FireRed hack: Pokémon FireRed: Rocket Edition (Completed)

[colonelsalt]

Just checking in, as usual. Eagerly anticipating the new beta.

I love it. I will do my utmost to prevent seeing you disappointed. Awesome to see you rocking the support banner too-- appreciate it!

I would also like to say that I created an account just for this. I played Toxic Purple a long time ago and I loved it. I am currently playing through your game, and I absolutely love it. I really am hoping to see it finished.

Been trying to level up my pokemon in the beta. I'm sure we will lose data once the full game is out right?

That is so cool. It really means the world to me to hear it, man.

To address your concern, I think it's highly likely that the next beta will be fully compatible with old save files, as I haven't and have no plans to edit the save block or tampering with any older flags or variables. Of course, if staying backwards-compatible turns out to hamper development at any point, I will have to scrap it, but as it stands right now I'd say I'm at least 85% sure that won't happen.

Aaaand on the off chance that the saves won't be compatible, I promise to personally recreate any old saves from Beta v1 for the next version for each and every player who would be bummed out about losing their progress. Grind to your heart's content, I say.


Also, I felt the need to sneak in another mini-peek, this time featuring a certain patriotic Gym Leader...

 

[Cody Travis]

Awesome man. I have no qualms with starting a new game though. I think I would enjoy playing it from the start when the full version comes out. I'm very excited about this game man. I was really bummed when Toxic Purple was not completed, but I'm excited to see that this game will be completed.

 

[PokemonTrainerDX]

Looking forward to try this out thank you for making this keep up the good work

 

[Penteghost]

I made an account purely for this, because I played Toxic Purple and I desperately wanted there to be an update, or at least a spiritual successor and I'm so glad I found this! It looks amazing, and I was delighted to find you're still active and working on this. But I appear to be encountering a small problem.

It's been a while since I played with ROMs, but I believe done all the correct things (downloaded a Firered ROM, VBA and Lunar IPS). I've even added the vba-over, and changed VBA emulator settings to save Flash 128k, and use the Real Time Clock, and Firered works fine.

But when I try to patch it with Rocket Edition Beta v1, the ROM gets... stuck?
All it does is play the first bit of the intro cutscene, with the gengar fighting the nidorino over and over again without ever getting to the Start menu.

I'm a little bit perplexed. Is there something I'm doing terribly wrong?
Cheers for your time.

 

[colonelsalt]

Awesome man. I have no qualms with starting a new game though. I think I would enjoy playing it from the start when the full version comes out. I'm very excited about this game man. I was really bummed when Toxic Purple was not completed, but I'm excited to see that this game will be completed.

Looking forward to try this out thank you for making this keep up the good work

The best, is what you guys are. It is for you that I'm working around the clock to get the next version out as soon as possible!

I made an account purely for this, because I played Toxic Purple and I desperately wanted there to be an update, or at least a spiritual successor and I'm so glad I found this! It looks amazing, and I was delighted to find you're still active and working on this. But I appear to be encountering a small problem.

It's been a while since I played with ROMs, but I believe done all the correct things (downloaded a Firered ROM, VBA and Lunar IPS). I've even added the vba-over, and changed VBA emulator settings to save Flash 128k, and use the Real Time Clock, and Firered works fine.

But when I try to patch it with Rocket Edition Beta v1, the ROM gets... stuck?
All it does is play the first bit of the intro cutscene, with the gengar fighting the nidorino over and over again without ever getting to the Start menu.

I'm a little bit perplexed. Is there something I'm doing terribly wrong?
Cheers for your time.

Thrilled to hear you like the looks of the game! I completely empathize with the longing for Toxic Purple updates, I assure you.

Well, if you haven't played with ROMs in a while, you'll probably have noticed that getting a hold of legitimate copies is a little harder than it used to be (e.g. in the Toxic Purple days), owing to a harsher crackdown on copyright infringements on the part of Nintendo in the last few years, which is probably why you're having trouble...

Anyway, because your unpatched FireRed ROM plays fine, I'm guessing the problem with the patch comes down to it not being applied to a FireRed Version v1.0 ROM (as is noted in the first post). So I'd advise you to keep looking for a v1.0 ROM and trying the patch on that. Obviously I'm not allowed to send or link you to anything of the sort here, but that would be my best guess. Hope it helps!

 

[CurtisManning]

Hi there ! I created an account just to tell you how great this rom hack is ! It feels awesome be apart of Team Rocket.

I love the writing and the humor, and the depth you gave some characters like the scene between Giovanni and Blaine. That's really promising.

The stealing mechanic is really nice, and being able to climb up the ranks to steal Pokémon from more powerful trainers is something I'm eager to see.

Since I loved it so much, I wanted to try and see what happened when you beat Red. It was hard because I didn't want to cheat, but I did it, thanks to the Poliwag I stole from the old man. I grinded him and the Nidoran until I got Poliwrath and Nidoking. I also evolved a Growlithe into an Arcanine. It helped a lot.

The winning quote was so funny it was worth the hours of grinding. Thanks again for the experience and I can't wait to play the next release !

 

[Penteghost]

Thrilled to hear you like the looks of the game! I completely empathize with the longing for Toxic Purple updates, I assure you.

Well, if you haven't played with ROMs in a while, you'll probably have noticed that getting a hold of legitimate copies is a little harder than it used to be (e.g. in the Toxic Purple days), owing to a harsher crackdown on copyright infringements on the part of Nintendo in the last few years, which is probably why you're having trouble...

Anyway, because your unpatched FireRed ROM plays fine, I'm guessing the problem with the patch comes down to it not being applied to a FireRed Version v1.0 ROM (as is noted in the first post). So I'd advise you to keep looking for a v1.0 ROM and trying the patch on that. Obviously I'm not allowed to send or link you to anything of the sort here, but that would be my best guess. Hope it helps!

Ahhhh, rightio. I must have missed that when I read through the post. I wasn't aware there were different versions, I really haven't played with ROMs in like, years. Entirely my bad, cheers for making the distinction clear.

Following your instruction, I found one and patched it, and it's working great now, cheers!
You've done a decent job giving it that Toxic Purple feel, although I have to agree with the other person about the swearing.

I mean, whilst I don't think rough 'n tough gang members like Team Rocket would watch their language, the blasphemy doesn't actually make much sense and actually kinda ruins the immersion a bit? Like I'm all for creative cursing, but in a world where "god" and "jesus" never actually existed, it's really sorta jarring to have that kind of language in the game, and kinda takes you out of the story. Casual slinging around words like "gay" as insults also has the same effect. Just kinda feels like. I dunno. It's not even humour, it's just kinda. Unnecessary. And it's sort of ruining my enjoyment of the game. They could easily be substituted for something more creative, more fitting for the world, and more amusing.
The Hitler joke was also a bit. Ehhh... I dunno, maybe that's just me. I have Jewish friends so I don't really find holocaust jokes funny any more.

Maybe this is just a personal nitpick as a writer myself, but Giovanni's behaviour seems a touch out of character. He seems a little quick to anger, and jumps to language that would be more common amongst the Grunts than the respected leader of an entire organisation. I'd imagine him to be more cool and calculated than he's been written.
(This is just a tiny thing also, but you've used the word "gleam" in Petrel's speech after Red, when the word for obtaining information is "glean".)

That said though! The stealing mechanic is very nice, and I think being able to pick from the available pokemon is a great touch. The game itself is pretty fun so far. It's like playing through the story from a brand new perspective, that of the villain, and that's something I've been looking for in a game for years. I like having a wide variety of pokemon to choose from, and I think the ranking system to limit the kinds of pokemon you can steal is an excellent idea.

Overall, I really like the concept and the gameplay. I can see you've worked hard and it's definitely paying off. It's just the things mentioned above that are sorta turning me off a bit. I'd be singing your praises to everyone I know otherwise.

 

[Valentin947]

I realy love this game and finished the beta, is it still being produced? When will be be able to play more? And will it let us continue where we left off?

 

[colonelsalt]

Hi there ! I created an account just to tell you how great this rom hack is ! It feels awesome be apart of Team Rocket.

I love the writing and the humor, and the depth you gave some characters like the scene between Giovanni and Blaine. That's really promising.

The stealing mechanic is really nice, and being able to climb up the ranks to steal Pokémon from more powerful trainers is something I'm eager to see.

Since I loved it so much, I wanted to try and see what happened when you beat Red. It was hard because I didn't want to cheat, but I did it, thanks to the Poliwag I stole from the old man. I grinded him and the Nidoran until I got Poliwrath and Nidoking. I also evolved a Growlithe into an Arcanine. It helped a lot.

The winning quote was so funny it was worth the hours of grinding. Thanks again for the experience and I can't wait to play the next release !

This is heartwarming. I feel an urge to reward those of you who took the time to grind your way to beat Red extra somehow. It's pretty sick. I never did it haha.

Ahhhh, rightio. I must have missed that when I read through the post. I wasn't aware there were different versions, I really haven't played with ROMs in like, years. Entirely my bad, cheers for making the distinction clear.

Following your instruction, I found one and patched it, and it's working great now, cheers!
You've done a decent job giving it that Toxic Purple feel, although I have to agree with the other person about the swearing.

I mean, whilst I don't think rough 'n tough gang members like Team Rocket would watch their language, the blasphemy doesn't actually make much sense and actually kinda ruins the immersion a bit? Like I'm all for creative cursing, but in a world where "god" and "jesus" never actually existed, it's really sorta jarring to have that kind of language in the game, and kinda takes you out of the story. Casual slinging around words like "gay" as insults also has the same effect. Just kinda feels like. I dunno. It's not even humour, it's just kinda. Unnecessary. And it's sort of ruining my enjoyment of the game. They could easily be substituted for something more creative, more fitting for the world, and more amusing.
The Hitler joke was also a bit. Ehhh... I dunno, maybe that's just me. I have Jewish friends so I don't really find holocaust jokes funny any more.

Maybe this is just a personal nitpick as a writer myself, but Giovanni's behaviour seems a touch out of character. He seems a little quick to anger, and jumps to language that would be more common amongst the Grunts than the respected leader of an entire organisation. I'd imagine him to be more cool and calculated than he's been written.
(This is just a tiny thing also, but you've used the word "gleam" in Petrel's speech after Red, when the word for obtaining information is "glean".)

That said though! The stealing mechanic is very nice, and I think being able to pick from the available pokemon is a great touch. The game itself is pretty fun so far. It's like playing through the story from a brand new perspective, that of the villain, and that's something I've been looking for in a game for years. I like having a wide variety of pokemon to choose from, and I think the ranking system to limit the kinds of pokemon you can steal is an excellent idea.

Overall, I really like the concept and the gameplay. I can see you've worked hard and it's definitely paying off. It's just the things mentioned above that are sorta turning me off a bit. I'd be singing your praises to everyone I know otherwise.

Thanks a lot for the detailed feedback-- it is always appreciated. The fact that you're only a step away from singing my praises is in itself more praise than I could dare hope for. Thanks, man.

I could try to defend my sense of humor by going "it's only in good fun", and "no offense intended", but I'm sure you get that already. I do think it's fitting (and, yes, funny) to go a little risqué with the dialogue now and then because it emphasizes how Kanto is not as innocent and "kiddie-friendly" once Red has turned his back. It's too bad that part happened not to resonate with you, and I really hope it doesn't take away from your enjoyment of the meat of the game all too much.

As far as my depiction of Giovanni goes... I hope that as we progress further in the story (this early beta having barely scratched its surface) you'll find that his character makes more sense within that larger context. I do see how his rashness may seem a little out of place (and perhaps almost too similar to Petrel) right now, though. For the record, I had originally written Petrel as a little more goofy and carefree to make a better contrast between the two, but later decided in favor of a more abrasive, no-BS drill sergeant type because it just felt like a more appropriate introduction for players to Team Rocket. I think it worked out okay.

I realy love this game and finished the beta, is it still being produced? When will be be able to play more? And will it let us continue where we left off?

1) Thankyouthankyouthankyou.
2) The game is very much still being produced; see below.
3) My initial estimate of June amounts to little more than a practical joke at this point. Clearly I have grossly overestimated the amount of work required to get the next version out, the amount of time would be needed for work and for social obligations this summer, and ultimately my capacity for overcoming my own laziness. I am so sorry for the delay, guys. Like I've mentioned to another inquirer, I start university on September 26, and if nothing else I can assure you that, ready or not, Beta v2 will ship before that date. That is a promise, but beyond that I can't say.
4) Yes, most certainly.

Teaser number five follows...

 

[jsbvs29]

This game is sweet, i love the feel. I made an account here just to tell you to keep up te good work, i also like the writing, and the depiction of the other characters.

In my opinion the best part of this game is the fact that it is different than normal pokemon. You are not a goody hero catching and carefully raising pokemon. You are a villain harassing people, stealing their pokemon and ranking up in the rocket organisation by jobs, gaining power and status. The motivation is all different compared to normal pokemon and this change in perspective is new and refreshing.

I dont get why people complain that it is not a proper pokemon game that you dont catch and search out and raise your own pokemon. If you wanted that then go play any generic pokemon game.

I also go out of my way to collect 'rocket grunt worthy' pokemon. like taking the sparrow instead of the pidgey or the zubat instead of the nidoran.

Cant wait for the next version! and seeing this thread is still active keeps my hope alive

 

[Cody Travis]

I'm still getting pumped about this. Will there be a full game?

 

[colonelsalt]

This game is sweet, i love the feel. I made an account here just to tell you to keep up te good work, i also like the writing, and the depiction of the other characters.

In my opinion the best part of this game is the fact that it is different than normal pokemon. You are not a goody hero catching and carefully raising pokemon. You are a villain harassing people, stealing their pokemon and ranking up in the rocket organisation by jobs, gaining power and status. The motivation is all different compared to normal pokemon and this change in perspective is new and refreshing.

I dont get why people complain that it is not a proper pokemon game that you dont catch and search out and raise your own pokemon. If you wanted that then go play any generic pokemon game.

I also go out of my way to collect 'rocket grunt worthy' pokemon. like taking the sparrow instead of the pidgey or the zubat instead of the nidoran.

Cant wait for the next version! and seeing this thread is still active keeps my hope alive

Thanks! Seems like you get what the game is about pretty nicely. Appreciated!

I'm still getting pumped about this. Will there be a full game?

So am I, dude. Let me tell you. Releasing the game in full is certainly the plan, and time and my own initiative are all that stand between that and reality.

A brief progress update

All story scripts and major alterations for Beta v2 are complete! Some fleshing out of sidequests, NPC dialogue and a few graphical edits are all that remain before release. Some very exciting developments are inbound that hopefully will have been worth the wait. Game mechanics expand, the world gradually opens up, and the plot ever thickens! Following are a few more teasers to hold you over this last little stretch before release...

 

[CaptainRex5101]

Thanks! Seems like you get what the game is about pretty nicely. Appreciated!

So am I, dude. Let me tell you. Releasing the game in full is certainly the plan, and time and my own initiative are all that stand between that and reality.

A brief progress update

All story scripts and major alterations for Beta v2 are complete! Some fleshing out of sidequests, NPC dialogue and a few graphical edits are all that remain before release. Some very exciting developments are inbound that hopefully will have been worth the wait. Game mechanics expand, the world gradually opens up, and the plot ever thickens! Following are a few more teasers to hold you over this last little stretch before release...

The hype! I only made an account so that I can reply to you about this hack.
EDIT: How long will this "stretch" be?

 

[colonelsalt]

The hype! I only made an account so that I can reply to you about this hack.
EDIT: How long will this "stretch" be?

Three weeks tops. Much love.

 

[Lucario2k15]

Three weeks tops. Much love.

Love the look of this hack. Will it be a option to play as a girl?

 

[colonelsalt]

Love the look of this hack. Will it be a option to play as a girl?

I love you.
Sorry to say you won't be able to play as a girl for Beta v2 (talked about this earlier here), because gosh darn it, I am going to release within the next two weeks come whatever! It's likely that I'll add it in a later version, though, as I don't think I'd consider the game complete without it.

Been honing Beta v2's new morality system these past couple of days (which I will probably talk about a little more later). Depending on whether you like to play it bad or nice, the game will facilitate your playstyle...

Warning: posts here may be short and/or sparse in next week or two. Reason: working like a dog to get next version out. :]

 

[solidsmeagol]

Looking forward to the release!

 

[72485rahul]

O Wow! What an awesome hack.. Can't wait for the final release. Great work colonelsalt.

 

[VerdeICe]

1) Its been my dream to play as a team rocket member since I was a little kid.

2) holy damn, the charmeleon sound effects after red kicks your a$$ in the cave of zoobat is so freaking funny, it was like you could feel your character wincing as he listens to it.

3) I actually feel real wimpy in this game but I kinda love that, my purpose isnt to be the very best... but to be the very worst as quickly and easily as possible. I dont need poke balls, AND THAT IS BRILLIANT> Like, I dont get stronger by training, I get stronger by taking other peoples hard earned pokemon that they had already trained.

4) For the love of shit dont drop your project.

5) Will I get to steal Gary Oaks pokemon? Cause that would be pretty funny. I want to hear him whine so bad.

 

[colonelsalt]

Ladies and gentlemen...
Featuring a brand-new morality system, branching sidequests, a much wider world, and an ever-deepening storyline:

Rocket Edition Beta v2.0 is now available!

Downloads

• Rocket Edition Beta v2.0
  Released: September 14th, 2016
  Notes: This second playable beta lasts up until a little after your fourth mission (which takes place in Lavender Town) has been completed. Save files from Beta v1 should work without trouble with Beta v2. (On the off chance that yours doesn't, let me know and I'll do my best to fix it!)