Pokémon Cosmic Emerald

Description:

Alright, so this hack has been a long time in the making - having been worked on in little phases at a time, ever since I started learning about ROM hacking several years ago. Can’t really remember when (maybe 2010?).

It was put on hiatus several times due to life-stuff, and a couple of times I had even redone it from the beginning to find and remove any and all glitches/errors; I spent most of the time trying to figure out what the most minimalist/efficient ways to implement everything were. Finally, it's here, and as of the latest update, nearly all the features I had planned are in!

A change-log (different from the one here) has been kept documenting every single change that has been made (as well as dates-of editing, revisions and future ideas), for the sake of being able to quickly and easily pinpoint the cause of any errors. Choices in programs and how they were used have been carefully considered avoiding glitches. I am also trying to keep the save-data structure of the base ROM intact so that the regular Emerald's game saves will remain 'backwards/forwards' compatible (originally for testing scripts, graphics, etc.). This may change in the future, but it will be on a separate branch of this project.

Gameplay/Summary:

This is largely a "quality of life improvement" type of ROM hack, and does not alter the main storyline. It retains all the features the original Emerald has, but adds several things to the mix to make it more fulfilling and fun to play. Remember those days when myths like going to the Moon after a certain number of rocket launches/weeks were a thing? Several things like that will be accounted for, but with some changes/twists to how they are done. There is a moderate increase in difficulty (not really big, just aimed more towards veteran players), but there are rewards to compensate.

Only a select few newer-generation features have been added, as I wanted to keep this hack’s gameplay as faithful to the pre-2007 scene as possible while still adding a few of the newer games’ improvements in function. However, I might add in a few newer-generation Pokémon as special appearances/events sometime in the distant future. Apparently, expanding the PokéDex could cause the game to require its own exclusive saves only, but I think that will be OK as long as one does not plan on using this hack's saves with the regular Emerald (or vice versa, I think). You may want to also keep in mind that if I happen to release an expanded-Dex version at some point, it may not be compatible with a save file from the regular version of this hack. Regardless, I will not stop updating the regular one and will still release it as well if that is the case. I would also try to find a way to make the original saves compatible with the new one.

Main Features:

▲ The PRNG glitch has been fixed by re-incorporating Emerald’s unused PRNG system.

• May need someone to check this one, just to fully confirm that it has been implemented properly.

▲ All 386 Gen 1-3 Pokémon available.

• A New Evo Stone that evolves Trade-Evo Pokémon.

• More Roaming Legendaries, events, different sprites, etc.

--- Some events based on Day/Night/etc. and/or game completion status.

• Pokémon from different PokéDex sections have their own battle music (based on region/availability in-game).

--- i.e. Encounter a wild Pidgey somewhere, it will play Kanto’s Wild Battle theme; while Sentret has an exclusive Johto Wild Battle remix.

• Most events/Legendaries have signature themes too (i.e. Suicune and its Crystal battle theme), though related ones share themes.

• A special Event-Shiny somewhere.

• Check the Game Corner prizes in Mauville City for a few surprises.

• Mirage Island can now be reached in a much better (and honestly much more sane) way than in the original R/S/E.

--- Available on Sunday mornings after capturing 180+ National Dex Pokémon. The National Dex always includes Hoenn Pokémon as well.

▲ Special Event Tic