Pokemon GoldSoul: A type-swap romhack of Pokemon HeartGold

[GhostMadison7]

Pokemon GoldSoul

Name Pending​

Pokemon GoldSoul is a romhack of Pokemon HeartGold I've been working on for about a year now inspired by others of it's kind. It is a type-swap rom hack which aims to change the type of every Pokemon native to the Johto region and more! I plan to give every Pokemon unique sprites, different abilities and moves to fit said typing, and stat changes to reflect them.
Overall, the goal is to mix up the old formula and create a new, fresh experience for experienced players who get to see their favourite mons in a new light :D!

Right now the game is still in it's concept phase, I've got around 70% of typings down, but need help with the rest of them as well as possible abilities.

That's where you all come in!
I want your help to fill in and even recommend some changes to written down concepts/ideas! You can look through this Google Sheet, see what types are blank or provide ideas for existing ones!
Pokemon GoldSoul Documentation

Starters and legendaries are not for grabs, all ideas will be considered but are not final and I can change/edit them, you will be credited with the idea in the game credits (via a PokeCommunity post for the beta or otherwise)​

And have a sneak peek ;)

Spoiler:

Ask me anything if you need help/clarification!

 

[GhostMadison7]

Update: I got a lot of feedback from different sources, and now all the type-changes are around 95% complete!
I'll keep this post up for a little longer, but I plan to move on to Part 2 where I make sprites finally, as well as work on stats, abilities, and the movepool for every Pokemon!
When that's done, I start Part 3 where I work on opponent teams, text changes (including the Pokedex) accordingly, and release an alpha for testing up to the 2nd gym hopefully ^^ so stay tuned :D

 

[GhostMadison7]

Starters!!!​

Spoiler: Starter Sprites

 

[SuperSpyroDragon]

If you're changing the types of all Pokemon, have you considered potentially controversial changes like removing the Normal type entirely, or making sure only Attacks can be Normal type, not Pokemon?

Also, unless you're editing the type matchup chart(Which would be great, canon Pokemon's type chart is really unbalanced), won't Ground, Poison, and Fighting be an unbalanced trio? Ground beats poison and isn't beaten by Fighting, and Poison isn't x2 on Fighting and doesn't take x2 from Fighting. Fairy/Steel/Ice as the eventual dual-typing is interesting but Steel beats Fairy and Ice.

 

[GhostMadison7]

If you're changing the types of all Pokemon, have you considered potentially controversial changes like removing the Normal type entirely, or making sure only Attacks can be Normal type, not Pokemon?

Also, unless you're editing the type matchup chart(Which would be great, canon Pokemon's type chart is really unbalanced), won't Ground, Poison, and Fighting be an unbalanced trio? Ground beats poison and isn't beaten by Fighting, and Poison isn't x2 on Fighting and doesn't take x2 from Fighting. Fairy/Steel/Ice as the eventual dual-typing is interesting but Steel beats Fairy and Ice.

Hi, sorry for late reply, busy holidays lol!

I have not considered removing Normal or any types nor limiting a type to be an attacking one only. Normal and pretty much all types are integral to Pokemon and have some niche or use I feel!

I'll come back to the type chart momentarily. You are correct, the starter trio is initially imbalanced, this was on purpose cause I wanted to do something different instead of your usual type circle, that, and when they evolve their secondary types (which you have mentioned) does bring back this loop albeit a bit sloppy I'll admit could be tweaked.
The idea was that the secondary typing would interact with the primary typing offensively effective so Fighting hits Steel, Fariry hits fighting, but then I lost it with Ground hitting Poison and Ice hitting Ground so it is a bit all over the place which is on me and my scatterbrain, I am considering type changes for Totodile's secondary tbh, just not sure what yet without having to redo the whole trio which I'm stubborn on ahaha

Type chart note, I wanted to make Ice resist water, small change but anything helps that poor type lol. Other changes I'm debating but probably won't since I wanna keep this hack focused on the type-swaps mainly
Thank you for the comment!

 

[SuperSpyroDragon]

Hi, sorry for late reply, busy holidays lol!

I have not considered removing Normal or any types nor limiting a type to be an attacking one only. Normal and pretty much all types are integral to Pokemon and have some niche or use I feel!

I'll come back to the type chart momentarily. You are correct, the starter trio is initially imbalanced, this was on purpose cause I wanted to do something different instead of your usual type circle, that, and when they evolve their secondary types (which you have mentioned) does bring back this loop albeit a bit sloppy I'll admit could be tweaked.
The idea was that the secondary typing would interact with the primary typing offensively effective so Fighting hits Steel, Fariry hits fighting, but then I lost it with Ground hitting Poison and Ice hitting Ground so it is a bit all over the place which is on me and my scatterbrain, I am considering type changes for Totodile's secondary tbh, just not sure what yet without having to redo the whole trio which I'm stubborn on ahaha

Type chart note, I wanted to make Ice resist water, small change but anything helps that poor type lol. Other changes I'm debating but probably won't since I wanna keep this hack focused on the type-swaps mainly
Thank you for the comment!

What if the type matchup chart itself was edited to be more balanced? Is that possible with Gen 4 hacking?

 

[GhostMadison7]

What if the type matchup chart itself was edited to be more balanced? Is that possible with Gen 4 hacking?

It is possible, and I have considered it. Right now the only change I had thought of was Ice resisting Water, though without Freeze-Dry, it's not much help tbh. I'd be open for minor type changes as types like Bug and Ice could definitely use it lol, but I also don't wanna change it so much that people have to up and re-learn the type chart.
I have added a type chart change tab to the sheet for more brainstorming, ty!

 

[GhostMadison7]

It is possible, and I have considered it. Right now the only change I had thought of was Ice resisting Water, though without Freeze-Dry, it's not much help tbh. I'd be open for minor type changes as types like Bug and Ice could definitely use it lol, but I also don't wanna change it so much that people have to up and re-learn the type chart.
I have added a type chart change tab to the sheet for more brainstorming, ty!

Changes! Open to feedback/edits. Trying to keep this not too drastic as my hack focus is individual Pokémon type changes and not a rebalance
New chart is in the google sheet ofc.

• Ice resist Water and Flying. Water and ice have a weird relationship, I can see them being neutral, weak, or resist each other tbh. As for flying, I figured what could wind do against already frigid air and birds migrating during winter
• Steel is weak to Electric. Steel is still as much of a defensive juggernaut as ever, but I figured one more nerf could help +metal is super conductive, same reason why water is weak
• Fairy no longer resists Bug. In lots of fairytales, Fae and Fairies themselves are often depicted as small, butterfly/insect like humanoids, and they're usually connected with nature, including bugs, so I don't see a reason for resistance
• Bug resist Dark. Insects tend to thrive in the night with a lot of species being nocturnal (like moths)
• Dark is super effective against Electric. This one I can see being a bit much of a change. Electric is a really good type with one weakness and now potentially being good against Steel, I felt needed a new weakness. Electricity can also represent a light source, and what better to put out the light than a blackout
• Poison is super effective against Water. Water is like the best type so knocking it down a peg wouldn't hurt, meanwhile Poison really sucks all around. Logic: Poison=Pollution, water pollution