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First Hack of the Quarter - 2012

Hack of the Quarter?

  • Pokémon CrystalDust

    Votes: 69 27.2%
  • Pokémon Snakewood

    Votes: 117 46.1%
  • Pokémon Dark Future

    Votes: 68 26.8%

  • Total voters
    254
  • Poll closed .

PokemonGiratinaX

2015 Edition.
299
Posts
12
Years
SnakeWood

I have vote Snakewood because it have a new storyline and new Pokemon. I also liked it because it have a "Zombie Theme" and that is rare to find in many Pokemon Hack. Also, I like the reference and the new character in this hack.
 
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marcc5m

what
1,116
Posts
13
Years
So you didn't vote for CrystalDust just because it's a remake? I'm okay with you voting for Snakewood, but being a remake doesn't mean that it's a bad hack, and you're supposed to judge based on quality, not necessarily originality.

I will vote on every aspect of the hack, including originality. In my opinion there is no point in making a remake when there are a countless amount of them already out there, the reason Shiny Gold was loved so much is because it was new, it hadn't been done and everyone wanted a remake. Now we have Shiny Gold, Liquid Crystal, Oro Sole, that one on WAH, the one ZodiacDaGreat made, tons of newbies have tried to make one, your own hack, and even Game Freak made remakes.

Now think about it. Do we really need another one? Seriously? No thinking goes into it, you're not writing your own plot, you're not making your own sprites--well, other than the few people that take a sprite from the originals and change the colours on it thinking it looks good--you're not making your own maps, you're barely doing anything at all, you're porting Game Freak's work from their game into yours.

I'm not saying your hack is bad, it could be a really amazing hack, but I don't feel we need more remakes, there are very few original hacks out there, Snakewood is without a doubt one of the most original, whereas remakes are the least. I think Snakewood has tons of flaws, but I'm voting for it because it is more original than the others and new hackers should be aspiring to make something that will have people gripped and entertained, something different that people can gain ideas from, as a community should, instead of something that everyone and their mother has done.
 

machomuu

Stuck in Hot Girl Summer
10,507
Posts
15
Years
So far Crystal Dust is very impressive, it may be a mostly pure remake, but as a hacker, I appreciate all of the work put into it and how it was utilized (seriously, the use of ASM is mindblowing). The music melds so well with the voicegroups, it's really commendable, and the sprites look professional, all of which I appreciate; heck, you'd think it was an official game. I still have to try the other two, but if they are anywhere near as impressive...well, I'll be anticipating great things in the future of Pokemon Rom Hacking.
 
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Murkrow

Nasty Plotting
576
Posts
16
Years
  • Seen Nov 13, 2023
So far Crystal Dust is very impressive, it may be a mostly pure remake, but as a hacker, I appreciate all of the work put into it and how it was utilized (seriously, the use of ASM is mindblowing). The music melds so well with the voicegroups, it's really commendable, and the sprites look professional, all of which I appreciate; heck, you'd think it was an official game. I still have to try the other two, but if they are anywhere near as impressive...well, I'll be anticipating great things in the future of Pokemon Rom Hacking.

if all that hacking prowess had been used for say, Snakewood with its more original story (and maybe refined a little). Was precisely thinking if Snakewood has better graphics/sounds/ASM...perhaps some grimy L4D2/Fallout esque post apocalyptic tilesets/mapping plus better designed sprites for the Fakemon (rather than just recolor), woot. What about custom music relating to zombie themed pop culture? We would easily had ourself a Hack of the Year.

Felt it was wasted on a hack which already has countless remakes. Already have more than enough my fill of nostalgia playing HGSS/Shiny Gold/LiquidCrystal/Gen2 hacks etc thank you.
 
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145
Posts
11
Years
  • Seen May 30, 2013
if all that hacking prowess had been used for say, Snakewood with its more original story (and maybe refined a little). Was precisely thinking if Snakewood has better graphics/sounds/ASM...perhaps some grimy L4D2/Fallout esque post apocalyptic tilesets/mapping plus better designed sprites for the Fakemon (rather than just recolor), woot. What about custom music relating to zombie themed pop culture? We would easily had ourself a Hack of the Year.

Felt it was wasted on a hack which already has countless remakes. Already have more than enough my fill of nostalgia playing HGSS/Shiny Gold/LiquidCrystal/Gen2 hacks etc thank you.

That's sort of missing Cutlerine's point. Snakewood was his successful attempt of showing that a good storyline can make a hack go as far as decent graphics and sprites. But when it comes to ASM, I'm pretty sure that with the twisted Hoenn setting, there could be quite a lot of potential.

Returning to Crystal Dust. Even though the game is highly refined and is of excellent quality, it sort of lacks in originality. ShinyGold is only famous as it was one of the first attempts at re-creating Johto with a Gen. III engine. Nowadays, there is not only Crystal Dust, several other small attempts at re-making Johto, and ShinyGold, but the official DS remakes (HG/SS), and even the more game-wise advanced Liquid Crystal.

Dark future also seems interesting with a few original concepts like Snakewood, and I will likely play it once it is finished. Especially since this may be an unique experience, considering how rare are the Gen I and Gen II hacks.

Like I said above, every hack has its own charms, so this "X hack is the worst hack ever because I didn't like Y." is really getting old.
 

machomuu

Stuck in Hot Girl Summer
10,507
Posts
15
Years
^That's really the point of CD, though. Crystal Dust is so impressive simply because it's a pure remake, something I usually loathe. It uses advanced and creative hacking techniques to replicate that of GSC, rather than taking liberties to make something new at the expense of various features. Thus, it is original in it's own right, as no other game actually does what it does, I'd say decrying the game for that would be a mistake, but it's subjective.

if all that hacking prowess had been used for say, Snakewood with its more original story (and maybe refined a little). Was precisely thinking if Snakewood has better graphics/sounds/ASM...perhaps some grimy L4D2/Fallout esque post apocalyptic tilesets/mapping plus better designed sprites for the Fakemon (rather than just recolor), woot. What about custom music relating to zombie themed pop culture? We would easily had ourself a Hack of the Year.

Felt it was wasted on a hack which already has countless remakes. Already have more than enough my fill of nostalgia playing HGSS/Shiny Gold/LiquidCrystal/Gen2 hacks etc thank you.
Great, but I wasn't contributing to any argument or debate, I was just making a general statement.
 
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Cyclone

Eye of the Storm
3,331
Posts
11
Years
  • Seen Oct 3, 2016
if all that hacking prowess had been used for say, Snakewood with its more original story (and maybe refined a little). Was precisely thinking if Snakewood has better graphics/sounds/ASM...perhaps some grimy L4D2/Fallout esque post apocalyptic tilesets/mapping plus better designed sprites for the Fakemon (rather than just recolor), woot. What about custom music relating to zombie themed pop culture? We would easily had ourself a Hack of the Year.

Felt it was wasted on a hack which already has countless remakes. Already have more than enough my fill of nostalgia playing HGSS/Shiny Gold/LiquidCrystal/Gen2 hacks etc thank you.
I'm sorry, but I have to wholeheartedly disagree with you. Snakewood contains a lot of Fakemon in it. For me, a Pokémon hack should still be centered around the Pokémon. Not fake creations (see Quartz, where all 251 got makeovers with their existing stats). And the storyline, while there are interesting elements, takes away from a true Pokémon game by not requiring a Trainer to battle all of the Gym Leaders before the Elite 4. These two differences make it feel less like a Pokémon game. I admit the screenshots look great, but there's something to be said for visiting familiar places.

You also have to note the other real challenge here. CrystalDust is a remake of Crystal on the platform of EMERALD - I mean, if Diegos wants, he could stick Hoenn Pokémon all over Johto! They're already coded, nothing fake! He has a full 386 Pokémon to play with, and can even create new storylines right in the middle of the Crystal storyline if he wishes (see Millenium Comet with Jirachi, or a way to summon Deoxys by collecting certain items scattered across Johto and Kanto). And they're the real thing, not what Crystal itself would call "Fakemon".

In other words, I'd say redoing the entire G/S/C game here is a solid effort in the ROM hacking realm. It's definitely not a "waste of time". It's still a beta, not a finished product, and deserves support. Heck, I'm playing it right now as I type.

Cyclone
 

machomuu

Stuck in Hot Girl Summer
10,507
Posts
15
Years
There is a crapton of work put into Crystal Dust, and it's just plain inconsiderate to trash it because "it's been done". There are a bunch of games that have been done and redone in different ways and no one seems to care. The fact of the matter is, you're getting an option to play a game that someone put hours upon hours of work into creating, for free, I might add. Then to say "that work is wasted, it could be put to use on something better" is not only inconsiderate, it's almost downright criminal. Just plain disgusting. CD is a different take on GSC, and at the same time, it's the same take, but done differently than has been done before. It adds to the variety of choices, most of which are free, of GSC remake hacks, and you'll actually complain about this? Really? I doubt Snakewood's creator wouldn't be so happy hearing that his job could be done so much better, and then having all of the flaws of his hack pointed out. Oh, and he's doing this for free, too. It's just plain disgusting, and completely inconsiderate.
 
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SK3

Pokemon Hacking Company™ CEO
276
Posts
12
Years
My vote is split between Dark Future and CrystalDust, respectively.
I respect every hacker who has his hack represented in this competition, however I can honestly say, after playing, I did not enjoy Snakewood as much as I did Dark Future and CrystalDust. It did not feel like a Pokemon game to me. Although I am a person who respects originality, and am completely open to it, there is a certain point where you draw the line, the line being where you lose that "Pokemon feel". The zombies, the Fakemon, was a total turn-off for me. Not following Nintendo's footsteps when you make your hack can end up leading to something epic or something disappointing.

However, I'm not here to diss this hack, just share my experience with it. The amount of time and effort Cutlerine put towards it is very commendable. Considering he completed pretty the entire project by himself makes me respect him. However, I still enjoy the other two hacks more, because tons of effort were put into them as well, but they also came out to be very enjoyable (for me, at least). That's just my two cents :)
 

marcc5m

what
1,116
Posts
13
Years
I'm sorry, but I have to wholeheartedly disagree with you. Snakewood contains a lot of Fakemon in it. For me, a Pokémon hack should still be centered around the Pokémon. Not fake creations (see Quartz, where all 251 got makeovers with their existing stats). And the storyline, while there are interesting elements, takes away from a true Pokémon game by not requiring a Trainer to battle all of the Gym Leaders before the Elite 4. These two differences make it feel less like a Pokémon game. I admit the screenshots look great, but there's something to be said for visiting familiar places.

You also have to note the other real challenge here. CrystalDust is a remake of Crystal on the platform of EMERALD - I mean, if Diegos wants, he could stick Hoenn Pokémon all over Johto! They're already coded, nothing fake! He has a full 386 Pokémon to play with, and can even create new storylines right in the middle of the Crystal storyline if he wishes (see Millenium Comet with Jirachi, or a way to summon Deoxys by collecting certain items scattered across Johto and Kanto). And they're the real thing, not what Crystal itself would call "Fakemon".

In other words, I'd say redoing the entire G/S/C game here is a solid effort in the ROM hacking realm. It's definitely not a "waste of time". It's still a beta, not a finished product, and deserves support. Heck, I'm playing it right now as I type.

Cyclone

It's not just a hack, it's a fake Pokémon game, therefore a Fakémon game.
Try again.
 

Cyclone

Eye of the Storm
3,331
Posts
11
Years
  • Seen Oct 3, 2016
It's not just a hack, it's a fake Pokémon game, therefore a Fakémon game.
Try again.
If that is a reference to CrystalDust not being a legitimate Pokémon game, I hate to point out that you've just shot a remark against the entire Emulation forum (it's true BTW, none are official Pokémon games). Which includes Snakewood and Dark Future. I await your next volley.

If that was a reference to Snakewood, I wouldn't call it so much a Pokémon game as an original storyline using Fakemon mixed with standard Pokémon and zombies. Screens look nice, but it just seems blah to me.

Cyclone
 

NarutoActor

The rocks cry out to me
1,974
Posts
15
Years
if all that hacking prowess had been used for say, Snakewood with its more original story (and maybe refined a little). Was precisely thinking if Snakewood has better graphics/sounds/ASM...perhaps some grimy L4D2/Fallout esque post apocalyptic tilesets/mapping plus better designed sprites for the Fakemon (rather than just recolor), woot. What about custom music relating to zombie themed pop culture? We would easily had ourself a Hack of the Year.

Felt it was wasted on a hack which already has countless remakes. Already have more than enough my fill of nostalgia playing HGSS/Shiny Gold/LiquidCrystal/Gen2 hacks etc thank you.
You just named everything that should be in a hack, without it, it is just a story with trainers.

It surly was not wasted work, CD is a great addition to the Rom Hacking community.
 
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machomuu

Stuck in Hot Girl Summer
10,507
Posts
15
Years
You just named everything that should be in a hack, without it, it is just a story with trainers.

It surly was not wasted work, CD is a great addition to the Rom Hacking community.
Just because someone doesn't want new graphics doesn't make their hack bad (or mediocre). Besides, the point of his hack is to prove that with a good story any hack can be successful, and he's right. He's put a lot of work into his hackSeriously, you said you don't understand why it's so popular, but to find out you only have to do a few simple steps. There's no guidelines to becoming a great hack, it's completely subjective, and I don't think a game that doesn't have "uber nuw grafix" and "super awesome new sprites" instantly makes it better than one that doesn't (That's not to say it never can, because those types of things do attribute), if it has a crap story and crap characters (or crap gameplay, crap music, or crappy sprites or tiles), I'd rather take my chances with another hack, even if it has no new graphics, sprites, or music.
 
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Murkrow

Nasty Plotting
576
Posts
16
Years
  • Seen Nov 13, 2023
You just named everything that should be in a hack, without it, it is just a story with trainers.

It surly was not wasted work, CD is a great addition to the Rom Hacking community.

then do that. We need more of those hacks, not just the same old stuff that just spruced up prettily.

Why very few of that so far?

cos people are still sticking to the same old formula when making hacks, the same old concept from all the original games so far. Fight gyms, fight E4, fight "insert evil team here", get legendary, finish. Snake wood at least try to deviate from the norm, yet it is being put down for the same reason.

CD is a great hack only in terms of the graphics/scripting dept, but Snakewood trumph in trying to be more original in its story and concept, though it is rough at the edges. And its not easy to come up with interesting stories/ideas either. My point is that if we grab both their advantages into a single hack, we have the best of both worlds.

If you really want to pick, Good gameplay/story/idea>graphics erryday. Just look at Minecraft and then look at the obsessive CoD crowd.

Look no flaming/insulting here. Just stating my opinion and notice i NEVER deviate from the forum topic. Dunno how people like to become trollbait so easily. The internet i guess.
 
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NarutoActor

The rocks cry out to me
1,974
Posts
15
Years
I think fakemon are fine, as long as they look professional. Which snakewood did not have, they were just massively ugly pallet edits. A hack is the utilization of reverse engineering, adding rocks, and a story is not a hack. It is not subjective, there is low quality and bad quality. Some people just settle, or are so obsessed with Zombie's that anything with the sentence "Zombies" in them, instantly makes it become awesome.

EDIT:

What game play do you speek of, if the maps are the same, going throw the game seems very boring. Hence no gameplay, the only gameplay you have are trainer battles which a monkey can script. Why not put in special events, or mini-games? Oh wait it isn't a hack, it is a mod. Which is not necessarily bad, but you can not compare it to CD or any other real rom hack.
 

machomuu

Stuck in Hot Girl Summer
10,507
Posts
15
Years
I think fakemon are fine, as long as they look professional. Which snakewood did not have, they were just massively ugly pallet edits. A hack is the utilization of reverse enginering, adding rocks, and a story is not a hack. It is not subjective, there is low quality and bad quality. Some people just settle, or are so obsessed with Zombie's that anything with the sentence "Zombies" in them, instantly makes it become awesome.
We live in a subjective world, you can't say something is "bad or low quality" and have it be fact, it's still opinion.

What game play do you speek of, if the maps are the same, going throw the game seems very boring. Hence no gameplay, the only gameplay you have are trainer battles which a monkey can script. Why not put in special events, or mini-games? Oh wait it isn't a hack, it is a mod. Which is not necessarily bad, but you can not compare it to CD or any other real rom hack.
Even if it were simply an edited Ruby rom (which some would argue it is, I won't combat that), it is still a hacked version of Pokemon Ruby, therefore it's a hack. I won't call fact on this, though.
 
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Roareye

propic (c) piekielnatruskawa
16
Posts
16
Years
  • Age 33
  • Seen Jul 18, 2021
My vote goes for the Dark Future. (Just how ominous this sounds!)

Before HG/SS came out, I've played quite some 2nd gen remake hacks, CrystalDust being among them. It's a well-made game and much effort was put into it, but it just doesn't have what it takes to get that award, in my opinion.

Snakewood is on the lead, and that was obvious. As for myself, I just don't like the overall idea of it, zombies? Sigh. Also, fakemon is the last thing one would like to see in a decent hack. That same thing goes for the type changes, and that was also the only downside of Prism, IMO. I'm not saying this hack is bad, it's just not my taste.

Dark Future, on the other hand... well, it didn't seem that special at first. The main reason that brought me to play this hack was that it was a 2nd gen one, and the fact it involved ASM editing (guys from Skeetendo usually have the job done nicely). I've played this one just recently, and haven't finished the beta yet, but I must say:

Dark Furute is the best out of those three. Just play it and find out yourselves.

That RPG feel it's something that was always missing in Pokemon. Yes, Pokemon is a RPG game by default, but it lacked some elements that defined this genre. Dark Future is packed with quests, has a really decent storyline (it does not involve zombies as far as I'm concerned, though.), and has some really unique traits not found in any other hack I've played so far, and I've played quite a lot of them. I'd even go ahead and say it rivals Prism in some aspects. Not convinced yet? Just play it already!

(No seriously, I'm pretty sure that a lot of people voting here didn't even play all of the hacks qualified for this HotQ, and that's bad. Sadly, we just tend to vote for what we know.)
 
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63
Posts
12
Years
  • Seen Jul 12, 2014
My vote goes to DiegoisAwesome.

Why? He's awesome. I honestly don't get the fuss. :P

@Fireworks: Even Black and White 2 had some changes in towns. ESPECIALLY Driftveil.
 

Banjora Marxvile

hOI!!!!!! i'm tEMMIE!!
3,496
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15
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My vote goes to DiegoisAwesome.

Why? He's awesome. I honestly don't get the fuss. :P

@Fireworks: Even Black and White 2 had some changes in towns. ESPECIALLY Driftveil.

B2 and W2 are not remakes though, they are set in the future, so things will have changed...


ANYWAY, back on topic for a sec, Snakewood is original, CrystalDust has potential, Dark Future has a lot of time and dedication placed into it. From what I believe is the best, I believe Dark Future gets my vote, due to the fact it's a GBC hack, and that makes it a shot above the rest to begin with. Then we've got the dedication of miksy on the hack, making it one fun hack to play.
 
1,762
Posts
14
Years
B2 and W2 are not remakes though, they are set in the future, so things will have changed...


ANYWAY, back on topic for a sec, Snakewood is original, CrystalDust has potential, Dark Future has a lot of time and dedication placed into it. From what I believe is the best, I believe Dark Future gets my vote, due to the fact it's a GBC hack, and that makes it a shot above the rest to begin with. Then we've got the dedication of miksy on the hack, making it one fun hack to play.

I generally agree with this post. Each hack definitely has its strong points, and to be honest each hack has very few weak points, too, so it's hard enough to choose- however, I'm going to vote for Dark Future. The fact that it's a GSC tells me how it's no cakewalk to work on it. In my time here I've seen that miksy has put a lot of time and effort into learning how to hack GBC games well, and the result is a fun, very good hack in general.

That is not to say that I don't think Snakewood or Crystal Dust are good- I do, of course. I believe that Snakewood is honestly a great hack, and find that people tend to focus too much on certain aspects that people generally like and call it 'overhyped'. The only thing that irks me a bit are the graphics, but I can get past that because it's just so damn interesting what he's turned Ruby into.
Crystal Dust is obviously a great hack, too- although one thing that irks me about it is that it actually tries to stick to being as similar as it can be to GSC. I feel that that's the very thing that made FireRed and LeafGreen suffer as remakes, and I'd prefer if a remake had as many original (well, 'new') features as possible.
Crystal Dust is a fine hack, and diegoisawesome is a great hacker too (imo), and I feel the same about Snakewood, but when all is said and done, I feel Dark Future deserves my vote.
 
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