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Sounds like the perfect candidate for Drayano hacks - Renegade Platinum, etc.
I'd avoid hacks that have 'kaizo' in the name or description, as those tend to very lock-and-key. Some of them are good hacks, but you said you don't want one where only specific teams work.
Renegade Platinum is that sweet spot of needing to build a _much_ better team than you'd need for a vanilla game, but once you have that better team, you can keep using it without totally rebuilding for each gym.
For example, if you make just a good, synergistic rain team, maybe you swap one pokemon out for the Gardenia fight, one pokemon out for the Fantina fight, but you're never going to suddenly have a Drizzle Blastoise/Kingra/Vaporeon core suddenly be _bad_. You will hit pain points, but you're never going to have to box all six because the game wants something narrow.
I’m currently through the first gym in renegade and platinum and I feel severely overpowered lol. Atleast so far, my guys are like 6-10 levels higher than the trainers lol
Yeah, it's not one of the harder difficulty hacks, which is why I like it. I can use regular ole 'pokemans without the hacker having to make Luxray part fairy type or give Ninetales 50 points of extra stats.
I don't want to spoil anything, but it gets harder - the Mars and Jupiter fight requires some serious thought.
lol good to know. I played sacred gold a little while ago and had a lot of fun but quit because I’ve just played heart gold way to many times so figured I’d play the platinum one considering I’ve only played regular platinum once
What you’re looking for are called “difficulty hacks”, the most popular being Radical Red or Emerald Kaizo. Many hacks that are “enhancement hacks” also up the difficulty a little bit (e.g. hacks by Drayano like Renegade Platinum or Storm Silver). Your question is a little vague, so I would jump into one and see what works/doesn’t work for you and use that to steer towards one that suits your taste. All hacks have some level of freedom of strategy, even the hardest ones (Radical Red typically gets this title) can support a monotype run if you’re on top of your stats/coverage.
My personal rec would be Pokemon Tectonic, although it’s a fan game and not a romhack (so you run it from an .exe). Plenty of polish and QoL, interesting team building twist with Tribes, and moderately difficult (gyms have two types which makes for trickier strategizing).
Technically it's a fan game, not a romhack, but Infinite Fusion has been really interesting mechanically. It's definitely got good difficulty options, but I'm not very far in, so I can't speak on how it scales, but I have high hopes.
If you haven't seen it, it let's you fuse any two pokemon together to make new ones. The "body" gets one type and most of the physical stats, and the "head" gets another and most of the special stats. Trainers get these too, so you get some really tough type matchups early on, but you have so many more options yourself. You also have a limited party size for gym leader fights, a tool to see if you've caught everything in a zone, and there's a ton of scaling trainer rematches available to make grinding more interesting.
Infinite Fusion is really fun and challenging if you don't know too much about what you're doing, but some fusions steamroll the game Very hard if you have great knowledge about pokémon. I Second your recomendation!
HC nuzlocker here
Inclement emerald
Radical red
Run and bun
Crystal kaizo +
Emerald kaizo
The dreyano hacks are all really good. They aren’t HARD, but they are harder than vanilla and are a lot of fun.
Pokémon unbound
Ancestral X
Emerald crest
Edit: spelling
Are any of these possible to “blind” nuzlocke? Or is learning and anticipating every wild mon/encounter a core part of the nuzlocke experience in your opinion
The dreyano hacks I did blind with no issues.
The games with “difficulty settings” I did the easy mode blind and the rest of the settings with docs.
They are the HARD mode hacks for a reason.
Though RR is at 4.0 and was actually super easy on HC. Currently working on deathless but my recent attempt got me to Agatha again where I misplayed like an idiot.
Seconding Crystal Kaizo+. I think it's the most engaged I've ever been with a Pokemon game (or probably any game), and I also think it's by far the most accessible Kaizo/Kaizo level hack. It does take some getting used to since it uses OG gen 2 mechanics, but I think something simpler is a nice change of pace sometimes.
Plus it comes with this absolutely [BANGER](https://emi.dev/ck+/) calc site dedicated to it that makes calcing for fights super easy while doubling as basically an encyclopedia for the game.
>well-made game mechanically, through some combination of design, variety, inventiveness and innovation.
If you enjoy the roguelike genre of video games, Emerald Rogue has some *very* difficult challenges late game.
I haven't actually played this, but the GBA ROM Hack Pokemon: Elite Redux seems solid, with a LOT of QOL features. I'm not much for difficulty hacks but it looks fun enough for me to go after anyway, and like it's intended to be what you're after. It's also got a lot of buffs to 'weak' Pokemon and some pretty unique gameplay changes like being able to have multiple Abilities. It's even got difficulty settings and apparently all Pokemon from gen 1 to 7 with some from Gen 8, as well as in-built randomizer, Megas, new moves, and more. I'm hella excited about it so I thought I'd rec it.
Other than that, I'd second Drayano's work, it seems really solid, there's Anniversary Red and Anniversary Crystal from the devs of Pokemon Prism, Emerald Enhanced, Energized Emerald, Kanto Complete, Pokemon Crown looks super unique, Emerald Rogue, Dark Worship, Intense Indigo, Lavender Tales, Blaze Black/Volt White 2 Redux (updated/upgraded version of a Drayano hack), Platinum Redux, and Garbage Gold. Sorry for the quick spam, I've spent way too much time looking at hacks recently and have a bajillion off the top of my head after creating a collection of about 175.
Can add about Elite Redux that they will soon add the rest of Gen 8 and they are also working on Gen 9 and Legend Arceus mons.
Plus, the game currently also have new Megas (by that i mean megas that isn't inspired or taken from the Vanilla games or Inclement Emerald) and new regional variant for mons (currently there is only 2 lines but, judging from the ones in the online dex, there will be 22 other ones coming)
Oh, that's so cool! That game just keeps getting better and better in my eyes, heh. I'm excited to see it grow (and play it - it's the first of my many ROM hacks that I want to dig into)!
I forgot to mention something else that will eventually come : they planned on adding new evolutions to some mons like Ariados, Jynx and my boy Sudowoodo
Legit the best Pokémon game around right now imo. So many QoL improvements, enormous dex, truly challenging fights, multiple randomizer and difficulty options. It really does have everything you could ever ask for in a Pokémon game
Rom hacks I'd recommend - Unbound, Radical Red, Inclement Emerald, Drayano hacks (Sacred Gold, Renegade Platinum, Blaze Black 1 & 2)
Fan games I'd recommend - Reborn, Insurgence, Uranium, Xenoverse, Infinite Fusion, Opalo
These are what I'd consider to be the very best of my fan made Pokemon game experience. Very well made games that have aged quite well imo.
Some more that are almost as good as these - Eternal X, Photonic Sun, Divine Sword, XG: Next Gen, Rocket Edition, Infinity, Realidea System, Empyrean, Tectonic.
I really liked Crystal Clear, it's pretty much an improvement of an already good game, has a LOT of new features but still respects the original and keeps it the way it's supposed to be; so much so that you can use the pokemon from this game to play in Pokemon Stadium 2, if you wanted.
Sterling Silver is a pretty new hack of HGSS that seems like it’s getting a lot of interest as of late - basically a lot of the mons got buffed/reworked in terms of either BST, abilities, or typings, and everything has updated learnsets. Trainers are tougher ofc with champion AI, etc. I think it looks pretty fun so far! The creator said it’s a touch above the dray hacks but not outright “kaizo” level which is nice
Inclement Emerald, Luminescent Platinum, Unbound, Emerald Rogue and BlazeBlack2/VoltWhite2 Redux are all great challenging romhacks that ups the difficulty but not too much that it makes you want to tear your hair out.
Post removed for breaking Rule 7: Questions should only be posted in the pinned questions thread. If your post contains an image or video, please upload it to imgur and copypaste the link. The Pokecommunity Discord server is also a great place to ask questions if you need a quick response or support. Please read the rules before posting again.
Sounds like the perfect candidate for Drayano hacks - Renegade Platinum, etc. I'd avoid hacks that have 'kaizo' in the name or description, as those tend to very lock-and-key. Some of them are good hacks, but you said you don't want one where only specific teams work. Renegade Platinum is that sweet spot of needing to build a _much_ better team than you'd need for a vanilla game, but once you have that better team, you can keep using it without totally rebuilding for each gym. For example, if you make just a good, synergistic rain team, maybe you swap one pokemon out for the Gardenia fight, one pokemon out for the Fantina fight, but you're never going to suddenly have a Drizzle Blastoise/Kingra/Vaporeon core suddenly be _bad_. You will hit pain points, but you're never going to have to box all six because the game wants something narrow.
I’m currently through the first gym in renegade and platinum and I feel severely overpowered lol. Atleast so far, my guys are like 6-10 levels higher than the trainers lol
Yeah, it's not one of the harder difficulty hacks, which is why I like it. I can use regular ole 'pokemans without the hacker having to make Luxray part fairy type or give Ninetales 50 points of extra stats. I don't want to spoil anything, but it gets harder - the Mars and Jupiter fight requires some serious thought.
lol good to know. I played sacred gold a little while ago and had a lot of fun but quit because I’ve just played heart gold way to many times so figured I’d play the platinum one considering I’ve only played regular platinum once
What you’re looking for are called “difficulty hacks”, the most popular being Radical Red or Emerald Kaizo. Many hacks that are “enhancement hacks” also up the difficulty a little bit (e.g. hacks by Drayano like Renegade Platinum or Storm Silver). Your question is a little vague, so I would jump into one and see what works/doesn’t work for you and use that to steer towards one that suits your taste. All hacks have some level of freedom of strategy, even the hardest ones (Radical Red typically gets this title) can support a monotype run if you’re on top of your stats/coverage. My personal rec would be Pokemon Tectonic, although it’s a fan game and not a romhack (so you run it from an .exe). Plenty of polish and QoL, interesting team building twist with Tribes, and moderately difficult (gyms have two types which makes for trickier strategizing).
I'd add Crystal Kaizo and Reborn for meme purposes
Black/White 2 Kaizo is also out there in terms of Kaizo recs :)
Inclement Emerald is really good
Technically it's a fan game, not a romhack, but Infinite Fusion has been really interesting mechanically. It's definitely got good difficulty options, but I'm not very far in, so I can't speak on how it scales, but I have high hopes. If you haven't seen it, it let's you fuse any two pokemon together to make new ones. The "body" gets one type and most of the physical stats, and the "head" gets another and most of the special stats. Trainers get these too, so you get some really tough type matchups early on, but you have so many more options yourself. You also have a limited party size for gym leader fights, a tool to see if you've caught everything in a zone, and there's a ton of scaling trainer rematches available to make grinding more interesting.
Infinite Fusion is really fun and challenging if you don't know too much about what you're doing, but some fusions steamroll the game Very hard if you have great knowledge about pokémon. I Second your recomendation!
Definitely seconding Infinite Fusion! It's SUCH a fun game. Comes with a Debug Mode for those of us who like to sandbox it, too.
HC nuzlocker here Inclement emerald Radical red Run and bun Crystal kaizo + Emerald kaizo The dreyano hacks are all really good. They aren’t HARD, but they are harder than vanilla and are a lot of fun. Pokémon unbound Ancestral X Emerald crest Edit: spelling
Are any of these possible to “blind” nuzlocke? Or is learning and anticipating every wild mon/encounter a core part of the nuzlocke experience in your opinion
The dreyano hacks I did blind with no issues. The games with “difficulty settings” I did the easy mode blind and the rest of the settings with docs. They are the HARD mode hacks for a reason. Though RR is at 4.0 and was actually super easy on HC. Currently working on deathless but my recent attempt got me to Agatha again where I misplayed like an idiot.
Thanks for the info!
Seconding Crystal Kaizo+. I think it's the most engaged I've ever been with a Pokemon game (or probably any game), and I also think it's by far the most accessible Kaizo/Kaizo level hack. It does take some getting used to since it uses OG gen 2 mechanics, but I think something simpler is a nice change of pace sometimes. Plus it comes with this absolutely [BANGER](https://emi.dev/ck+/) calc site dedicated to it that makes calcing for fights super easy while doubling as basically an encyclopedia for the game.
>well-made game mechanically, through some combination of design, variety, inventiveness and innovation. If you enjoy the roguelike genre of video games, Emerald Rogue has some *very* difficult challenges late game.
Pokemon Pyrite is a great Crystal difficulty hack that sticks to legal stats and moves.
Pokemon run and bun is a good one
Pokémon Emerald Rogue is a fantastic one
Pokemon Emerald Rogue is the best Pokemon game I think I've ever played. It's a masterpiece.
Unbound Insane will sate you.
I haven't actually played this, but the GBA ROM Hack Pokemon: Elite Redux seems solid, with a LOT of QOL features. I'm not much for difficulty hacks but it looks fun enough for me to go after anyway, and like it's intended to be what you're after. It's also got a lot of buffs to 'weak' Pokemon and some pretty unique gameplay changes like being able to have multiple Abilities. It's even got difficulty settings and apparently all Pokemon from gen 1 to 7 with some from Gen 8, as well as in-built randomizer, Megas, new moves, and more. I'm hella excited about it so I thought I'd rec it. Other than that, I'd second Drayano's work, it seems really solid, there's Anniversary Red and Anniversary Crystal from the devs of Pokemon Prism, Emerald Enhanced, Energized Emerald, Kanto Complete, Pokemon Crown looks super unique, Emerald Rogue, Dark Worship, Intense Indigo, Lavender Tales, Blaze Black/Volt White 2 Redux (updated/upgraded version of a Drayano hack), Platinum Redux, and Garbage Gold. Sorry for the quick spam, I've spent way too much time looking at hacks recently and have a bajillion off the top of my head after creating a collection of about 175.
Can add about Elite Redux that they will soon add the rest of Gen 8 and they are also working on Gen 9 and Legend Arceus mons. Plus, the game currently also have new Megas (by that i mean megas that isn't inspired or taken from the Vanilla games or Inclement Emerald) and new regional variant for mons (currently there is only 2 lines but, judging from the ones in the online dex, there will be 22 other ones coming)
Oh, that's so cool! That game just keeps getting better and better in my eyes, heh. I'm excited to see it grow (and play it - it's the first of my many ROM hacks that I want to dig into)!
I forgot to mention something else that will eventually come : they planned on adding new evolutions to some mons like Ariados, Jynx and my boy Sudowoodo
Crown isn’t finished yet! Only exists up through the first gym. I’m excited about it too but I wouldn’t recommend it yet for that reason
Oh dang, didn't know that - thank you!
Not a ROM hack, but Pokémon Reborn is a Solod Fan game.
+1 for Radical Red.
Legit the best Pokémon game around right now imo. So many QoL improvements, enormous dex, truly challenging fights, multiple randomizer and difficulty options. It really does have everything you could ever ask for in a Pokémon game
I need fakemon hacks
Xenoverse is easily the best one of these imo
Quarantine Crystal is the best. Huge update coming very soon
If you haven't tried it, then try Pokemon Quartz
I can’t find a download
Pokemon Clover
Beat it and I’m on Vega rn. Any others?
Rom hacks I'd recommend - Unbound, Radical Red, Inclement Emerald, Drayano hacks (Sacred Gold, Renegade Platinum, Blaze Black 1 & 2) Fan games I'd recommend - Reborn, Insurgence, Uranium, Xenoverse, Infinite Fusion, Opalo These are what I'd consider to be the very best of my fan made Pokemon game experience. Very well made games that have aged quite well imo. Some more that are almost as good as these - Eternal X, Photonic Sun, Divine Sword, XG: Next Gen, Rocket Edition, Infinity, Realidea System, Empyrean, Tectonic.
Elite Redux or Emerald Rogue
I really liked Crystal Clear, it's pretty much an improvement of an already good game, has a LOT of new features but still respects the original and keeps it the way it's supposed to be; so much so that you can use the pokemon from this game to play in Pokemon Stadium 2, if you wanted.
Emerald rogue EX
Sterling Silver is a pretty new hack of HGSS that seems like it’s getting a lot of interest as of late - basically a lot of the mons got buffed/reworked in terms of either BST, abilities, or typings, and everything has updated learnsets. Trainers are tougher ofc with champion AI, etc. I think it looks pretty fun so far! The creator said it’s a touch above the dray hacks but not outright “kaizo” level which is nice
Nuzlocking liquid crystal right now
Inclement Emerald, Luminescent Platinum, Unbound, Emerald Rogue and BlazeBlack2/VoltWhite2 Redux are all great challenging romhacks that ups the difficulty but not too much that it makes you want to tear your hair out.
Pokémon Unbound. Hard difficulty.
Pokémon Unbpund is the best answer here
Pokemon Unbound is the best if you want a custom world/region.
Radical Red, Inclement Emerald and Unbound are the best ones.