FireRed hack: Pokémon Radical Red (VERSION 4.1 RELEASED! Gen 9 DLC Pokemon, Character Customization now available!)
- Thread starter soupercell
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They hold Leek Stick with 5% rate (20% with Frisk/Superluck/Compound Eyes lead). The trade corvisquire for Farfetchd-G in Vermilion also holds a Leek Stick :)
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I would like to say that I'm really grateful for this amazing and unique, in many ways, effort! I've been trying all sorts of difficulty hacks for quite a while by now, including a couple FR ones, as well as HG/SS, OR/AS, and US/UM ones too. For me, the original games are just way too easy - while they're fun to play through once when you're a beginner, they tend to lose their charm once you realize that you can basically spam the most powerful attack of the most powerful mon you have and get away with it 90% of the time :) So, difficulty hacks have been pretty much a must have for me in the last couple years. However, even the most advanced of the difficulty hacks couldn't compare to the experience of needing to actually team build and think competitive (and consider competitive strategies). Then I came across Radical Red and figured out that there was, indeed, a difficulty hack that (a) was the closest experience I've had so far to an advanced, competitive-like strategic single player environment; (b) did not promote, require, or even allow grinding to overlevel the mon in order to circumvent the challenge; (c) contained curated rebalancing that allowed a wide variety of strategies and team compositions, yet didn't change the game beyond recognition at the same time; (d) actually implemented and enforced competitive rules, such as Smogon-like battling rules and the enforcement of Set (good riddance Switch/Shift, saves me a couple button presses to change it to Set, lol); (e) was feature-packed to include nearly all the currently existing mon despite being a GBA game hack, and feature the powerful CFRU engine for quality of life improvements; (f) was incredibly portable, needing only 32 MB of disk space and able to run on mGBA on a variety of platforms (Android, 3DS, PC, etc.).
I'm happy to say that Radical Red is the first (and currently the only) FireRed GBA hack that fully satisfies my needs for a challenging Pokemon experience. Just started my first playthrough recently and I can say that this game is quite unlike any other Pokemon hack I tried before, in a positive way :) I sort of wish it received more attention from players around the world and thus received more coverage in playthroughs and whatnot, it was a bit difficult to find it among the myriad of other GBA hacks, but I understand that it's probably somewhat "niche" in the fact that it's geared towards serious, thoughtful, competitive-like play and may feel unforgiving towards the more casual players. I've seen some criticism regarding that fact, but in my opinion that criticism isn't truly warranted - there are dozens, even hundreds, of hacks and games geared towards casual play (or permitting it via the use of Shift and overleveling/grinding), and there's literally, like, one (I guess?) hack that doesn't tolerate it and is specifically geared towards challenging competitive play - therefore, I can only wish and hope that the focus of this particular hack doesn't change and I wish you the best of luck in continuing the development of the hack while staying true to this particular style and focus. Please don't let any silly negative remarks on the net discourage you from continuing with what is perhaps a very unique experience among all the difficulty hacks that currently exist :)
Thank you very much again, and I wish you the best of luck in the development of this project! Really excited to play through the current version (will most likely do several playthroughs, this hack seems particularly replayable) and will be happy to play through any upcoming updated versions that you may release at some point in the future!
I'm happy to say that Radical Red is the first (and currently the only) FireRed GBA hack that fully satisfies my needs for a challenging Pokemon experience. Just started my first playthrough recently and I can say that this game is quite unlike any other Pokemon hack I tried before, in a positive way :) I sort of wish it received more attention from players around the world and thus received more coverage in playthroughs and whatnot, it was a bit difficult to find it among the myriad of other GBA hacks, but I understand that it's probably somewhat "niche" in the fact that it's geared towards serious, thoughtful, competitive-like play and may feel unforgiving towards the more casual players. I've seen some criticism regarding that fact, but in my opinion that criticism isn't truly warranted - there are dozens, even hundreds, of hacks and games geared towards casual play (or permitting it via the use of Shift and overleveling/grinding), and there's literally, like, one (I guess?) hack that doesn't tolerate it and is specifically geared towards challenging competitive play - therefore, I can only wish and hope that the focus of this particular hack doesn't change and I wish you the best of luck in continuing the development of the hack while staying true to this particular style and focus. Please don't let any silly negative remarks on the net discourage you from continuing with what is perhaps a very unique experience among all the difficulty hacks that currently exist :)
Thank you very much again, and I wish you the best of luck in the development of this project! Really excited to play through the current version (will most likely do several playthroughs, this hack seems particularly replayable) and will be happy to play through any upcoming updated versions that you may release at some point in the future!
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Hi there,
I am playing the game and I am currently going through Mt. Moon right after the first gym. So far I have really enjoyed the ROM Hack, it's really refreshing to see a Pokémon game with so much focus on the strategic potential that this franchise has.
There is something, however, that has been bothering me while planning a team focused around the rain weather: it seems that (according to the documentation) Swampert doesn't learn any strong physical water type move. The HM for Waterfall is unobtainable, it doesn't seem like it can learn Liquidation and it seems like there is no move tutor for Aqua Tail in the game. According to the PokéDex v2.1 document, Swampert can lear Flip Turn through Move Reminder, but this move without any other physical water STAB is really not great to the role of a sweeper/wallbreaker that Mega-Swampert has. I know that Swampert can learn good special water type moves (such as Surf and Hydro Pump), but using these would require me to fully invest in its Sp. Atk stat, which is really not optimal, since it would mean to put to waste all of Mega-Swampert's 150 base Atk stat, while only using its mediocre 95 base Sp. Atk.
The reason why I am posting this is to know if there is something I am missing here. Maybe there is something in the documents that I didn't check, or the lack of strong physical water type moves is an intentional nerf to Mega-Swampert. Anyway, I would like to know this so I could better plan my rain team.
Thanks in advance!
I am playing the game and I am currently going through Mt. Moon right after the first gym. So far I have really enjoyed the ROM Hack, it's really refreshing to see a Pokémon game with so much focus on the strategic potential that this franchise has.
There is something, however, that has been bothering me while planning a team focused around the rain weather: it seems that (according to the documentation) Swampert doesn't learn any strong physical water type move. The HM for Waterfall is unobtainable, it doesn't seem like it can learn Liquidation and it seems like there is no move tutor for Aqua Tail in the game. According to the PokéDex v2.1 document, Swampert can lear Flip Turn through Move Reminder, but this move without any other physical water STAB is really not great to the role of a sweeper/wallbreaker that Mega-Swampert has. I know that Swampert can learn good special water type moves (such as Surf and Hydro Pump), but using these would require me to fully invest in its Sp. Atk stat, which is really not optimal, since it would mean to put to waste all of Mega-Swampert's 150 base Atk stat, while only using its mediocre 95 base Sp. Atk.
The reason why I am posting this is to know if there is something I am missing here. Maybe there is something in the documents that I didn't check, or the lack of strong physical water type moves is an intentional nerf to Mega-Swampert. Anyway, I would like to know this so I could better plan my rain team.
Thanks in advance!
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- Seen Nov 15, 2022
I was looking through the documentation, and I can't seem to find the fossil pokemon in there?
nemesish
Azure Trainer
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- Lima, Perú
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Hi soupercell while completing the pokedex i have found a bug. When i traded for Mr Rime i got a pokemon with Mr Rime typing and sprite but it is recorded as Mr Mime. Mr Rime is the only pokemon that i do not have from the pokemon that currently exist in your hack and i cannot find a way to obtain it. Alolean Mime Jr doesn't exist either.
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ah, good catch! this is actually a pretty big oversight on my part (I'm surprised it's gone this long being unreported); I had assumed it was compatible with Liquidation but it looks like it is not. I'll add Waterfall to its Level Up Learnset along with Liquidation compatibility in a coming patch
it's probably because that pokemon isn't mr rime, it's mr mime galar which evolves into rime at level 42. Galar forms do not have their own separate Pokedex number as that's how it works in the existing Pokemon games iirc.
Wow, that was a very heartful comment from you, this is really appreciate! I was actually in a similar spot to you - I always had an itch for a game like this but it never really existed, and I feel that the challenge of a lot of existing difficulty hacks weren't very good or satisfying for various reasons. With the ample time in quarantine I decided to take upon myself to create the hack that I've always wanted to play, and I can safely say that Radical Red has become far better of a hack than I could've ever envisioned.
In terms of its popularity, you do have to keep in mind that this game is relatively new (The first release was somewhere in the beginning of August) and if anything this hack has gained traction very quickly since the release of 2.0 (much of it thanks to the shoutout that Drayano60 gave); I'm fairly confident over time that it'll garner the attention it deserves.
Regarding the unfriendliness towards casual players - I will state that I purposely made this game inaccessible to players that want to beat a Pokemon game with minimal thought. However, I will say that I think the game gives you more than enough resources to succeed even if you're a casual player - you can make an argument this game gives you more resources than any other Pokemon game. And of course, those casual players that do put in the effort to learn about things like EV training and the more advanced mechanics of Pokemon receive quite a fulfilling experience. I believe this sort of payoff would be nonexistent in a game that was easier or more casual friendly which is another reason why it has a forced difficulty. There are definitely a lot of players in the Discord that had minimal understanding of mechanics (EV/IVs), synergy, etc and came out on experts in the matter pretty quickly, and I think that's pretty awesome. And you are correct on the re-playability part as there are dozens of people that have played this game 3+ times (I definitely know a couple that have already beaten it more than 10 times LOL).
Again, thank you for the kind words - and if anything the complaints of the game being too difficult only push to make the game harder :) I am currently working on post game, and in a lot of smaller updates I try to roll out new re-balances as there are still a fair amount of Pokemon that still suck balls; I hope to eventually make every Pokemon viable in some capacity.
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dragonup90
Geloz
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- 7
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- Seen Oct 20, 2020
Hi! When I traded for the npc Mimikyu in Cinnabar Island for Aegislash, the Mimikyu was holding a Blue Orb. Is this intended? Seeing as Kyogre isn't in the encounter list.
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Yeah, this is a known glitch and is being fixed next patch but thank you :) enjoy your free blue orb :p
dragonup90
Geloz
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Thank you for responding!
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Just a couple of things I've been working on:
This QOL was taken from Polished Crystal: clicking B in the main Fight menu automatically places the cursor on the Run option!
Very often I'd have a team where a Pokemon wasn't compatible with Fly, so I had to go in the box to fetch a new Fly Pokemon which was rather annoying. It's been repurposed as an item (replaces the Fame Checker, so it will be present in your bag on existing save files). Even if the inconvenience wasn't a problem for you, being able to Fly with Select is super handy.
Sword and Shield had a neat feature where you could view the amount of turns left for various effects. I've tried my best to bring something similar: pressing the R button on the Move Select screen brings up an info screen that displays Trick Room, Weather, Terrain, and Screen turns left! Because of there isn't enough space, it only displays Screen/Veil turns left for the opponent. There is a minor caveat with this, as it will display 7 turns rather than 4 if a Weather Rock is being held (or if opponent used Light Clay screens) so it does give you information about the opponent's held item, but considering this is a single player game I don't find it a big deal.
And another fun, new ability coming :)
This QOL was taken from Polished Crystal: clicking B in the main Fight menu automatically places the cursor on the Run option!
Very often I'd have a team where a Pokemon wasn't compatible with Fly, so I had to go in the box to fetch a new Fly Pokemon which was rather annoying. It's been repurposed as an item (replaces the Fame Checker, so it will be present in your bag on existing save files). Even if the inconvenience wasn't a problem for you, being able to Fly with Select is super handy.
Sword and Shield had a neat feature where you could view the amount of turns left for various effects. I've tried my best to bring something similar: pressing the R button on the Move Select screen brings up an info screen that displays Trick Room, Weather, Terrain, and Screen turns left! Because of there isn't enough space, it only displays Screen/Veil turns left for the opponent. There is a minor caveat with this, as it will display 7 turns rather than 4 if a Weather Rock is being held (or if opponent used Light Clay screens) so it does give you information about the opponent's held item, but considering this is a single player game I don't find it a big deal.
And another fun, new ability coming :)
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Actually, I misspoke - it is already compatible with Liquidation per the Crown Tundra leaks
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Oh sweet Arceus. Can't miss Super effective moves? Dayum that's cool. Keep doing you, mate. This hack is pretty dope.
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Loving this hack, I can't believe how stable it is considering the sheer number of changes, though I've noticed something about the randomizer mode. After restarting due to a corrupted save I saw that most of the encounters were similar and started restarting in search of a different set, and from what I've seen it almost always pulls from the same pool of pokemon. I'm not entirely certain how the list is generated, though I know it is done before gaining control of the character through experimentation. It's possible my choice of emulator is somehow limiting how rng is handled, though if it is on the rom's side I would love to see more variety. There also seems to be cases where more than one pokemon is replaced by the same pokemon, in one case I had Rillaboom replace all 3 starters as well as something on route 1, and have seen duplicate starters multiple times over a few hundred resets experimenting with inputting on different frames. As I said, excellent rom, but if possible I'd love to see what could be done about this.
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yeah I'm well aware of the randomizer problems; it appears the current algorithm used to generate random Pokemon isn't ideal and can generate a lot of duplicates. I'll see if I can contact Skeli to see what could be done about this, but polishing randomizer mode isn't high on my priority list right now to be perfectly frank :p.
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Understandable, just wasn't sure if you knew, looking forward to whatever is in the upcoming updates.