer, more imaginative pokemon abilities and signature moves, although anything up to at least gen 6 is okay for me.

I play anything that sounds interesting, but any hack where you play as the evil team is almost guaranteed to have my full attention

A hack that actually changes the story would be great. There are a lot that just change text or some events, but keep you with the same route as base game, and that's really boring. Also, difficulty hacks usually just level up some trainers, Wich is not harder, but slower.

PSS split and running anywhere are must-have features for me. To be able to reuse TM is also nice, but not mandatory.

Not really "must haves" (except one) but there are a few things I look forward the most in ROM hacks / Fan-based games.

1 - A more interesting and engaging story than your standard formula of "catch 'em all" or being the "chosen one".
2 - Multiple choices / branching story-line, side-quests, mini-games and events (Optional but preferable).
3 - HMs as items so I don't have to carry HM slaves with me or waste a move space on them.
4 - Being able to evolve Pokemon without trading.
5 - Character customization or at least gender selection (I don't play games gender-locked to male, sorry)
6 - Planting berries and using apricorns. (Optional)
7 - Hidden items and places. (Optional)
8 - Pokemon following me. (Optional)
9 - Fakemon. Because it brings back that sense of discovery, like when we played for the first time. (Optional).
10 - Anything that doesn't use FireRed vanilla graphics. A bit tired of those by now... (Optional)

Good topic. But I really play any hack but it has to be In (sorry caps) ENGLISH. That's only my main requirement cause I like to know what's going on story wise but I also guess it has to be playable because I've played hacks that are so buggy I don't enjoy them. But that's all. Have a good day.

Honestly for me it's mainly to do with a new interesting story. I don't like something funny but something more serious Ie Ruby Destiny games, I also enjoy when a game has some new pokemon mixed with the familiar ones we all know and love.

For me it's a whole new story that captivates you like must I say pokemon glazed. Also having multiple gens to work with adds a whole new level of strategy when it comes to choosing your team.

After being spoiled by Pokemon Saffron, I'd have to say I won't be fully satisfied with a hack unless they make HMs obsolete and replace them with something else that won't waste a move slot on my Pokemon.

I used to think stuff like this was only possible in fan games (replacing HMs with custom Key Items), but after seeing what Pokemon Saffron was able to achieve (only needing a Pokemon that CAN learn Cut, but not actually learn Cut itself to take down trees, replacing Surf with Swimming Goggles, etc.), I'd say more hack makers should do the same.

I get how others try to use the band-aid solution of buffing HMs, but imo that's just not enough; I'd like it so that ALL my Pokemon's moves are forgettable every time. It gets annoying after awhile to have to repeatedly Fly to the Town with the Move Deleter to free up a slot then Fly to another Town with the Move Relearner (looking at you Pokemon Gaia lmao).

Definitly physical/special split and a great selection of Pokémon from all the generation in the regional Dex