HeartGold hack: Pokemon HeartGold Balanced Edition

In the past i've made Pokemon Balanced Edition hacks, which aim to balance all Pokemon and make them viable. This time around Pokemon HeartGold has now been completed and is ready to be played. Now what I consider to be the best Pokemon game made to date is now able to beaten using any Pokemon, even Magikarp!

Features Include:

• All 493 Pokemon now have a BST of 600.
• All Pokemon have been given revamped movepools.
• Pokemon who evolve via trading now evolve with Max happiness.
• Rare Items like the Focus Sash can now be found on Wild Pokemon.
• A fair amount of Pokemon have new typings added (Charizard is a Fire/Dragon, Psyduck is Psychic/Water.
• All type combinations are present in the game.
• For balancing purposes now only Poison type Pokemon can learn Toxic, and only Ice type Pokemon can learn Blizzard/Ice Beam.
• (As of Version 2) All Pokemon are obtainable ingame.
• (As of Version 2) Wild Pokemon give more exp when defeated.
• (As of Version 2) Legendary Pokemon and Starter Pokemon are easier to catch.
• (As of Version 3) Ice types have gained a resistance to Grass, Flying, and Normal types. They also deal Regular Damage to Water Types.
• (As of Version 3) Poison Types are now Super Effective against Water Types.
• (As of Version 3) Attacks have been overhauled. Weak Attacks like Ember have priority and act as finishers in battle. Status moves have priority, Accuracy effecting moves like Sand-Attack go last, Dragon type moves have a chance of inflicting a Burn,Paralysis or Freezing, among other changes.

Unfortunately, in Version 1 I was unable to modify the locations of wild Pokemon (Version 2 does have all Pokemon obtainable ingame), which can be particularly annoying if you plan on completing the national dex. Simply use an AR Code that modifies the locations of Pokemon if you're using Version 1. The link to it is here: https://www.mediafire.com/file/tdc3nbyv8f1wlu6/Wild+Pokemon+Modifier.txt

Feedback is appreciated!

If you want to see that stats for the Pokemon of Kanto and Johto go here:
https://www.mediafire.com/#wityq675ac5a5
Or you could download this Word Document with all of their New Base Stat Totals here:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/wplfbxg1ay7kirb/HeartGold_Balanced_Base_Stats.docx/file
Here is the Download Link:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/b828n8rvryb6s62/HeartGold+Balanced+Edition.xdelta
Version 2 (Makes all Pokemon obtainable ingame):
https://www.mediafire.com/file/swl1we78zpw5sps/Pokemon_HeartGold_Balanced_Edition_V2.xdelta
Version 3:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/rnbaltxp296ofmm/HeartGold+Balanced+Edition+Version+3.xdelta/file
Challenge Mode:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/pj8zzf5hy1ccjln/PHGBE+Challenge+Edition.xdelta
Challenge Mode Version 2
https://www.mediafire.com/file/9d1l1hn7pkdzsnk/HeartGold+Balanced+Edition+Challenge+Mode+V2.xdelta/file
Challenge Mode Version 2.1 (Kanto Pokemon are Tougher, Slight Trainer Adjustments)
https://www.mediafire.com/file/dmfls3xh4103x2y/HeartGold+Definitive+Edition+Challenge+Mode+V2.1.xdelta/file
C.O.S. Edition of Challenge Mode:
https://www.mediafire.com/file/v9ugrr5hpqp1a9a/HeartGold+Balanced+Edition++Version+C.O.S..xdelta/file
Collector's Edition (C.O.S. Edition V2 of Challenge Mode):
https://www.mediafire.com/file/axujoblk7syxlfq/HGBCollectors.xdelta/file
Collector's Edition V2 (Fixes a gitch that caused pokemon to learn random moves during level up, thanks to BluRose fixing the Bug)
https://www.mediafire.com/file/wbzvlsanht5yjpj/HGBECollectorsV2.xdelta/file
Note that you will need DeltaPatcher in order to patch in the game.

Version 2 is finally ready! I consider this to be the definitive version, as it adds more content. The updates are:

• Spearow,Fearow, Wigglytuff, Diglett, Shaymin and Dugtrio have revamped Movepools.
• Beedrill, Butterfree, Venomoth, Scyther, Ledyba, Ledian and other winged Bug Pokemon can now learn Fly.
• Many more Pokemon can learn Cut.
• All 493 Pokemon are obtainable ingame. The majority of the starters are now found on the first route outside of New Bark Town.

Hard Mode is still being worked on at this time.

Gegalix said:

Version 2 is finally ready! I consider this to be the definitive version, as it adds more content. The updates are:

• Spearow,Fearow, Wigglytuff, Diglett, Shaymin and Dugtrio have revamped Movepools.
• Beedrill, Butterfree, Venomoth, Scyther, Ledyba, Ledian and other winged Bug Pokemon can now learn Fly.
• Many more Pokemon can learn Cut.
• All 493 Pokemon are obtainable ingame. The majority of the starters are now found on the first route outside of New Bark Town.

Hard Mode is still being worked on at this time.

Click to expand...

The regular version doesn't seem to work with my ROM.

ROM info:
File: Pokemon - HeartGold Version (USA).nds
CRC-32: c180a0e9
MD4: 31294c88ab5cb87360993591a1e9f74d
MD5: 258cea3a62ac0d6eb04b5a0fd764d788
SHA-1: 4fcded0e2713dc03929845de631d0932ea2b5a37

I already checked to see if my ROM was a bad dump, nope.

The Challenge mode for Heartgold Balanced is finally out!
The new features of this mode include:

A New Feature called EV SPOTS has now been added. These locations are full of Pokemon who only give max EV's in a specific stat. These spots are:

• Route 30 (Morning's only) SPEED
• Route 30 (Daytime only) ATTACK
• Route 31 (Morning only) HP
• Route 31 (Daytime only) SPECIAL ATTACK
• Route 33 - (Morning/Daytime) DEFENSE
• Route 34 (Daytime only) SPECIAL DEFENSE

• Trainers now have higher level Pokemon, with more variety in which Pokemon they have, as well as some of their Pokemon's moves
• Pokemon are now significantly easier to catch.
• Wild Pokemon give out significantly more Experience Points.
• Some Pokemon have improves movepools (Shuckle, etc.)

Those of you who enjoy a challenge will likely have fun playing this harder mode!

I think your link for pokemon stats is down or broken.
Trying out the hack now

This is one of my favorite HGSS hacks, and I have to congratulate Gegalix for it!

I did notice some small oddities though, such as probably not being able to get an Ambipom, since I haven't been able to have its pre-evolution learn Double Hit, nor found a wild one. The hack itself seems pretty stable to me, and I find it pretty fun.

Having some documentation on 'mon locations, learnsets and stats would be great as well, since the link in the first post indeed looks down.

Gegalix said:

In the past i've made Pokemon Balanced Edition hacks, which aim to balance all Pokemon and make them viable. This time around Pokemon HeartGold has now been completed and is ready to be played.

Features Include:

• A fair amount of Pokemon have new typings added (Psyduck is Psychic/Water.)

Click to expand...

Yeah, i didn't understood why Psyduck line isn't a psychic type

Also how to evolve Eevee to Glaceon and Leafeon in this hack?

Challenge Mode have all features of version 2 ?

Entei Fan said:

Yeah, i didn't understood why Psyduck line isn't a psychic type

Also how to evolve Eevee to Glaceon and Leafeon in this hack?

Click to expand...

Eevee evolves into Leafeon when exposed to a Leaf Stone.
Eevee evolves into Glaceon when exposed to a Dawn Stone.

rodrigo888 said:

Challenge Mode have all features of version 2 ?

Click to expand...

Yes, it has all of the features of Version 2. It also has EV training spots, Wild Pokemon become easier to catch and give out more exp, among other things.

Gegalix said:

Eevee evolves into Leafeon when exposed to a Leaf Stone.
Eevee evolves into Glaceon when exposed to a Dawn Stone.

Click to expand...

Thank you man, oh so like in pokemon Shiny gold sigma

Could you re-upload the document on the stat changes please?

This is very much overdue, but the new versions of
Pokemon Heartgold Balanced are ready!

There are alot of changes, some of which warranted new
versions being created:

For all Versions:

• Most Pokemon have had their Movepools improved/Revamped.
• Because of an oversight caught by Greenest Star, Aipom was unable to evolve. This has been corrected, and Aipom now evolves at Level 20.
• Torchic is now a Fire/Flying Type.
• Shedinja once again has Wonder Guard.

Heartgold Balanced Edition:

• Snorunt now has Wonder Guard.
• Most Pokemon Evolve earlier.
• A few Pokemon have had their Abilities changed.
• A few Pokemon have had their base stats updated.

Challenge Mode
Type Changes
Ice types have gained a resistance to Grass, Flying, and Normal types (Grass/Flying/Normal will deal 0.5 Damage to Ice types.)
Ice type moves deal 1X damage to Water Types instead of dealing 0.5 Damage.
The Poison type is now super effective against the Water type. Poison type moves deal 2X damage to Water types.
Ice type Pokemon were originally given abilities to help them cope with how bad the Ice type was defensively. With The buffing of The Ice Type, Some Ice types have been given different abilities.

These type/ Move changes were directly implemented by The User BluRose. Were it not for them, this update would not have been possible.
Of note is that these changes do not apply to the Regular version of HeartGold Balanced. I may ask if the Type Changes can be implemented for it
in the future, but for now they have not.

Priority changing
Tackle, Pound Scratch, Metal Claw Ember, Vine Whip, Absorb, Water gun, Astonish, Powder Snow, Poison Sting, Acid, Rock Throw,
Mud Shot, Confusion, Thundershock, Karate Chop, Peck, Gust, Bug Bite, etc. have gained +1 priority.
They now act as quick finisher moves for taking out Pokemon with low HP.

Growl, Leer, Sharpen, Howl, Tail Whip, Defense Curl, Magnet Rise, Acupressure, Trick Room, Leech Seed, and Power Trick have gained a +3 priority.
Sand Attack, Double Team, Minimize, Smokescreen, and Flash have become -1 Priority moves.

All Dragon type moves except for Draco Meteor, Dragon Dance, and Dragon Rage have gained a 10% chance of inflicting The Tri-Attack effect (A chance of inflicting either a burn, freeze, or paralysis).
Steel type moves now always have a 100% chance of their secondary effects kicking in, except for Iron head and Mirror Shot.

Skull bash has had its damage increased to 150.

Mega Drain has had its damage raised to 95 Damage.
Giga Drain has had its damage increased to 125 damage with 85% Accuracy.
Drain Punch has had its power raised to 90 damage.
Dizzy Punch has become a Psychic move with its damage raised to 90.
Leech Life has had its damage increased to 90 damage.

Fire Punch, Ice Punch, and Thunder Punch have had their damage increased to 90 Damage.
Fire Blast, Blizzard, and Thunder have had their Accuracy changed to 85% universally and their damage changed to 130 universally. They have had the chance of their effects kicking in increased to 20%.

Giga Impact Rock Wrecker Hyper Beam Blast Burn Frenzy Plant Hydro Cannon Roar of Time have had their damage raised to 200 and their accuracy changed to 100%.
Dig, Bounce, and Dive have had their damage increased to 100.
Ancient Power, Silver Wind, and Ominous Wind now always have their secondary effects kick in, but have gained a priority of -1.

There are now two new Version of the Challenge mode:

The first is called The C.O.S. Edition.
You see, An individual named ComaOfSouls on Reddit played HeartGold Balanced edition Challenge Mode and noted that the
Kanto region's Gyms needed to be toned down, among other things. Therefore, I made a version that changes
the difficulty according to their written feedback from their experience with the mod. Trainers have had their
Pokemon's levels increased and decreased accordingly.
I will mention that PPRE, the tool that I use, created an error log upon Creation of this version. During my
relatively brief testing of this version, I did not encounter any issues. But it is worth mentioning.

The second Version, called Challenge Edition 2.1, has one major change.
The Wild Pokemon in Kanto have had their levels dramatically raised to better help trainers face the Gym leaders with properly
leveled up Pokemon. Trainers have also been slightly tweaked as well.

Feedback is always appreciated!

So, I know this one is pretty old, but I have a few comments to make just off a few hours of playing that I found really annoying. First off would be level 5 pokemon that take forever to get caught with pokeballs. I've run into situations where I had to use 15 pokeballs to capture one (houndoor is the most recent) because he was as low as I could get him without fainting him.

Also, the fire starters appear WAY more than the others. I had a squirtle show up once before I had pokeballs, and then once I had them, literally only the fire starters have appeared. Not sure if that's based off of who you pick at the beginning because I did choose the fire starter, but it's still pretty annoying.

I also really don't agree with making torchic a flying pokemon. He doesn't even have wings, unless you call those tiny little poofs on his side wings, either way, he can't fly with those, not even a couple inches off the ground. It'd be more useless than a human flapping his arms. Doduo is bad enough, don't need another pointless flyer that can't even fly.

Your changes to make every pokemon have a base stat of 600 points makes evolutions completely useless, aside from the rare few that change typing when they evolve. Maybe I'm the only one that can see it, but working towards evolutions is half of the game. I get balancing the pokemon so they have better stats, but making every single pokemon have the same amount of base stats makes a lot of the game completely pointless. Pretty stupid that you can clear the elite 4 with a caterpie, etc. Why? It's dumb. It's not a challenge because you've balanced them all. You turned picking the right pokemon for the job into a lottery, and I damn sure don't want to start worrying about EVs and IVs, and overleveling just to get a little edge. It's singleplayer pokemon. Either way, pick the right typing for fights and it's game over for the AI, exactly the same as the original.

I get a hack that makes capturing all the pokemon possible without having to trade, I get making the game more balanced in terms of levels and the trainer's pokemon (especially the 2nd part of the game after the credits, that needed it badly) but why mess with the original balancing of pokemon? Why should a caterpie be as strong as a charizard, etc? It's dumb and it makes no sense.
You have a few options that change between each version on the OP, but that is the one that needs to be optional desperately.

Played it too- had the same problems. The 600 base stats for unevolved Pokemon is ridiculously stupid and silly.

Pokemon HG/SS Golden Edition & Pokemon GS Chronciles are the superior ways to play Johto by roughly a thousand miles.

ecrivain_rebelle and alominus Its unfortunate to hear that you two didn't enjoy the game.

That being said, i've had plenty of others report that they enjoyed the game, whether it be Nuzlocking it for challenge or Monotype running.
The original balancing of Pokemon Heartgold was not good. That's actually the entire point of the Balanced Series. But not everyone likes a balanced game. Some people enjoy using overpowered Pokemon to easily sweep the game, like with Garchomp in the original games.

Pokemon Heartgold Balanced is not to be compared with Pokemon HG/SS Golden Edition & Pokemon GS Chronicles because they aim for fundamentally different things. Heartgold Balanced aims to balance the game and depending on the version increase the challenge as well. Heartgold Balanced is not aiming to compete with or outdo other Heartgold & Soulsilver mods. After all we do this for free, as a hobby.

What i've found interesting as the years have gone by is that most critics of the balanced series criticize the concept, rather than the execution. The concept of Pokemon being balanced bothers them. But if that's the case, then there's no reason to play a game that clearly isn't for you. There are plenty of other mods to play.

But I have had many who thought they would hate the game decide after playing it that they loved it. Or that they just needed to up the challenge with a Nuzlocke. Which makes sense, I find vanilla Pokemon games to be too easy myself. Just get the strongest Pokemon and sweep the game. Works every time.

I will say that Vanilla Pokemon is far easier than the balanced series. Making every Pokemon good makes battling opposing trainers (especially if you play another person) much more difficult. But sweeping Pokemon that are objectively worse then yours in the Vanilla games is EASY.

A new patch has dropped!
The regular versions of the game have many pokemon in certain areas of the game. While this is good for teambuilding, it can be overwhelming for players.
Normally in Vanilla Pokemon and even in the Balanced Series, Pokemon are scattered around the region and its up to the player to find them. Truth be told, the original version of HeartGold Balanced Edition was supposed to have this feature implemented as well.

This new version of the game, called the Collector's Edition, scatters all the Pokemon across Johto and Kanto like a traditional game. Only a few Pokemon are found per route in this version depending on the time of day.
Kanto Pokemon normally are only found in Kanto,
Johto Pokemon normally are only found in Johto,
and Sinnoh and Hoenn Pokemon tend to rely on the Sinnoh and Hoenn Sounds.

There are also new EV Training Spots, and some BST total errors have been corrected as well. Personally, I consider this to be the definitive version of Heartgold Balanced Edition.
The EV Training spots are:


HP Route 47 Manaphy Via Fishing/Surfing
SPEED Route 35 Chingling/Wynaut Day/Morning
SPECIAL ATTACK Route 6 Bellsprout/Route 36 (Day Only) Bonsly
ATTACK Viridian Forest Weedle (Night only)/Route 25 Scyther (Day Only)
DEFENSE Route 7 Rattata/Route 29 Hoppip (Morning Only)
SPECIAL DEFENSE Bell Tower Meditite (Morning Only)/Route 37 Tyrogue (Day Only).

seems cool, I appreciate that there is a hack that changes stuff up for HGSS

Can you figure out why your arm9 bin file is a mismatched size once patched against a clean HeartGold rom? If you compare the size of the arm9 bin file between patched and clean, you'll see that it's wildly different. This makes any sort of additional arm9 modifications, like fasted text/hp bars/etc incredibly difficult to port across. Having said that, the changes you've made are a lot of fun, thank you for posting! :)
762644 bytes vs 1122040 bytes - using Collector's Edition V2