A popular hack of Pokemon Emerald utilising the public decompilation project, Pokemon Elite Redux has just had its 2.1 update go live this week. For those who haven't heard of Elite Redux before, it's a hack that takes the base Pokemon Emerald experience and completely revamps it with a competitive focus. With training your Pokemon and swapping moves now being quick and easy to do within the game's menus, you're given the tools to plan and prepare for each of the game's challenges. And believe me, there are some real challenges. Each Pokemon also has three "innate" abilities alongside their standard ability, providing even more chances for interesting team building and synergy.

On my current scaled nuzlocke randomizer run, this Spinda has somehow managed to be the strongest part of the team.​

The 2.1 update brings with it a slurry of new features, with the refreshed battle UI being front and centre. Now when selecting a move, you can scroll through pages to give you damage calculations, true power of moves after all modifiers, the speed order of all Pokemon in play, any active boosts, and priority. Some of these features have been previously implemented as a part of the "Info" screen, with this battle UI only going a step further to make the experience more seamless.

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Other standout features include new themes for your battle menu, with the Diamond and Pearl theme being my favourite, a bunch of updates to moves, a new Nuzlocke captures mode that limits you to one per route, and a new scaled randomizer mode, allowing you to find stronger Pokemon as you progress through the game.

You can find the full list of changes below, with the game being easily accessible via online patcher.

Changelog v2.1​

• Completely new Themes!
  • Four themes: Elite Redux Dark, Elite Redux Clear, Diamond & Pearl, Classic
• Refreshed Battle UI:
  • Damage Calcs
  • True Power of the Moves with modifiers from abilities etc.
  • Move description
  • Speed Order of all Pokémon
  • Boost Type (Sound, Fist etc.)
  • Priority
• Updated lots of moves to be more useful - this is part of much bigger changes yet to come!
• New Nuzlocke Captures game mode: Only lets you catch one Pokemon per route/area.
• New Scaled Randomizer game mode: The more you progress, the better Pokemon you get
• 15 New Starter Options for all types to help Monotype runs
• New status condition - Fear: Traps the target for 2 turns and increases damage by 50%, things like Scary Face can inflict it.
• NFEs have 3 Innates now
• Dewleon has been changed to Kecleong
• Misty Terrain doesn’t cut Dragon moves in half anymore.
• Fog now reduces the potency of Stat Boosting moves, i.e: Swords Dance only giving +1 Attack, Or Dragon Dance giving no Stat Boosts at all, no accuracy reduction anymore.
• Mimikyu, Wishiwashi, Zoroark, and others now have their signature Ability as an Innate.
• Updated Ability descriptions
• Silvally is now a mystery gift Pokémon (after beating Winona, check the old guy in the Pokémon Center)
• New party icons/sprites for Hisuian and Paldean Pokémon
• A lot of polishing & bug fixes, we're talking thousands!

Changelog from v2.0-beta2​

• This is a a brand new experience
• Added the rest of Gen 8 Pokémon, Abilities, Moves and Items, including DLCs
• Added Hisuian Pokémon, Abilities, Moves and Items
• Added all of Gen 9 Pokémon, Abilities, Moves and Items, including DLCs (except a few ones like Paldea Tauros, Pecharunt, Terapagos)
• Over 65 new Redux Pokémon (including Megas)
• ~160 new custom abilities
• Added new custom moves and reworked existing ones
• Every single Pokémon has been reviewed and eventually rebalanced
• Many fights have been reworked + Route Trainer changes
• Pokémarts have been replaced with Adoption Centers, where you can buy Redux Pokémon with Battle Points (earned through battling)
• Reworked wild encounters
• Permanent Mega Evolution mode when starting a new game
• New status effect: Bleed - loses health each turn until you use a healing move (Recover, Roost etc.)
• Improved Quality of Life:
  • You can teach moves much easier & faster now (press R in the move screen of a Pokémon)
  • Evolutions aren't automatic now, you can choose whether to do them, and also which ones to do
  • Evolution Stones are gone, every Pokémon evolves via Level Up now, directly from the Party menu
  • Form Changes can be done from the Party Menu too, much easier than before
  • Updated & improved Battle Info UI + Damage Calculator, now with better support for Doubles
  • New options added in the custom Options Menu > like Automatic EV or EXP gain
  • HM8 is given automatically by Steven after the Mossdeep Space Center fight
• New battle backgrounds
• Increased difficulty in some places
• More polishing
• Many bugfixes

2.1 - Hotfix​

This is a small hotfix to fix the issues that were recently detected. It also brings debug back since it's now fixed! Feel free to thank the coding team for that because they were fast to do it.

• Fix to the nuzlocke mode: there is no need to start a new save, it should be fine to continue your progress
• Fix to Randomizer species, no more incomplete Pokémon that may crash the game
• Yes, Paldea Tauros, all three, are now available too. There are new Pokémons to try now!
• NFE that were hungry and ate their innates are now back again with them
• Some NFE stats were also tweaked a bit. And yes, it's a buff that was planned. Now it's live!
• Some type starters were replaced because they were not the correct ones, they were the alpha ones.
• Some cosmetic form changes were also added in: Sawsbuck, Florges line, Pikachu Cool Cap forms, Dudunsparce, etc.
• We added more koi karps to the game. Fish is healthy!
  

Online Patcher
Source: Pokemon Elite Redux Discord Server

 

[JuanMena]

I didn't knew about this! Today I'll try it when I get home.

 

[Scarlet]

I didn't knew about this! Today I'll try it when I get home.

It's one of those hacks where if it clicks with you, it really clicks. Over the various versions I think I've put in about 80 hours? And I'm still crawling back for more with this one lol

 

[AkiraKurusu]

This is an amazing accomplishment, that's for sure and can never be denied...but I personally don't like "challenge" hacks. I prefer hacks that reasonably buff older Pokémon, and make Gym Leaders and Team bosses fairly difficult but still manageable - but not overwhelmingly so.

Like, there's a difference between this and Drayano's SacredGold/BlazeBlack or Pokémon Compass, which are much more balanced in the player's favour.

 

[RetroNerdGamer]

This is an amazing accomplishment, that's for sure and can never be denied...but I personally don't like "challenge" hacks. I prefer hacks that reasonably buff older Pokémon, and make Gym Leaders and Team bosses fairly difficult but still manageable - but not overwhelmingly so.

Like, there's a difference between this and Drayano's SacredGold/BlazeBlack or Pokémon Compass, which are much more balanced in the player's favour.

I'd like a romhack in Pokemon that does QoL stuff but leaves difficulty vanilla. Or at least gives me the option of it like Unbound.

 

[JuanMena]

It's one of those hacks where if it clicks with you, it really clicks. Over the various versions I think I've put in about 80 hours? And I'm still crawling back for more with this one lol

I've been playing a so called "Perfect Emerald" ROM hack. Basically allows you to capture every pokemon from Gen 1 to 3, with trading Pokemon evolving via Friendship and getting Starters in different spots.
But honestly this ROM hack sounds really good.

Thanks for letting us know about this.

 

[Marc_LFD]

What handheld is that? At first I thought it was a Vita, then I saw the d-pad was at the bottom.

 

[Scarlet]

What handheld is that? At first I thought it was a Vita, then I saw the d-pad was at the bottom.

It's the Odin 2 Mini! Bought it a month or so ago and been meaning to write something up about it, bloody good handheld (albeit a bloody expensive one).

 

[Marc_LFD]

It's the Odin 2 Mini! Bought it a month or so ago and been meaning to write something up about it, bloody good handheld (albeit a bloody expensive one).

They all look so alike these days it's hard to tell the difference.

 

[Scarlet]

They all look so alike these days it's hard to tell the difference.

Yeah I do feel that to an extent. At least AYN decided to rip off a nice form factor in the Vita though, that's pretty much what sold me on it lol

 

[RustInPeace]

I missed out on the last few updates to this hack, but this one seems very significant. It's a pretty wacky hack with all the innates, but it's very fun. I'm definitely going to dig the monotype friendly starter selection.

 

[Scarlet]

I missed out on the last few updates to this hack, but this one seems very significant. It's a pretty wacky hack with all the innates, but it's very fun. I'm definitely going to dig the monotype friendly starter selection.

I think that'll be my next run after I finish off the randomizer I have on the go. Never tried a monotype one but I have noticed how many different Pokemon are available so early. Does seem really fun.

 

[ZeroHikari]

This looks amazing, Will this work on a flashcart? i've been meaning to start getting into romhacks, and this one seems to tick all the boxes

 

[Maximumbeans]

This is an amazing accomplishment, that's for sure and can never be denied...but I personally don't like "challenge" hacks. I prefer hacks that reasonably buff older Pokémon, and make Gym Leaders and Team bosses fairly difficult but still manageable - but not overwhelmingly so.

Like, there's a difference between this and Drayano's SacredGold/BlazeBlack or Pokémon Compass, which are much more balanced in the player's favour.

I agree. I prefer hacks that streamline things or focus on giving the player more choice and freedom than a specific challenge. Then again, I’ve never tried to delve into competitive focus. Maybe I’d change my tune if I did.

 

[Scarlet]

This looks amazing, Will this work on a flashcart? i've been meaning to start getting into romhacks, and this one seems to tick all the boxes

It does seem to get to the title screen on my Everdrive GBA, so I would imagine it's fine. I've mostly been playing on my Odin though so I can't give you much in the way of more thorough information.

 

[SDA]

That extremely small font for text reminds me of the Final Fantasy games on GBA.

 

[lordelan]

Please do way more news about rom hacks, especially since it's pretty hard to keep track on them since RHDN went down and hacks decided to hide behind the "Discord wall".

 

[Scarlet]

Please do way more news about rom hacks, especially since it's pretty hard to keep track on them since RHDN went down and hacks decided to hide behind the "Discord wall".

I'm happy to cover the ones I come across. The larger issue is that most of what I come across are Pokemon hacks since that's what I'm interested in and mostly play. People are interested now, but after the fifth or sixth Pokemon hack I imagine I'll get complaints lol

 

[lordelan]

I'm happy to cover the ones I come across. The larger issue is that most of what I come across are Pokemon hacks since that's what I'm interested in and mostly play. People are interested now, but after the fifth or sixth Pokemon hack I imagine I'll get complaints lol

That's also what I come across most of the time. Then again it's probably the most popular rom hacking community apart from Mario and Metroid games.

I think for "bigger" hacks like Radical Red or Rogue Emerald, it's totally worth a news.

 

[TheNintendoEnthusiast]

Pokemon ROWE and Pokemon Fire Red Extended have been my go to hacks!

ROWE hasn't been updated in a few months but the dev keeps periodically dropping teasers on updates. It's a fully playable game at the moment; the update is supposed to add new areas in Emerald that aren't a part of the vanilla game.