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)

 

[looneyman1]

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

My guess is that each region will follow the default story, but there'd be continuity leading to each region so if one started in Hoenn, you logically should be recognized for your feats in calming Groudon and Kyogre in Kanto and Johto.

 

[Tunak23]

Agree with that as well, some dialogue changes to put everything together, perhaps if it is not too much to ask making your background to actually matter, with certain characters treating you differently when thrur learn your region of origin(one could only dream with an actual story with choices and branches for a game like this), a bit of a reward for replayability's sake, a shame we don't have the possibility to also include the Orange Islands on the project then you guys would definitely awaken the ultimate nostalgia. Also here hoping that the graphics for the Johto region are faithful, some gba ports did a horrible job there others were amazing, generic Kanto tiles(houses, places, caves etc) do not cut it something unique is needed.

 

[shiyako]

Hi how about level? max is still 100 for 4 regions?

 

[looneyman1]

Agree with that as well, some dialogue changes to put everything together, perhaps if it is not too much to ask making your background to actually matter, with certain characters treating you differently when thrur learn your region of origin(one could only dream with an actual story with choices and branches for a game like this), a bit of a reward for replayability's sake, a shame we don't have the possibility to also include the Orange Islands on the project then you guys would definitely awaken the ultimate nostalgia. Also here hoping that the graphics for the Johto region are faithful, some gba ports did a horrible job there others were amazing, generic Kanto tiles(houses, places, caves etc) do not cut it something unique is needed.

Speaking of, if this DOES go like what I expect, Johto's storyline needs to have a bit of a revamp because Johto canonically is explored three years after R/B/G/Y, so on that front Johto's team rocket story needs to either act as an actual continuation (with Giovanii either still leading or Archer continuing with no mention of a three year gap between events) or a new story used in place of Johto's default campaign.