Sapphire hack: Pokémon Royal Sapphire [COMPLETED]

[ShockinglyGongas]

1.7 OUT NOW

INTRODUCTION/SUMMARY
Hai y'all, I'm Gongas (They/Them) and this is my First Binary Rom Hack;
Pokémon Royal Sapphire is a Heavy Enhancement-Reimagined Version of Pokémon Sapphire, similar to hacks such as Renegade Platinum difficulty wise + quality of life wise, and Gaia for story events.

In a nutshell, I changed the Storyline of Sapphire, while keeping the same nostalgic feel of it by keeping the same Gen 3 Mechanics and General Dex, as well as the Story beats remaining in a similar path, but expanded upon to make you feel as if it was your first time going through Hoenn once again. All maps, encounters, trainers, learnsets, and the general story are changed.
The specifics of what parts have been changed are all in the paragraphs below!

FEATURES

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Generation 3 Mechanics. (No Physical/Special Split, 1/16 2x Crits)
Royal Sapphire uses Full generation 3 mechanics, exact same as Ruby/Sapphire, so the AI is all Expert AI (same as a Gym Leader) For every trainer, Switch AI is the exact same, There's no Physical Special Split, No Fairy type, Critical Hits are 1/16 and 2x Damage. If you want to know why that is, Check the FAQ section below.
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Starter Selection, Regional Forms, Added/Unavailable Mons
The starters are now Hisui Sneasel, Hisui Qwilfish, and Galar Slowpoke! Its a Poison trio with Fighting/Dark/Psychic.

This upcoming list of pokemon have been changed to be their Regional Forms:
Voltorb; Electrode; Growlithe; Arcanine; Exeggutor; Sandshrew; Sandslash; Raichu; Slowpoke; Slowbro; Slowking; Sneasel; Qwilfish

This Upcoming list of pokemon have been added to the game:
Sneasler; Overqwil; Meltan; Melmetal

This Upcoming List of pokemon have been removed from the game:
Ditto; Farfetch'd; Smeargle; Chimecho
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Every Map has been Changed!
The title is pretty clear, every single map in the game has been changed. The main goal was to create a feel of you going through the Hoenn Region for the first time as you once did years ago.
The Story Beats remain basically the same, Gym leader order is the exact same, and you go through each location at the same time as you would in the Original Ruby/Sapphire, with a few new or changed areas that you go to for additional storyline purposes or Important item scavenger hunts such as key items and HMs.
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Custom Tilesets
Several tiles have been custom-edited by me to really make the region feel more fresh, so while it ALWAYS uses the original nostalgic Ruby Sapphire tiles as base, they also got updated to look more new and for aesthetic reasons!
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Trainer Sprites
Overworld Sprites were updated for several trainers, including all gym leaders, the main characters, the evil teams, and most overworld trainers!
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Custom UI
Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire have a RED UI during fights. I decided to embody the full blue spirit of the game and updated the UI to use several variations of the color blue. Hopefully you like it!
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Expanded Team Aqua Storyline
Pokemon Royal Sapphire focuses a lot more on the storyline of Team Aqua. They succeed during their plans and have a much bigger and important role in the story, especially Matt, Shelly and Archie, with their goals not just being to awaken the Hoenn legendary Kyogre, but the overlord of the sea Lugia as well, to expand the ocean with eternal rain and deep waves. Basically, you will fight them a lot more during the story.
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Changed NPC Dialogues
Go through each town's NPCs because several of them have had their dialogues entirely rewritten! Even if you don't know what they say in the original ruby and sapphire, it would still mean a lot to me if you paid attention to what they say during your playthrough!
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Revamped Trainer Battles
Every Single Trainer Battle in the game has had their team, moves and items all carefully hand-crafted by myself, with the intent to make the game way more challenging. Think of Renegade platinum as the reference for how hard fights are. So while normal trainers aren't the most important of each section of the game, they do have updated teams to make you think just a tiny bit more while playing!
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harder Boss Fights
Just like mentioned before, every single trainer battle in the game was changed. This includes all Boss fights, including several brand new ones! As an example: Roxanne in Vanilla has a Level 14 Geodude and a Level 15 Nosepass. In Royal Sapphire she has a Lv14 Nidoran, Lv14 Kabuto, Lv14 Geodude, Lv15 Nosepass, Lv13 Onix, Level 13 Growlithe-Hisui.
There are NO Potions. The ai will never use any super, hyper or full restores. There are however, held items on several pokemon and better movesets.
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No Stat/Type Changes BUT There's Changed Abilities
The game does not change any Pokémon types, and the only Stat changes made in this game were the balance changes done to the 7 Starter Pokemon (Sneasel Line, Qwilfish Line, Slowpoke Line) To make them more on-par with regular starters; Think of what fire red omega did to Elekid/Smoochum/Magby.
The big changes come in the form of Ability changes! So many Pokemon have had their abilities changed to make them better such as Sharpedo with speed boost, Slowbro with shell armor, Furret with thick fat, Etc!
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Evolution Modifications
Several Pokemon have had their evolution levels changed, such as Slugma going from a Level 38 Evolution, to a level 20 Evolution! Friendship evolutions evolve at 10, and Trade evolutions depend on the pokemon's strength, but they're in the 40-42 range!
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Move Modifications
90% Of moves have had their Accuracy changed to be 100%. Several moves have had their PP changed to either be lowered or increases due to balance changes (Such as setup being lowered so the AI can't spam it and neither can the player) A lot of moves have also been removed in place of others in the game, such as All OHKO Moves being removed in place of; Ex:. Horn Drill is now Drill Run; Sheer Cold is now Draco Meteor; Guillotine is now Bullet punch. There's many more balance changes such as Spit up being an instant heal like Recover, and Teleport acting like Baton pass but with -6 priority, as well as Waterfall and Surf having their base powers swapped due to when you get them and finally strength and cut getting their types changed. Use the Move Changes document to know more!
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Item & Mart Modifications
All PokéMarts have had their contents changed to Include Rare Candies, Max Repels, Great Heals, and several other items at a MUCH lower price; For example rare candies are now 1 Poké Dollar.
The game corner TMs are insanely cheap now and they each give away 5 TMs per Purchase.
There's no Wild held item's and thief/covet aren't available. All items you get are in the overworld, or Mart NPCs.
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trade & Egg Modifications
All 3 in-game Trades and Lavaridge Egg have been changed!
Rustboro City: Sentret -> Sandshrew Alola
Fortree City: Pikachu -> Wynaut
Pacifidlog Isle: Electrode Hisui -> Larvitar
Lavaridge Gift Egg: Eevee!
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Documentation
The game is fully documented in the links far below, with a calculator and lua script being included for easier playthroughs and actions such as Exporting to the Calculator, Pre-Status'ing a Pokemon, or Simply checking it's IVs. The documents include Trainers, Item locations, Learnsets, Encounters, Move Changes, Trick House, Post Game, Links to important Resources and Credits.
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Full Completable Postgame
The Postgame in Vanilla Sapphire is pretty bland, with Emerald being the one to implement a bigger postgame; well, I decided to give my own twist to change Royal Sapphire's postgame so you can expect the following:
Gym Leader Rematches in The SS. Tidal
Elite Four Rematches in their respective areas around the map
Several Catchable Legendaries
Several Catchable Mythicals
Battle Tower Secret Maxie Fight
Secret Boss Fight with Gongas
Final Postgame Trick House Level with a Final secret boss (Bring your masterballs)
Fully Completable PokéDex
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Increased Shiny Odds
Pretty clear what it is! Shiny odds were altered from 1/8192 to 1/2048!
Some shinies have issues, so check Known Bugs/Known Issues to fix.
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quality Of Life Improvements
Rare Candies Added to the player's gamecube as well as every PokéMart for no grinding.
Full Restores, Max Repels, Max Elixirs in Most or Every PokéMart.
Berries are Found as soon as they become available to the player in PokéMarts.
PokeCenters now have Sponsor Corners! On the top left, Tutors, Marts and Deleters will appear!
Every Mart Item in the Game has had their price altered to be easily bought.
You get several TMs of each, most of the time.
Game Corner has new TMs, and they're all 10 Coins each and give away 5 per purchase.
All Pokemon have custom Learnsets to make Physical/Special split a NON-Issue.
Pokemon have had their abilities changed as a way to buff them.
Evolution methods or levels changed to buff certain pokemon.
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


SCREENSHOTS







VIDEO TRAILER

CREDITS / SPECIAL THANKS

Gongas - Hey It's me :)
Buggford - Map Reconstruction Team / Playtesting Team / Encounters Group
Llamarizzi - Map Reconstruction Team / Playtesting Team / Documentation
E Man - Map Reconstruction Team / Playtesting Team
Ordeaux26 - Map Reconstruction Team
Damnittom - Map Reconstruction Team
Bagon - Documentation, Data Insertion, Playtesting Team
Viktrick - Playtesting Team, Documentation, Calculator Help
Dreammeme0 - Playtesting Team
Luducolo - Playtesting Team
Vylegon - Playtesting Team
Haven - Creator of HexManiacAdvance, the Tool used to create Royal Sapphire.
Defa - HMA Story Script Help
YeahPotato - HMA Story Script Help
bonzosbunker - Gastly Sprite
thedarkdragon11 - PokéCommunity Sprite Bank
StarGaazar - Tauros, Heracross, Mew, Pidgey, Dewgong, Rattata Sprites
Drayano - Thank you for handling my goofiness everyday and being a huge inspiration <3
SinisterHoodedFigure - Most decisions & Kaizo Dev research were used as great inspiration.
Skeli - Creator of Pokémon Unbound and CFRU, Unbound is a Genius inspiring hack.
Rain - Creator of Pokémon Lucid, greatly helped me during the start of development.
Pinkyj98 - Creator of Pokémon Sippy Cup Sapphire, great feedback and inspiration.
SphericalIce - Creator of Pokémon Gaia, Story and Map were insane inspirations.
HZLA - Creator of the HZLA Dynamic Calc, greatly helped create the RS Calc.
IndigoNull - Made the LUA SCRIPT to help with Challenge runs!


FAQ - FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Spoiler: Got Questions? Check these out:

Why No Physical Special Split
Great question! It boils down to 3 Factors in my explanation and reason:
1. This is a Binary hack! It uses the tools gamefreak gave us. If you want a bigger explanation on why this makes adding the split more complicated or outside unbalanced, watch KingCradi's Video on it! It's very much the same explanation I'd give.
2. I wanted to keep the Generation 3 Ruby Sapphire feel intact. Same mechanics, basically the same game as base. I want to self myself from other rom hacks and most nowadays don't use these mechanics so I wanted to stay true to the source material!
3. Adding the split would mean I'd need to add SEVERAL moves to compensate for the lack of Physical or special moves for most types, and since this is binary, I cannot simply "Add" moves. Instead, I updated ALL learnsets to make More physical leaning mons learn Physical moves, and Special mons learn more special moves! + The game is all balanced around the old mechanics! So no worries there.

Is There a Hard Level Cap?
There is NOT a hard level cap. The reason behind this one is pretty simple:
It's a binary hack, so I am limited and can't add it.
Either way, there is no need for hard caps!
The game is not hard enough for me to feel like people should be capped at a certain level, and since I want the game to be aimed at both casual play and challenge runners, I felt that option would be way better for the player to make.
Finally, I will add that the game scales up, so the trainers won't be near the next gym leader's Level once you start a split. and you can play the game with that in mind without feeling the need to grind so much or candy your pokemon right away after beating a gym leader. Though its recommended you check the Documentation to know the trainer's levels! (Or don't, and have fun! <3)

Why No Infinite Candy/Repel?
Same reason yet again, Binary. I cannot add these key items. HOWEVER, I have played around this limitation by adding rare candies and repels to every single PokéMart for 1 PokéDollar! So this should never be something you have trouble withs you see in decomp hacks

PS: You can also get infinite candies in the Player's home by talking to the GameCube

Where Can I Report A Bug?
Join Gongas' discord and post your bug in the #✧rs-bug-reports✧ .
MAKE SURE TO READ THE CHANNEL RULES in the Bug channel's pinned messages.
You can find the link to said discord down below in this post.

Are There Fairy Types?
Nope, full generation 3 mechanics and tools, and this includes No fairy type.
I could in fact add this one, it's not a binary limitation, but it would also come with the same issues as the Physical special split; There's no fairy moves, and I can't just "add" moves.

Why Not Add Gen 4+ Pokémon?
It's binary! So I can't just "add" mons, i'd need to replace some to add some.
But since I started the project I already knew I didn't want post generation 3 pokemon in the game besides the regionals and one exception, but some exceptions people regularly ask are the Gen 4+ EVOS such as magnezone, farigiraf, gallade. The issue with these is the powercreep. They are not balanced for the generation 3 hoenn pokédex and the game's balance would not be great with them.

Are There Type Changes?
Nope, Not a single one. All types are the same as vanilla pokemon.

Are There Stat Changes?
Only the Royal Sapphire Starters (Slowbro Sneasler Qwilfish) And their evolution line had their stats changed to be more in line with each other and have an average instead of Overqwil having a way higher BST than Slowbro-Galar, for more information on these (7 Mons) that had their stats changed, just check the Pokemon Changes in the Royal Sapphire Main Hub sheet, linked down below.

Why Add Rare Candies?
Grinding should be optional! This is a rom hack, and I want everyone to have fun. Not only that but having them free for player use will also greatly help with challenge runs and less boredom. There's no EVs in the game, so you're not missing out on any kind of EV gaining by Not grinding! If you do grind though, there's infinite lucky eggs you can buy in rustboro and more exp shares in the map.

Where Can I Find Resources For X / Y?
The Links below have all the resources from the game. If you need anything else or are confused, join the discord and ask in ✧rs-casual✧ or ✧rs-nuzlockes✧, people there will help you out.

Do I Gain EVs? What about the Trainers? (Effort Values)
There are NO EVs. The Enemy Trainers DO NOT use them, and I incentivize the players to use rare candies, so I felt like removing EVs was always correct. The game was also balanced around this decision!

Where Can I Find X or Y Pokémon?
Use the Encounter Sheet linked below! If you can't find something and take too long and are unsure if there's a pokemon missing or a wrong typo in the document, please report it in the Discord (which you can find the link to down below) and send it in ✧rs-bug-reports✧!

Will You Keep Updating The Game?
I will update the game for bugs and for balance changes if those are needed. I do not plan on making a 2.0 one day, if anything this game will see a 1.1 and a 1.2 eventually if needed, but no major updates outside bugs and glitches that completely break the game.
I do have plans to eventually revisit the game to make a "Challenge mode" and "Easy mode", but that is not something I want to think about for a while unless theres extremely high demand!

How Can I Support You?
Subscribe to my Youtube, Follow my Twitch, and join my discord! You can keep up to date on all my projects and stay up to date on all things royal sapphire as well as my nuzlocke or runs through the game or any other games, as I love to create In the scene. If you don't want to, that's okay too, but I hope you enjoy the game! :)

KNOWN ISSUES/BUGS [All minor, no major important ones!]
- May/Brendan sprite display as red in the Region Map
- May sprite displays as red in the Introscene/Outro
- Some Shinies got side-effect palette changes // Sneasel/Slowking/Golduck/Sandslash are some.
- [Trick House] Trick House Question Robots ask VANILLA Questions!
- [Postgame] Putting Mew in the Daycare Will create Eggs that will crash your game (Why would you put mew in there anyway)

DOCUMENTATION

Main HUB Sheet with Trainers + Items + PKMN Changes

Encounter Sheet

Learnsets Sheet

Move Changes Document

Trick House Sheet

Postgame Document

HZLA Calculator

DOWNLOADS
Royal Sapphire 1.7

1.0 Release Date: August 10th, 2025
1.1 - Aug 10
1.2 - Aug 10
1.3 - Aug 11
1.3.1 - Aug 11
1.4 - Aug 11
1.4.1 - Aug 12
1.5 - Aug 12
1.5.1 - Aug 12
1.6 - Aug 15
1.6.0.1 / 1.6.0.2 / 1.6.0.3 - Aug 17
1.6.0.4 - Aug 21
1.6.0.5 - Aug 22
1.6.0.6 - Sep 16
1.7 - November 13 - PLEASE UPDATE TO LATEST PATCH!

Wanna talk to people playing the game?
Join my Discord!

https://discord.gg/Bpa4R6yvNE

 

[Zukaska]

Can't wait for it to come out (surely not writing just to be the first person)

 

[NeoXist]

I've been following the progress for a while now and I can say there was a massive effort done & love poured into this project. It's looking very charismatic so far and I can't wait to experience the new story, well done Gongas :)

 

[RotomotoR]

View attachment 180081

INTRODUCTION/SUMMARY
Hai y'all, I'm Gongas (They/Them) and this is my First Binary Rom Hack;
Pokémon Royal Sapphire is a Heavy Enhancement-Reimagined Version of Pokémon Sapphire, similar to hacks such as Renegade Platinum difficulty wise + quality of life wise, and Gaia for story events.

In a nutshell, I changed the Storyline of Sapphire, while keeping the same nostalgic feel of it by keeping the same Gen 3 Mechanics and General Dex, as well as the Story beats remaining in a similar path, but expanded upon to make you feel as if it was your first time going through Hoenn once again. All maps, encounters, trainers, learnsets, and the general story are changed.
The specifics of what parts have been changed are all in the paragraphs below!

FEATURES

Spoiler: FEATURES (Important):

—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Generation 3 Mechanics. (No Physical/Special Split, 1/16 2x Crits)
Royal Sapphire uses Full generation 3 mechanics, exact same as Ruby/Sapphire, so the AI is all Expert AI (same as a Gym Leader) For every trainer, Switch AI is the exact same, There's no Physical Special Split, No Fairy type, Critical Hits are 1/16 and 2x Damage. If you want to know why that is, Check the FAQ section below.
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Starter Selection, Regional Forms, Added/Unavailable Mons
The starters are now Hisui Sneasel, Hisui Qwilfish, and Galar Slowpoke! Its a Poison trio with Fighting/Dark/Psychic.

This upcoming list of pokemon have been changed to be their Regional Forms:
Voltorb; Electrode; Growlithe; Arcanine; Exeggutor; Sandshrew; Sandslash; Raichu; Slowpoke; Slowbro; Slowking; Sneasel; Qwilfish

This Upcoming list of pokemon have been added to the game:
Sneasler; Overqwil; Meltan; Melmetal

This Upcoming List of pokemon have been removed from the game:
Ditto; Farfetch'd; Smeargle; Chimecho
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Every Map has been Changed!
The title is pretty clear, every single map in the game has been changed. The main goal was to create a feel of you going through the Hoenn Region for the first time as you once did years ago.
The Story Beats remain basically the same, Gym leader order is the exact same, and you go through each location at the same time as you would in the Original Ruby/Sapphire, with a few new or changed areas that you go to for additional storyline purposes or Important item scavenger hunts such as key items and HMs.
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Custom Tilesets
Several tiles have been custom-edited by me to really make the region feel more fresh, so while it ALWAYS uses the original nostalgic Ruby Sapphire tiles as base, they also got updated to look more new and for aesthetic reasons!
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Trainer Sprites
Overworld Sprites were updated for several trainers, including all gym leaders, the main characters, the evil teams, and most overworld trainers!
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Custom UI
Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire have a RED UI during fights. I decided to embody the full blue spirit of the game and updated the UI to use several variations of the color blue. Hopefully you like it!
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Expanded Team Aqua Storyline
Pokemon Royal Sapphire focuses a lot more on the storyline of Team Aqua. They succeed during their plans and have a much bigger and important role in the story, especially Matt, Shelly and Archie, with their goals not just being to awaken the Hoenn legendary Kyogre, but the overlord of the sea Lugia as well, to expand the ocean with eternal rain and deep waves. Basically, you will fight them a lot more during the story.
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Changed NPC Dialogues
Go through each town's NPCs because several of them have had their dialogues entirely rewritten! Even if you don't know what they say in the original ruby and sapphire, it would still mean a lot to me if you paid attention to what they say during your playthrough!
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Revamped Trainer Battles
Every Single Trainer Battle in the game has had their team, moves and items all carefully hand-crafted by myself, with the intent to make the game way more challenging. Think of Renegade platinum as the reference for how hard fights are. So while normal trainers aren't the most important of each section of the game, they do have updated teams to make you think just a tiny bit more while playing!
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Harder Boss Fights
Just like mentioned before, every single trainer battle in the game was changed. This includes all Boss fights, including several brand new ones! As an example: Roxanne in Vanilla has a Level 14 Geodude and a Level 15 Nosepass. In Royal Sapphire she has a Lv14 Nidoran, Lv14 Kabuto, Lv14 Geodude, Lv15 Nosepass, Lv13 Onix, Level 13 Growlithe-Hisui.
There are NO Potions. The ai will never use any super, hyper or full restores. There are however, held items on several pokemon and better movesets.
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No Stat/Type Changes BUT There's Changed Abilities
The game does not change any Pokémon types, and the only Stat changes made in this game were the balance changes done to the 7 Starter Pokemon (Sneasel Line, Qwilfish Line, Slowpoke Line) To make them more on-par with regular starters; Think of what fire red omega did to Elekid/Smoochum/Magby.
The big changes come in the form of Ability changes! So many Pokemon have had their abilities changed to make them better such as Sharpedo with speed boost, Slowbro with shell armor, Furret with thick fat, Etc!
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Evolution Modifications
Several Pokemon have had their evolution levels changed, such as Slugma going from a Level 38 Evolution, to a level 20 Evolution! Friendship evolutions evolve at 10, and Trade evolutions depend on the pokemon's strength, but they're in the 40-42 range!
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Move Modifications
90% Of moves have had their Accuracy changed to be 100%. Several moves have had their PP changed to either be lowered or increases due to balance changes (Such as setup being lowered so the AI can't spam it and neither can the player) A lot of moves have also been removed in place of others in the game, such as All OHKO Moves being removed in place of; Ex:. Horn Drill is now Drill Run; Sheer Cold is now Draco Meteor; Guillotine is now Bullet punch. There's many more balance changes such as Spit up being an instant heal like Recover, and Teleport acting like Baton pass but with -6 priority, as well as Waterfall and Surf having their base powers swapped due to when you get them and finally strength and cut getting their types changed. Use the Move Changes document to know more!
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Item & Mart Modifications
All PokéMarts have had their contents changed to Include Rare Candies, Max Repels, Great Heals, and several other items at a MUCH lower price; For example rare candies are now 1 Poké Dollar.
The game corner TMs are insanely cheap now and they each give away 5 TMs per Purchase.
There's no Wild held item's and thief/covet aren't available. All items you get are in the overworld, or Mart NPCs.
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Trade & Egg Modifications
All 3 in-game Trades and Lavaridge Egg have been changed!
Rustboro City: Sentret -> Sandshrew Alola
Fortree City: Pikachu -> Wynaut
Pacifidlog Isle: Electrode Hisui -> Larvitar
Lavaridge Gift Egg: Eevee!
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Documentation
The game is fully documented in the links far below, with a calculator and lua script being included for easier playthroughs and actions such as Exporting to the Calculator, Pre-Status'ing a Pokemon, or Simply checking it's IVs. The documents include Trainers, Item locations, Learnsets, Encounters, Move Changes, Trick House, Post Game, Links to important Resources and Credits.
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Full Completable Postgame
The Postgame in Vanilla Sapphire is pretty bland, with Emerald being the one to implement a bigger postgame; well, I decided to give my own twist to change Royal Sapphire's postgame so you can expect the following:
Gym Leader Rematches in The SS. Tidal
Elite Four Rematches in their respective areas around the map
Several Catchable Legendaries
Several Catchable Mythicals
Battle Tower Secret Maxie Fight
Secret Boss Fight with Gongas
Final Postgame Trick House Level with a Final secret boss (Bring your masterballs)
Fully Completable PokéDex
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Increased Shiny Odds
Pretty clear what it is! Shiny odds were altered from 1/8192 to 1/2048!
Some shinies have issues, so check Known Bugs/Known Issues to fix.
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Quality Of Life Improvements
Rare Candies Added to the player's gamecube as well as every PokéMart for no grinding.
Full Restores, Max Repels, Max Elixirs in Most or Every PokéMart.
Berries are Found as soon as they become available to the player in PokéMarts.
PokeCenters now have Sponsor Corners! On the top left, Tutors, Marts and Deleters will appear!
Every Mart Item in the Game has had their price altered to be easily bought.
You get several TMs of each, most of the time.
Game Corner has new TMs, and they're all 10 Coins each and give away 5 per purchase.
All Pokemon have custom Learnsets to make Physical/Special split a NON-Issue.
Pokemon have had their abilities changed as a way to buff them.
Evolution methods or levels changed to buff certain pokemon.
—-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SCREENSHOTS
View attachment 180083

View attachment 180084View attachment 180087View attachment 180094

View attachment 180088View attachment 180089View attachment 180090
View attachment 180093View attachment 180091View attachment 180092


VIDEO TRAILER

CREDITS / SPECIAL THANKS

Gongas - Hey It's me :)
Buggford - Map Reconstruction Team / Playtesting Team / Encounters Group
Llamarizzi - Map Reconstruction Team / Playtesting Team / Documentation
E Man - Map Reconstruction Team / Playtesting Team
Ordeaux26 - Map Reconstruction Team
Damnittom - Map Reconstruction Team
Bagon - Documentation, Data Insertion, Playtesting Team
Viktrick - Playtesting Team, Documentation, Calculator Help
Dreammeme0 - Playtesting Team
Luducolo - Playtesting Team
Vylegon - Playtesting Team
Haven - Creator of HexManiacAdvance, the Tool used to create Royal Sapphire.
Defa - HMA Story Script Help
YeahPotato - HMA Story Script Help
bonzosbunker - Gastly Sprite
thedarkdragon11 - PokéCommunity Sprite Bank
StarGaazar - Tauros, Heracross, Mew, Pidgey, Dewgong, Rattata Sprites
Drayano - Thank you for handling my goofiness everyday and being a huge inspiration <3
SinisterHoodedFigure - Most decisions & Kaizo Dev research were used as great inspiration.
Skeli - Creator of Pokémon Unbound and CFRU, Unbound is a Genius inspiring hack.
Rain - Creator of Pokémon Lucid, greatly helped me during the start of development.
Pinkyj98 - Creator of Pokémon Sippy Cup Sapphire, great feedback and inspiration.
SphericalIce - Creator of Pokémon Gaia, Story and Map were insane inspirations.
HZLA - Creator of the HZLA Dynamic Calc, greatly helped create the RS Calc.
IndigoNull - Made the LUA SCRIPT to help with Challenge runs!


FAQ - FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

Spoiler: Got Questions? Check these out:

Why No Physical Special Split
Great question! It boils down to 3 Factors in my explanation and reason:
1. This is a Binary hack! It uses the tools gamefreak gave us. If you want a bigger explanation on why this makes adding the split more complicated or outside unbalanced, watch KingCradi's Video on it! It's very much the same explanation I'd give.
2. I wanted to keep the Generation 3 Ruby Sapphire feel intact. Same mechanics, basically the same game as base. I want to self myself from other rom hacks and most nowadays don't use these mechanics so I wanted to stay true to the source material!
3. Adding the split would mean I'd need to add SEVERAL moves to compensate for the lack of Physical or special moves for most types, and since this is binary, I cannot simply "Add" moves. Instead, I updated ALL learnsets to make More physical leaning mons learn Physical moves, and Special mons learn more special moves! + The game is all balanced around the old mechanics! So no worries there.

Is There a Hard Level Cap?
There is NOT a hard level cap. The reason behind this one is pretty simple:
It's a binary hack, so I am limited and can't add it.
Either way, there is no need for hard caps!
The game is not hard enough for me to feel like people should be capped at a certain level, and since I want the game to be aimed at both casual play and challenge runners, I felt that option would be way better for the player to make.
Finally, I will add that the game scales up, so the trainers won't be near the next gym leader's Level once you start a split. and you can play the game with that in mind without feeling the need to grind so much or candy your pokemon right away after beating a gym leader. Though its recommended you check the Documentation to know the trainer's levels! (Or don't, and have fun! <3)

Why No Infinite Candy/Repel?
Same reason yet again, Binary. I cannot add these key items. HOWEVER, I have played around this limitation by adding rare candies and repels to every single PokéMart for 1 PokéDollar! So this should never be something you have trouble withs you see in decomp hacks

PS: You can also get infinite candies in the Player's home by talking to the GameCube

Where Can I Report A Bug?
Join Gongas' discord and post your bug in the #✧rs-bug-reports✧ .
MAKE SURE TO READ THE CHANNEL RULES in the Bug channel's pinned messages.
You can find the link to said discord down below in this post.

Are There Fairy Types?
Nope, full generation 3 mechanics and tools, and this includes No fairy type.
I could in fact add this one, it's not a binary limitation, but it would also come with the same issues as the Physical special split; There's no fairy moves, and I can't just "add" moves.

Why Not Add Gen 4+ Pokémon?
Since I started the project I already knew I didn't want post generation 3 pokemon in the game besides the regionals and one exception, but some exceptions people regularly ask are the Gen 4+ EVOS such as magnezone, farigiraf, gallade. The issue with these is the powercreep. They are not balanced for the generation 3 hoenn pokédex and the game's balance would not be great with them.

Are There Type Changes?
Nope, Not a single one. All types are the same as vanilla pokemon.

Are There Stat Changes?
Only the Royal Sapphire Starters (Slowbro Sneasler Qwilfish) And their evolution line had their stats changed to be more in line with each other and have an average instead of Overqwil having a way higher BST than Slowbro-Galar, for more information on these (7 Mons) that had their stats changed, just check the Pokemon Changes in the Royal Sapphire Main Hub sheet, linked down below.

Why Add Rare Candies?
Grinding should be optional! This is a rom hack, and I want everyone to have fun. Not only that but having them free for player use will also greatly help with challenge runs and less boredom. There's no EVs in the game, so you're not missing out on any kind of EV gaining by Not grinding! If you do grind though, there's infinite lucky eggs you can buy in rustboro and more exp shares in the map.

Where Can I Find Resources For X / Y?
The Links below have all the resources from the game. If you need anything else or are confused, join the discord and ask in ✧rs-casual✧ or ✧rs-nuzlockes✧, people there will help you out.

Do I Gain EVs? What about the Trainers? (Effort Values)
There are NO EVs. The Enemy Trainers DO NOT use them, and I incentivize the players to use rare candies, so I felt like removing EVs was always correct. The game was also balanced around this decision!

Where Can I Find X or Y Pokémon?
Use the Encounter Sheet linked below! If you can't find something and take too long and are unsure if there's a pokemon missing or a wrong typo in the document, please report it in the Discord (which you can find the link to down below) and send it in ✧rs-bug-reports✧!

Will You Keep Updating The Game?
I will update the game for bugs and for balance changes if those are needed. I do not plan on making a 2.0 one day, if anything this game will see a 1.1 and a 1.2 eventually if needed, but no major updates outside bugs and glitches that completely break the game.
I do have plans to eventually revisit the game to make a "Challenge mode" and "Easy mode", but that is not something I want to think about for a while unless theres extremely high demand!

How Can I Support You?
Subscribe to my Youtube, Follow my Twitch, and join my discord! You can keep up to date on all my projects and stay up to date on all things royal sapphire as well as my nuzlocke or runs through the game or any other games, as I love to create In the scene. If you don't want to, that's okay too, but I hope you enjoy the game! :)

DOCUMENTATION

Main HUB Sheet with Trainers + Items + PKMN Changes

Encounter Sheet

Learnsets Sheet

Move Changes Document

Trick House Sheet

Postgame Document

HZLA Calculator

DOWNLOADS
Royal Sapphire 1.0

1.0 Release Date: August 10th, 2025


Wanna talk to people playing the game?
Join my Discord!
View attachment 180082
https://discord.gg/Bpa4R6yvNE

This looks awesome! I'm excited to be able to play gen 3 with a new story to keep things fresh. I'll keep my eye on this for when it releases tomorrow!

 

[ShockinglyGongas]

This looks awesome! I'm excited to be able to play gen 3 with a new story to keep things fresh. I'll keep my eye on this for when it releases tomorrow!

Thank you so much!! Hope you have a fun time, we put alot of effort into it :,)

 

[pinkyj98]

cool a new game but in a familar world its gonna be something new

 

[BagonGanda]

Im happy to have helped with the development of the rom hack over the past couple of months on the tail end of the project! We hope you all enjoy the work we put in to make this as enjoyable and fresh as possible as much as we did!

 

[mae_hat]

this reminded me of the time i tried to do a sapphire lets play many years ago. thanks for reminding me of that
love how this looks, new postgame and extended story-line sound real nice, trying this out.

 

[ShockinglyGongas]

this reminded me of the time i tried to do a sapphire lets play many years ago. thanks for reminding me of that
love how this looks, new postgame and extended story-line sound real nice, trying this out.

Hope you have a good time!! Enjoy the game :3

 

[Akasier]

Time to start a hardcore nuzlocke on this! Docs were easy to understand, thank you for your work everyone on this!

 

[ShockinglyGongas]

Time to start a hardcore nuzlocke on this! Docs were easy to understand, thank you for your work everyone on this!

enjoy!!!!

 

[ShockinglyGongas]

I've been following the progress for a while now and I can say there was a massive effort done & love poured into this project. It's looking very charismatic so far and I can't wait to experience the new story, well done Gongas :)

ur my goat neo

 

[ShockinglyGongas]

Can't wait for it to come out (surely not writing just to be the first person)

good job :3

 

[Inner Rhymes]

Ohhh! This looks wonderful! I am curious, why did you pick sapphire to hack? Afaik, there are more resources available for Ruby and Emerald. Also, which Sapphire dump do I need to use? Thank you!

 

[RotomotoR]

Ohhh! This looks wonderful! I am curious, why did you pick sapphire to hack? Afaik, there are more resources available for Ruby and Emerald. Also, which Sapphire dump do I need to use? Thank you!

The READ ME That comes with the patch says which sapphire version you need so check there

 

[ShockinglyGongas]

Ohhh! This looks wonderful! I am curious, why did you pick sapphire to hack? Afaik, there are more resources available for Ruby and Emerald. Also, which Sapphire dump do I need to use? Thank you!

Since the start i wanted to make something using Not-emerald
Felt like everyone was doing it and i wanted to diferentiate myself so i took that approach and decided to simply face the challenges of less tools being available haha
maybe suboptimal, maybe i couldve rebuilt the entirely of sapphire in emerald, but lets be honest for someones first hack that is also one big ask
hope you enjoy! Sapphire has a ton of stuff emerald changes so its cool to play with older mechanics that i had to have in mind while making the game :3

 

[wicz]

What would be the reason for low prices in the Pokemarts? I don't necessarily hate it, but it almost seems too easy 😅

 

[wicz]

Also sneasel learns rock smash very early and unfortunately you cannot replace it because it's considered and HM move? Not sure if this is intended or there is a workaround?

 

[Hermione Granger]

What would be the reason for low prices in the Pokemarts? I don't necessarily hate it, but it almost seems too easy 😅

I'm not complaining, since I'm gonna play casually.

 

[ShockinglyGongas]

What would be the reason for low prices in the Pokemarts? I don't necessarily hate it, but it almost seems too easy 😅

it's for quality of life! Since theres no "infinite candy" or "infinite repel" i made everything 1Poke! Not everything is 1poke obviously but youll notice that as you keep playing
mostly Farmable/stuff thats for quality of life was made significantly easier to get!