Since launching with Pokemon Red and Green in 1996, the Pokemon series has come a long way. From global connectivity to 3D graphics and unique mechanics, much has changed over the years. And yet one thing has remained constant: your maximum party size of six. That is until recently, with the release of ROM hack Pokemon Emerald's Eight. Seeking to do what no hack before it has attempted, PokeCommunity's AstroBreak has introduced something entirely new in a maximum party size of, as you might have guessed from the name, eight. This extends beyond the player, with key battles being an 8v8 standoff.

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To accommodate the extra two party slots and optional Gen 6 experience share, the game has also been somewhat rebalanced, with gym leaders in particular being a surprising challenge. You can find the full list of features below:

• Party size of up to 8 members on both player and enemy parties.
• New 4/4 party manu layout.
• Double battles supported.
• Gen 6+ Exp. Share.
• Custom gym leader, elite 4 and champion 8-member teams.
• Reusable TMs.
• Indoors running.
• New music on gym leader battles.
• Starter Tyrogue along with the usual starter of choice.
• Hall of Fame supports 8-sized party.
• Single full party bugcatcher at the very beggining that was used on testing, but decided to leave into the final game

Having put a bit of time into playing it myself, I'm still somewhat baffled that such a thing can even exist, and am incredibly excited for the possibility of similar modifications to shrink the player party for additional challenge. If you're interested in checking it out for yourself, head over to the original thread at PokeCommunity.

PokeCommunity Thread

 

[raxadian]

Honesty I would prefer a hack tnat made all batles be double battles as that was barely used in third Gen save for the Gamecube games.

 

[Ajlr]

Honesty I would prefer a hack tnat made all batles be double battles as that was barely used in third Gen save for the Gamecube games.

I think there are enough double battles in Emerald at least.

 

[MultiKoopa]

holy crap this is cool

 

[raxadian]

I think there are enough double battles in Emerald at least.

Not as 90% of the battles of the game. That would be fun, like a pocket version of Pokémon Colosseum.

 

[Kazmar]

Honesty I would prefer a hack tnat made all batles be double battles as that was barely used in third Gen save for the Gamecube games.

That's one of my big issues with Pokémon. It's all single battles. There's a lot more strategy when it's more then just a one-on-one. I think if there were a healthy mix of all types, double, triple, single, and even rotation, the game would be a lot less monotonous.

 

[BitMasterPlus]

Wow, what a coincidence, I'm almost finished playing Pokemon Emerald (albeit a hack version that allows me to obtain all pokemon in one game up to gen 3), I'm at the elite 4 right now and now something like this comes up!

 

[AkikoKumagara]

This is the kind of wacky thing that can be relatively easily done thanks to the decompilation projects for these games. While I'm not going to try this and am not super interested in a project like this, I think it's pretty cool how open the doors are now for things of this nature to exist. Third gen Pokémon ROM hacking is having new life breathed into it for sure.

 

[Just_reii]

Pretty dope! gonna give it a try tonight.. why not

 

[Clydefrosch]

finally full party and space for hm slaves

 

[NoNAND]

This is neat and all but it begs the question.
Can it be applied to existing ROM hacks of emerald?