So, I just beat this Hack after sitting down and playing it non-stop for about three days now.
Up until the last hour or two of it, I was COMPLETELY on board with saying that this was my favorite rom hack that I've ever played.
Hi! I'm glad you (mostly) enjoyed the playthrough; :D
But Red being the final battle is a thing for a reason, ya know? He's consistently referred to in-universe as THE LEGENDARY TRAINER, the most powerful character ever to live- I was definitely a little less than excited to see him as the prequel to what essentially was just... Red, but in a skirt.
This is one of the series' later additions/retcons, like Mega Evolution, alternate universes, legendaries as real gods, the regions not corresponding to Earth geography despite being obviously based on it, etc, that I choose to ignore. Red made sense as the final battle of GSC: he was the protagonist of the previous game, it's like fighting yourself. And he had three starters since you could have chosen any one of them / in Yellow he gets all three and Pikachu. Then FRLG came out and made Green/Leaf canon, so distributing the starters among Red, Green, and Blue (and likewise for some new Eeveelutions and fossils) felt like the obvious progression. As for Red being the best trainer ever, meh. He's no better than any other game's protagonist: they all become the Champions of their regions, and end up fighting legendaries at least as powerful as Mewtwo.
(I've occasionally thought of making an original post-GSC game that splits the "original protagonist" roles between Red and Green, since either was playable in FRLG. Like, Red could be more focused on battling Team Rocket, and would encounter Moltres in Victory Road, while Green could do more exploring and find things like the Gold Teeth, Zapdos, Articuno, etc. Obviously that wouldn't be the same continuity as Polished Crystal.)
When I found the Map to Mew, I completely forgot about it, and didn't even know what it did until I googled it. Maybe add an NPC who stops you after you leave the mansion and talks about what it is?
If someone never talks to the Seagallop Ferry sailor and learns what it is, then IMO Googling is fine, since it's a canon item. It's easier than figuring out the canon Deoxys event. :P
The wonder trade system is really cool, and getting a shiny Pichu from myself was really fun! I do think it would be neat to add in an event where you catch that Pichu in game, to sort of tie that story together.
You don't catch it; you acquired it via Wonder Trade. You're right though, I
should make it so that trading the Pichu will trade it back with yourself, for whatever you originally sent.
I'm looking forward to seeing what the Pokemon News System does, if it's implemented any time soon.
The
nightly 3.0 beta build has replaced it with the Judge Machine for viewing EVs and DVs.
I really didn't like the change in battle music for Red, since his original theme is so iconic.
Wasn't the original just a repeat of the Champion theme? This has his music from the B/W PWT.
I think it would be cool if you changed the dialogue for the E4 refights! I wasn't sure if I had missed something when they just repeated the same words they had the first time.
It is different! Were you playing 2.2.0? That was released years ago; 3.0 will have
a lot of changes. The new content is still incomplete enough that I can't justifiably release it, but the beta is entirely playable.
I couldn't find if Dragon Dance was a TM, but if it's not, you should make it one! I think it would be pretty neat.
It's not; I think nearly everyone who could learn it as a TM now has it by level-up instead.