FireRed hack: [COMPLETE][pokefirered] Pokémon FireRed & LeafGreen+

[Deokishisu]

Pokémon FireRed & LeafGreen+

https://github.com/Deokishisu/FRLG-Plus

Please read the FAQ located here before asking questions or opening issues.

Introduction

This hack is intended to be the definitive FireRed and LeafGreen experience. It preserves the original Generation III gameplay and flavor, while adding in many quality-of-life features to make the game more bearable to play in 2026. The postgame has also been made more robust while respecting the Generation III feel, adding many more hours of content.

The main goals of this project are:

• Maintain the core Generation III gameplay.
• Expand player choice by adding various difficulty options alongside the original difficulty.
• Optionally remove unnecessary wasted time in the gameplay (health bar animations, text delays, etc.) while adding options to speed up basic gameplay.
• Maintain full link compatibility with Generations III and IV.
• Ensure all obtainable Pokémon are 100% legal in Generation III.
• Make the postgame more robust and make each Sevii Island unique and distinct.
• Fix vanilla bugs and oversights.
• Step on established canon as little as possible. The source material should be respected.

Features

The full feature list can be found in the project's repository here. The list in that link is easier to read as well.

• An advanced settings menu, called the Key System Menu (akin to B2W2) has been implemented. Accessed from the main menu, it contains several difficulty options as well as the version toggle.
• 2-in-1. This hack includes both FireRed and LeafGreen in their entirety. Swap between both in the Key System Menu to catch version exclusives with one save file.
• Easy and Challenge Mode toggles, a built-in Nuzlocke ruleset, IV and EV calculation modifiers, a toggle that removes free healing, and an experience gain modifier are all accessible from the Key System Menu.
  • The built-in Nuzlocke implementation automatically faints invalid Pokémon, allowing players to catch Pokémon normally without breaking Nuzlocke restrictions.
• Better Postgame
  • The Ruby & Sapphire Battle Tower has been ported, and its Level 100 mode has been changed to Open Level like in Emerald.
  • Event islands are accessible in the main game. Both Faraway Island and Southern Island have been ported from Emerald.
  • More Pokémon are obtainable, and all obtainable Pokémon are 100% legal in Generation III.
    • Some new areas have been added to house the new Pokémon.
    • The Extended Dex Mode lists all obtainable Pokémon in the hack, so players will know what is obtainable.
  • Master Trainers similar to the Let's Go games appear in Kanto after becoming Champion. Beating them rewards titles that can be shown off in link battles with other FRLG+ players.
  • The player can unlock rematches with the Kanto Gym Leaders (minus Giovanni).
• Quality of Life improvements
  • An instant text option has been implemented.
  • Toggleable auto-running; running indoors.
  • Other travel speedups: a faster gear for the bike, hold B to surf faster, cut trees stay cut permanently, BW Repel system, boulder puzzles stay solved permanently, etc.
  • Expanded inventory space with two new pockets. The player can hold one stack of every possible item at once.
  • Infinite TM uses.
  • EV-reducing Berries have been ported from Emerald and made available.
  • New settings in the options menu that remove or speed up battle-related animations.
  • Move tutors will reteach moves for a fee, allowing infinite move tutor uses.
  • The Move Reminder can teach moves from a Pokémon;s pre-evolutions.
  • Indicators for which stats natures are modifying on the summary screen.
  • Trade evolutions can also be evolved with a key item obtained during the story.
  • No evolution restrictions--Pokémon can evolve regardless of the player's story progression.
  • No link restrictions. Trade with the other Generation III games the moment the Pokédex is obtained.
  • Abilities have effects in the overworld, ported from Emerald.
  • The Day Care has been made more convenient overall, and Everstone passing down natures has been ported from Emerald.

Screenshots

Downloads

The current version is v1.5.1 and was released on 28 January 2024.
The best way to obtain this hack is to build it yourself, however, a BPS patch is available for download here. Apply it to a clean copy of the FireRed Squirrels ROM (or another clean dump of FireRed V1.0) that is floating around with a BPS Patcher such as this one.

You may also choose to download from FRLG+'s Hackdex page. For those who don't know how to patch or can't navigate a GitHub page, this will be easier.

This hack is best played on mGBA. VBA is an extremely outdated and inaccurate emulator, and I cannot guarantee smooth play experiences on it.

Please do not upload the patch or especially a patched ROM to third-party sites. I am explicitly not giving my permission for FRLG+ to be on sites that host patched ROMs. They are making ad revenue money off of my work, mess up my download metrics, and are generally unsafe and frequently outdated.

Please read the FAQ located here before asking questions or opening issues.

Cheating

This is not a binary hack, and therefore everything has been shifted inside the ROM. Action Replay and other similar codes will not work and should not be used. Using those codes could damage your save file.

The preferred method of cheating is through save editing. The save files of this hack are mostly compatible with PKHeX. If you opt to save edit, do not under any circumstances open the Items submenu. Bag data has been significantly changed and attempting to edit it with PKHeX will corrupt your save. All other functions of the save editor should be fine. If you want to edit flags or variables, a full list of each is in the repository here for flags and here for variables, respectively.

Credits

• The contributors to pret without whom this work would not have been possible.
• Kurausukun for an initial Nuzlocke implementation done on pokeemerald that I based mine off of.
• The Accurate FireRed Overworld Sprite Resource, this thread and this thread for some of the OW sprites that I edited.
• ghoulslash for the Dive implementation, as well as several quality of life improvements originally done on pokeemerald that I ported.
• Josh/ShinyDragonHunter for the Emerald hero(ine) OW sprites used in the link rooms.
• Lunos for a few improvements originally done on pokeemerald that I ported, including letting the player only buy TMs once and LGPE-styled Premier Balls.
• Revo for his pokeemerald Instant Text implementation that I ported.
• SBird for turning TM/HMs into a bitfield in pokeemerald that I ported.
• Hiroshi Sotomura for submitting a bugfix PR that got merged.
• The pokeemerald-expansion team for several features and optimizations ported from pokeemerald-expansion.

 

[Sparhawk55]

No way to make the PSS in this?

 

[Deokishisu]

No way to make the PSS in this?

No. The goal was to maintain the Gen 3 experience. There is no PSS toggle, and if there was it would throw off the difficulty of all the Challenge Mode and Master Trainer fights, as their movesets are built with the Gen 3 mechanics in mind.

 

[Pyxal]

<snip>

A decomp FR/LG enhanced hack? Looks splendid! Great work.

 

[OmegaBlazerX]

Great ideia love the hack so for i have only one question in the future do you plan to add all pokemon ?

 

[Deokishisu]

Great ideia love the hack so for i have only one question in the future do you plan to add all pokemon ?

No, I don't plan to add all the Pokemon. I want to encourage trading to get the missing mons (that's why there are no trade restrictions and you can trade with RSE/Colo/XD the moment you get the Pokedex). Additionally, it would be impossible to generate them so that they're legal in Gen 3, as many are predictably only catchable in the wild in Hoenn locations and I'm not adding Hoenn to this hack. The Pokemon that I've added use some trickery to make them legal without the player realizing (the Safari Zone expansion Pokemon are taken from Emerald's Safari Zone and have Emerald set as their metGame, for example). Part of the original FRLG experience was linking up and trading for missing mons and I went through great pains to keep everything legal and compatible, so I want to keep the incentive to link.

I added the Extended Dex mode and made the National Dex unobtainable without trading specifically for people that feel a completionist drive (like me) and can't deal with blanks in their Pokedex. Every Pokemon in the Extended Dex is obtainable in one playthrough without trading, and 246 is way more available Pokemon than any other individual Gen 3 game (and might actually be more than are available in DP without trading, but I haven't counted). Outside of the Battle and Trainer Towers (which don't register Pokemon you see there as seen in your Pokedex) you will never see a Pokemon in-game that you yourself cannot catch.

If you can't trade for some reason but want an unobtainable mon, I would suggest using PKHeX to give it to yourself.

 

[TooSkilled]

I played this in Challenge mode & Nuzlocke mode and I really enjoyed it! (until I wiped to Erika's gym but whatever it's still good I'm just gonna have to try again)

I love how faithful it is to the original FireRed/LeafGreen and that whole generation. I was also really enjoying the Challenge mode, it's great to play FRLG with a little extra difficulty. There's so many little quality of life improvements throughout that playing the game just feels better on this version. Any chance of a key for Leafgreen+Firered mode, where both version exclusives are available at once? I was also wondering if it's possible to evolve Eevee into Espeon/Umbreon. I know it wasn't really possible in FRLG but I think it'd be a neat addition.

 

[Deokishisu]

I played this in Challenge mode & Nuzlocke mode and I really enjoyed it! (until I wiped to Erika's gym but whatever it's still good I'm just gonna have to try again)

I love how faithful it is to the original FireRed/LeafGreen and that whole generation. I was also really enjoying the Challenge mode, it's great to play FRLG with a little extra difficulty. There's so many little quality of life improvements throughout that playing the game just feels better on this version. Any chance of a key for Leafgreen+Firered mode, where both version exclusives are available at once? I was also wondering if it's possible to evolve Eevee into Espeon/Umbreon. I know it wasn't really possible in FRLG but I think it'd be a neat addition.

I'm glad you've been enjoying it! I tried very hard to stay faithful, keep the general feel, and not step on canon too much while at the same time trying not to compromise my vision. I'm glad it actually feels faithful to other people too.

In regards to combining the version exclusives... I considered coding in a "version" that, after selecting an encounter slot, would give a 50/50 shot of pulling that slot from the FR or LG tables, but decided against it due to other things that rely on version (titlescreen, Game Corner slots, Game Corner prizes, in-game trades, and some other stuff). I didn't want to make a "third version" and then have to make non-canon adjustments to those things to make the prospect of a combined version feel consistent. I also felt like having to toggle between them is actually a boon in Nuzlocke during my numerous Nuzlocke + Challenge Mode playtests, as you have some limited control over your encounters. Is the root question about being inconvenienced by having to switch or is it about not knowing while playing what version exclusives are where in what version? If it's the latter, I may address it by giving the player more information in-game in a future release. During my playtests I had the benefit of Bulbapedia to check to make sure I was gaming the version switching for my Nuzlocke runs.

In regards to Eevee, the full features document in the repo is good reading if you're really getting into playing. It includes a line about Eevee. Eevee evolves into Espeon by happiness outdoors and Umbreon by happiness indoors. If you want to max out your happiness quickly, you might consider grabbing a party of Meowth for Pickup and mass slaughtering wilds on Route 1 to proc it efficiently. The Pickup table has been altered to house the EV-reducing berries and they raise happiness by quite a lot when given to a Pokemon. Definitely check through that document if you're planning on doing another run, because I didn't list absolutely everything in the OP of this thread for brevity. There may be some things listed in there that you didn't even know you could do!

Thanks for playing and please keep the feedback coming.

 

[Sparhawk55]

Ahh, well. That sucks. I grew up playing non pss, and now that it's there, it's a must have for me. Just makes stuff soooooo much better.

 

[ricomanuel32]

I'm really enjoying this hack! It has been extremely fun playing a revitalized version of my favorite installment in the series, and be able to complete the Pokedex in one file. A few questions though:

1. Is Hidden Power (TM10) still available via Pickup? Besides this instance, are there any non-Berry item/TM changes in the overworld?
2. Are items like Choice Band and Scope Lens available earlier than the Battle Tower?
3. Is there a location list for new Johto/Hoenn additions?

One suggestion I would make is to import the Emerald exclusive Move Tutors into this game. Whether it is implemented via paid tutors during the main story or a BP tutor in the Battle Tower, I think it would really add to the experience and make replayability increase greatly, while also being canon/legal for transfer purposes. Low-power moves from Emerald Tutors such as Fury Cutter and Rollout would improve many of the less than spectacular Kanto Pokemon in the main storyline, without changing the game too drastically.

Other suggestions would be to move TM36 Sludge Bomb to the main storyline, as many Poison-types lack a decent STAB move in the game, and to move the Swords Dance tutor to at least early Sevii (7 Badges in) for team optimization in challenge mode. I feel like these would improve the game without being too broken, especially since Sludge Bomb is available after the 5th gym in RSE. I would also think that moving the breeding Daycare to the main game would not be too drastic of a change as well, but that one is more understandable as to why it wouldn't be implemented. Overall, this is a great hack, and I can't wait to complete the Extended Dex. Great Job!!!

 

[Deokishisu]

I'm really enjoying this hack! It has been extremely fun playing a revitalized version of my favorite installment in the series, and be able to complete the Pokedex in one file. A few questions though:

1. Is Hidden Power (TM10) still available via Pickup? Besides this instance, are there any non-Berry item/TM changes in the overworld?
2. Are items like Choice Band and Scope Lens available earlier than the Battle Tower?
3. Is there a location list for new Johto/Hoenn additions?

One suggestion I would make is to import the Emerald exclusive Move Tutors into this game. Whether it is implemented via paid tutors during the main story or a BP tutor in the Battle Tower, I think it would really add to the experience and make replayability increase greatly, while also being canon/legal for transfer purposes. Low-power moves from Emerald Tutors such as Fury Cutter and Rollout would improve many of the less than spectacular Kanto Pokemon in the main storyline, without changing the game too drastically.

Other suggestions would be to move TM36 Sludge Bomb to the main storyline, as many Poison-types lack a decent STAB move in the game, and to move the Swords Dance tutor to at least early Sevii (7 Badges in) for team optimization in challenge mode. I feel like these would improve the game without being too broken, especially since Sludge Bomb is available after the 5th gym in RSE. I would also think that moving the breeding Daycare to the main game would not be too drastic of a change as well, but that one is more understandable as to why it wouldn't be implemented. Overall, this is a great hack, and I can't wait to complete the Extended Dex. Great Job!!!

I'm glad you're having fun!

1. Hidden Power is not available via Pickup because TMs are infinite now. Instead, it can be purchased alongside the other TMs in the Celadon Department Store.
2. No, the Battle Tower is the only place they are obtainable.
3. The new Hoenn mons only consist of Latias and Latios on Southern Island. Wynaut, Azurill, and Deoxys were in vanilla FRLG. Girafarig and the Johto Pokemon made available in Emerald's Safari Zone expansion are in Kanto's postgame Safari Zone expansion. Chinchou is in underwater Bond Bridge. Smeargle is in Artisan Cave. Sudowoodo is at the Battle Tower. Corsola is available through an optional sidequest in the postgame Sevii Islands that was also there in vanilla, but the reward has been changed. Espeon and Umbreon evolve from Eevee by happiness outdoors and indoors, respectively. I thiiiiiiink that's all of them.

I considered putting in Emerald's move tutors, but didn't want to step on a potential Battle Frontier implementation by including them. The Battle Frontier will already be missing some BP rewards because of the lack of Secret Bases. I definitely see your point, though. I'll take a look at the list of Emerald tutors and maybe move some off of the Battle Frontier and into the main game, that way if the Battle Frontier ever happens at least there will be some tutorable moves still there. There are also move tutors exclusive to Pokemon XD that I was thinking about including, so maybe some of those moves would help out as well. EDIT: I just realized that there are Emerald-exclusive tutor moves that were not in the Frontier. I'll port those at the very least. Thanks for the heads up!

I don't think I'm going to move the Swords Dance tutor, but I too noticed Sludge Bomb's absence while playtesting and it was pretty painful for certain mons. I'll see if there's a lategame TM that's not useful that it can be swapped with.

I also feel like moving the Four Island Day Care is too much of a deviation from vanilla to consider.

I appreciate the feedback!

---

Additionally, I have been informed through Discord that I have screwed up the placement of one of the Master Trainers. There are two Rhydon Masters out in the world, which makes the final Master Trainer boss fight and title unobtainable. I'll have a patch out shortly to fix this and potentially make some other adjustments.

 

[Novakingdom]

Hi,im new here,and my english not so good,so i hope u can understand well,hehe,my question is..do you utilizes the Complete FireRed Upgrade engine and Dynamic Pokemon Expansion in this rom?

And some suggestions :

1 - can you make all npcs name with no-all capslock?(sorry i dont know what it is called)

2 - battle Prof Oak after elite four

3 - battle Brendan from Emerald after elite four (crossed-region battle)

4 - make rocket leader Giovanni much stronger,as he is main villain in the game

Thanks mate.

 

[Inner Rhymes]

Aye, a familiar face in the hacking scene makes an all out return, I see! I absolutely enjoyed playing Pokémon Orchid when I was a kid, like a whole decade ago. I'll most definitely be trying this out soon as the features make it seem like the most definitive Kanto experience. Is it p[ossibel to add a "Gotta catch em' all mode?" where all Pokémon from gen 1-3 appear in fixed areas?

 

[Deokishisu]

Hi,im new here,and my english not so good,so i hope u can understand well,hehe,my question is..do you utilizes the Complete FireRed Upgrade engine and Dynamic Pokemon Expansion in this rom?

And some suggestions :

1 - can you make all npcs name with no-all capslock?(sorry i dont know what it is called)

2 - battle Prof Oak after elite four

3 - battle Brendan from Emerald after elite four (crossed-region battle)

4 - make rocket leader Giovanni much stronger,as he is main villain in the game

Thanks mate.

Hi there! This is a decomp hack and not a binary hack, so I don't use any of those binary patches. This hack does not update the battle mechanics or expand the Pokemon past Deoxys.

1. I'm not going to change the case of stuff to not be all capitals, as I want to preserve the Gen 3 flavor.
2 and 3. There is a secret superboss available after beating all the Master Trainers that is meant to be a similar fight to what these would be. A Brenden/May fight specifically will not be implemented. Link up to RSE if you want to fight them!
4. Giovanni is stronger in Challenge Mode, but I don't want to make him a superboss or anything. I'm trying not to interfere too badly with the Gen 3 feel so I think he's fine where he is.

Thanks for your post.

Aye, a familiar face in the hacking scene makes an all out return, I see! I absolutely enjoyed playing Pokémon Orchid when I was a kid, like a whole decade ago. I'll most definitely be trying this out soon as the features make it seem like the most definitive Kanto experience. Is it p[ossibel to add a "Gotta catch em' all mode?" where all Pokémon from gen 1-3 appear in fixed areas?

While there are 246 Pokemon available in one playthrough in this hack, there will not be any way to catch more Pokemon than that as I explain in this post. Also, I'm surprised that anyone remembers Orchid! Feels like a lifetime ago.

 

[Deokishisu]

This patch is now out of date, see this post for the newest one.

I have uploaded a new patch with bugfixes and changes based on feedback I've received here and through other channels. The link in the first post has been updated, but you can also grab it from here: https://github.com/Deokishisu/FRLG-Plus/releases/tag/v1.1.0

Save files from the initial release are still compatible. Make sure you save normally (as in, through the start menu option) before updating. Your emulator savestates from the previous version will likely not work after the update.

This release fixes a critical bug with the Master Trainers, adds more Move Tutors, and makes other adjustments.

• The Rhydon Master on Route 18 has been replaced with the Rhyhorn Master, as intended. All Master Trainers should now be available.

• Eight more Move Tutors have been scattered throughout the game world and work like the other standard Move Tutors in that they will charge after the first use. The locations are as follows:

• Fury Cutter - Vermilion City
• Rollout - Route 24
• Swagger - Route 10
• Dynamic Punch - Saffron City
• Sleep Talk - Silph Co.
• Nightmare - Silph Co.
• Self-Destruct - Cinnabar Island
• Sky Attack - Mt. Ember

The ones in Saffron and Silph Co. will not appear until Team Rocket has been driven from the city.

• Erika's Victreebel now knows Sludge instead of Sludge Bomb.

• TM36 Sludge Bomb and TM41 Torment have swapped locations. TM36 is now found in Silph Co. while TM41 is now in the Rocket Warehouse on Five Island. If you've already picked up TM41 from Silph Co., TM36 should spawn in its place so you won't miss it.

• The Help System now lists the version-exclusive Pokémon when summoned from the Key System Menu. Additionally, fixed an issue where the Help System couldn't always be summoned with the L Button while in the Key System Menu.

• Fixed a tile error on Bond Bridge and a vanilla tile error on Route 14.

• Fixed a missing word in the AuroraTicket giveaway text.

 

[Deokishisu]

This patch is now out of date, see this post for the newest one.

I have uploaded a new patch that fixes a gamebreaking bug regarding Master Trainers. Please update to this version as soon as possible to prevent issues with your save. The link in the first post has been updated, but you can also grab it from here: https://github.com/Deokishisu/FRLG-Plus/releases/tag/v1.1.1

This release fixes a critical bug with how the Master Trainers set their flags.

• Master Trainers should no longer be setting regular trainer flags when beaten. Anyone who has beaten the Ekans Master on an older version will be locked out of the superboss fight that is unlocked after beating all the Master Trainers. This can be fixed by opening the savefile in PKHeX, going to the SAV tab, opening the Event Flags window, switching to the Research tab, typing 1303 into the Flag field and unchecking the box. Then save on the Event Flag Editor window, hit File, Export Save, and then save your file. Use that new file as your save going forward. If anyone's save file is suffering from this bug and is unable to do this to fix it, please let me know.

• Unnerfed Challenge Mode Erika a bit. Victreebel now knows Sludge Bomb again, as it could never learn Sludge. Its IVs and nature have been manipulated to bring its attacking stats down to be equal to Erika's Vileplume. This is more in line with the nerf in power that I originally intended.

• Brock no longer tells the player that TMs are single use and instead infers that they're infinite.

• When Nuzlocke Mode is on, Repels now will not prevent encounters on maps where the first encounter has not yet occurred. Repels can no longer be used in this way to cheese the first encounter in places like the Power Plant or Seafoam Islands to guarantee that the first encounter in those areas are legendaries. Due to this change, the Repel Trick can also no longer be used to game first encounters in Nuzlocke Mode.

 

[dreinbow]

Is it possible to add something like an IV Perfecter and/or Hidden Power changer since gen 3 breeding mechanics isn't that really good with the lack of destiny knot and so on. Although I could use a save editor for that but I want it to feel more "legit" i guess.

 

[Deokishisu]

Is it possible to add something like an IV Perfecter and/or Hidden Power changer since gen 3 breeding mechanics isn't that really good with the lack of destiny knot and so on. Although I could use a save editor for that but I want it to feel more "legit" i guess.

There is an IV Calculation option in the Key System menu that will calculate your Pokemon's stats as if IVs were perfect or zero. This doesn't change your Pokemon's actual IVs, but for the purposes of in-game play you wouldn't have to worry about them. Their Hidden Power will still be derived from their actual IVs, however. This option doesn't affect stats in the Battle Tower or while linking, though.

When it comes to actually changing the IVs (and the resulting Hidden Power that is derived from them), no, there are no plans to do that. This hack is meant to be played alongside the other Gen 3 games and I don't want to supplant them by making it easier to acquire perfect Pokemon. That is part of the reason why breeding mechanics were ported from Emerald with no changes as opposed to making Everstone work 100% of the time to pass on nature, or add in Destiny Knot's effect, etc.

A save editor is your best bet for changing actual IVs if that's what you want to do. Just don't modify the bag at all with the save editor or your save will be corrupted.

 

[Mullac18]

I'm playing on v1.1 and I've just got to Erika (challenge mode Nuzlocke) and I noticed you've said you un-nerferd her but wow,

Spoiler:

she has a lvl 1 Weedle followed by a lvl 75 Noctowl...

is it supposed to be so unforgiving? I was expecting level cap to be increased a little compared to a vanilla run but not that much!

 

[Dakress]

Sweet! Been waiting for a FireRed hack like this for a long time, so I'll be sure to give it a try and report whatever oddities I might find.