Excellent timing with this post MA. I have a lot of ideas for a rom hack but, lack the hacking/coding ability to implement them. I would like to collaborate with you. I like that you're keeping the pokedex small, that way you can give the love and attention to each mon but, what about expanding the original 150-151 to also include the modern evolutionary chains i.e. Elekid > Electabuzz > Electivire (however no Alolan or Galar forms or any other gimmicks like mega, z moves, or dynamax - keep it pre gen six) and to re number and place them in the pokedex - i.e Electabuzz is #125 in the original pokedex, make Elekid #124 and Electivire (should be electric/fighting with the galvanize ability and or have the motor drive/volt absorb (abilities) plasma fists (move) combo) #126. Eevee should evolve into Leafeon via leaf stone, Glaceon via ice stone and since pokemon-amie isn't a mechanic in this gen you could have Eevee evolve into Sylveon via shiny stone or max happiness with a fairy move. To your first bullet yes, update the typings and type matchup table. Include both moves and pokemon typing. Yes, to your second bullet. For example Magnemites line should be electric/steel and to get Magnezone one could level it up while in or around the power plant on route 10. Since Charizard's sprite depicts him on the ground his flying typing should be replaced by dragon but, still have access to fly and other flying type moves. Maybe give him flash fire, Tough claws or something of the like as an ability. Gyarados should be water/dragon and either increase the level up evolution to a higher number, so 40 instead of 20, or in keeping it's evolution with it's lore have Magikarp evolve into Gyarados while ascending up a waterfall with the HM waterfall. Side note: I think HM moves should be field moves (see Radical Red as example - if a pokemon can normally use it than it should be able to use it upon acquiring the respective HM and badge without taking up a move slot). Pokemon like the magnemite line and pokemon sprites that are clearly off the ground i.e. Beedrill should either get the levitate ability or be immune to ground type moves - more realistic and challenging also it would buff some "weaker" or not as used as much pokemon. Squirtle and Wartortle should get the ability shell armor and Blastoise should get mega launcher. I think movesets and learned moves should be more grounded in reality so if a pokemon is not part poision than they shouldn't be able to learn toxic and other poison type moves. Pokemon like Rhydon that are 4x weak to water shouldn't be able to learn surf. While surfing, only water, flying and pokemon that can learn surf should be able to battle on water. These more grounded scenarios and movesets would not only increase the difficulty level, which is needed badly, but, also would force the player to consider strategy and how best to approach a trainer or gym battle. Base stats should be updated to present. Modern features like grass types are immune to powder moves (stun spore, spore, sleep powder, poison powder) and leech seed, fire types can't be burned, electric types can't be paralyzed by thunder wave, ice types can't be frozen, poison types can't be poisoned (unless the attacking mon has corrosion) and have 100% accuracy when using poisoning moves (toxic) should be implemented. Trainers IQ should be higher with competitive teams and movesets. Gyms should be more akin to the anime where you battle just the gym leader and the gym rules: can only use the same amount of mons as the gym leader (1 v 1 or 2 v 2) - I think in the anime the gym leader's are set but, the trainer can switch well you can make it so the trainer is set as well and maybe can't use healing items during battle. Ascetically you could have the gym reflect their anime counterparts so Brocks gym would be a field with rocks and boulders on it. Misty you could battle on water or a platform on the water like in the anime. If its on the water than only water types, flying types, or mons that can swim(surf) would be able to participate. Erika could be on a grass field and grass types could get a field bonus akin to grassy terrain but, only grounded grass types would get the restored HP after each turn and the ground moves like earthquake and dig's power would be halved. Gym leader IQs should be raised, their teams should more closely reflect the anime and have more competitive movesets and strategies. The TM that they give you should be included in the movesets if not on all of their mons defiantly on their aces. TMs that are given should reflect the gym leaders typing i.e. Brock and rock tomb, Misty and water pulse, Surge and shock wave/thunderbolt, etc.. Surge should just have a Raichu (could use double team, bright powder item, thunder wave paralyzing tactics), Sabrina just an Alakazam (could have twisted spoon, barrier to raise its defense and use recover to heal), Blaine could have a team like the anime or he could just have a Magmortar(charcoal could use smokescreen for accuracy drops, smog for poisoning, and burn tactics). Koga should have a Golbat or Crobat and Venomoth and use toxic stall evasion strategies and tactics. Leaders with one mon can have items to either boost their attacks i.e. twisted spoon on Alakazam or berries to replenish health (sitrus berry) or rest/chesto, confusion moves (thrash)/persim combos. The stat increases from acquiring each badge should be removed. All the bugs/glitches should be removed. Items, movesets should all be updated to current. TM list should be increased and have move relevant moves. So TMs like Whirlwind, Rage, and Bide should be replaced. Make the TMs worthwhile! TMs should be reusable like gen 5 and should only be bought and given from NPCs - not found in the overworld. Repels should have gen 5 reuse mechanics. The gardener (spraying repels to keep caterpie and weedle away) in Pewter City should give you a repel. Itemfinder should be like HGSS's or gen 5s. mushrooms and berries should appear in the overworld as their icons and not pokeballs. Maybe you could even do something with mushrooms and berries like a tiny mushroom can be made into a potion, two tiny (or tiny and large) mushrooms can be made into a super potion and a large mushroom can be made into a hyper potion. You could have a NPC (herb shop) that teaches you how to do this (so can't do it before speaking with them or the NPC themselves can turn the mushroom/berries into items potions (mushrooms, oran berries, sitrus berries), antidotes (Pecha Berry), paralyze heals (Cheri Berry), burn heals (Rawst Berry), ice heals (Aspear Berry), awakienings (Chesto Berry). Also, you can mix the powders, roots, and herbs to get a beneficial outcome instead of pokemon becoming unfriendly toward you. Illuminate should act like flash in the overworld (light up dark caves) and act like intimidate in battle where instead of an attack drop (intimidate) there would be a accuracy drop. Stench should have a chance that pokemon don't attack. Damp as an ability should be eliminated however, its effect should be implemented into rain - so when a mon uses rain dance or has the ability drizzle, everything is damp and therefore a mon can't use explosion, self destruct or the like. Also, the chance of freezing a foe should go up during and after the rain for a couple turns (like real world occurrences) when using a ice type move that has a chance to freeze. Maybe double the chance during these events, 10% to 20%. Graphics should be touched up but, keep the same look and feel of the original (use gen two sprites) or gen 5 sprites if going with a later rom base. Weekly and daily events should be included and day/night is a must especially for day/night evolutions. You could have in-game trades where the NPC trades a mon that evolves during trading i.e. The NPC on route 5 asks for a Nidoran male in exchange for their Nidoran female, well instead of a Nidoran female they can trade you a Haunter so upon trading it would evolve into a Gengar. Weather can be added if the situation calls for it i.e. on top of Mount Silver and hailing/snowing. Also, pokemon should be relocated to more appropriate locations i.e. Articuno (should have snow warning as an agility and be able to learn Aurora Veil) on Mount Silver or in the Ice Cavern. I'm not sure if your doing one region or two but, it would be neat and a first if the player could select a starting region and than progress through the story to the other one (so like generation 2/HGSS normally where you start in Johto and eventually go to Kanto or you could select starting in Kanto and eventually go to Johto after you beat the elite 4). You could have level scaling or when you enter the new region and are given the regional starter all the levels are "reset" and you can't use your higher leveled mons for the continuation until you get to a place in the story where your current mons levels are the same as your higher leveled mons from the first region. Pokemon should have updated movesets and more appropriate abilities i.e. the legendary bird trio should all have their respective weather ability and should learn hurricane. Twister should be a flying type and a stronger move. Hurricane and Twister are strong natural forces in the real world. Hurricane in-game has a bp of 110, Twister should be comparable. Physical/special split is a must! Lower casing in my option is ascetically more appeasing. Shinies should be included but, make them special again. Increase their rarity like earlier gens and give them unique/hidden abilities and have perfect IVs (maybe 4 and above). This would make them special and worth hunting for. Also, some of their color palettes need to be redone i.e. Charizard should have a black/blue theme like its mega form (black skin and blue flames). I would like an expanded Mewtwo side story line. See the enclosed link for inspriation (
https://www.deviantart.com/othienka/art/Armored-Mewtwo-V3-594576816) . I think the lore around Mew, Mewtwo, and Ditto (failed Mewtwo clones) should be explored. There's journals in the pokemon mansion but, maybe include text from NPCs like scientists that worked on the project or maybe you could even tie in Blaine and his involvement since he's a scientist on Cinnabar island. Ditto's location should therefore be moved to the pokemon mansion only. Mewtwo should get the berserk ability and have the berserk gene item as a held item but, instead of increasing its attack it should increase its special attack. Those additions would make for a challenging boss battle when the player confronts it in Cerulean Cave. This would also add to why the master ball was created - to catch the strongest pokemon in the world. One of the Giovanni meetings or maybe even the gym battle with him could have him send out armored Mewtwo and then Mewtwo would flee mid battle (maybe ignoring Giovanni's orders like when a traded pokemon's level is higher than the current badge that the player has) and go to Cerulean Cave where now it has lost its armor. These are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the ideas that I have. We can go through each mon and decide which abilities, moves, location, stats, etc. it should have. We can brainstorm some more on trainer, gym leader, and elite 4 teams and movesets. We can brainstorm on more story elements, game design, and play. Looking forward to working with you and executing this project. If you need any clarification don't hesitate to ask.
