Hoenn to the ROM hacking scene is like Kanto to the official games. It's everywhere. At this point you've probably played through Pokemon Emerald with a party of eight Pokemon, with an assortment of competitive teams, fake Pokemon, with no experience, and maybe even with a Game Boy Color-themed aesthetic. For those who like Hoenn but want a bit more to freshen up the experience, I might have a hack that's worth checking out.

Pokemon Emerald EX released earlier this week after more than two years of development. The hack is a new take on Pokemon Emerald that expands Hoenn with new routes, towns, events, and even gyms. Boasting a near-vanilla difficulty, it's designed to be accessible to those who enjoy the mainline games. You can check out the full feature list below:

• New routes
• New towns
• New Special areas
• New events
• Expanded routes
• Expanded towns
• Expanded Pokedex of 479 Pokemon
• Updated Pokemon learnsets, stats, and abilities
• Physical/special split
• 8 new Gyms
• Updated trainer teams
• Near Vanilla difficulty

Those interested in trying the hack for themselves can find it over on Hackdex. As always you will need to provide your own ROM, but Hackdex can at least handle the patching for you.

Hackdex Page

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

I want a rom hack that makes you earn 16 badges like crystal... or even more... 32MB roms should be able to have maybe 3 regions. Instead, hacks just use extra memory to add pokemon that don't belong in this generation.

 

[Scarlet]

I want a rom hack that makes you earn 16 badges like crystal... or even more... 32MB roms should be able to have maybe 3 regions. Instead, hacks just use extra memory to add pokemon that don't belong in this generation.

That does exist. I thought I had posted about it, but I guess it must've been a busy time for me:

https://www.hackdex.app/hack/pokemon-emerald-extended-cut

 

[AxlSt00pid]

Do my eyes deceive me?
A Pokémon rom hack that doesn't force a higher difficulty?

 

[megagamer91]

Does this rom hack have the Physical and special split

 

[cearp]

That does exist. I thought I had posted about it, but I guess it must've been a busy time for me:

https://www.hackdex.app/hack/pokemon-emerald-extended-cut

That's cool, especially if the rgb + gsc regions are done well (can't tell from the page)

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

Do my eyes deceive me?
A Pokémon rom hack that doesn't force a higher difficulty?

Shocking, I know. If I wanted a higher difficulty challenge, I'd just go to the trainer battle hill tower, or battle frontier. Instead of romhacks focused on making every trainer battle feel like you fighting against real life tournament player's pokemon. Just cause I don't want to spend my time breeding the perfect pokemon stats & moves.

 

[RedBlueGreen]

I want a rom hack that makes you earn 16 badges like crystal... or even more... 32MB roms should be able to have maybe 3 regions. Instead, hacks just use extra memory to add pokemon that don't belong in this generation.

I'd rather have the extra Pokémon, and I'm more people want that because that's what the hack creators do.

 

[Darth Meteos]

physical special split?

 

[Scarlet]

Does this rom hack have the Physical and special split

physical special split?

It does have it. I thought it was in the features list I copied, but it was only listed on the Reddit post and not the Hackdex page. Added it to the main post.

 

[Darth Meteos]

It does have it. I thought it was in the features list I copied, but it was only listed on the Reddit post and not the Hackdex page. Added it to the main post.

my goat, thanks, scar

 

[froggy55]

That does exist. I thought I had posted about it, but I guess it must've been a busy time for me:

https://www.hackdex.app/hack/pokemon-emerald-extended-cut

could i get some help i cant get the extended cut to work on my switch it say failed to load content i went to the website select rom and let it patch which then it downloaded i then copied to my switch but i get the error i stated above

 

[Scarlet]

could i get some help i cant get the extended cut to work on my switch it say failed to load content i went to the website select rom and let it patch which then it downloaded i then copied to my switch but i get the error i stated above

All I can really think is verifying you're using a good RetroArch core. mGBA seems to be the one for most people. It's worth double checking the ROM will play on a PC or other system just to rule out the small chance that something is going wrong with the patching. It shouldn't be the case if you're getting it from Hackdex, but you never know.

 

[froggy55]

All I can really think is verifying you're using a good RetroArch core. mGBA seems to be the one for most people. It's worth double checking the ROM will play on a PC or other system just to rule out the small chance that something is going wrong with the patching. It shouldn't be the case if you're getting it from Hackdex, but you never know.

i actualy did test on pc just now and it worked on pc i also found a download of one that is prepatched im going to test it i also remember you can take the patch seperatly and putit in a specific folder and the emulator will patch the game itself but i caannot find the patch seperate for download and i dont remember the folder location but for now im going to try the pre patched and see what happens thank you for your reply

update
it seems that the prepatched version i downloaded is working so there must be something wrong with the hackadex patcher that or i chose the wrong rom the one i chose was pokemon emerald uk/usa version and it did not work but the one i downloaded that was pre patched did so i think im good

 

[Luffysan]

i wish for 1 Big game and we go through kanto region ( Only its region pokemon and original story ) then Johto Hoenn Sinnoh Unova Kalos Alola Galar and Paldea ... catch all pokemon in their region ... of cource Just thinking

 

[k66]

Why are there so many GBA Pokémon hacks?
Are there any groundbreaking remakes? (like CS for Half-Life, DotA for Warcraft 3)

 

[Scarlet]

Why are there so many GBA Pokémon hacks?
Are there any groundbreaking remakes? (like CS for Half-Life, DotA for Warcraft 3)

There's definitely more stuff out there beyond Pokemon. I'm just time limited so only really post about things that interest me personally, which is generally Pokemon and Nintendo-based PC ports.