Emerald hack: Pokémon Emerald Z (Fakemon Hack | Complete | v1.2.0 available! Material drop system implemented!)

[tretality]

great game! had a blast on my first run with only new fakemon, will be doing a shiny only run next :))

 

[Z-nogyroP]

resurrecting an ancient pokecommunity account of mine just to comment on this hack, because i've been absolutely ADORING it so far. wild to me that it's been so long since firered advanced came out and equally wild to me that it seems we ended up having a Perpendicular Gender Experience since then. fun times & fun hacks all around! i've really enjoyed the latest update to the EXP curve - i got up to the fifth gym on 1.00 and then restarted entirely on 1.02 when i found out it existed, been a lot happier with how much less grinding i've had to do so far. also the fakemon rule. i'm trying to use as many as i can just to see what they're all about. drumble is my new best friend.

Spoiler: The Drumble Hint

and that is NOT just the tree-inflicted concussion talking

one request for help that i put out into the world though, relating to your dastardly trick forest:

Spoiler: trick forest spoilers

i figured out that i need to use the cut trees for the statues in a particular order so they don't reset. i also figured that those conspicuous golden trees are probably something i'm meant to headbutt to make something happen, which will hopefully help me with the cut tree statue part of the ordeal. my problem is that for the life of me i cannot figure out how i'm supposed to actually get to any of the golden trees to headbutt them, since they seem completely inaccessible. i know they probably aren't intended to be completely inaccessible, and i'm likely just missing the one hidden spot that will let me teleport over there or something, so can someone please just show me where in the map i need to go to get to the golden trees? my poor tandemaus is having to do a lot of headbutting and cutting and i'm worried they're going to forget how to do anything else with their lives.

thanks for the great work!!

oh and also bonus points for that one house near the mimic circle with all the tandemaus. their collective nickname me laugh out loud and wake up my cat, 10/10

Spoiler:

If you go to the right of the grotto of thinner trees, you'll see two white flowers in a diagonal. There's one tile there where you can headbutt a golden tree!

Will there be any way to change pokemon genders, for the sake of Gender Locked evolutions? It's very disheartening to get a shiny Snorunt, but be COMPLETELY locked out of Froslass, simply because it's a gender locked evolution.
That or making gender locked evolutions not a thing, and instead just change the gender[by changing the gender percentages on the evolution, similar to Azurill>Marill where it can change due to different percentages]

Unfortunately, that's a little too canon-divergent for me. Glalie is still extremely solid in this game.

Where to get mucus globs

They can be found with the Dowsing Machine sometimes, but mostly they can be stolen off wild Pykumuku, which are most common via fishing in Slateport.

Thank you for the responses you gave

What's the best way to play it on mobile
Android to be specific

As I don't belive mgba works on mobile

From what I understand, the crashes occur due to the battle animations, so disabling battle animations in the settings is likely your best bet if you can't play on the intended emulator.

So far looking for all the scrap metals. How many Scrap metals are there in the game?

There are 55 unique locations. They also have a very small chance to respawn each day, and are extremely rarely found via Rock Smash.

Heya! Does anyone know how to teach Candleru a fire attack before evolving?? Thankss

Candleru is compatible with most Fire-type TMs, so the easiest ways are via the Flamethrower TM from the Winstrates or the Flame Charge TM from the Mauville Game Corner!

 

[luigieatspie]

I can't seem to find the different nectars in order to trade with the man in lilycove city. I know you are supposed to find the different nectars within the flower shop, but I don't see any there and don't know of any other way of getting them.

edit: I figured it out you need a cutiefly with honeygather in order to get honey and to turn it into nectar

 

[wellyes]

huge fan of this hack, its really scratching the pokemon itch ive been feeling recently. one question is, can you get a complete living dex ? i know you can get multiple meltan but i cant find anything in the docs about getting a second type: null

 

[Delusions of Originality]

huge fan of this hack, its really scratching the pokemon itch ive been feeling recently. one question is, can you get a complete living dex ? i know you can get multiple meltan but i cant find anything in the docs about getting a second type: null

I believe you're supposed to be able to get one, buuuut I have what might be a bug to report re: that (will put it in spoilers just in case others want to find out for themselves where it's supposed to be):

Spoiler:

When you beat the E4 and go to Steven's house, the letter on the desk mentions a second type: null for living dex purposes. However, when you go to collect the poké ball, the pokémon you actually receive is still a beldum (as it was in the original). The dialogue when interacting with the ball says "type: null", but the nicknaming screen and then checking your box/party afterward definitely shows beldum. Looks like the text was updated but maybe not the event that gives the pokémon itself?

So assuming that isn't intentional, I'd hold off on picking that up until Z-nogyroP has a chance to look into it.

Anyway, Z-nogyroP, I've been having a ton of fun with this and just wanted to thank you for making it! Had a fun full-fakemon team and even found shiny drumble, caughtton and psyclops. The gym leader/elite swaps are fun and well thought-out, the level curve feels good (though I did most of my leveling before you changed the EXP payouts; it was a bit slow, especially while I was still experimenting/finalizing my team, but not too awful even then), and I had fun with the Trick Forest. The custom dex entries were some neat little extra flavor, too. At this point I'm mostly just looking to track down migreat, and then I may actually do one more quick run just so I can use a few more fakemon while I'm at it. :) Love their designs and how well put-together they are!

Aside from the possible oversight mentioned above, I did notice a few minor things in the text you may or may not want to bother tweaking (totally understandable if not):

Spoiler: Minor text issues

* In Wanda's house in Verdanturf, after fighting Wally the first time, he mentions going all the way with his "Ralts"—forgot to change it to Drumble.
* The Lilycove Trainer Fan Club dialogue still says Brawly is Dewford's gym leader.
* There's a person in Mossdeep's Pokémon Center who mentions the "gym leaders' combination" even though the leader is now Drake by himself.
* In Pacifidlog, on the "island" to the north, the guy who talks about Migreat has a line that cuts off: "A great bird that flies from north to" immediately jumps to the next sentence "But even if you find it ..."

I did also notice some possible issues with eerie spell (uses 2 PP each time instead of 1, even when no pressure ability is involved) and scale shot (inconsistent about applying the stat changes and sometimes displays a spurious "But it failed!" message for no reason I can figure out), but my guess is those might be issues with the base expansion, so if they don't sound like anything you've edited yourself I'm happy to test them out on a few more emulators and then go report them upstream if it's not just me/my emulator.

 

[Blhite]

Exactly what am I supposed to do if the enemy team is always competitive level that has an answer for everything and I cannot even overlevel because wild pokemons are lvl 18 when I need to be lvl 30+? I'm kinda bored to lose hours upon hours just for beating one of the many walls that blocks the way if this game, farming is just not fun. And it's a damn shame because this rom was very fun, and then all of a sudden falls in the "classic difficulty rom hack hole" that nowdays everyone wants to make for unknown reasons

 

[Z-nogyroP]

huge fan of this hack, its really scratching the pokemon itch ive been feeling recently. one question is, can you get a complete living dex ? i know you can get multiple meltan but i cant find anything in the docs about getting a second type: null

You can complete a living dex! Or at least you can now, since I've fixed the Type: Null thing lol. The other challenge would be the second Poipole.

Spoiler:

Check out Seafloor Cavern for that.

I believe you're supposed to be able to get one, buuuut I have what might be a bug to report re: that (will put it in spoilers just in case others want to find out for themselves where it's supposed to be):

Spoiler:

When you beat the E4 and go to Steven's house, the letter on the desk mentions a second type: null for living dex purposes. However, when you go to collect the poké ball, the pokémon you actually receive is still a beldum (as it was in the original). The dialogue when interacting with the ball says "type: null", but the nicknaming screen and then checking your box/party afterward definitely shows beldum. Looks like the text was updated but maybe not the event that gives the pokémon itself?

So assuming that isn't intentional, I'd hold off on picking that up until Z-nogyroP has a chance to look into it.

Anyway, Z-nogyroP, I've been having a ton of fun with this and just wanted to thank you for making it! Had a fun full-fakemon team and even found shiny drumble, caughtton and psyclops. The gym leader/elite swaps are fun and well thought-out, the level curve feels good (though I did most of my leveling before you changed the EXP payouts; it was a bit slow, especially while I was still experimenting/finalizing my team, but not too awful even then), and I had fun with the Trick Forest. The custom dex entries were some neat little extra flavor, too. At this point I'm mostly just looking to track down migreat, and then I may actually do one more quick run just so I can use a few more fakemon while I'm at it. :) Love their designs and how well put-together they are!

Aside from the possible oversight mentioned above, I did notice a few minor things in the text you may or may not want to bother tweaking (totally understandable if not):

Spoiler: Minor text issues

* In Wanda's house in Verdanturf, after fighting Wally the first time, he mentions going all the way with his "Ralts"—forgot to change it to Drumble.
* The Lilycove Trainer Fan Club dialogue still says Brawly is Dewford's gym leader.
* There's a person in Mossdeep's Pokémon Center who mentions the "gym leaders' combination" even though the leader is now Drake by himself.
* In Pacifidlog, on the "island" to the north, the guy who talks about Migreat has a line that cuts off: "A great bird that flies from north to" immediately jumps to the next sentence "But even if you find it ..."

I did also notice some possible issues with eerie spell (uses 2 PP each time instead of 1, even when no pressure ability is involved) and scale shot (inconsistent about applying the stat changes and sometimes displays a spurious "But it failed!" message for no reason I can figure out), but my guess is those might be issues with the base expansion, so if they don't sound like anything you've edited yourself I'm happy to test them out on a few more emulators and then go report them upstream if it's not just me/my emulator.

I'm really glad you enjoyed the game! All the bugs you've reported should be fixed with this new patch except the Scale Shot one, which is likely an expansion issue. Thank you for reporting the text issues, they're minor but I really want the game to feel cohesive and complete, so they're fixed as well.

Exactly what am I supposed to do if the enemy team is always competitive level that has an answer for everything and I cannot even overlevel because wild pokemons are lvl 18 when I need to be lvl 30+? I'm kinda bored to lose hours upon hours just for beating one of the many walls that blocks the way if this game, farming is just not fun. And it's a damn shame because this rom was very fun, and then all of a sudden falls in the "classic difficulty rom hack hole" that nowdays everyone wants to make for unknown reasons

Can I ask what point in the game you're at and where you're trying to grind? It sounds like you're at the Mt. Chimney / Meteor Falls stretch, which I'll grant is a bit of a jump and one I've amended somewhat in this patch, but even so the Trainers certainly don't have answers for everything. Maxie and Tabitha both have pretty mediocre sets (and mostly ones that the player can also have by that point) and two of their four Pokémon each are weak first-stagers. And if you're past them and working on gym 4, the wild Pokémon in Jagged Pass are higher level and serve as a better grinding spot. Either way, you absolutely should not need to spend hours grinding unless you're drastically underleveled.

Emerald Z v1.0.3 is now available! Not much in the way of flashy features, but it has some key bugfixes (including one that has been the bane of my existence since release), further work on the level curve, and a new Key Item. As always, patch to a clean Emerald ROM and put it in the same directory as the old one to avoid losing progress.

Spoiler: Changelog

- The moves Incinerate, Flip Turn, Snipe Shot, and Anchor Shot should no longer crash the game on MyBoy. I STILL DO NOT RECOMMEND PLAYING THIS HACK ON MYBOY, because other "bugs" that result from inaccurate emulation will likely not be fixed. Please play this hack on mGBA to get the best results.

- The Lucky Egg now boosts EXP gained by 100% instead of 50%. The Lucky Egg is available in the Safari Zone from an NPC. It can also rarely be held by wild Togetic, which can be encountered via Headbutt in Trick Forest, if you're willing to put in the effort of getting one early.

- The TM Master now gives you a TM Tracker, which lets you check what TM you're currently crafting and which Pokémon you still need to defeat.

- The Hiker in the Pretty Petal Flower Shop now lets you make one of each Nectar, or convert all currently held Honey into one type of Nectar.
- Honey is now slightly more expensive and Nectars sell for slightly less, because I forgot you can buy Honey in Verdanturf Town, but I still want the Nectar guy to serve as a way of boosting your early-game funds if you have a Honey Gather Pokémon.

- Wild Pokémon on the first floor of Meteor Falls, the interior of New Mauville, and the top floor of Mirage Tower are slightly higher level.

- A new Altering Cave password has been added for the Abandoned Ship.

- Pursuit on a switching target with Justified / Rattled should no longer produce weird behaviour.
- Fixed a typo in Darumaka's Pokédex entry.
- The postgame gift Type: Null should now actually be a Type: Null.
- Assorted NPC dialogue fixes.
- Moved the position of a golden tree in Trick Forest to make it a little more accessible.

 

[Ethangoesgoomy]

Exactly what am I supposed to do if the enemy team is always competitive level that has an answer for everything and I cannot even overlevel because wild pokemons are lvl 18 when I need to be lvl 30+? I'm kinda bored to lose hours upon hours just for beating one of the many walls that blocks the way if this game, farming is just not fun. And it's a damn shame because this rom was very fun, and then all of a sudden falls in the "classic difficulty rom hack hole" that nowdays everyone wants to make for unknown reaso

**ethangoesgoomy's Rant: Complaints about Pokémon Emerald Z**

Alright, listen up, folks! I've got some serious gripes to lay down about this Pokémon Emerald Z ROM hack. Let me tell you, it's been one hell of a rollercoaster ride, but not the good kind, if you catch my drift.

First off, let's talk about this goddamn level curve. Seriously, what the hell were the developers thinking? You start off facing opponents with Pokémon around level 56, and before you know it, BAM! You're thrown into battles against monstrosities that are level 65 to 70 in just a matter of minutes. Like, what the actual heck?!

I don't know about you, but that kind of jump in difficulty is enough to make anyone's blood boil. It's like they're playing some sick joke on us, expecting us to just roll with the punches and somehow magically level up our Pokémon to match theirs. Well, let me tell you, that's a load of bullcrap!

And don't even get me started on Victory Road. The Elite Four? Yeah, they're sitting pretty at level 65 while I'm struggling to keep my team above level 58. And what's up with the wild Pokémon in Victory Road? Level 40? Are you kidding me? It's like they're mocking us, dangling low-level encounters in front of our faces while we're getting our butts handed to us by high-level trainers.

Oh, and let's not forget about the complete lack of access to essential items like the Lucky Egg. Seriously, what gives? How am I supposed to level up my Pokémon efficiently when I don't even have access to basic tools like that? It's like they want to make the grind even more unbearable than it already is.

I started off enjoying this ROM hack, I really did. But as I progressed through the gyms, it became more and more apparent that the developers didn't give a damn about balancing the game properly. It's like they just threw in a bunch of high-level Pokémon and called it a day, leaving us to fend for ourselves in a sea of unfairness and frustration.

So yeah, Pokémon Emerald Z, you've officially earned yourself a spot on my list of all-time most infuriating gaming experiences. Congratulations, you've managed to suck the joy out of what should have been a fun and challenging adventure.
5.5/10
End of rant.

 

[Soulmates]

which starter is best offensively, and with which nature?

 

[Z-nogyroP]

**ethangoesgoomy's Rant: Complaints about Pokémon Emerald Z**

Alright, listen up, folks! I've got some serious gripes to lay down about this Pokémon Emerald Z ROM hack. Let me tell you, it's been one hell of a rollercoaster ride, but not the good kind, if you catch my drift.

First off, let's talk about this goddamn level curve. Seriously, what the hell were the developers thinking? You start off facing opponents with Pokémon around level 56, and before you know it, BAM! You're thrown into battles against monstrosities that are level 65 to 70 in just a matter of minutes. Like, what the actual heck?!

I don't know about you, but that kind of jump in difficulty is enough to make anyone's blood boil. It's like they're playing some sick joke on us, expecting us to just roll with the punches and somehow magically level up our Pokémon to match theirs. Well, let me tell you, that's a load of bullcrap!

And don't even get me started on Victory Road. The Elite Four? Yeah, they're sitting pretty at level 65 while I'm struggling to keep my team above level 58. And what's up with the wild Pokémon in Victory Road? Level 40? Are you kidding me? It's like they're mocking us, dangling low-level encounters in front of our faces while we're getting our butts handed to us by high-level trainers.

Oh, and let's not forget about the complete lack of access to essential items like the Lucky Egg. Seriously, what gives? How am I supposed to level up my Pokémon efficiently when I don't even have access to basic tools like that? It's like they want to make the grind even more unbearable than it already is.

I started off enjoying this ROM hack, I really did. But as I progressed through the gyms, it became more and more apparent that the developers didn't give a damn about balancing the game properly. It's like they just threw in a bunch of high-level Pokémon and called it a day, leaving us to fend for ourselves in a sea of unfairness and frustration.

So yeah, Pokémon Emerald Z, you've officially earned yourself a spot on my list of all-time most infuriating gaming experiences. Congratulations, you've managed to suck the joy out of what should have been a fun and challenging adventure.
5.5/10
End of rant.

... Are you playing on v1.0.2 or later? I explicitly added the Victory Road trainer rematches to address this issue, which seems to be your only one. The wild Pokémon in Victory Road range from level 46-52, not 40 as you claim. The rematches provide higher-leveled Pokémon to battle and boosted experience due to being trainer battles.

The jump from the trainers of Victory Road to the Champion is high, yes, but not unreasonably so. It's comparable to the vanilla level jump. In Emerald, the average Victory Road trainer is around level 43 and Wallace caps at 58, a 15-level difference. In FireRed and LeafGreen, Victory Road trainers are around the same but Blue caps at 63, which is 20 levels. Here, Victory Road trainers are around level 58, and the Champion is 70. That's 12 levels. I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a level jump in the final stretch of the game. Pokémon games have been doing that since day one.

The Lucky Egg is available and has been since the first version. It's in the item location document. I don't know what else to say here.

I spent a lot of time fine-tuning the curve and the endgame. I really don't appreciate the accusation that I don't care about balance.

I'm sorry you apparently had such an infuriating time, but it really seems like your rant here is exclusively focused on the Victory Road stretch, which has received tweaks to improve it. If you're not making use of the tools provided or attempting to find them, then yeah, you probably are going to have a rough go of things, but outside of the things you've brought up here that are just straight-up wrong, your criticisms were already pretty well addressed.

(And maybe next time don't get ChatGPT to write out your review for you, huh?)

which starter is best offensively, and with which nature?

Probably Awkwhal or Scrimmulch, which want Modest and Adamant respectively. Awkwhal ends up with a higher attacking stat than Scrimmulch, but Scrimmulch's Hidden Ability provides a damage boost that Awkwhal's does not, and also has generally higher BP moves at the cost of being slower.

 

[pika1025]

How i can get to the altering cave? So i would know when i can get the another starters and where is the highest chance to find a drumble? I am in rustboro city can the water starter learn ice beam or i need tm to find it?

 

[Brubers]

Hi. I'm Celeste. My first ROM hack, Pokémon Fire Red Advanced, was finished over six years ago, and it's a charming little thing, but it's from a long-gone era, when the Fairy-type was novel and everyone was using MrDollSteak's base and I thought I was a boy. Times have changed. We've all matured.

My second hack was Pokémon Emerald Advanced, a project that in retrospect was ultimately too ambitious to succeed with my skill at the time, which is why it remains unfinished, stuck forever at gym 6. But I liked a lot of the ideas that went into it. There was a spark of something solid there.

I made other hacks from then to now, but most too minor to mention. (Hey, Viva Las Vega enjoyers.) I grew busy, I gained other interests, but something in me still had that desire to create.

Thus, here we are. I present a project that in some ways scales back those lofty ambitious, but in other ways far exceeds anything I could have dreamed of back then. I give you Pokémon Emerald Z.

What it is:
A hack of Pokémon Emerald that contains, among other things, over 100 Fakemon with thoughtful designs and high-quality sprites, a carefully-curated Pokédex, shuffled Gym Leaders, buffs to weak Pokémon, some new maps, and a lot of love.

What it is not:
A difficulty hack, an includes-every-Pokémon hack, a quality-of-life hack, a source of free Fakemon, a peanut-free product, a blood sacrifice to the dark god Ba'al, an illustrated guide to cold fusion, affiliated in any way with Elon Musk.

That's the gist. Here are some screenshots. I'll provide some more details in spoilers below, if you want to peruse. Thanks for reading. I hope you give it a try, and I hope, if you do, that you have fun.

Spoiler: I'd like more details, please

The features of this hack include, but are not limited to:
- A Pokédex of 500 Pokémon, chosen from generations 1-9, with a large variety of my own Fakemon added in. These Fakemon have full, detailed learnsets, quality sprites, interesting concepts that lend themselves to unique gameplay, icon sprites, and custom cries.
- Many buffs to weak Pokémon, as well as customized learnsets. These include Fur Coat Furret, Anticipation Golisopod, Electric Surge Electrode, Psychic / Ghost Chimecho, Noxious Torque Revavroom, and a non-terrible way to access Zen Mode Darmanitan.
- Your usual modern battle mechanics, which is to say the physical / special split, Fairy-type, the stuff you don't need to be told about and which I can't honestly tout as a feature.
- There are no Mega Evolutions or other gimmicks.
- 12-character Pokémon names and 16-character Ability and move names, because we've put up with Fletchindr and StmpngTantrm for too long.
- New moves and Abilities.
- 99 TMs. TMs, for balance reasons, are single-use, but remain accessible.
- More interesting and useful replacements to the Battle Tents. In Slateport is a TM fan club, where new copies of TMs you've discovered can be made. In Verdanturf is an old, abandoned manor where Ghost-type Pokémon lurk. In Fallarbor is a Hyper Training station where you can maximize your Pokémon's IVs.
- Trick House now leads to the Trick Forest.
- All Gym Leaders and Elite Four members have been shuffled around, so your team will be tested in different ways. Gym puzzles are not overhauled, but have at least token modifications to make them more fitting.
- There is a Shiny Charm immediately accessible in your room, which can also be removed at any time. This is specifically because, as a Fakemon hack, I want people to be able to find shinies of the new Pokémon.
- Something happened in Altering Cave.
- Difficulty was not a primary focus of this hack, so there are no level caps or competitive movesets. I would still say the game is more difficult than the main series games; the AI is generally smarter, there are still some mean moves, and of course there's no holds barred on the secret postgame boss. Trainer Pokémon generally don't have EVs until the endgame; before then, Gym Leader Pokémon will have some HP EVs to make them more durable, but that's it.
- Almost no Pokémon are fully locked to lategame. If you know how to find them, you can get almost every Pokémon in the hack before gym 3.
- The ruins that once held the Regis are now accessible from the start, and have all-new puzzles.
- Winning big at the Game Corner is much easier.
- The game is currently complete through to the Champion fight. Postgame is inaccessible. Battle Frontier will maybe someday be a thing, says literally every Emerald hack ever made.
- Cramorant is here.

Spoiler: I'd like to see the available Pokémon, please

Spoiler: I'd like details on the available Pokémon, please

Everything you need to know short of TM / tutor compatibilities and egg moves is in a .txt document included with the download. You'll also find item locations, Gym Leader teams, and wild Pokémon locations.

Spoiler: I'd like to learn any known bugs, please

- In a double battle, if you knock out a Pokémon with Opportunist with a move that raises your stats, Opportunist will trigger after the Pokémon has already fainted.
- Using a Persim Berry from the Bag may not actually cure confusion.
- Cotton Down and Gooey / Tangling Hair don't activate Mirror Armor and their actual effects don't trigger either. This is exceedingly minor and even if it occurs it has no real effect on the battle.
- Scale Shot may sometimes fail to activate its stat-change effect or print a "But it failed!" message. Unknown what the cause is currently.
- The game may freeze in the Game Corner on the roulette table when using MyBoy. I do not advise using MyBoy to play this game. It was designed for mGBA and hardware. This bug will probably not ever be fixed, as it's an issue with the emulator and not the game.

Spoiler: I'd like to ask another question, please

Can you add x Pokémon?
No. I chose this dex carefully and have no intention to add to it at the moment.

Can you add Mega Evolution?
No. I will also not add any of the other battle gimmicks. The hack is called Emerald Z because I am Z-nogyroP, not because of Z-Moves, or Zygarde.

Can I use your Fakemon in my project?
No.

Where can I get Hisuian Sneasel?
You can't. You also can't get Pichu, Cleffa, Azurill, Igglybuff, Galarian Darumaka, Galarian Darmanitan, Sneasler, or Dusk Lycanroc. This is because I don't really like them.

What's the shiny rate?
1/512 with the Shiny Charm, 1/4096 without.

Is there an official Discord?
No, and I'd kindly ask people not try to start an unofficial one, either. I can't stop you, but I have neither the desire nor time to moderate a Discord or participate in one. If you have questions, feel free to ask in this thread, or, hell, you probably know someone who knows someone who knows me. Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon it.

Why is the documentation in .txt format instead of on Google Sheets or something?
Call me old-fashioned.

Why did you change Brendan and May's dialogue?
I have no idea what you're talking about.

Spoiler: I'd like a hint, please

Where can I find the other starters?
How thoroughly have you explored Prof. Birch's lab? Not very, I'll bet.

Spoiler: Solution

Input the code ANOTHER POKÉDEX into the Altering Cave statue.

Where can I find Drumble?
If you fast-forwarded through Wally's catch tutorial, you might've missed it.

Spoiler: Solution

Drumble is a very rare Headbutt encounter in almost all areas.

Where can I find Pokémon #364?
New Mauville has the same encounter tables for the cave-esque entrance and the interior, but somehow you can only find it in the interior.

Spoiler: Solution

Stepping on switches in New Mauville has a chance to trigger an encounter. In addition to #364, you can find Rotom and, very rarely, Meltan.

Where can I find Pokémon #379?
Feebas isn't in the game, but it'd be a shame to put that weird encounter method to waste.

Spoiler: Solution

It can be fished up on Route 119 in six specific spots. Unlike original Feebas, though, it has a 100% encounter rate in those spots, to make it easier.

Where can I find Pokémon #483?
Y'know, Bagon shows up on all floors of Meteor Falls now. So, uh, what's the point of going deeper, exactly?

Spoiler: Solution

Find it as a static encounter in the room where Bagon could originally be found.

How can I get the Alolan forms of Raichu, Marowak, or Exeggutor, the Galarian form of Weezing, or the Hisuian forms of Braviary or Avalugg?
All of those are branched evolutions from the original base forms. The item necessary is held by Pokémon you receive, but only one of them is free.

Spoiler: Solution

All of these evolve with the Strange Souvenir, which is held by in-game trades except the one in Rustboro and the gift Type: Null, and for sale in Ever Grande City.

How do you get the Fossils?
Normal RSE methods will grant you the special ones. The others come from the HGSS method.

Spoiler: Solution

Mirage Tower and the Desert Underpass give you the Old Amber and Ancient Egg. All the others can be found through Rock Smash drops.

Where do you get the X-Scissor TM?
Someone in Rustboro gave you something similar. Might be worth checking again?

Spoiler: Solution

The Cutter's daughter in Rustboro will give you the TM after you get three badges.

How do you solve Trick Forest?
Trick Forest can be fully cleared the moment you have access to it. You'll need Cut and one other easily-accessible out-of-battle move. Run around and experiment.

Spoiler: Further hints

The white flowers teleport you, the purple flowers don't. That's pretty inconvenient. And some of those trees, what's their deal?

Spoiler: Solution

Using Headbutt on a golden tree will cause certain white and purple flowers to swap colours, which is necessary to progress and get certain items and find Trick Master.

What's the deal with those Cut trees? They're not actually blocking anything, are they? …Are they?

Spoiler: Solution

The scroll Trick Master wants is blocked by five statues, each corresponding to a Cut tree in the forest. When the tree is cut, the statue disappears.

Leaving and re-entering a map causes cut-down trees to grow back. What about teleporting within the same map? Does that count as leaving?

Spoiler: Solution

Using a flower to teleport resets the trees, so there's a specific one that must be cut down first. Another is hidden in a grove of thinner trees.

What's the deal with Altering Cave?
Altering Cave isn't very useful at first, unless you know someone else who's gotten further than you. Its utility is in replays and TM crafting.

Spoiler: Solution

Altering Cave lets you find encounters from later-game areas early by inputting codes found on scrolls or in other places in those areas.

How do you unlock the Desert Ruins?

Spoiler: Braille Translation

ESCHEW ALL NORMALITY TO ACCESS OUR SECRETS.

The Braille isn't capitalized correctly. It's more properly written as, "Eschew all Normality to access our secrets."

Spoiler: Solution

Interact with the door with a full party and no Normal-type Pokémon or moves.

How do you unlock the Island Cave?

Spoiler: Braille Translation

LEAD IMMUNE TO POWDER IMMUNE. LAST IMMUNE TO BURN IMMUNE.

There are a lot of immunities in Pokémon. What traits can grant immunity to powder moves or the burn status? Which of those traits themselves have immunities?

Spoiler: Solution

Your first Pokémon must be immune to Grass, i.e. with Sap Sipper or Green Thumb. Your sixth must be immune to Fire, with Flash Fire or Well-Baked Body.

How do you unlock the Ancient Tomb?

Spoiler: Braille Translation

OUR DOOR OPENS ONLY FOR THOSE WHO BEGIN WITH BRAVERY.

"Begin" refers to the first Pokémon in your party. What makes a Pokémon brave?

Spoiler: Solution

Lead with a Brave-natured Pokémon. It must be naturally Brave - a Brave Mint won't suffice.

Where do you get the Memories for Silvally?
The man who gave you Type: Null mentioned where it came from. I'm sure she'd like to see it all grown up.

Spoiler: Solution

If you talk to Dr. Sponsibel in the Weather Institute with Silvally in your party and enough bag space for all 17 Memories, she'll give them to you.

Spoiler: I'd like to see the credits, please

Firstly, the Pokeemerald Expansion project and the folks in the RHH Discord. This project is Expansion-based and would not be possible without it, even though I've probably cut out and / or mangled a good 30% of the features it includes.

DNS: ShinyDragonHunter

Lotad, Taillow, Swellow, Snorunt, Magnezone, Beldum, Metang, Metagross fronts: Wiznatts
Skiddo front: Azria
Gogoat front: Smogon XY Sprite Project
Gen 9 icon sprites, except Tandemaus line, Varoom line, and Glimmet line: Ezerart
ALL Fakemon, Poochyena, Mightyena, Pelipper, Shroomish, Breloom, Palossand, Heliolisk, Carvanha, Sharpedo, Cramorant, Dracovish, Snorlax, Tatsugiri, Kartana: Me
Remaining sprites: The assorted DS-Style 64x64 Resources

Basically every single cry: Skurleton (for real, can't thank you enough)

Playtesting: Stevie, Nihil, Ibis, Jill, Atlas, Chessa, Jim, and several other wonderful friends

If you were responsible for a part of this hack and don't see your name here, let me know! I have an exceedingly poor memory!

Spoiler: I'd like to download it, please

v1.0.3 can be downloaded here. The recommended emulator is mGBA, but it should also work on VBA and on cart. Several bugs have been reported on the MyBoy emulator, so I do not recommend using that.

Spoiler: Changelog

- The moves Incinerate, Flip Turn, Snipe Shot, and Anchor Shot should no longer crash the game on MyBoy. I STILL DO NOT RECOMMEND PLAYING THIS HACK ON MYBOY, because other "bugs" that result from inaccurate emulation will likely not be fixed. Please play this hack on mGBA to get the best results.

- The Lucky Egg now boosts EXP gained by 100% instead of 50%. The Lucky Egg is available in the Safari Zone from an NPC. It can also rarely be held by wild Togetic, which can be encountered via Headbutt in Trick Forest, if you're willing to put in the effort of getting one early.

- The TM Master now gives you a TM Tracker, which lets you check what TM you're currently crafting and which Pokémon you still need to defeat.

- The Hiker in the Pretty Petal Flower Shop now lets you make one of each Nectar, or convert all currently held Honey into one type of Nectar.
- Honey is now slightly more expensive and Nectars sell for slightly less, because I forgot you can buy Honey in Verdanturf Town, but I still want the Nectar guy to serve as a way of boosting your early-game funds if you have a Honey Gather Pokémon.

- Wild Pokémon on the first floor of Meteor Falls, the interior of New Mauville, and the top floor of Mirage Tower are slightly higher level.

- A new Altering Cave password has been added for the Abandoned Ship.

- Pursuit on a switching target with Justified / Rattled should no longer produce weird behaviour.
- Fixed a typo in Darumaka's Pokédex entry.
- The postgame gift Type: Null should now actually be a Type: Null.
- Assorted NPC dialogue fixes.
- Moved the position of a golden tree in Trick Forest to make it a little more accessible.

Spoiler: Old versions

v1.0.2

Spoiler: v1.0.2 Changelog

- Lotad, Lombre, & Ludicolo: Hidden Ability is now Tangled Feet instead of Own Tempo.
- Ludicolo: Sp. Atk 90 -> 95, Sp. Def 100 -> 105
- Shiftry: Attack 100 -> 105, Sp. Atk 90 -> 95
- Oricorio-Pom-Pom: Hidden Ability is now Tangled Feet instead of Quick Feet.
- Scovillain: Secondary Ability is now Tangled Feet instead of Insomnia.
- Granvas & Mezosaic: Hidden Ability is now Levitate instead of Synchronize.
- Mezosaic: Now learns Razor Wind by move relearner instead of Air Cutter.

- Revamped Ability: Tangled Feet - At the end of each turn, this Pokémon's Speed stat is either sharply boosted, boosted, lowered, or harshly lowered, at random.

- New item: Explorer's Guide - Non-consumable. When held, allows Dig, Dive, and Fly to be executed in one turn instead of two. Found in the Fossil Maniac's tunnel.

- The Data tab of the Pokédex now explains evolution methods, though it does not necessarily provide all of the details.

- EXP no longer scales with level. In the absence of the Gen 6+ Exp. Share, this should hopefully make levelling a bit less painful. I'm definitely looking for feedback on how this affects the overall level curve - please let me know!

- Berries now grow much faster and have slightly higher yields. Basic Berries like Chesto and Pecha will grow fully in one real-time hour. The rarest Berries like Starf and Liechi will grow in twelve hours. Berries like Lum and Sitrus will take around 3-4, while type-resist Berries take 2. Berry trees also no longer disappear when fully-grown if left unpicked.

- Tate and Liza now only have two Super Potions instead of four.
- Player can now receive either the Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, or Flamethrower TM from the Winstrates.
- X-Scissor TM is now available after three badges instead of five.
- Fallarbor's Hyper Training Station now contains an IV judge.
- The postgame superboss now hints that they can be fought after the Champion.
- Trainers in Victory Road can now be rematched once you reach the Pokémon League, although it may not exactly be... ethical.

- Fixed alternate form cries and summary screen dex numbers.
- Lilycove Ferry can no longer take you to the Battle Frontier (yet).
- May's dialogue no longer references the player being the child of a Gym Leader.
- Migreat can now properly change forms with the Lost Compass.
- Ponyta, Rapidash, Darumaka, and Darmanitan are now properly compatible with the Overheat TM.
- Subzerebrum now evolves at the correct level.
- The Fallarbor Hyper Training Station is now usable if you have a Gold Bottle Cap but no regular Bottle Caps.

v1.0.1

Spoiler: v1.0.1 Changelog

- Fixed the weirdness with Scavenger, I hope.
- No longer possible to softlock in Mauville Gym.
- A few very minor battle engine related bugfixes related to Corrosion, Emergency Exit, and some Life Orb interactions.
- Added a patching guide in the download.

v1.0.0

I can't. Get it to work on android I'm using john gba lite emulator

 

[tretality]

Are gift pokemon like the Game Corner affected by the shiny charm? And are there any ways to boost the odds further (i.e. chaining or masuda method)?

Trying to add a Bananza to my team, and haven't run to a shiny one from the GC after 30 minutes of resets. My luck may just suck LOL.

 

[Blhite]

You can complete a living dex! Or at least you can now, since I've fixed the Type: Null thing lol. The other challenge would be the second Poipole.

Spoiler:

Check out Seafloor Cavern for that.

I'm really glad you enjoyed the game! All the bugs you've reported should be fixed with this new patch except the Scale Shot one, which is likely an expansion issue. Thank you for reporting the text issues, they're minor but I really want the game to feel cohesive and complete, so they're fixed as well.


Can I ask what point in the game you're at and where you're trying to grind? It sounds like you're at the Mt. Chimney / Meteor Falls stretch, which I'll grant is a bit of a jump and one I've amended somewhat in this patch, but even so the Trainers certainly don't have answers for everything. Maxie and Tabitha both have pretty mediocre sets (and mostly ones that the player can also have by that point) and two of their four Pokémon each are weak first-stagers. And if you're past them and working on gym 4, the wild Pokémon in Jagged Pass are higher level and serve as a better grinding spot. Either way, you absolutely should not need to spend hours grinding unless you're drastically underleveled.

Emerald Z v1.0.3 is now available! Not much in the way of flashy features, but it has some key bugfixes (including one that has been the bane of my existence since release), further work on the level curve, and a new Key Item. As always, patch to a clean Emerald ROM and put it in the same directory as the old one to avoid losing progress.

Spoiler: Changelog

- The moves Incinerate, Flip Turn, Snipe Shot, and Anchor Shot should no longer crash the game on MyBoy. I STILL DO NOT RECOMMEND PLAYING THIS HACK ON MYBOY, because other "bugs" that result from inaccurate emulation will likely not be fixed. Please play this hack on mGBA to get the best results.

- The Lucky Egg now boosts EXP gained by 100% instead of 50%. The Lucky Egg is available in the Safari Zone from an NPC. It can also rarely be held by wild Togetic, which can be encountered via Headbutt in Trick Forest, if you're willing to put in the effort of getting one early.

- The TM Master now gives you a TM Tracker, which lets you check what TM you're currently crafting and which Pokémon you still need to defeat.

- The Hiker in the Pretty Petal Flower Shop now lets you make one of each Nectar, or convert all currently held Honey into one type of Nectar.
- Honey is now slightly more expensive and Nectars sell for slightly less, because I forgot you can buy Honey in Verdanturf Town, but I still want the Nectar guy to serve as a way of boosting your early-game funds if you have a Honey Gather Pokémon.

- Wild Pokémon on the first floor of Meteor Falls, the interior of New Mauville, and the top floor of Mirage Tower are slightly higher level.

- A new Altering Cave password has been added for the Abandoned Ship.

- Pursuit on a switching target with Justified / Rattled should no longer produce weird behaviour.
- Fixed a typo in Darumaka's Pokédex entry.
- The postgame gift Type: Null should now actually be a Type: Null.
- Assorted NPC dialogue fixes.
- Moved the position of a golden tree in Trick Forest to make it a little more accessible.

I * was * blocked by Maxie, and after 10 hours of in game grinding I fanally managed to beat him. Then after that comes Roxanne, and after that Sidney. Sidney is the new "wall", that requires another 10 hour grind just to be at the same level as him, and the level of wild pokemon are always the same, heck I don't even know if it is enough knowingt all the polish perfect strategies that the gym leader pulls off. Why doing that? Why deciding to program that? I know that this game is basically for yourself that knows everything about it and, by results, enjoys it (and people like me are in no position to ask you anything, rightfully so), but have you ever thought that maybe people wants to try the new mons without being punished by being "unoptimized"? Why designing 100s more beautifully sprited mons with actual fun gameplay and gimmicks that makes official games blush if, in the end, only 6 or 9 are viable and for ONLY 1 specific encounter (becouse the next one rest assured has the perfect counter for it)? You can put all the challenges you want, but do it for the post game. Imagine if in vanilla emerald all gym leaders were replaced by the Tent Masters in battle frontier, with the level equilizer and all, do you think they could have still enjoyed it the same? Just know that is is the best rom hack I played in ages, I just hate myself for not being able to enjoy it like extreme pokemon masters can. I want to have fun with this, I really do...

 

[Z-nogyroP]

How i can get to the altering cave? So i would know when i can get the another starters and where is the highest chance to find a drumble? I am in rustboro city can the water starter learn ice beam or i need tm to find it?

Altering Cave is where it normally is, on the east side of Route 103. You'll have access to it after Slateport. Starter locations are mentioned in the first post. Awkwhal does need a TM to get Ice Beam, but it learns Aurora Beam by level up which can serve a similar function early on.

Are gift pokemon like the Game Corner affected by the shiny charm? And are there any ways to boost the odds further (i.e. chaining or masuda method)?

Trying to add a Bananza to my team, and haven't run to a shiny one from the GC after 30 minutes of resets. My luck may just suck LOL.

Gift Pokémon should be Shiny Charm-affected like any other, so unfortunately you've just gotten unlucky. Sorry!

I * was * blocked by Maxie, and after 10 hours of in game grinding I fanally managed to beat him. Then after that comes Roxanne, and after that Sidney. Sidney is the new "wall", that requires another 10 hour grind just to be at the same level as him, and the level of wild pokemon are always the same, heck I don't even know if it is enough knowingt all the polish perfect strategies that the gym leader pulls off. Why doing that? Why deciding to program that? I know that this game is basically for yourself that knows everything about it and, by results, enjoys it (and people like me are in no position to ask you anything, rightfully so), but have you ever thought that maybe people wants to try the new mons without being punished by being "unoptimized"? Why designing 100s more beautifully sprited mons with actual fun gameplay and gimmicks that makes official games blush if, in the end, only 6 or 9 are viable and for ONLY 1 specific encounter (becouse the next one rest assured has the perfect counter for it)? You can put all the challenges you want, but do it for the post game. Imagine if in vanilla emerald all gym leaders were replaced by the Tent Masters in battle frontier, with the level equilizer and all, do you think they could have still enjoyed it the same? Just know that is is the best rom hack I played in ages, I just hate myself for not being able to enjoy it like extreme pokemon masters can. I want to have fun with this, I really do...

I'm really sorry to hear that. My intent as I've mentioned was not at all to make a punishing challenge - the sets I give Gym Leaders are almost all sets that the player could also have at that point. That said, my goal was to have every available Fakemon perform at least decently, and my intent was not at all to force the player to optimize. Are there specific Fakemon you've felt have been underperforming? If so, please say so and I might buff them.

I'd like to hear more and help out, if I can. Have you been looking at the important Trainers document? What's your team? Where have you been grinding - did you go straight from Lavaridge to Petalburg, or did you explore the new areas that became available? That would probably earn your team a few levels, and the wilds would be higher-level for grinding purposes. Feel free to message me directly if you'd prefer. I really want to help you enjoy this hack.

(Also, for Sidney specifically, I freely admit his gym trainers are kind of nasty, maybe more so than he is in some cases - that was intentional, but remember you only need to fight a maximum of three of them, if you haven't already cleared them out.)

 

[Soulmates]

which of the two you mentioned would you recommend for a first time player of the hack?

 

[Blhite]

Altering Cave is where it normally is, on the east side of Route 103. You'll have access to it after Slateport. Starter locations are mentioned in the first post. Awkwhal does need a TM to get Ice Beam, but it learns Aurora Beam by level up which can serve a similar function early on.


Gift Pokémon should be Shiny Charm-affected like any other, so unfortunately you've just gotten unlucky. Sorry!


I'm really sorry to hear that. My intent as I've mentioned was not at all to make a punishing challenge - the sets I give Gym Leaders are almost all sets that the player could also have at that point. That said, my goal was to have every available Fakemon perform at least decently, and my intent was not at all to force the player to optimize. Are there specific Fakemon you've felt have been underperforming? If so, please say so and I might buff them.

I'd like to hear more and help out, if I can. Have you been looking at the important Trainers document? What's your team? Where have you been grinding - did you go straight from Lavaridge to Petalburg, or did you explore the new areas that became available? That would probably earn your team a few levels, and the wilds would be higher-level for grinding purposes. Feel free to message me directly if you'd prefer. I really want to help you enjoy this hack.

(Also, for Sidney specifically, I freely admit his gym trainers are kind of nasty, maybe more so than he is in some cases - that was intentional, but remember you only need to fight a maximum of three of them, if you haven't already cleared them out.)

I'm using the 3 starters, Khanstruct, Draborate and Noudini (can't stress enough about how all are super well made, gameplaywise and looks) around level 35/37. The thing is, it's not that they are underperforming in any particular sense, it's just that that team is not that good against Sidney. And I get it, the whole Pokemon philosophy is building a diverse team of new pokemon every now and then, there are lots of 'em and all fun to use, but after thinking "Ok, this boss is destroying me, time to change some party members!" the immediate afterthought is "...that means that I have to farm all over again in order to be nearly as strong as my previous team, in an environment where it's impossible to actually farm exp in an efficient way. Yeah, not gonna do that...". The experimentation factor in the hack is very shallow, it doesn't give you the tools to try new stuff, nor adapt to new enemies. You have to stick with one single team and pray that they'll work well untill the end. I clocked 60 hours in game time untill Sidney, and I still struggle to move on (using uncapped fastforward mind you, imagine actually playing 60 hours in a real hardware!!!!). That said, I WILL finish the game, it's too good to skip, but not in the very near future, the weekend is over and knowing that it takes that much to overcome stuff, I will take my time. Still thank you, the hack scratches off the boredom of the recent gamefreak releases o7

P.S. the hot spring egg is not hatching after a full minute of hyper speed bicycle back and forth, I don't know if it's a bug but the little dude is not coming out of the egg lol

 

[sander2505]

I cleared the trickforest puzzle, but can't find the trickmaster. Where can I find him?

 

[IronWarrior94]

Been waiting a while for a gba romhack with good fakemon designs, can't wait to try this. I have to ask, just out of curiosity are there any working cheats for this?

 

[PrinceTalonSabre]

I've been enjoying this hack so far. I LOVE Impawzible, and a lot of the other Fakemon too! Apparaven is my favorite starter design-wise (so I almost regret picking Cetayser bc I feel like I should use it on my final team now 😅). I love Nectair and Soarup a lot, too.
My only complaint, which I don't find to be a big deal in the slightest, is that Soarup is the only final evolution stage Flying type Fakemon (Besides a (roaming?) legendary I found randomly 🙃), purely because I wanted a flying type that wasn't part grass on the team. The Fakemon with either Levitate or Earth Eater didn't really strike me as something I wanted to use with some of the other guys on my team either (Unless I found another Ability Patch for some with one of these for the Hidden Ability). Regardless, I'm enjoying building around that fact so it's not even something I would call a 'problem.'

Last thing I will say is that the level curves can be pretty daunting. I saw you mention before somewhere the jump from Victory Road to Champion is from 58 to 70 in Emerald Z compared to vanilla being 43 to 58, which, to be fair, makes the Jump in this hack is significantly higher than in vanilla based on experience required to level up. To be clear, I think it's fine. Just need to fight some extra trainers before taking on the next boss to get within a few levels (assuming the boss trainers don't have EVs). It does promote the issue of having to grind on wild pokemon when you want to use something new, though, since Match Call isn't very consistent. Personally, I had a full team of mostly level 41, up to a 43 iirc, for gym 6, and got to Lilycove with around level 44-45s. Rival bopped me with their lead (lmao), which had a good matchup against most of my team at the time, but i was at least 5 levels under leveled in that fight.

THAT BEING SAID, I don't think there's a need to change the level curves too drastically if at all. But grinding is boring, so I found out how to make cheats to alleviate the burden of monotony. I hope you're ok with me offering this for anyone who wants to use it. It's a CodeBreaker code, I put it together myself specifically for Emerald Z (Patched on vanilla Emerald 1.0). I doubt it'll work on other ROM hacks or base Emerald, but I haven't tried.

Spoiler: Cheat to help Grind Levels

Tested last on 1.1.0, take precaution when using on later versions.

Spoiler: Obligatory Cheats Disclaimer

I have not found any negative side effects on the save file from using this code. However, it is always a good idea to keep a backup of your save before using cheats.
Assuming you are using this on mGBA, you can enable and disable cheats mid-gameplay, so if there are any overworld side effects, I recommend enabling the code in-battle, and disabling it before exiting.
From my testing, it seemed to be ok to have on in the overworld though.

D0000020 0008
8201C4F4 xxxx

Replace xxxx with a hexidecimal number that caps out at FFFF (65,535).

Spoiler: If you don't want to pull up a dec to hex converter, here's a few values I tested with the code:

01F4 (500)

Spoiler: Full code for copy/paste

D0000020 0008
8201C4F4 01F4

03E8 (1,000)

Spoiler: Full code for copy/paste

D0000020 0008
8201C4F4 03E8

1388 (5,000)

Spoiler: Full code for copy/paste

D0000020 0008
8201C4F4 1388

2710 (10,000)

Spoiler: Full code for copy/paste

D0000020 0008
8201C4F4 2710

KO a wild pokemon, and hold START before you gain experience for it. When you press A to progress the dialog box, you will gain xxxx amount of exp repeatedly until you let go of START.
**Meaning it only works while you hold the button!**

The cheat also modifies damage dealt from ANY source, so unless you outspeed, your mon will instantly die while button is being held. This is why you wait until the opponent has fainted, and hold start before the experience bar begins to fill.

Spoiler: If you want to change the button activator:

Change 0008 (Start) to one of these:
0001 (A)
0002 (B)
0004 (Select)
0100 (R)
0200 (L)

(idk how intuitive using A or B is, but they're there in case it works better for someone)