Red hack: Pokemon Red and Blue Deluxe

[TheScarletSword]

Public Beta 1.09

(Quick Links: Game Patches (all difficulties) + Documents | Lunar IPS | How to Patch | Red and Blue Competitive Save Files | Github Source)
Recommended emulator: BGB or VBA-M​

For those who have completed Challenge Mode: this poll may be of interest to you.​

Welcome to the world of Pokémon!

You've finally been granted your Pokémon Trainer's license. Now, it's time to head out to become the world's greatest Pokémon Trainer. It's going to take all you've got to collect 150 Pokémon in this enormous world. Catch and train monsters like the shockingly-cute Pikachu. Face off against Blastoise's torrential water cannons. Stand strong when facing Pidgeot's stormy Gust. Trade with friends and watch your Pokémon evolve. Important—no single Pokémon can win at all. Can you develop the ultimate Pokémon strategy to defeat the eight Gym Leaders and become the greatest Pokémon Master of all time?

The Original Idea:

Spoiler:

This game originally started out as a Generation 1 competitive modification. A few articles on Smogon's premier webzine, The Smog produced fascinating reads about how moves and Pokemon introduced in later generations would reshape RBY a few years ago during the Gen 5 era. Having played competitive RBY several times throughout the last ten years, along with the recent discoveries by Crystal_ regarding mechanics we either entirely forgot about (Stadium 2, anybody?) or completely slipped our eye throughout the years motivated me to bring this base concept to life.

What Moves You: Later Gen Moves that would redefine RBY
GSC and ADV Underdogs that Would Have Hit Big in RBY
DPP and BW Underdogs that Would Have Hit Big in RBY

Relive the very first generation of Pokémon games, in time for the franchise's 20th anniversary! Red and Blue DX provide several new updates to the original pair of Pokémon games that breathe new life into these classics while still retaining its original characteristics, including popular enhancements from some more recent Generation 1 hacks for a 'best of' experience; check out the Credits section for more on that.

• Trading and battling has been preserved in its entirety. Link up with a friend online through TGB Dual or play on a modded Pokémon Showdown server. See the TGB Dual/Showdown Tutorial document within the .rar file for more information.
• Now, you can play the entire game in color! Red and Blue DX have been upgraded to a full-fledged GameBoy Color game.
• Don't like the old, drastically different Generation 1 sprites? Now you can choose between the Generation 1 and Generation 2 sprite set!
• Pokémon now look more vivid than ever! The monsters have updated colors to match their official art.
• There's 103 new Pokémon - 254 for you to catch in all, up from 151 in the original games. Can you find them all?
• Pokémon look sharper than ever with updated back visuals!
• Newer Pokémon players can enjoy an updated type chart from the recent generation of Pokémon games. Introducing the Dark, Steel and Fairy types! [Fairy is classified as a Special type.]
• Choose which version you play carefully - Red and Blue now have many differences!
• 4 difficulty settings for you to play! (see note *4 at the bottom)
• 50+ new moves!
• Unique new cries for all new Pokémon!
• Evolve your Pokémon with new items and evolutionary Stones! Some may even evolve depending on your location.
• The all-new Inverse Mode from X and Y! You can even switch it on and off before a Link Battle.
• All 254 Pokémon obtainable in one version - some will be way harder than others to find depending on which you play.
• Battle Factory and Battle Tent from Pokémon Emerald make their appearance!
• Now, there's even more things for you to accomplish after you've beaten the Elite Four - some trainers may even rematch you! Complete the Pokédex in addition to this and you'll face the most experienced trainer in the Kanto region...
• Several beloved quality of life features make their return, such as the Running Shoes and many more. (see note *1 at the bottom)
• Trainers will keep you on your toes with increased intelligence.
• You may now encounter rare and mysterious Shiny Pokémon! Some are even more colorful and polished than before.
• Tired of being unable to erase HMs? Now you can! HMs can now be overwritten at any time.
• Love to explore? The world of Kanto now gives you more opportunities to roam as you please.
• Some of the battle mechanics from the original games have been upgraded, such as Substitute.
• The worlds of Kanto come to life with a remixed soundtrack! (see note *2 at the bottom)
• The feel of the original pair of games can still be felt - many battle mechanics have been kept intact, as well as the original art work. For a more modern Red hack, I'd highly advise playing Red++. (see note *3 at the bottom)

Many more changes await you!

*1 = In the original games, you had to go to your Pokémon party menu and select HM moves to use them in the field. This now functions like it does in later games. Additionally, the speed you travel while Surfing and riding your Bicycle is now faster.
*2 = The soundtrack may also vary depending on your difficulty setting.
*3 = Things like critical hit mechanics, physical and special attack classification, and the Special stat remain like they were in the original games. Some things have been changed, however.
*4:
Normal Mode (H1) keeps the difficulty nearly unchanged from the original game.
Normal Mode+ (H2) disables Shift Mode, the ability to use items in battle, the ability to gain experience for your stats in battles, and the Lucky Egg item.
Challenge Mode (H3) raises the "level curve" and changes the rosters of enemy Trainers drastically, much like Black and White 2's Challenge Mode. It also introduces level scaling on important Trainers, such as Gym Leaders, and sets hidden values on opposing Trainer's Pokemon and their intelligence to maximum. The order of progression the game expects you to take changes after you reach half way through Kanto. Be aware!
Challenge Mode+ (H4) also disables Shift Mode, the ability to use items in battle, the ability to gain experience for your stats in battles, and the Lucky Egg item. This is Red and Blue DX's hardest difficulty setting. The order of progression the game expects you to take changes after you reach half way through Kanto. Be aware!

Status:
Beta tested by me almost entirely (RIP), 100% playable from start to end.

Changelog:

Spoiler:

1.00:

• Initial release.

1.01:

• Fixed the Game Corner Ditto's level being over 100.

1.02:

• Fixed Shiny Stone messing up the bag + Floette can now evolve properly with it

1.03:

• Slowpoke now evolves properly via Link Stone

1.04:

• Underleveled trainers in Saffron Gym fixed

1.05:

• Oak now gives out 5 Poke Balls at the start of the game (Thanks, Mateo!)
• Minor text inconsistency fixed in Celadon Department Store
• Adjustments to the prices of Game Corner Prizes

1.06:

• Field surfing engine fixed (again, thanks Mateo)
• Fixed an issue where you could see the diploma + obtain the Shiny Charm with only 1 Pokemon caught

1.07:

• Gen 2 Front Sprite patch is now a thing
• Amulet Coin fixed
• No Music patches removed

1.08:

• Mareep's growth rate corrected
• All Pokemon now have Gen 2 sprites in the Gen 2 sprite patch
• Fixed crash when you tried to evaluate a completed pokedex with Oak
• Slowpoke and Poliwrath now evolve correctly
• Arbok now has it's Gen 1 pattern
• Surfing text fixed
• Even more custom pokemon palettes for Gen 2 and Gen 1 sprites. Nearly all Pokemon have two different colors in their Gen 2 sprites now
• More custom shinies
• HP Drain on Substitute bug fixed]
• Swift no longer hits digging or flying users
• Sucker Punch now has its canonical effect (does not hit the opponent if it does not attack)
• Updated player trainer back sprites

1.09:

• All Gen 1 sprites whose Gen 2 palettes did not mesh well together have been reworked so that they can use the full four-palette coloring (in reality, two colors) properly.
• A few new Gen 2 sprites as well.
• Typo fixes in some dex entries.
• Battle Factory now has an Inverse on/off switch! It can only be toggled within a Factory challenge, however. (credit to Unown Lord for suggesting this)

1.10 (future release):

• Automated Repel system has been added. Credit to ShantyTown. Was originally in the pre-public beta release but removed due to a reset glitch.
• The Flabebe line now have actual shiny palettes! Also, their sprites have been fixed.

Screenshots:

Spoiler:

Title Screen:

Inverse Mode, a first for RBY hacks:

Updated Battle Screen, part of the Gen 2 Graphics Patch:

Colorized Overworld, part of the Full Color Patch:

Auto HM Use (first seen in Red++):

Battle Tent; ported from TPP Anniversary:

ShantyTown's Red Battle Factory is ported and makes an appearance here, fitted for all of the game's new content.

New monsters, sharper colors! Not to mention Shiny Pokemon, first seen in Maize (later in Grape):

NEW! As of 1.08, player trainer back sprites have been updated!

NEW! As of 1.07, the option to use Gen 2 front sprites!
NEW! As of 1.08, Gen 2 front sprites have color quality as if they were in their native games!

NEW! As of 1.08, brand new Shiny colors to see! Here are a few:

Gen 1 sprite lovers, don't worry! Those have been touched up, too! Examples:
(NEW! As of 1.09, Gen 1 sprites whose Gen 2 counterparts have palettes that do not mesh well have been touched up to make use of all four colors.)

New attacks:

New Items and Mart lineups:

Version differences:

TO DO LIST:

• Nothing as of right now.

Bugs:
(you should be reporting these to me in this thread if they pop up)

Spoiler:

· Occasional graphics quirks depending on the emulator you're using. This is related to the color hack implemented. To be precise, the original VBA and TGB Dual will have a white screen during menus at times. Your game has not crashed, just exit out of the menu by hitting A or B and it'll be back to normal - this is related to vblank issues. I recommend using BGB or VBA-M, though I do believe VBA-M has a bit of issues with it too. I'm not sure.
· Every other bug in RBY still exists except for Missingno and the item duplication glitch

Credits:

Spoiler:

Note: If there is any change at any time – if you are NOT okay with a feature using the original code being used, it will be generally rewritten (or outright removed) ASAP.

Ideas/Coding:

Cause without these things and the people that made them originally, the hack wouldn't be what it is.
Most of these things are easily possible to do regardless – some not so much, and the ideas and work these people put out originally helped me shape this hack.

Keys:
[Original] denotes the code has not been touched at all.
[Replaced] denotes the code has been rewritten entirely.

Everyone that made the Red and Blue disassembly project a reality. Seriously, without that this hack would not exist, end of.

Sanqui/Sanky:

• Porting of Crystal's audio engine [Original]
• Instant text [Replaced]
• Separating of wild mons from trainers [Original]
• Porting of Pinball music

FroggestSpirit:

• Some songs from CrystalComplete
• Porting of TCG/Pinball music
• Pokemon Red Colorized [Original]

Drenn:

• Pokemon Red Colorized [Original]

Danny-E:

• Pokemon Red Colorized / Gen 2 Graphics Patch HUD [Original]
• Exp Bar [Original]
• Porting of TCG/TCG2 music

Mateo:

• Running Shoes [Original]
• Field Moves ((additional credit to Yenatch)) [Original]
• Ingame trade name OTs [Original]

ShantyTown:

• Battle Factory
• Shiny Pokémon
• Max DV/Shiny Ball idea + code [Original]
• Lucky Egg/Amulet Coin code

Dabomstew:

• Improved AI [modified]

Pigu-A, others:

• Battle Tent [modified]
• Female Trainer based off of Blue/Green from Adventures
• Leader Rematches, Oak [Original]

Sprites:

NOTE: Your name might be on here even though your sprite hasn't been used.

• Linnie
• · BooGhostly
• · BatteryManAAA
• · Chaos Rush
• · Fexiled
• · Pokekoks
• · Neslu9
• · NICKTendo DS
• · Fishmuffin
• · Gors
• · Javckdark
• · ubasuteyama
• · n_kin
• · LinnCastillan
• · Involuntary-Twitch
• · CyberMaroon
• · Seiyouh
• · Dragonball253
• · Pia Carrot
• · Soloo993
• · Chamber
• · Cartoons!
• · Linnie
• · burstxshadowzx
• · Various anons on /vp/
• · ... and probably more.

Red and Blue DX was worked on by...

• · TheScarletSword / CrimsonNagi - Coding w/ the Red and Blue disassembly, beta testing, planning
• · PurseOwnah - Documents, beta testing
• · krawky398 - Beta testing, shiny palette suggestions
• · Purple Zigzagoon - Beta testing, shiny palette suggestions
• · InnocentBoy – shiny palette suggestions
• · Nyalicirno – Shiny Druddigon palette
• · Alphex – Documents

Distribution:

The following three sites are the ONLY sites allowed to host this hack. Please, if you're going to post it anywhere else, link this thread in your post.

PokeCommunity | Pokemon Reborn | Skeetendo

 

[curiters]

gen 1 - 6 OMG i need to play this :D

 

[Crystal_]

This looks really interesting. Definitely quite a bunch of interesting features, a few of which I had only thought about myself, and things like the battle factory, battle tent, inverse mode and customizable difficulty add a lot of versatility and depth to the game, and I'm also well aware that getting your hands dirty modifying the battle engine is not an easy task.
I'm personally not a fan of new gen pokemon in old gen games (also back sprites having better quality/colors than front sprites feels really weird to me but it could be mostly that I'm so much used to that being the opposite; either way I would've inserted gen 2 front sprites personally) but I might give this hack a go eventually if I can find some time to play it. I'm also admittedly not particularly interested in playing gen 1 hacks at the moment since I'm making my own and I don't want to play other hacks that could change my mind about what I want to add to my own hack.

Anyway, this is definitely one of the most versatile gb/c pokemon hacks out there and it's nice to hear that my articles and discovered inspired you to make this hack! :)

 

[TheScarletSword]

This looks really interesting. Definitely quite a bunch of interesting features, a few of which I had only thought about myself, and things like the battle factory, battle tent, inverse mode and customizable difficulty add a lot of versatility and depth to the game, and I'm also well aware that getting your hands dirty modifying the battle engine is not an easy task.
I'm personally not a fan of new gen pokemon in old gen games (also back sprites having better quality/colors than front sprites feels really weird to me but it could be mostly that I'm so much used to that being the opposite; either way I would've inserted gen 2 front sprites personally) but I might give this hack a go eventually if I can find some time to play it. I'm also admittedly not particularly interested in playing gen 1 hacks at the moment since I'm making my own and I don't want to play other hacks that could change my mind about what I want to add to my own hack.

Anyway, this is definitely one of the most versatile gb/c pokemon hacks out there and it's nice to hear that my articles and discovered inspired you to make this hack! :)

I'm glad to see you post here!

• Editing the battle engine and the disassembly as a whole was pretty intimidating at first. Had it not been for the majority of big features being already established that I could go off on I probably would've taken way longer to finish this / the complete vision might've not been realized so easily.
• Versatility was definitely what I had in mind from the beginning when I set out to turn this into a hack, before a lot of the big features came in. Gen 1 has virtually no post-game so the idea would be to squeeze as many play hours out of the player by offering several different ways to play the game.
• Newer generation Pokemon is definitely a thing some people would be mixed on - as I originally started out from a Gen 1 competitive modification the roster was already set, so I rolled with it and tried to make them fit in as much as possible.
• As for back sprites, I really wanted to use Gen 1 styled back sprites but there's not enough of them out there, sadly. I might switch the back sprites to Gen 2 if there's enough demand.
• I've seen the thread for that WIP hack you're working on, it looks fantastic and I'll definitely be keeping an eye out.

 

[Drewko]

I'm doing a Nuzlocke Run of Blue version, currently i defeated Brock and now i'm preparing to tackle Mt.Moon. My team is:
"Marina" Squirtle Lv.14 - Bubble/Tackle/Tail Whip
"Penny" Rattata Lv.14 - Hyper Fang/Bite/Quick Attack/Tail Whip
"Jotaro" Pancham Lv.14 - Karate Chop/Tackle/Leer
"Sparky" Joltik Lv.15 - Thundershock/Leech Life/Thunder Wave/String Shot
"Chester" Spearow Lv.7 (currently in training) - Peck/Growl

(One death so far - Pidgey that dies during a training, nothing special.)

And here my opinion about this hack so far.

Spoiler:

- I love new mons and the way how you revamped them into Gen I mechanics. The only nitpic that i have are some sprites - i know that Gen I is known from relatively mediocore sprites, but i literaly freaked out when i saw poor Shroomish.
- The way how you handled shinies is interesting, and that hidden Shiny Ball double as a some nice cash for people that does not care about Alt.Colors (like me).
- Battle engine is definitively my favorite. I can't stand when people are trying to shove as much stuff from other games into gen I. If it is a gen I let it be gen I, with its good and bad stuff. One the other hand you balanced it with refreshed type-chart, and that was the most needed change in my opinion.
- I felt that Rock Slide as a TM from first leader is little too strong for that part of the game, but then i remembered that it is hack with competitive play in mind, rather than single-player experience, so all TM slots are very valuable.
Overall it's a solid hack, i like it and maybe after that 'locke i will be interested in competitive stuff on Showdown :P

 

[TheScarletSword]

I'm doing a Nuzlocke Run of Blue version, currently i defeated Brock and now i'm preparing to tackle Mt.Moon. My team is:
"Marina" Squirtle Lv.14 - Bubble/Tackle/Tail Whip
"Penny" Rattata Lv.14 - Hyper Fang/Bite/Quick Attack/Tail Whip
"Jotaro" Pancham Lv.14 - Karate Chop/Tackle/Leer
"Sparky" Joltik Lv.15 - Thundershock/Leech Life/Thunder Wave/String Shot
"Chester" Spearow Lv.7 (currently in training) - Peck/Growl

(One death so far - Pidgey that dies during a training, nothing special.)

And here my opinion about this hack so far.

Spoiler:

- I love new mons and the way how you revamped them into Gen I mechanics. The only nitpic that i have are some sprites - i know that Gen I is known from relatively mediocore sprites, but i literaly freaked out when i saw poor Shroomish.
- The way how you handled shinies is interesting, and that hidden Shiny Ball double as a some nice cash for people that does not care about Alt.Colors (like me).
- Battle engine is definitively my favorite. I can't stand when people are trying to shove as much stuff from other games into gen I. If it is a gen I let it be gen I, with its good and bad stuff. One the other hand you balanced it with refreshed type-chart, and that was the most needed change in my opinion.
- I felt that Rock Slide as a TM from first leader is little too strong for that part of the game, but then i remembered that it is hack with competitive play in mind, rather than single-player experience, so all TM slots are very valuable.
Overall it's a solid hack, i like it and maybe after that 'locke i will be interested in competitive stuff on Showdown :P

Nuzlocke right off the bat? You brave soul; I wish you luck and determination on your journey!

As for your observations..

Spoiler:

• LOL, my friend said the same thing when we were doing beta testing. Yeah, most of the sprites come from here - some of them are closer to Green in terms of quality and I ended up finding alternatives for most I didn't care for.
• As for shinies, I figured it'd be a nice gesture to hand out what basically amounts to 5 opportunities to grab some in the game, as the chance for finding one is still something I find incredibly stupid. Shanty originally did the Shiny Ball idea in Pokemon Maize.
• I agree with the notion that Gen 1 mechanics should be left untouched, as it kinda just ruins the feel and uniqueness of it; there's really no generation quite like it. That said, the efforts going on to modernize Red are very cool and well thought out.
• Yeah, Rock Slide is a little powerful for gym 1; sadly it's the only Rock type TM in the game - I might see if I can rectify this if it becomes a particularly big issue.
• I'm glad you're enjoying it!

 

[TheScarletSword]

Looks like I've got some competition :p

Haha but for real, this looks interesting, and I'm curious to see how it goes. We all have different ideas even with similar projects, and it's neat to see how they play out. Also, thanks for the shoutout to Red++ in the first post, and glad a few of the things I added were able to help you out.

Good to see you here! Been following your work for years. Yep, RBDX and Red++ both play out differently despite being based off the same generation, and you've done a tremendous job with it! Some of your stuff has been indeed a big help.

 

[ProjectRevoTPP]

Including the Battle Tent was awesome, thanks for this hack.

 

[TheScarletSword]

Including the Battle Tent was awesome, thanks for this hack.

Thank y'all for coming up with it in the first place! TPP Anniversary was amazing.

 

[ShadowShinobi364]

Where's the link to download this game?

 

[TheScarletSword]

Where's the link to download this game?

Go to the original post and look for Quick Links, and click on the links you see in parentheses. It's at the very top.

 

[Drake Seawood]

Where do I download the game? I don't see a link...

Top of 1st post. Quick links.

_____________________________​

Excellent job, dude!! I love everything I read! Tell me, is it a complete project? or do you plan to add more stuff? Let me know :)

I think I'll start a spanish gameplay about this asap I finish my 2 current series.

EDIT: Like my sensei Crystal_ stated before, I'd like to see sprites with better quality xD I know that very old gen sprites gives so so much nostalgia but personally, I find AKA/MIDORI-ish sprites are very ugly xD

 

[TheScarletSword]

Top of 1st post. Quick links.

_____________________________​

Excellent job, dude!! I love everything I read! Tell me, is it a complete project? or do you plan to add more stuff? Let me know :)

I think I'll start a spanish gameplay about this asap I finish my 2 current series.

Right now it's pretty complete; though I wouldn't rule out adding more stuff down the line. Glad it sounds appealing to you!

 

[TwilightKisa16]

Great game so far! i have experienced that i get a white screen when going into the menu and backing out when going into items bag and etc...., and when choosing starter after pokedex entry i got a white screen but was also getting the sounds for when u answer yes or no to a question. i use the VisualBoy Advance as my emulator.

 

[pokemonlover493]

Great game so far! i have experienced that i get a white screen when going into the menu and backing out when going into items bag and etc...., and when choosing starter after pokedex entry i got a white screen but was also getting the sounds for when u answer yes or no to a question. i use the VisualBoy Advance as my emulator.

I had the same problem as well. I think you may have to use the emulator it's supposed to be played on. I haven't played this on TGB Dual yet though, so I don't know.

 

[TwilightKisa16]

never heard of that emulator before. any other rom hack works fine on the VisualBoy. i don't want to use another emulator when i already have stuff set .i don't know if downloading another emulator would mess things up.

 

[Crystal_]

BGB and VBA-M should be fine (except for the occasional graphic quirks OP mentions) and most other emulators probably too. VBA has some sort of issue related to the timing during v-blank and ends up not refreshing the screen in some situations due to how it is handled in the color hack.

 

[Fotomac]

Oh, wow! You used the same girl sprites that appear in my own hack! XD

 

[bexarama]

This game looks fantastic! I do wish so many Pokemon weren't exclusive to only one version, but I'm really excited to play.

 

[TheScarletSword]

Alrighty, so before I tackle these posts, the OP has been updated with some minor clarifications in the features section and the game has been updated to 1.01 - a small oversight that made Ditto be level 106 when you buy it from the Game Corner prize shop. Oops! That's a result of me not changing prize_mon_levels.asm; originally Abra was supposed to be a prize mon and not Ditto.

Great game so far! i have experienced that i get a white screen when going into the menu and backing out when going into items bag and etc...., and when choosing starter after pokedex entry i got a white screen but was also getting the sounds for when u answer yes or no to a question. i use the VisualBoy Advance as my emulator.

I had the same problem as well. I think you may have to use the emulator it's supposed to be played on. I haven't played this on TGB Dual yet though, so I don't know.

never heard of that emulator before. any other rom hack works fine on the VisualBoy. i don't want to use another emulator when i already have stuff set .i don't know if downloading another emulator would mess things up.

Crystal_ hammered this on the head, BGB and VBA-M are the preferred emulators to use, do note that VBA and VBA-M are two separate emulators. TGB Dual suffers from the vblank issue as well; I'll be updating the bugs section with more information on this so people don't get confused.

Oh, wow! You used the same girl sprites that appear in my own hack! XD

Yep! I've seen your hack a few days ago; keep up the good work!

This game looks fantastic! I do wish so many Pokemon weren't exclusive to only one version, but I'm really excited to play.

Y'know, I've actually been wondering if I overdid it on the version exclusives... this and the back sprites are something I'll be overlooking carefully if I see more people speaking out about it.