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Crystal hack: Pokémon Fool's Gold: A hack of Crystal where everything is familiar, yet different...

celadonk

    • 4
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    5
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    • Seen Apr 8, 2025
    When I posted this on reddit, a user there said I should also post it here, so... here it is!

    Pokémon Fool's Gold is a Pokémon Crystal ROM hack where everything is familiar, yet different...

    We've been working on this as a side project since about January 26, 2019. I know it's not super impressive compared to a lot of the amazing projects shared here, but as Pokémon fans who don't really have programming experience but grew up playing Pokémon ROM hacks we wanted to have fun and make one together, and we're really proud of the end result!

    In this game, all of the Pokémon have been reworked... think Alolan/Galarian forms, for all the Pokémon. All 251 Pokémon are available in-game without trading. We've reworked all of the trainers and wild encounters to fit as well. In addition, there have been a few visual tweaks, and we've added a few new places to explore, too!

    The story is all the same as vanilla Pokémon Crystal, so the experience is similar, but with the new Pokémon designs.

    Here's the trailer: youtu.be/4UBiwAW_Ut8
    And if you have any questions or just want to check it out, the code for our discord server is xMA9Udq.

    FEATURES
    • All 251 Pokémon redesigned, with new types and movesets to fit
    • All wild encounter data changed, to better fit the new designs to the environments
    • All Pokémon available without trading, including trade evolutions and starters
    • A variety of aesthetic changes to the overworld
    • A few new optional areas to explore
    • Shiny rate raised to 1/1028... we wanted everyone to at least run into one shiny throughout their playthrough
    • A few new moves, both from other Pokémon games and original moves

    SCREENSHOTS
    Spoiler:


    CREDITS
    Fool's Gold Team:
    • Max / kingbigb0y
    • Revé/ froqpond
    • Gaby/ g.eeb
    • Amanda/ hamandswiss
    • Joe / celadonk
    And a huge thanks to pret and the people on the pret discord for creating the pokecrystal disassembly and helping out with any questions I had!

    Here's the patch: drive.google.com/open?id=1QJbMI26C0cX8va2Fi95WLesr5QarwMiW
    And if you have any questions or want to report any issues, be sure to join the Discord server! (Code is xMA9Udq)
     
    Last edited:
    I'm truly surprised that nobody has commented on this! I just applied my patch and started playing! I picked the Ice type cyndaquil. I love how you've given each Pokémon a brand new design while making them still feel familiar! It would be really dope if a patch with the running shoes or a difficultly increase could be released to spice things up! Congrats on the release!
     
    To answer the questions about difficulty... the game should be slightly harder (but not too much!). Most of the gym leaders have more Pokemon than they originally did and the Elite Four and Champion have a bit higher level Pokemon.
     
    This game looks dope! The sprites look really well done and the overworld changes are a plus as well. I really think this is a perfect idea for a hack that doesn't have a new region or story but a familiar one we've all played through. This slight twist alone is going to make the game all that much enjoyable for me and others I hope. Definitely playing through it. Great job.

    P.S - This might be the game I complete my Pokedex in.
     
    Starting to play yesterday, I enjoyed it GG

    I really liked the idea, although not every new designs convicted me.

    But there's a thing that I did not enjoyed, a really huge problem that could mine the experience
    You did very well with the Typing, the evos and the new moveset..... except for the TM/HMs...

    A few Examples: why a Shellder who is not not a water Type could still learn Surf, while Drowzee not although is a Water type in this game?

    For now it's 7/10, Hope that you could fix this problem
     
    I'm really loving this ROM hack. I can tell that this was made with love and care. I'm a big fan of differently typed Pokemon. So I'm all about rediscovering these Pokemon with their new sprites/types. It's like playing the game again for the first time. I love that feeling!

    I've only made it up to the Day Care, but all the Pokemon designs I've seen so far are quality sprite work. Pidgey is a favorite of mine just because their stickman legs make me smile every time I see them. I hope I can find a Rattata... I've wanted one since I saw the tutorial trainer catch one. I'll definitely be putting my time in to Catch 'Em All on this one!

    My compliments to everyone associated with this hack. This makes me happy. Thanks for this!
     
    Great hack so far. Did you change any base stats? For example, mareep line is changed to a physical type, but seems to still retain it's special atk/def base stats.
     
    Hey, sorry, I don't really use Pokecommunity so I haven't been diligent about checking here. So to respond to some of the feedback...

    To Danidark97, who asked about TMs and HMs, we have fixed these up for a near future update. (There's just one big bug to get out of the way and then it'll be up.)

    To aicaimze, who asked about the new tiles, some of them are from scratch but most of them are adapted from either the Gen 3 games or the Spaceworld 97 demo.

    To Gbcplayer, who asked how to catch Mew... You will know where to go once you enter Kanto for the first time. Bring Mewtwo. ;)

    To Persondynamo2222, who asked if the evolutions are the same or not, some of them are the same and some are not. Trade evos have been removed. Here's a Google spreadsheet with information: docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1TphQvTjq8t77EKZAcPRRxdg91Q0UlFoBObdq2RM11GE/edit?usp=sharing (Check the page labeled "Evo Methods")

    To SevenChurches, who asked about Revelation crashing, this is a known bug that has been fixed for 1.1 (bug fix update)

    To PorygonDebugger... thank you <3

    To Sanmyth, who asked about base stat changes... There have been a few minimal changes. Mostly not special/physical stuff. However, the physical/special split has been implemented for the 1.1 update and we are planning to rework some of the movesets to account for this.

    Thanks for all the feedback!
     
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