Emerald hack: Pokémon Emerald Z (Fakemon Hack | Complete | v1.2.0 available! Material drop system implemented!)

[DerpyKira]

Jump on one of the white flowers (the second one out of frame)

I can't believe it was that simple, good lord...
Thank you for the help though :)

 

[blythhe]

The ice puzzle in Shoal Cave can't be solved (reaching the scroll) if the item on one of the tiles has already been picked up. Glad I had a save state not too far from that, I didn't have the foresight to leave the item alone.

 

[Z-nogyroP]

Hey, is there any chance a way to play the game at perfect IV can be done? I really want to have the best Pokémon for myself as well as fight against the best Pokémon in game.

You can maximize IVs at the Fallarbor Hyper Training Station!

Hello I have been having a blast with this hack. Have beaten gym 5 and while playing I now realized that it seems tangling hair or maybe all contact abilities prevent items like rocky helmet from working. Example I fought a swellow with dual wingbeat in route 111 and while tangling was dropping its speed, it never got hurt from rocky helmets chip dmg.
Outside of that the game has been incredible and the fakemon are really well done.
Congrats on the hack

Thank you for reporting this! Seems to be a bug in the Pokéemerald Expansion, will see if I can get it fixed for the next patch

No I believe I was on 1.0.1. which is why I was able to go to battle frontier. Anything else notable to be done besides completing pokedex? No worries, I started on a different version and did not realize until it was much later.

Update: I found 1.1.0 on the vba website!

I believe the only real postgame content at the moment is the superboss in the Cove Lily Motel, though be warned they're intentionally designed to be a brutally unfair fight!

The ice puzzle in Shoal Cave can't be solved (reaching the scroll) if the item on one of the tiles has already been picked up. Glad I had a save state not too far from that, I didn't have the foresight to leave the item alone.

This is intentional. The item respawns daily.

 

[DerpyKira]

To use the Explorer's Guide, you need to have a pokemon that can learn dig/dive/fly?
I'd really love if this romhack had a way to avoid having HM slaves :/

 

[Arc_Nova]

Same! This hack is so good but HM slaves make it feel a little bit dated. Otherwise the Fakemons don't feel like fakemons - they are so well made. The balancing is great. There are some good QoL features.

 

[Shel67]

Really liking the hack so far (just beat the 5th gym), and absolutely love shiny Noudini (cutest blue slug wizard), however it is such a pain to switch up my team as leveling up new members takes forever due to the wild pokemon giving such pitiful exp. As an example, i was grinding up an Impawzible for sidney and i was only getting 100-200 xp per kill. I ended up just stopping at 35 instead of trying to match the rest of my team at 37 cuz it was taking way to long.

 

[Z-nogyroP]

To use the Explorer's Guide, you need to have a pokemon that can learn dig/dive/fly?
I'd really love if this romhack had a way to avoid having HM slaves :/

As mentioned, the Explorer's Guide is a battle-only item, not something for out of battle use. Sorry!

Really liking the hack so far (just beat the 5th gym), and absolutely love shiny Noudini (cutest blue slug wizard), however it is such a pain to switch up my team as leveling up new members takes forever due to the wild pokemon giving such pitiful exp. As an example, i was grinding up an Impawzible for sidney and i was only getting 100-200 xp per kill. I ended up just stopping at 35 instead of trying to match the rest of my team at 37 cuz it was taking way to long.

I'm glad you like shiny Noudini, it's one of my favourites too! Can I ask where you were grinding for Sidney? In the Route 111 desert, the low-end wilds give around 200 EXP per kill, and there's roughly a 20% chance to find Spiraclean, Klawf, or Sigilyph, which give around 600. With Impawzible's experience curve, that should be around 16 kills per level in the 30s, which I don't think is too unreasonable, particularly for something you're just training up - though I can see how it might be exhausting if you're doing it all at once and not breaking up the grinding into sessions, or if you don't have a speed-up option.

(Were you still able to win, incidentally? That's another thing - I completely sympathize with wanting your whole team to be at the same level, but since this hack isn't brutally difficulty-focused it's usually not strictly necessary. You can get by a level or two below the curve!)

If it's still too slow, you can get an early Lucky Egg by using Thief on wild Togetic encountered via Headbutt in Trick Forest, though post-Sidney you're already close to getting the static one in the Safari Zone.

All that being said, the next update should be out within a few days and will be making a few more (and hopefully the last) adjustments to EXP gain. One of those adjustments will be to make certain basic-stage Pokémon encountered later in the game like Baltoy, Tangela, Yanma, and Scyther yield more EXP.

 

[Z-nogyroP]

Pokémon Emerald Z v1.2.0 is here! Featuring material drops, a wild Exp. All setting, an earlier Diving area, and more!

Two weeks is long enough that I'm not a liar for saying 1.1.0 would be the last big update for a while, right? This one should for real this time be the last update for the foreseeable future, unless someone discovers some really game-breaking bugs. As always, patch to a clean Emerald ROM. Save files from v1.1.0 and earlier ARE still compatible with this patch, but I would personally recommend starting a fresh save file if you're still early on in the game and haven't made much progress. If you're sticking with an old save, there are a few small bonuses available to help give you a leg up on collecting materials.

Spoiler: Changelog

- Wild Pokémon now drop materials.
- The materials that wild Pokémon can drop can be viewed in the Data tab of the Pokédex.
- If the Pokémon in the first slot of your party has the Ability Pickpocket, Scavenger, or Pickup, wild Pokémon drop materials 50% more often.
- You can disable the text that notifies you of an item drop in page 2 of the options menu, under Wild Drop Text.
- The TM Master in Slateport now uses materials to craft TMs instead of asking you to defeat certain Pokémon.
- The move tutors now request their respective Shards plus a few materials to tutor their moves.
- An NPC in the Dewford Town Hall will trade a bundle of random rare materials in exchange for more common materials once each day.
- If you started your save file on v1.1.0 or earlier, you may speak to a deliveryman in any Poké Mart to receive a large bundle of assorted materials, to make up for not having access to them throughout your play.

- The TM Tracker Key Item is now the Bounty Charm. The Bounty Charm gives a chance for wild Pokémon to drop two or three of a material instead of one. If you already had the TM Tracker, it will be replaced by the Bounty Charm to help get a head start on material collecting. Otherwise, it can be obtained through a sidequest with the Berry Master's daughter on Route 123.

- Pyukumuku now drop Mucus Globs instead of holding them.
- Karrablast and Shelmet now drop Forked Horns / Shell Visors instead of holding them.
- Gligar, Sneasel, and Bisharp now drop Razor Fangs / Razor Claws / Leader's Crests instead of holding them.

- The Item Locations document has been updated to include material prices for TMs and tutors, as well as listing the drops for first-stage wild Pokémon.

- There is now a setting for a Wild Exp. All.
- This setting is off by default, but will cause your entire team to gain Exp. Points whenever you defeat a wild Pokémon. It does not affect Trainer battles.
- The Exp. Share item has no effect in wild battles if this setting is on, but otherwise works as normal.
- Grinding on wild Pokémon is still important, more so now that materials exist, but this should speed things up somewhat for the impatient and those without much time.
- Once again, this setting is off by default. You must enable it in page 2 of the Options menu.

- Further adjustments to experience gain.
- All Pokémon that participate in battle will now receive the full amount of Exp. Points.
- The Exp. Share still gives the holder 50% of the Exp. Points, but the Pokémon that participated in the battle now receives full Exp. Points.
- The Wild Exp. All setting gives 25% of the Exp. Points to any Pokémon that did not participate.
- Scaling experience gain makes its return, but with a twist - it only affects Pokémon that are lower-leveled than the defeated Pokémon. In other words, low-level Pokémon will gain extra Exp. Points from defeating high-level Pokémon, but high-level Pokémon will not be penalized when defeating low-level Pokémon.
- The following Pokémon now yield approximately 50% more Exp. Points when defeated: Baltoy, Ferroseed, Golett, Murkrow, Psyclops, Wailmer, Yanma, Tangela, Scyther, Bonfird, Gligar, Rufflet, Vullaby, Cetoddle, Sneasel. These Pokémon's Exp. Point yields are now equal to (BST * 6 / 20), rather than the typical (BST * 4 / 20) formula used for first-stage Pokémon.
- In the absence of Chansey and Blissey, Munchlax and Snorlax have nobly taken on the role of "rare Normal-type that explodes into Exp. Points when defeated" and have much greater Exp. Point yields. Headbutt isn't just for getting that pre-Rustboro Drumble anymore!
- God willing, these will be the very last adjustments to the experience system.

- There is now an Egg Move tutor in Fallarbor along with the normal move tutor. He takes Eggshells as currency, which are held by Pokémon you've hatched.

- You can now access a small diving area in the Slateport Harbor.
- Not strictly related, but the underwater wild Pokémon tables on Routes 124-126 have been adjusted.

- Brendan / May now give the TM for Hidden Power after battling them in Rustboro.
- Hidden Power now displays its true typing in battle and in the summary screen.

- Explorer's Guide description updated to make it clearer that it's a held item for battle and has no out of battle use.
- Added a few NPCs and signs. One talks about stealing Lucky Eggs from wild Togetic, and one explains how material drops work.

- Battle messages should no longer get cut off in the interface.
- Shiny Charm palette fixed.
- Rocky Helmet should now proc on Pokémon with Gooey / Tangling Hair.
- Interacting with a Strength boulder while not having a Pokémon with Strength no longer brings up the Rock Smash message.
- Rookidee line is now correctly compatible with Rock Smash.
- May will no longer refer to you as a Gym Leader's kid if you speak to her on the first floor of her house.
- Mass outbreaks have been edited; don't get too excited though, they're still postgame and you can still only get one per save because I can't figure out how to fix that.

 

[JamesNorritom]

Oh man I was so hopeful to see "Add an option to make wild mon perfect IV from the start". Or an option to disable EVs for both (player and CPU).

 

[lweege]

Oh man I was so hopeful to see "Add an option to make wild mon perfect IV from the start". Or an option to disable EVs for both (player and CPU).

I feel you, I have that itch to maximize my Mons EVs and IVs. Heheheh, I even found myself battling specific mons for speed EVs, even though I knew that admin-san said that EV hunting isn't needed. Still, I am thoroughly enjoying this hack.

 

[lweege]

The material hunting for TMs is a huge improvement compared to defeating specific mons.

 

[JamesNorritom]

I feel you, I have that itch to maximize my Mons EVs and IVs. Heheheh, I even found myself battling specific mons for speed EVs, even though I knew that admin-san said that EV hunting isn't needed. Still, I am thoroughly enjoying this hack.

It's already become a habit of mine to want to see perfect IVs. And I just get depressed when I ask if there's going to be a perfect IV and the hack creator replies "the game can be beaten without needing a perfect IV". It's never been a matter of having perfect IV to try and beat the game, but having PERFECT NUMBERS like full 31 IV is just beautiful and fascinating. I feel like the Pokémon is complete, even if it doesn't have any IV. haha

I hope that in the future more hack creators will follow Radical Red's line with all these QoL like candy, 100% catch rate, full IV, disable EV etc. Not being 100% forced ofc, but optional for those who just want to enjoy the game with their favorite pokémon or try new ones.. That's why Radical Red is so popular not only for casuals but also for hardcore nuzlocke.

 

[Blhite]

Ok thank you for the update, definetely gonna try the game from the start. This time I'll try to net use any speed up options through the em*lator and see where it will takes me. Cheers!

 

[Danidark97]

Pokémon Emerald Z v1.2.0 is here! Featuring material drops, a wild Exp. All setting, an earlier Diving area, and more!

Two weeks is long enough that I'm not a liar for saying 1.1.0 would be the last big update for a while, right? This one should for real this time be the last update for the foreseeable future, unless someone discovers some really game-breaking bugs. As always, patch to a clean Emerald ROM. Save files from v1.1.0 and earlier ARE still compatible with this patch, but I would personally recommend starting a fresh save file if you're still early on in the game and haven't made much progress. If you're sticking with an old save, there are a few small bonuses available to help give you a leg up on collecting materials.

Spoiler: Changelog

- Wild Pokémon now drop materials.
- The materials that wild Pokémon can drop can be viewed in the Data tab of the Pokédex.
- If the Pokémon in the first slot of your party has the Ability Pickpocket, Scavenger, or Pickup, wild Pokémon drop materials 50% more often.
- You can disable the text that notifies you of an item drop in page 2 of the options menu, under Wild Drop Text.
- The TM Master in Slateport now uses materials to craft TMs instead of asking you to defeat certain Pokémon.
- The move tutors now request their respective Shards plus a few materials to tutor their moves.
- An NPC in the Dewford Town Hall will trade a bundle of random rare materials in exchange for more common materials once each day.
- If you started your save file on v1.1.0 or earlier, you may speak to a deliveryman in any Poké Mart to receive a large bundle of assorted materials, to make up for not having access to them throughout your play.

- The TM Tracker Key Item is now the Bounty Charm. The Bounty Charm gives a chance for wild Pokémon to drop two or three of a material instead of one. If you already had the TM Tracker, it will be replaced by the Bounty Charm to help get a head start on material collecting. Otherwise, it can be obtained through a sidequest with the Berry Master's daughter on Route 123.

- Pyukumuku now drop Mucus Globs instead of holding them.
- Karrablast and Shelmet now drop Forked Horns / Shell Visors instead of holding them.
- Gligar, Sneasel, and Bisharp now drop Razor Fangs / Razor Claws / Leader's Crests instead of holding them.

- The Item Locations document has been updated to include material prices for TMs and tutors, as well as listing the drops for first-stage wild Pokémon.

- There is now a setting for a Wild Exp. All.
- This setting is off by default, but will cause your entire team to gain Exp. Points whenever you defeat a wild Pokémon. It does not affect Trainer battles.
- The Exp. Share item has no effect in wild battles if this setting is on, but otherwise works as normal.
- Grinding on wild Pokémon is still important, more so now that materials exist, but this should speed things up somewhat for the impatient and those without much time.
- Once again, this setting is off by default. You must enable it in page 2 of the Options menu.

- Further adjustments to experience gain.
- All Pokémon that participate in battle will now receive the full amount of Exp. Points.
- The Exp. Share still gives the holder 50% of the Exp. Points, but the Pokémon that participated in the battle now receives full Exp. Points.
- The Wild Exp. All setting gives 25% of the Exp. Points to any Pokémon that did not participate.
- Scaling experience gain makes its return, but with a twist - it only affects Pokémon that are lower-leveled than the defeated Pokémon. In other words, low-level Pokémon will gain extra Exp. Points from defeating high-level Pokémon, but high-level Pokémon will not be penalized when defeating low-level Pokémon.
- The following Pokémon now yield approximately 50% more Exp. Points when defeated: Baltoy, Ferroseed, Golett, Murkrow, Psyclops, Wailmer, Yanma, Tangela, Scyther, Bonfird, Gligar, Rufflet, Vullaby, Cetoddle, Sneasel. These Pokémon's Exp. Point yields are now equal to (BST * 6 / 20), rather than the typical (BST * 4 / 20) formula used for first-stage Pokémon.
- In the absence of Chansey and Blissey, Munchlax and Snorlax have nobly taken on the role of "rare Normal-type that explodes into Exp. Points when defeated" and have much greater Exp. Point yields. Headbutt isn't just for getting that pre-Rustboro Drumble anymore!
- God willing, these will be the very last adjustments to the experience system.

- There is now an Egg Move tutor in Fallarbor along with the normal move tutor. He takes Eggshells as currency, which are held by Pokémon you've hatched.

- You can now access a small diving area in the Slateport Harbor.
- Not strictly related, but the underwater wild Pokémon tables on Routes 124-126 have been adjusted.

- Brendan / May now give the TM for Hidden Power after battling them in Rustboro.
- Hidden Power now displays its true typing in battle and in the summary screen.

- Explorer's Guide description updated to make it clearer that it's a held item for battle and has no out of battle use.
- Added a few NPCs and signs. One talks about stealing Lucky Eggs from wild Togetic, and one explains how material drops work.

- Battle messages should no longer get cut off in the interface.
- Shiny Charm palette fixed.
- Rocky Helmet should now proc on Pokémon with Gooey / Tangling Hair.
- Interacting with a Strength boulder while not having a Pokémon with Strength no longer brings up the Rock Smash message.
- Rookidee line is now correctly compatible with Rock Smash.
- May will no longer refer to you as a Gym Leader's kid if you speak to her on the first floor of her house.
- Mass outbreaks have been edited; don't get too excited though, they're still postgame and you can still only get one per save because I can't figure out how to fix that.

Since I have beaten the league, do you recommend to start a new game?

 

[lweege]

It's already become a habit of mine to want to see perfect IVs. And I just get depressed when I ask if there's going to be a perfect IV and the hack creator replies "the game can be beaten without needing a perfect IV". It's never been a matter of having perfect IV to try and beat the game, but having PERFECT NUMBERS like full 31 IV is just beautiful and fascinating. I feel like the Pokémon is complete, even if it doesn't have any IV. haha

I hope that in the future more hack creators will follow Radical Red's line with all these QoL like candy, 100% catch rate, full IV, disable EV etc. Not being 100% forced ofc, but optional for those who just want to enjoy the game with their favorite pokémon or try new ones.. That's why Radical Red is so popular not only for casuals but also for hardcore nuzlocke.

Amen to that Sir.

 

[jstan157]

Does this patch work with Multipatch? I keep getting error messages saying the UPS cant be read. Does this only work NPUS?

 

[JamieOD260397]

Fun game! I just wish there was an alternative method to getting the TM for Acrobatics, because the only way to get it isn't fun, having you require getting a perfect score on cycling road without making a single collision.

...Yeah. Not fun.

Otherwise, pretty good Rom Hack!

 

[NeroNerotico]

Hello there. Created an account just to say how much I love this ROM Hack! It's hard to find hacks with good Fakemon designs like these, and even harder to find complete ones. Some of these designs are so good I wish they were official.

I started playing this as a way to pass time on the bus to college, and an around the 6th gym by now. The balance is really good, just challenging enough that you can't rush through the game mindlessly, but not too hard to the point of being infuriating. (The only part that angered me was getting Acrobatics in the Cycling Road lol).

I've ran across so many cool Fakemon that I'm having a hard time deciding on who to use on my team 🤣

I also wanted to ask, is there Post-Game content? Or plans to add any in the future? I saw in this thread that the Battle Frontier is inaccessible, will it be added in the future? That alone would make my playtime more than triple lol.

Overall this is a really good hack and I'll definitely be keeping an eye on any future updates if any!

EDIT: I think I found some bugs. When I Hyper Train a Pokémon and check its IVs, the NPC says they still have the same IVs, even though their stats increased. And when I use a Nature Mint, the Summary still shows the same Nature as before, despite the stats changing as well.

 

[nezhas]

just finished this rom hack! it was very fun and had great ideas and the spritework and fakemon ideas and executions were immaculate. in particular, i actually happen to really like material grinding in games (like monster hunter and whatnot) so i appreciated the material system and agree with your idea that craftable tms make for more creative gameplay than infinite tms where you just teach all 6 mons earthquake. still bummed about needing to teach hms but luckily gyarados learns most of the yucky ones (rock smash, strength, dive, waterfall-- although waterfall can be good) and forgettable hms meant i could replace cerebarrel's surf with flash for victory road and then switch right back.

would also like to thank PrinceTalonSabre for my life (the exp cheat) because the game is so much more fun when you can immediately catch a new team member up to the rest in a single battle.

i guess i can understand deciding not to implement any sort of quick easy leveling system but one thing i would like to ask about is toxic/flame orb strats. the items seem to not be in the game despite possessum having toxic boost as its hidden ability. right before going through victory road, i caught one and used an ability patch on it and went around building it up for a toxic orb strategy (toxic boost, toxic orb, fake out, facade) and when the e4 shop didn't have the orbs i checked the item locations doc and couldn't find them mentioned anywhere. is it planned for a future patch maybe? i don't really see what the point of having toxic boost is without toxic orb in the game considering there are hardly any major double battles and if there are any moves added that can poison the user i didn't encounter them.

also, i really love the dex selection of canon pokemon. it really bothers me when people include the entirety of gen 1 as a given and then pick and choose with the rest of the gens. frankly, we don't need all those gen 1 mons, especially considering how terribly powercrept a lot of them got (though poor arbok has never been good a day in its life), and trying to include every single pokemon up to whatever the current gen is also feels cramped and unnecessary. with this dex, i was extremely happy in particular to see some of my favorite pokemon including vanillite (which i caught just to have) and shroodle (which i used for a while until i decided i wanted all fakemon).

something i'd like to mention as a tip to other players, by the way, is that salmurai is absolutely busted and if you're struggling with difficulty you should definitely pick one up. (roenin evolves upon learning swords dance which...i think it gets mid-thirties?) i ran mine sharpness/adamant (would also recommend jolly) with swords dance, sacred sword, aqua cutter, night slash, and though i didn't intend for a sweep, it mostly handled the e4 and champion almost by itself. that being said, i was using a rain team and would open with cerebarrel with damp rock rain dance, so aqua cutter was boosted for salmurai and it was the main move i was using. i love that thing, and bananza was a close second even though i felt like i wasn't utilizing it properly (probably should have replaced knock off with seed bomb for a better grass move but i was going for Strats over damage with wild sprout and the double trailblaze speed boost and then poison jab as my good stab move). those two were definitely my favorites to use; though i also love apparaven, it doesn't hit quite hard enough to be considered especially reliable </3 but it was the fastest member of my team and could be relied on for emergency non-priority damage since i was a fool and ran no priority moves by the end.

all in all, very fun hack, and definitely worth replaying to try out a bunch of the new fakemon and give some favorite canon pokemon a shot as well (vanilluxe got buffed!!! vanillite is my favorite pokemon!!!)

 

[Z-nogyroP]

Fun game! I just wish there was an alternative method to getting the TM for Acrobatics, because the only way to get it isn't fun, having you require getting a perfect score on cycling road without making a single collision.

...Yeah. Not fun.

Otherwise, pretty good Rom Hack!

Yeah, I may add an alternate method to pick up Acrobatics at some point - if you're playing on an emulator, you can slow down the game's frame rate to make it easier, and the timing is a bit more generous, but it's still pretty nasty.

Hello there. Created an account just to say how much I love this ROM Hack! It's hard to find hacks with good Fakemon designs like these, and even harder to find complete ones. Some of these designs are so good I wish they were official.

I started playing this as a way to pass time on the bus to college, and an around the 6th gym by now. The balance is really good, just challenging enough that you can't rush through the game mindlessly, but not too hard to the point of being infuriating. (The only part that angered me was getting Acrobatics in the Cycling Road lol).

I've ran across so many cool Fakemon that I'm having a hard time deciding on who to use on my team 🤣

I also wanted to ask, is there Post-Game content? Or plans to add any in the future? I saw in this thread that the Battle Frontier is inaccessible, will it be added in the future? That alone would make my playtime more than triple lol.

Overall this is a really good hack and I'll definitely be keeping an eye on any future updates if any!

EDIT: I think I found some bugs. When I Hyper Train a Pokémon and check its IVs, the NPC says they still have the same IVs, even though their stats increased. And when I use a Nature Mint, the Summary still shows the same Nature as before, despite the stats changing as well.

Thank you! I would like to add the Battle Frontier at some point, but it's tough since I'd need to almost completely redo all the possible sets from scratch, so it's a big time sink. Those aren't actually bugs - the proper effects on stats are applied! Natures not actually changing is gen 9 behaviour, and the IV judge doesn't take Hyper Training into account, mostly because it was easier to code. That may change eventually, though.

just finished this rom hack! it was very fun and had great ideas and the spritework and fakemon ideas and executions were immaculate. in particular, i actually happen to really like material grinding in games (like monster hunter and whatnot) so i appreciated the material system and agree with your idea that craftable tms make for more creative gameplay than infinite tms where you just teach all 6 mons earthquake. still bummed about needing to teach hms but luckily gyarados learns most of the yucky ones (rock smash, strength, dive, waterfall-- although waterfall can be good) and forgettable hms meant i could replace cerebarrel's surf with flash for victory road and then switch right back.

would also like to thank PrinceTalonSabre for my life (the exp cheat) because the game is so much more fun when you can immediately catch a new team member up to the rest in a single battle.

i guess i can understand deciding not to implement any sort of quick easy leveling system but one thing i would like to ask about is toxic/flame orb strats. the items seem to not be in the game despite possessum having toxic boost as its hidden ability. right before going through victory road, i caught one and used an ability patch on it and went around building it up for a toxic orb strategy (toxic boost, toxic orb, fake out, facade) and when the e4 shop didn't have the orbs i checked the item locations doc and couldn't find them mentioned anywhere. is it planned for a future patch maybe? i don't really see what the point of having toxic boost is without toxic orb in the game considering there are hardly any major double battles and if there are any moves added that can poison the user i didn't encounter them.

also, i really love the dex selection of canon pokemon. it really bothers me when people include the entirety of gen 1 as a given and then pick and choose with the rest of the gens. frankly, we don't need all those gen 1 mons, especially considering how terribly powercrept a lot of them got (though poor arbok has never been good a day in its life), and trying to include every single pokemon up to whatever the current gen is also feels cramped and unnecessary. with this dex, i was extremely happy in particular to see some of my favorite pokemon including vanillite (which i caught just to have) and shroodle (which i used for a while until i decided i wanted all fakemon).

something i'd like to mention as a tip to other players, by the way, is that salmurai is absolutely busted and if you're struggling with difficulty you should definitely pick one up. (roenin evolves upon learning swords dance which...i think it gets mid-thirties?) i ran mine sharpness/adamant (would also recommend jolly) with swords dance, sacred sword, aqua cutter, night slash, and though i didn't intend for a sweep, it mostly handled the e4 and champion almost by itself. that being said, i was using a rain team and would open with cerebarrel with damp rock rain dance, so aqua cutter was boosted for salmurai and it was the main move i was using. i love that thing, and bananza was a close second even though i felt like i wasn't utilizing it properly (probably should have replaced knock off with seed bomb for a better grass move but i was going for Strats over damage with wild sprout and the double trailblaze speed boost and then poison jab as my good stab move). those two were definitely my favorites to use; though i also love apparaven, it doesn't hit quite hard enough to be considered especially reliable </3 but it was the fastest member of my team and could be relied on for emergency non-priority damage since i was a fool and ran no priority moves by the end.

all in all, very fun hack, and definitely worth replaying to try out a bunch of the new fakemon and give some favorite canon pokemon a shot as well (vanilluxe got buffed!!! vanillite is my favorite pokemon!!!)

Thank you for the in-depth review, and I'm glad the material system resonated with you! I have been having second thoughts on HMs specifically because of how bad Victory Road can be, but I haven't figured out a solution to the system that I'm happy with yet.

You're right that the status orbs aren't in the overworld - they can be held by wild Candleru for the Flame Orb and X-Trac for the Toxic Orb. It was a mistake on my part to not have them in the item location document - I'll add it for the next version, and stick it in the Pastebin docs as well. I'm really happy to hear about the Fakemon that worked out well for you, particularly Bananza - its stats are a little low but everyone I've heard from who's used it has really enjoyed it, which is heartening!