FireRed hack: Pokémon Throwback v211001: Kanto, Your Way

[Brakor]

Hi, first of all let me say congrats and thanks for the awesome work you did on this rom-hack. It fit my needs perfectly as to how I'd like to approach FRLG. I always dreamt of having a living dex of the first gen and you made it possible for me. Or so I believed, until I got stuck trying to get the fossil at Rock Tunnel. I've spent an hour with sped up emulator at 4x trying to find it. Broke every single rock on that cave several times and nothing popped up. Am I doing something wrong? Was it supposed to be this hard? I'm very close to finishing my 151 dex and this fossil is holding me back. I'll gladly wait for a reply.
Also, concerning other topics, it is said in the post that this hack only makes all pokemon appear where before there was only version exclusives, and this is kinda wrong. Not all routes contain all version exclusives. Surfing, fishing are the best way to represent that, as we have to find in which routes we find each pokemon, and it takes a long time, depending on the rarity, so you can't rely on guides online. Also, pokemon such as Growlithe and Vulpix were supposed to be found both at route 8, but are actually split between 7 and 8. This lack of information could mislead players.
As a request, if I may, please make a comprehensive list of found pokemon and where so "we" completionists can have a guide to follow or at least finish the Catch 'Em All documentation at the main page. If anything, I volunteer to finish the documentation, since I love this hack so much. Just send me the numbers so I can finish the guide.
Much appreciated dudes.

 

[RichterSnipes]

Aren't the Move Tutors supposed to be re-useable? Only tested so far on the Mega Punch one outside of Mt. Moon, but once he teaches it, he just gives you the "Get out of here before the other guy notices you" text instead of offering to teach MP again.

Hi, first of all let me say congrats and thanks for the awesome work you did on this rom-hack. It fit my needs perfectly as to how I'd like to approach FRLG. I always dreamt of having a living dex of the first gen and you made it possible for me. Or so I believed, until I got stuck trying to get the fossil at Rock Tunnel. I've spent an hour with sped up emulator at 4x trying to find it. Broke every single rock on that cave several times and nothing popped up. Am I doing something wrong? Was it supposed to be this hard? I'm very close to finishing my 151 dex and this fossil is holding me back. I'll gladly wait for a reply.

It sounds like both of you are using tkim's version of Throwback as opposed to my last update of the game. One of the changes tkim made was that you have to leave the map in order to let the Move Tutor teach one of your Pokémon a move again. Simply talking to them again will only give you the end dialogue over and over until you load into a different area. As for the other fossil, tkim moved it to the eastmost chamber in the Tanoby Ruins. The fossil change only applies to his version of Throwback; his Official Version release should still have it at Rock Tunnel. The Move Tutor change applies to both versions that he maintains.

If I put out an update soon, there's a good chance that both of those will be reverted to how I had them. Especially the Move Tutor change.

Also, concerning other topics, it is said in the post that this hack only makes all pokemon appear where before there was only version exclusives, and this is kinda wrong. Not all routes contain all version exclusives. Surfing, fishing are the best way to represent that, as we have to find in which routes we find each pokemon, and it takes a long time, depending on the rarity, so you can't rely on guides online. Also, pokemon such as Growlithe and Vulpix were supposed to be found both at route 8, but are actually split between 7 and 8. This lack of information could mislead players.
As a request, if I may, please make a comprehensive list of found pokemon and where so "we" completionists can have a guide to follow or at least finish the Catch 'Em All documentation at the main page. If anything, I volunteer to finish the documentation, since I love this hack so much. Just send me the numbers so I can finish the guide.
Much appreciated dudes.

I don't know if you remember when I said that I'd be updating my Pokémon location guide from time to time after I stopped working on Throwback. Well... yeah. That didn't pan out. Luckily, I did make myself a personal location list for wild Pokémon. I used it to help guide myself through the major update I made to the hack a few years ago. Here's the changes. Sorry for the formatting, I typed this all in a text file and only made minimal changes when pasting it here. I also didn't list which maps each Pokémon is available in when it comes to caves or the Safari Zone. A driven player could always look up those areas in a map editor or the like, but I realize that takes away from actually playing the game.

As for the guide, feel free to make one if you'd like. I still do want to make a proper one someday, but I've grown dissatisfied with how the one I was working on turned out.

Spoiler:

Version Exclusives
023 - Ekans; Routes 8, 11
027 - Sandshrew; Routes 9, 10
Both: Routes 4 and 23

024 - Arbok; 23
028 - Sandslash; Victory Road

043 - Oddish; Routes 7 and 12, Cape Brink, Water Path
069 - Bellsprout; Routes 13, 14, and 15, Berry Forest, Bond Bridge
Both: Routes 5, 6, 24, and 25

044 - Gloom; Route 12, Cape Brink, Water Path
070 - Weepinbell; Routes 13, 14, and 15, Berry Forest, Bond Bridge

054 - Psyduck; Seafoam Islands, Kindle Road, Bond Bridge, Berry Forest, Water Path, Ruin Valley, Canyon Entrance
Routes 6 and 25, Fuchsia City, Cerulean Cave, Berry Forest (Surfing)
Routes 12 and 13 (Super Rod)
079 - Slowpoke; Treasure Beach, Cape Brink, Five Isle Meadow
Routes 22 and 23, Viridian City, Celadon City, Seafoam Islands, Cape Brink, Four Island, Icefall Cave (Surfing)
Both: Safari Zone (Surfing)

055 - Golduck; Seafoam Islands
Cerulean Cave, Berry Forest (Surfing)
080 - Slowbro; Cape Brink
Seafoam Islands, Cape Brink (Surfing)

058 - Growlithe; Route 7
037 - Vulpix; Route 8
Both: Pokémon Mansion

090 - Shellder; Pallet Town, Vermilion City (Super Rod)
120 - Staryu; One Island, Five Island (Super Rod)
Both: Cinnabar Island, Icefall Cave (Super Rod)

123 - Scyther
127 - Pinsir
Both: Safari Zone

125 - Electabuzz; Power Plant
126 - Magmar; Mt. Ember

194 - Wooper; Four Island, Icefall Cave
183 - Marill; Ruin Valley

198 - Murkrow
200 - Misdreavus
Both: Lost Cave

211 - Qwilfish; Five Isle Meadow, Memorial Pillar, Resort Gorgeous, Water Labyrinth (Super Rod)
223 - Remoraid; Green Path, Outcast Island, Tanoby Ruins, Trainer Tower, Water Path (Super Rod)

225 - Delibird
215 - Sneasel
Both: Icefall Cave

227 - Skarmory; Sevault Canyon
226 - Mantine; Tanoby Ruins, Trainer Tower

Paired Pokémon; encounter rate depends on version, so they've been tweaked a bit
014 - Kakuna
011 - Metapod
Both: Routes 24 and 25, Viridian Forest, Pattern Bush

032 - Nidoran♂
029 - Nidoran♀
Both: Route 3, Safari Zone

033 - Nidorino
030 - Nidorina
Both: Safari Zone

109 - Koffing
088 - Grimer
Both: Pokémon Mansion

110 - Weezing
089 - Muk
Both: Pokémon Mansion

116 - Horsea; Routes 19, 20, and 21, Pallet Town, Cinnabar Island, Resort Gorgeous, Water Labyrinth, Water Path, Green Path, Outcast Island, Tanoby Ruins, Trainer Tower (Good Rod and Super Rod)
Seafoam Islands (Surfing)
098 - Krabby; Routes 4, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 24, Cerulean City, Vermilion City, Kindle Road, Treasure Beach, Bond Bridge, Five Isle Meadow, Memorial Pillar, One Island, Five Island, Icefall Cave (Good Rod and Super Rod)
Both: Seafoam Islands (Good Rod and Super Rod)

117 - Seadra; Routes 19, 20, and 21, Pallet Town, Cinnabar Island, Resort Gorgeous, Water Labyrinth, Water Path, Green Path, Outcast Island, Tanoby Ruins, Trainer Tower (Super Rod)
099 - Kingler; Kindle Road, Treasure Beach, Bond Bridge, Five Isle Meadow, Memorial Pillar, One Island, Five Island, Icefall Cave (Super Rod)

167 - Spinarak
165 - Ledyba
Pattern Bush

Normally-Unavailable Pokémon
163 - Hoothoot
Pattern Bush, Lv. 10; 5%, replaces Lv. 9 Metapod

170 - Chinchou
Green Path, Outcast Island, Trainer Tower (Super Rod), Lv. 15-25; 40%, replaces Horsea/Krabby

185 - Sudowoodo
Five Isle Meadow, Lv. 30; 10%, replaces Lv. 48 Pidgeotto

191 - Sunkern
Canyon Entrance, Lv. 10; 20%, replaces Lv. 44 Spearow

203 - Girafarig
Five Isle Meadow, Lv. 25; 20%, replaces Lv. 44 Pidgey

207 - Gligar
Sevault Canyon, Lv. 20; 10%, replaces Lv. 43 Meowth

209 - Snubbull
Water Path, Lv. 20; 10%, replaces Lv. 41 Meowth

222 - Corsola
Water Labyrinth, Resort Gorgeous, Tanoby Ruins (Super Rod), Lv. 15-25; 40%, replaces Horsea/Krabby

241 - Miltank
Water Path, Lv. 20/25; 5%, replaces Lv. 47/50 Persian

 

[Gunzzzzmaster]

If you do end up putting out an update, could you change the way you handle event pokémon to a solution in-game (like Tkim's version) instead of having to trade for them externally? I'm not talking about all of them (like surfing Pikachu), just the ones that you'd need to complete the dex.

 

[RichterSnipes]

The upcoming update is mainly a maintenance update. I'll be reimplementing various improvements tkim has made to Throwback into my main download, as well as making them available in separate patches in the source. Any additional changes I make will be small changes. I'm definitely going to consider making event Pokémon available in-game, but I won't be able to do anything about that right away. It'll take some time for me to do anything regarding that.

 

[Gunzzzzmaster]

No worries, I'm already glad to hear that it will probably get done eventually, so thanks for the reply!

 

[ScherzicScherzo]

It sounds like both of you are using tkim's version of Throwback as opposed to my last update of the game. One of the changes tkim made was that you have to leave the map in order to let the Move Tutor teach one of your Pokémon a move again. Simply talking to them again will only give you the end dialogue over and over until you load into a different area. As for the other fossil, tkim moved it to the eastmost chamber in the Tanoby Ruins. The fossil change only applies to his version of Throwback; his Official Version release should still have it at Rock Tunnel. The Move Tutor change applies to both versions that he maintains.

If I put out an update soon, there's a good chance that both of those will be reverted to how I had them. Especially the Move Tutor change.

Ahh, yeah. I literally just figured that out after testing it with the Seismic Toss Tutor in the Pewter Museum.

I will note, that I have been encountering an interesting bug - certain world items will reappear after awhile (the Awakening immediately on the Route to the right of Vermillion City for example). Not sure if this is intended or not, but might lead to balance issues that you didn't foresee (also appears to do the same with the fossil you choose in Mt. Moon).

 

[RichterSnipes]

I will note, that I have been encountering an interesting bug - certain world items will reappear after awhile (the Awakening immediately on the Route to the right of Vermillion City for example). Not sure if this is intended or not, but might lead to balance issues that you didn't foresee (also appears to do the same with the fossil you choose in Mt. Moon).

Interesting. That'd suggest that something is causing the flags for those items to be reset. It certainly could be something from the hack, but I'm pretty sure this is the first time someone's mentioned something about it. I'll take a look at it sometime.

 

[RichterSnipes]

So... it's been awhile since I've been on here. I'll admit, I haven't done much work on Throwback as of late. But I do have some more time I could throw into it now, and chances are I'll pick things back up from where I left off some weeks ago.

I've got some exciting news, though! Well, on my end, at least. I've finally tested out Pokémon Throwback on actual hardware! All this time I've been using versions of VBA-M (and some versions of mGBA here and there) for testing my hack, but now I've got the real deal. I only checked it out up to Viridian Forest, but things seem really solid as of right now.

My main concern with using actual hardware was that the 8-bit tracks in the GB Sounds portion of the hack would sound terrible. They're incredibly low-quality and grating in mGBA, which is otherwise head-and-shoulders better than any version of VBA. Luckily, things are actually much better when playing around on actual GBA hardware. Entirely passable, even! Audio isn't entirely crisp like in VBA-M, and there are a couple of small issues that are more noticeable there (such as with quick phase shifting of noise instruments), but it sounds way better than it does in mGBA. That's a relief. For awhile now I thought that PSG audio on the GBA must have sounded a lot worse than I remember, but it turns out my memory was pretty spot on. Now that I know that the GB Sounds music is supposed to sound a lot better than it does in mGBA, I'll be sure to provide some input to endrift if necessary. It seems she might already be working on that with the in-development XQ GBA Audio option.

I'll be around here in case anyone needs any help or has suggestions. I might even have something neat to announce or show off, soon! 😄

 

[RichterSnipes]

Happy Throwback Thursday!

I've finally returned with an update to Throwback. But it'd be incredibly wrong of me to say that most of this work was because of my own doing. tkim has done a wonderful job of updating the hack in my absence, and I have the utmost thanks for him.

This update implements most of the changes tkim made to the primary version of Throwback. I haven't gotten to the changes done for GB Sounds yet, but I intend to soon. The same goes for the Fossil Doctor's additional multichoice boxes. There are a few other things that I've decided not to carry over to the main hack. Outside of that, I still want to do some cleanup with the hack.

Depending on what time you show up here, the download might not be fully updated. I started with the main patch, but I'll be gradually working towards updating the separate patches, too. I'm rushing this update for specific reasons, but I thought I'd let you know of these things upfront. I have a feeling some people might like what I have to say tomorrow. 😉

Enjoy!

Changelog

Also, sorry for the unintentional triple post.

Edit 1: Of course I forgot to merge one of the changes into the main patch. The Champion Battle "Previously on your quest" bug was still present in the initial upload. Redownload if you got here super early!

I should also mention that the place you get the 2nd fossil has changed. I've updated it from Rock Tunnel to Cerulean Cave in order to match with Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee.

 

[RichterSnipes]

Quadruple post? Ah, screw it. I'm doing it anyways. Ahem...

...

And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

-Revelation 21:6​

Announcing Pokémon: Project Revelation
(maybe a working title)

On September 16, Pokémon Emerald will turn 15 years old. What better way to celebrate it than to give it a nice tune-up? I've got plenty of ideas to update and improve the game while keeping that same classic battle system intact, so I figure I might as well give it a try!

I'm not one to step on anyone's toes. I see several other enhanced Emerald hacks floating out there, and I think they're all good in their own way. I just figured I could put my personal touch on my own hack for it. Plenty of features and design choices will feel familiar to those who've checked out Pokémon Throwback, and it'll have its own special flair to it, too!

If you've got any ideas for it, feel free to share them with me on my visitor page. I want to keep this thread focused on Throwback, and I don't want to make an Emerald hack thread until I have something to show for it. I will answer any immediate thoughts people have here, though.

Enjoy your weekend, everyone, and Happy Summer!

 

[Gunzzzzmaster]

I'm excited and curious to see how the hack will turn out! I've been playing a lot of Pokémon Emerald Final (Dearman's hack) and for me, it'll be tough to "beat" that one, as it ticks almost all the boxes for me. It's not flawless however, so it'll be interesting to see what you will come up with. I'll definitely give it a try!

 

[RichterSnipes]

There's been plenty of Emerald hacks that have done some awesome things in terms of modernizing the game. Theta Emerald EX, Sigma Emerald, and Altered Emerald all do excellent jobs at implementing Pokémon and mechanics from later games into the 3rd Gen proper. I don't need to give recommendations to those, tons of people have already gotten hooked on them!

There's other hacks that have more of a restrained approach to them. The one I'm kind of worried about butting heads with is, like you mentioned, Emerald Final. Dearman has gone through the effort of putting in so many quality-of-life changes to the game. I'm confident I can make a hack that's fitting of my tastes and philosophy. It'll have its own identity, and it'll definitely retain that nice RS panache to it. That's a double entendre, BTW (me and Ruby/Sapphire). 😁

I can't promise that this will be the be-all and end-all Emerald hack for you. But I can at least promise it'll be flexible like Throwback is.

 

[Gunzzzzmaster]

I can at least promise it'll be flexible like Throwback is.

The flexibility is such a big strength imo. One change I'm still hoping to see is the addition of giveaway Pokémon like Mew as scripted events to the main Throwback version. Also a minor question: are the gambler references the only thing you restored that was censored in the western release or did you change other things like npc sprites as well, and why? It seems such a minor thing to me to be putting effort into.

 

[RichterSnipes]

The flexibility is such a big strength imo. One change I'm still hoping to see is the addition of giveaway Pokémon like Mew as scripted events to the main Throwback version. Also a minor question: are the gambler references the only thing you restored that was censored in the western release or did you change other things like npc sprites as well, and why? It seems such a minor thing to me to be putting effort into.

I have a feeling that the multi-patch system is gonna get more complicated with Emerald. Providing a hack for it with any meaningful content requires expanding the ROM size, and lord knows IPS patches have a fit about that.

I do have something in mind with Mew and Celebi in Throwback, but I won't have anything ready in the immediate future. As much as I want to keep all obtained Pokémon in the hack technically legal, I realize that that's already not the case. The fact that I've included the IV bug fix for the Johto roaming legendaries means that most Raikou, Entei, and Suicune caught in Throwback are actually illegal. Same goes for any Pokémon caught in locations that they're normally not available in in vanilla FireRed/LeafGreen. So... yeah. I feel obligated to do something about them now.

Along with changing Gamers back into Gamblers, I rechristened the Space Shuttle in the Pewter Museum into the Columbia. It's not about reverting contents in the game to their Japanese version so much as it is restoring what was originally there in the international releases of the Gen I games and then censored for various reasons. I'm not aware of any graphics that have been censored in international releases of FireRed and LeafGreen.

 

[tkim]

What a revelation!

 

[RichterSnipes]

Indeed!

It'd be great to get something for Project Revelation out there on September 16. Knowing my luck, though, it might not actually be until the 15th anniversary of the Western release on May 1, 2020. These things, they take time. 😛

I'm still working hard on Throwback. Right now I'm completely overhauling the fossil system in the game. I might get an update out for it tonight. I have a feeling y'all will really like what I got in store!

 

[RichterSnipes]

Well, I guess the update didn't happen last night. I actually went a lot deeper into the fossil thing. Like, past the point of it even being about just the fossils. And now I'm ending up with a mess of spaghetti code.

At this point, I don't want to implement anything else in the hack until I got the rest of the fixes checked out and ported over. Then I'll see how much space everything takes up and where I should put everything. I've got other features I want to add to Throwback, but I won't be able to have orderly documentation or any sane multi-patching system if I keep trucking as is.

Unfortunately, I've done all I can. There's still two things in the GB Sounds department I want to update. However, those are custom ASM edits that only tkim has the source and notes on. I'm gonna have to wait until he's able to share that stuff with me before I can go forward with this.

 

[RichterSnipes]

Happy Throwback Thursday!

Today's a special day in history for people in a certain part of the world. While everyone's hopefully been enjoying themselves their own way, I thought it'd be a good time to push out a new update for Throwback. Don't worry, this time I tested it a bit before releasing it. That ended up revealing several nasty bugs in the previous version. They were a symptom of the spaghetti code I mentioned earlier. It's honestly kind of shocking how bad it was getting!

Along with code cleanup, I've now got the final fixes ported over from tkim's mainline update. But I decided to go a bit overboard with the Rock Smash/fossil situation. Now you'll be able to obtain items when smashing rocks in any location in the game! It follows Gen IV and VI conventions, where you obtain standard items in most places in the game and fossils in one special location in the game. Here, it's at Cerulean Cave in order to parallel how you get extra fossils in Let's Go, Pikachu and Let's Go, Eevee. This is part of the Catch 'em All portion of the hack, although I can also add it to the Extras patch in a lesser capacity if desired. Check out the included Event Guide for more information!

I've finally updated the individual patches. The last update only had the main patch updated, but this one has everything up-to-date now. The main patch is now also provided in BPS format if you wish to patch the game that way. It might be awhile before I get around to updating the source files, though. Getting the individual patches up to spec was already a massive undertaking.

Hope y'all have been having a good one today!

Changelog

 

[Gunzzzzmaster]

Are we meant to continue our previous saves after updating with the latest patches? Because I did, and after about 15 minutes of playing in Mt. Moon, a sound glitch happens during a trainer battle and 2 of my Pokémon turned into bad eggs :p
(I used a clean ROM to apply the new patches.)

 

[RichterSnipes]

Are we meant to continue our previous saves after updating with the latest patches? Because I did, and after about 15 minutes of playing in Mt. Moon, a sound glitch happens during a trainer battle and 2 of my Pokémon turned into bad eggs :p
(I used a clean ROM to apply the new patches.)

Could you give me more detail on what's happening? Is it any random trainer battle, or is it against the Super Nerd with the fossils? Also, which patches are you using? Can you tell me which order you're applying the patches?

I tested the updates with a completed save file and a new file up until Pewter City, so I wouldn't know off the top of my head what's happening here.