FireRed hack: Pokemon Crimson Red 2.4.2

[Noodle_00]

Pokemon Crimson Red is a ROM hack that enhances the base FireRed Experience.
What I wanted to do with this ROM hack is providing a difficult experience while providing the player a bunch of ways to handle each fight. Before every battle the player has multiple Pokemon, Items and Mega Evolutions to provide each fight as a puzzle to solve, but unlike a puzzle, these battles can be solved in multiple different ways. Crimson Red is meant for everyone to play. It's meant for Intermediate nuzlockers that are looking for a challenge. (I go into more of this further down in the thread)
*If you are playing this game please Read The Oak Cutscene*
Some of the things this game has:

- Much Harder Trainer Battles
- Gen 8 Mons / Mechanics
- Enemy items / Better movesets / Switch in AI
- Better AI
- most Pokemon Catchable
- All held Items can be bought
- City Vendors
- 3 Rivals
- Major Map changes
- 400+ Hidden Items / Pokeball items
- Optional Boss Battles that give items / Pokemon
- Legendary Pokemon
- Sevii Islands
- Post Game battles (Sevii Islands not post game but mandatory)
- Lore?
-QoL Changes
- Rare Candies for Grinding
- And MORE!


What makes this game different to some other FireRed ROM hacks like Radical Red?
1. Better Overworld exploration
Every early game route and some of the other routes are completely changed With new NPCs, Items and Hidden items.
Hidden Items are scattered all over the map underneath every single rock in the game. These Hidden Items can be hiding a bunch of battle Items, Berries, PokeBalls and more niche items such as evolution items.

This is Route 1
There are 3 Rocks in this first map that have the Hidden Items as mentioned they contain:
1 Protect Pads
10 Elixir
1 Ultra Ball
It also has a Mach Bike Hidden in a Pokeball in the Grass.
There is an NPC tutor that teaches Vaccum Wave.

Not every Route is like this but this can give you a rough understanding of how the
routes of the game could look.

There are also 3 Completely New Routes and 4 Remixed Optional Routes





2. Better Trainers and Boss battles
Crimson Red Is not supposed to be a "Impossible hack" (Ek, Run n Bun) It's meant to be a Difficulty Hack, Improving the Trainers to be much harder than the base game but not being
so hard to the point of frustration.
This is the 1st Lt. Surge Battle.
Every Leader Has:
6 Pokemon
Full Held Items
Diverse movesets
Advanced AI
A sick Song
etc.

Sometimes though Gym Leaders do have a Pokemon that doesn't fit their type.
The biggest focus in this game is fairness (mainly in the early game),
You get a bunch of Held items for countering the Enemy Pokemon of Optional Trainers and Boss battles.
You get most of the Held Items that the Enemy Gym Leaders have so that you can use their own strategies
against them.

The Difficulty Spike does go quite up the further you go through the game reaching it's peak at the 3rd May Battle and Elite Four

There Is Also a Custom Nuzlocke Variant That is talked about a bit further down.

Plenty of Trainers also have creative battles and are not just a one button sweep like in the base game.












3. Quality Of Life
You get a bunch of Rare Candies before fighting the first trainer to prevent mindless grinding however you can still play candy-less
You can see which Pokemon can learn a selected TM like in screenshots shown below.
Mega Evolution and Z moves

How To Play:
Download the Patch File
Download the FIreRed 1.0 Official ROM from another site
Go to https://www.marcrobledo.com/RomPatcher.js/
and Patch the Official ROM and FINISHED

Docs:

Trainer Docs / Item Locations - Google Drive

drive.google.com

Screenshots:


Credits
The Full Game which includes all the Trainers, Map Changes, Pokemon Changes and all the Changes that are not in the Base FireRed are made by Noodle (me :D)
using the Complete Fire Red Upgrade by @ghoulslash
Quality of Life Scripts by @Yave Yu
BackGround Art and Scripts by @LibertyTwins, princess-phoenix, carchagui, aveontrainer, WesleyFG, kWharever, worldslayer608, knizz
Other Assets and Scripts by @LibertyTwins, Shiny Miner, Greenphx and ansh860.
Inspired by Dekzeh and SinisterHoodedFigure's ROM hacks

If you are playing this game in 2.0 Mode there are some bugs that will be fixed in the next update:
Magma Grunt Selling Items in Oak Lab
Giovani Leader Team Corrupted
Route 9 Tree Disappearing (Soft Lock)
Some Pokemon having Weird Movesets (Dragalge - Dragon Darts, Golem - Accelerock)
Victory Road Ledge Soft Lock

"This game looks like Radical Red but worse"
I purposely didn't play or watch any playthroughs of Radical Red to prevent this game being too similar. I did this to prevent accidental copying and to make sure that it's an original experience different from Radical Red or any other ROM hack.

Nuzlocke+ Variant
-HC Nuzlocke Rules
- No TMs
-No Megas
-No Z-Moves

The Hardcore+ Nuzlocke Variant
- HC nuzlocke rules
- Pokemon from overworld Pokeballs (such as Boss battle Pokemon) count as the route encounter
- No Legendaries / Mythicals
- Every Optional Boss is mandatory
- No Items from City Vendors
- Cerulean Cave
- No Z-Moves
- Wipe = Reset
- Might be Impossible due to Elite Four But if you want you can play with it

"How is this game supposed to be for Intermediate Players? There are so many Boss Trainers with Legendaries and good pokemon like in other Difficulty Hacks for experts!"

Although the teams are similar to other Difficulty Hacks, the resources are vastly different. Each Boss Is designed with a weakness that's there but hard to find. Giovani I, Is a perfect example of this.
Krookodile - Choice Band
Groudon - Rain
Golem - Damp / Sturdy
Bisharp - Thief
Rhyperior - Bullet Seed / Fake Out
Lurantis - Close Combat Defense Drop
For every Boss there is a way to solve them with the resources available. there are hundreds of Pokemon / Items that are designed to beat specific Pokemon in fights.



QnA:
Is this ROM hack finished?
Yes! It's finished and receiving frequent updates that fix any bugs the Community may find and there is a future update log below.

What makes it different to Radical Red?
This hack is quite different from Rad Red due to the massive map changes and Story Changes. Difficulty wise then they are similar but still provide a different experience for each one.
For example Crimson Red being: Longer, Easier, And giving the player more Freedom
Radical Red is: Harder, Doesn't have major Map Changes, And having some of it's own things that Crimson Red Doesn't have.

This hack looks interesting however I don't know if I want to spend my time on it.
Play it up to Surge to Impress you. If you finished battling Surge and the game seems boring feel free to drop it. Misty - Surge Is where the game really starts to speed up difficulty wise and starts introducing cool stuff like optional Bosses, New Routes, etc.

What "Lore" are you talking about?
Don't want to spoil everything but Team Magma are now In Kanto!
There is also a new storyline in Pokemon Mansion which is a whole ARG which I will give more attention to if this hack becomes more popular.

Who is this hack made for?
This hack is made for Intermediate Nuzlockers that are looking for a new game to nuzlocke that provides something different to the usual FireRed ROM hack. If you are a beginner player towards the better side then you can play it however the Late - End game (Yes there is a difference) becomes Really hard if you are nuzlocking.

How does the difficulty ramp up?
Early Game (Start - Surge) The easiest of them all obviously. Not Too much different to base FireRed compared to the changes later in the game.
Mid Game (Surge - All 8 Badges) This is where the difficulty starts to go up quite fast. the first battle with Surge and Erika are where the Gyms start getting hard. This is also where the most changes arrive: Optional Bosses, All starters becoming available, etc.
Late Game (All 8 badges - Trainer Tower) This is just the Sevii Islands. This is where most of the work went into. Leader Rematches, All trainers being themed, and Secret Trainers! This is the best part of the game and should be where the player has their main team ready for Trainer Tower)
End Game (Trainer Tower - Elite 4) This part is still being reworked and balanced. The Trainer tower is now a mini Elite four with 8 rooms consisting of multiple of the best trainers in the Region. The elite four is crazy hard from testing however I don't know how OP the battle items and Legendary Pokemon are.
Post Game (Cerulean Cave) See for yourself ;)

This Game's way too hard for me however I like all the changes.
I'm working on a new easy mode that gives the player better Pokemon and infinite nuggets to make planning for fights easier. Like an Easy Mode.

Where can I find a Calculator for Crimson Red?
Currently there are no calculators for Crimson Red. The closest thing you could do and what I recommend is to put in your and your enemies Teams into the script manually. This is quite inconsistent due to IV's and EV's not being shown in game and from what I know PkHex doesn't work with CFRU but I am working on it! Also Remember some Pokemon are changed so remember to check the Doc for any changes (The Doc is still a WIP)

1.01 Version
Small Bug Fixes

1.1 Version
Important Small Bug Fixes
Improved dialogue
Changed Trainer Battles
Fixed Encounter Tables

1.11 Version
Small Bug Fixes
Trainer Locations / Behaviours changed

1.12 Version
Bug Fixes

2.0 Version
Major Bug Fixes
Added Gen 3 Gym Leaders
Improved assets
Better Trainers
More Trainers
Better Item distribution
Overall Remaster of the Game

2.1 Version
Leader Rematches
Major Bug Fixes
Reworked Routes
Encounter Changes
IV Screen
Free EV training Items
New Lore
Post Game (WIP)

2.3

• 30+ Battles Changed
• Elite 4 remade
• New Bag assets
• New Berry Pouch assets
• New TM Case assets
• New Battle Backgrounds
• New Battle UI
• Move Balancing
• Pokemon Balancing
• 4 New Megas
• Bug Fixes
• New item distribution
• Gym Leader Relocations

Discord:

Join the Crimson Red Server Discord Server!

Check out the Crimson Red Server community on Discord - hang out with 70 other members and enjoy free voice and text chat.

discord.gg

Download Milestones (Across All platforms and all versions)
100 Downloads - Small New Update
250 Downloads - Extra Magma Event
500 Downloads - New Docs
750 Downloads - New Lore
1000 Downloads - Expanded Post Game
1500 Downloads - 10 New Routes
2000 Downloads - All Legendaries Available
2500 Downloads - New Backgrounds
3000 Downloads - 100s of Pokemon Type Changes / Stat Changes / Moveset Changes
5000 Downloads - New Huge Magma vs Rocket Event (Post Game and Pre Elite four Events)
10000 Downloads - Massive ARG Update (Extra 5-10 Hours Of Post Game Gameplay)
Download:

GitHub - Noodles-CrimRed/Noodles-CrimRed.github.io at Pokemon

Contribute to Noodles-CrimRed/Noodles-CrimRed.github.io development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

 

[zoro420]

is no one interested in this hack? I just downloaded..

 

[rcsccm12]

color me intrigued - downloading rn

 

[loj]

I like the expansion of routes but the hack is kind of buggy. For example a rock in viridian forest just gave me 0 exp shares. And when I register two items for use it shows the items as "fresh water" and "exit".

 

[Noodle_00]

I like the expansion of routes but the hack is kind of buggy. For example a rock in viridian forest just gave me 0 exp shares. And when I register two items for use it shows the items as "fresh water" and "exit".

Yea I apologise for the buggy release, I kinda wanted to finish the hack quickly without much testing and I'm fixing that rn. Could you elaborate on the "fresh water and exit" bug?

 

[CandyTheCatBR]

i got exp share, and it says i got 0 exp share. and when i went to look in the bag, the exp share i got simply doesn't exist

 

[Noodle_00]

i got exp share, and it says i got 0 exp share. and when i went to look in the bag, the exp share i got simply doesn't exist

Okay thanks for the feedback! I fixed the exp share and some other things that weren't working correctly in the 1.01 update however registering 2 Items is the limit and is just a visual bug that I can't fix since it's a bug with the engine i'm using it on. Using the "fresh water" uses registered item 1 and the "exit" uses item 2.

 

[CandyTheCatBR]

Okay thanks for the feedback! I fixed the exp share and some other things that weren't working correctly in the 1.01 update however registering 2 Items is the limit and is just a visual bug that I can't fix since it's a bug with the engine i'm using it on. Using the "fresh water" uses registered item 1 and the "exit" uses item 2.

any prediction on when the update will come? i'm excited to try it again ^^

 

[Noodle_00]

any prediction on when the update will come? i'm excited to try it again ^^

I already released a mini update fixing the small early game bugs (1.01). But I'm currently working on update 1.1 that will fix some of the dialogue, make more quality of life changes and fixes more bugs that should be released soon. Either that or I'll be working on a full overhaul of the region With something I have planned (2.0 update). I'm glad you like the game :)

 

[deanmoreira7]

Just got up to rock tunnel, the first time you go down a ladder (and then one more to B2), it spits you out on a mountain and you cannot move. Had to use walk through walls to continue to play.

 

[sylinuser]

Cool project!!!
but i just wanna say, i didn't see any credits in the thread post

 

[Noodle_00]

Just got up to rock tunnel, the first time you go down a ladder (and then one more to B2), it spits you out on a mountain and you cannot move. Had to use walk through walls to continue to play.

Hi! I'm so glad you're enjoying the hack so far! Unfortunately I couldn't find the Warp bug in Rock Tunnel you were talking about everything there looks fine but there is a bug I found describing that description on Mt.Moon (Which will be fixed along with a bunch more bugs in the 1.2 update). If it was in Rock Tunnel could you please describe it a bit more detail cuz I can't find anything. Again thanks for playing :)

 

[Noodle_00]

Cool project!!!
but i just wanna say, i didn't see any credits in the thread post

I added credits under the screenshots, It was a solo project and the only thing to say besides that that it's using the CFRU made by ghoulslash.
I hope you enjoy the hack! :)

 

[Nekromantikx]

Hi, I'm enjoying this so far but wanted to point out some things I noticed and wasn't sure if you were aware of it. There is a ladder on the first floor of Mt. Moon that throws you in the middle of a mountain that you cannot move on. Then once I entered cerulean city the player freezes. Also come npc will be in the middle of trees or building alone viridian and pewter.

 

[WineBeast]

Hi, I'm enjoying this so far but wanted to point out some things I noticed and wasn't sure if you were aware of it. There is a ladder on the first floor of Mt. Moon that throws you in the middle of a mountain that you cannot move on. Then once I entered cerulean city the player freezes. Also come npc will be in the middle of trees or building alone viridian and pewter.

Yeah, the game crashes entering Cerulean, but only on the top and middle lines. You can go to Cerulean City by using the last line (?!).
Sorry, English is not my main language, and it's difficult to explain, but I have attached an image that probably helps.

I'm currently on rock tunnel, and all the bugs I've found are warps to the wrong places (some cases had to use walk-through walls cheat).

 

[Noodle_00]

Yeah, the game crashes entering Cerulean, but only on the top and middle lines. You can go to Cerulean City by using the last line (?!).
Sorry, English is not my main language, and it's difficult to explain, but I have attached an image that probably helps.

I'm currently on rock tunnel, and all the bugs I've found are warps to the wrong places (some cases had to use walk-through walls cheat).

Hi! Thank you so much for playing my hack! The initial release is quite buggy and I do apologise greatly. I have Fixed the Cerulean bug aswell as the Rock Tunnel warp bug and I'm implementing more changes that all will be in the next update. It will take a while to make though so please report any more bugs you find and I'll do my best to fix them. Again, thanks for playing! :)

 

[Noodle_00]

Hi, I'm enjoying this so far but wanted to point out some things I noticed and wasn't sure if you were aware of it. There is a ladder on the first floor of Mt. Moon that throws you in the middle of a mountain that you cannot move on. Then once I entered cerulean city the player freezes. Also come npc will be in the middle of trees or building alone viridian and pewter.

Hi! I have fixed the Cerulean City crash and the Rock tunnel warp bug however I'm having trouble finding the Npc in the middle of trees. Could you please elaborate a little bit so I can fix it? Also Thanks for playing and I'm working on a massive update on the game, if you find any more bugs please report them here! :)

 

[Noodle_00]

Yeah, the game crashes entering Cerulean, but only on the top and middle lines. You can go to Cerulean City by using the last line (?!).
Sorry, English is not my main language, and it's difficult to explain, but I have attached an image that probably helps.

I'm currently on rock tunnel, and all the bugs I've found are warps to the wrong places (some cases had to use walk-through walls cheat).

The Update Is out! :)

 

[halpCat]

Hi. I'm often a lurker but I do have a few things that might need reporting.

1. There's a vendor in Blue/Rival's house. Is that intended? That seems a bit weird. Also 1000 for a berry is... a bit too much?

2. There's a team magma vendor in Oak's lab all the way on the top-right side of the thing. Selling items at 0 value, a Rare Candy for 1 that's also called "Sludge Bomb No000" and basically every item seems to be glitched / broken in their descriptions. The team magma dude is also moving incredibly fast against the corner.

One thing that I also need to point out is one particular change: why doesn't Surge have his Raichu anymore, given that was his staple pokemon? I understand adding more pokemon to his roster, but outright replacing his iconic pokemon seems a bit too much.

If I find anything else I will report it.

EDIT:
Ok a few more things.
The person blocking the road in Viridian seems a bit weird. There's no context to what they say and it just seems to be shoehorned into the game. "Have you met Oak? He just appeared here someday, weird!"... what do you mean by this?

No Running Shoes before leaving the house. This could've been a QoL addition.

The PokeCenter being blocked off is not really a good idea.

The Mart being accessible only via tall grass is not a good idea.

Blue doesn't fight you when you first leave the Gym. Understandable decision. But when you return with the parcel you get the text like he just returned from going out - even though he's just standing there. He's also just looking around while the cutscene plays out. except for the very last part when he tells the player he doesn't need the player. Great.

Psychic literally east of Viridian? And yet another vendor in a random house. This is a lot for people to keep track of, especially as QoL features go - would've been much better and easier to have these random vendors in different PokeMarts or next to them with like a Slateport-like "Stand". Have one per city with a different inventory and that would make it much easier to memorise or at least access.

Why is the Dreameater dude running in L shape motion near 2 houses **while he is also snoring?**

The weather keeps glitching out. It's "snowing" in my game. Cool. Every other encounter the game just decides to go dark. And then bright again.

One last thing is the Backgrounds during battles. There is a reason why the original games have flat colour backgrounds: It is very offputting and distracting - it also doesn't gel well with the pokemon and the HUD. It's a bit too much imo.

Yeah this really needs a lot of polish. I'll have to put this one to the side. I'll keep an eye on the project though.

 

[Noodle_00]

Hi. I'm often a lurker but I do have a few things that might need reporting.

1. There's a vendor in Blue/Rival's house. Is that intended? That seems a bit weird. Also 1000 for a berry is... a bit too much?

2. There's a team magma vendor in Oak's lab all the way on the top-right side of the thing. Selling items at 0 value, a Rare Candy for 1 that's also called "Sludge Bomb No000" and basically every item seems to be glitched / broken in their descriptions. The team magma dude is also moving incredibly fast against the corner.

One thing that I also need to point out is one particular change: why doesn't Surge have his Raichu anymore, given that was his staple pokemon? I understand adding more pokemon to his roster, but outright replacing his iconic pokemon seems a bit too much.

If I find anything else I will report it.

EDIT:
Ok a few more things.
The person blocking the road in Viridian seems a bit weird. There's no context to what they say and it just seems to be shoehorned into the game. "Have you met Oak? He just appeared here someday, weird!"... what do you mean by this?

No Running Shoes before leaving the house. This could've been a QoL addition.

The PokeCenter being blocked off is not really a good idea.

The Mart being accessible only via tall grass is not a good idea.

Blue doesn't fight you when you first leave the Gym. Understandable decision. But when you return with the parcel you get the text like he just returned from going out - even though he's just standing there. He's also just looking around while the cutscene plays out. except for the very last part when he tells the player he doesn't need the player. Great.

Psychic literally east of Viridian? And yet another vendor in a random house. This is a lot for people to keep track of, especially as QoL features go - would've been much better and easier to have these random vendors in different PokeMarts or next to them with like a Slateport-like "Stand". Have one per city with a different inventory and that would make it much easier to memorise or at least access.

Why is the Dreameater dude running in L shape motion near 2 houses **while he is also snoring?**

The weather keeps glitching out. It's "snowing" in my game. Cool. Every other encounter the game just decides to go dark. And then bright again.

One last thing is the Backgrounds during battles. There is a reason why the original games have flat colour backgrounds: It is very offputting and distracting - it also doesn't gel well with the pokemon and the HUD. It's a bit too much imo.

Yeah this really needs a lot of polish. I'll have to put this one to the side. I'll keep an eye on the project though.

Hi! Thanks for playing my game!
1. Yes the Vendor is intended. Some of the Items are meant for later in the game to make the player backtrack a bit. Also 1000 for a Berry seems reasonable, It's not supposed to be something you get for free and anything lower would ruin the berry's value. Also you do get quite a bit of money later in the game that help you get more items and berries and the price is mostly for early game players not exploiting berries that are for later.

2. Yes the Grunt is intended however upon further inspection will be moved to a new location. The shop display being weird is a mistake on my part. It will be fixed in future updates.

3. I understand what you're saying about the Raichu, but it would be really weird if surge had a Pikachu and a Raichu. I wanted to give him a surfing Pikachu against Ground types and it seemed really funny.

4. Yea that's a mistake on my part. Blue will be fixed in the next update however this doesn't seem like an urgent change.

5. I understand that the Pokemon Center being blocked off is not the best idea, but the Layout of the City connecting to Route 26 would be really awkward to push the Pokemon Center anywhere closer to Route 1.

6. The Vendor in the House is a mistake. What's intended is the vendors are all in PokeCenters and have different inventories to make the player explore / backtrack more. Having them in PokeMarts does seem quite interesting and I will probably change it in a future Update.

7. I just found the dreameater dude funny running in an L shape. I absolutely forgot to remove him my bad.

8. the snow has been a constant issue but I'm looking into ways to fix it.

9. The Backgrounds are staying. I understand the Wild Encounter background may be distracting but it definitely makes the battles prettier. Although flat colours do work. This is meant to be something that feels different from the original Kanto and I think the battle backgrounds make that change well.

Thanks so much for the feedback! I am currently working on the update alongside the doc and will release it asap! Again, thanks for playing!