Emerald hack: Pokémon Crossroads [Kanto, Johto and Hoenn joined]

[xocolatiyo]

Pokémon Crossroads

A ROM hack from the Crossroads Dev Team

Story:

What if Game Freak had made the ultimate Game Boy Advance adventure?

Pokémon Crossroads puts you in the shoes of a young trainer embarking on a journey that spans not just Hoenn, but Kanto and Johto as well. Experience the regions seamlessly connected in one grand storyline—built on top of the robust pokeemerald-expansion engine, with inspiration and systems pulled from pokecrystaldust and pokefirered-expansion to bring those regions to life.

Revisit old favorites, uncover new routes, and feel what it might have been like if Emerald had evolved to become the ultimate multi-region Pokémon game.

From developers to developers:

Crossroads is more than a standalone game—it's also a foundation.. The multi-region systems and event framework being developed here will be reusable for other ROM hacks involving Hoenn, Johto, and Kanto. If you're working on a multi-region project or plan to in the future, this engine may serve as the perfect starting point.

Base:

Built from the ground up on
Pokémon Emerald (U)
with heavy modifications from:

• pokeemerald-expansion
• pokefirered-expansion
• Pokémon CrystalDust

Features:

Early development, but planned highlights include:

• Four fully explorable regions: Hoenn, Kanto, Johto and Sevii Islands
• Modern battle engine from pokeemerald-expansion
• FireRed-inspired region ports using its unique maps and scripts
• Sinnoh events and music inspired by Pokémon CrystalDust
• Quality of life enhancements: running indoors, reusable TMs, modern abilities/moves
• New warp system for seamless travel between regions
• GBA-native feel, like an authentic remake might have been in 2005

Screenshots:

Videos:

Stay tuned — dev logs and feature breakdowns will be shared here and on YouTube once early builds are playable.

Progress:

Development is moving steadily! Several core systems have already been completed, laying the groundwork for a full three-region adventure:

• ✅ Region switching and warp infrastructure
  Seamless transitions between Hoenn, Kanto, and Johto with proper region flag handling.
• ✅ Integration of FireRed/Kanto map data and tilesets
  All major overworlds for Kanto are ported and functional using FireRed layouts and palettes.
• ✅ Minimaps implemented per region
  Each region displays its own minimap on the AreaNav with appropriate location names.
• ✅ Fly behavior updated
  Flying correctly respects the player's current region and available flight points; no cross-region warping bugs.

Current focus:
The team is now working on porting events and scripts from Johto and Kanto into pokeemerald, including:

• Storyline progression and gym/event logic
• Dialogue and cutscenes
• Trainer battles and NPC routines
• Custom map triggers and flags per region

We're building custom tools and workflows to make this transition smoother, but it's a heavy lift — and we'd love help from scripters, event designers, and anyone familiar with Gen III decomp systems.

If you want to contribute — see below!

Team & Help Wanted:

Creating a full three-region adventure is no small task. If you're a scripter, mapper, composer, programmer, or even just a great playtester — we'd love your help.

If you want to contribute, join us on GitHub or message in the thread.

Credits:

• Game base: StrangeQuark94 (multi-region fork of pokeemerald)
• pokeemerald-expansion by cawtds
• pokefirered-expansion by ghoulslash
• Pokémon CrystalDust by DoMoreAwesome Games
• Special thanks to the decompilation and ROM hacking communities

Full credits and contributors list available on the GitHub page (will be updated continuously).

Downloads:

Not available yet.
An alpha release will be shared once the first cross-region build is stable and playable.

Bugs/Glitches/Oddities:

Please report issues on our GitHub Issues page.

 

[CAulin]

Hi, xocolatiyo,
Really glad you doing a multi-region hack.

Wishing you the best luck!!!

 

[Billy555]

Whoa! Am i dreaming or what? I always wanted to play a pokemon game with all these regions in one game!

May i ask you if battle frontier, contests and battle tents still be available?

Good luck on your project!

 

[looneyman1]

I cant wait for this~.

 

[Wirawr]

Is the story same as normal game, like in hoen we will face team aqua and magma

 

[shiyako]

Finally my old day kid nearly come true, hope you guys make this one completed with logic and nice balance (not just a whole Johto, Hoenn lvl 80~100, how about increase max lvl to 250 or 300? it seriously need a balance method when you complete a region with a team lvl 80)