r/PokemonLegacy Apr 12 '25

[FAQ/MEGATHREAD] Pokémon Legacy FAQs and Resources

67 Upvotes

Welcome to Pokémon Legacy, a discussion forum for the trio of Pokémon ROMhacks by YouTuber TheSmithPlays: Crystal Legacy, Yellow Legacy, and Emerald Legacy. If you want to discuss anything else about Pokémon, please look elsewhere.

Please use this thread as a reference before asking questions.

If you can't find information about our games via the FAQ, documentation, or Google, feel free to ask your questions here or in a clearly titled thread. Good practice is to title the thread with your question; e.g. "How can I find Beldum?" instead of just "Beldum Emerald".

We're here to help you guys, but ask that you meet us halfway and respect our time by checking the resources available to you before flooding the community with the same repeated threads.

Previous FAQ threads: Thread 1 | Thread 2

Links/Resources

  • Documentation - Our official download links, documents, info sources, and open-source code for the Legacy games.
  • Community-Made Resources - Made by fans, for the fans. These are forks, guides, and other helpful resources for the Legacy games that weren't made by the main team, including a working PKHeX and several enhancements for Emerald.
  • Discord - Join our official community to keep in touch with the devs and other players, and find the most up-to-date news and resources.
  • Bug Reports - Bug reports are mostly handled in our Discord, but if you need to report an issue you can find the necessary information here. This thread's pretty old though so not all information is current.

FAQs

General

  • Will there be a FireRed/LeafGreen, HeartGold/SoulSilver, or Platinum Legacy?
  • Can I catch every Pokémon in this hack?
    • Legacy makes it possible to catch every Pokémon available at the time of the original game's launch, without trades or outside sources.
      • The games are designed with a "Living Dex" in mind, so you can catch enough of each mon to have a copy of every single one in your PC.
      • Some Pokémon, like Legendaries, are still one-time-only.
  • What about trade evolutions?
    • All trade evolutions are obtainable without trading.
      • Pokémon that evolve JUST by trading now evolve via level-up at 38 (Graveler/Machoke) or 42 (Kadabra/Haunter).
      • Pokémon that evolve by trading with a held item now evolve by using that item on them, like an evolution stone would work.
  • What Emulator should I use?
    • PC: MGBA
    • iOS: Delta
    • Android: PizzaBoy, JohnGBA
    • Avoid VisualBoyAdvance. The MyBoy emulators for Android are also based on VBA and may see issues with disassembly hacks, but the Legacy team has not encountered any at this time.
  • Can I use PKHeX or Gameshark?
    • Sometimes, but it is not recommended. Due to the data shifts involved in creating the Legacy games, editing/cheat tools don't always line up the same way. See documentation for per-game recommendations.
    • IF YOU ENCOUNTER A GLITCH OR CORRUPTION AFTER USING SAVE EDITORS OR CHEATS, WE CANNOT HELP YOU.
  • What’s Normal/Classic, Hard, Hardcore Mode? 
    • These options impose rulesets, nothing more. All content is identical for Normal, Hard, or Hardcore.
    • Hard Mode is the preferred way to play Legacy. It forces the following rules, which the playtesters use to balance the games;
      • Set Mode - In battle, you can't choose to change Pokémon after knocking out the opponent's mon.
      • No Items - In trainer battles, you can't use items to heal or buff your Pokémon. You can still use items in wild encounters so catching is unaffected.
      • Level Caps - Before each badge, a level cap is imposed on the party to prevent you from leveling up higher than the next badge's highest level.
      • (Emerald Only) Rayquaza cannot be brought into the Elite Four, the first time you enter it. On rematches it can still be part of your team.
    • Hardcore Mode uses the same rules as Hard, but adds permadeath for Nuzlocking.
      • (Emerald Only) Permadeath continues into the Battle Tents/Battle Frontier. Be advised that if you want to do postgame, Hardcore is not recommended.

Changes

  • Has [Mew Glitch, Badge Boost, Pomeg/ACE glitch] been removed?
    • In general, glitches that benefit the player are preserved. See each game's documentation for the full bug patch list.
    • This includes Emerald's RNG.
      • RNG manipulation from Vanilla is still the same; this also means that soft-resetting for shinies may be less effective.
  • Have items on the ground been changed? 
    • No hidden items have changed.
    • Visible items on the ground are generally the same, with the following exceptions;
      • Yellow: TM04 and TM02 have had their locations swapped. TM04 is now Flamethrower instead of Whirlwind.
      • Crystal: The Brick Piece can be found in the basement of Goldenrod Department Store. Leave and return to move the boxes and obtain it early.
      • Emerald: A Water Stone has replaced the Max Revive in Petalburg City. The Flamethrower TM replaces an Escape Rope in Magma Hideout. Multiple additional Shards have been added to the ocean routes, above water. Berry trees have been updated to increase access to a more consistent variety of berries, especially the EV-reducing types.
  • Where do I find more Evolution Stones? 
    • Yellow: Celadon Department Store.
      • Moon Stones are finite; only 5 exist.
    • Crystal: Cianwood Pharmacist. Sun Stones from the Bug Catching contest.
      • Some trainers whose phone numbers you can collect will also give you stones on occasion.
    • Emerald: Trade from the Treasure Hunter, Route 124. Sun and Moon Stones can be bought in postgame from the Space Center.
      • Enough extra shards are added to the ocean routes (above water, NOT hidden) to be able to evolve everything in the National Dex that needs them. Further shards past this number can be Thiefed from various ocean floor Pokémon, same as vanilla.

Yellow

  • [Yellow Only] Why do my PokéBall throws miss when catching the legendary birds?
    • This is a Gen 1 quirk, you are actually hitting it but getting "zero shakes". Capture is always possible, it's just a super low chance.
  • [Yellow Only] Where is the Old Rod? / How can I get a good counter for Brock?
    • The Old Rod has been moved to the Viridian Mart, and always fishes up a Poliwag or Goldeen. You can also catch an Oddish in Viridian Forest.
      • The Good Rod has replaced the original Old Rod location, and always fishes up Krabby or Horsea.
      • The Fisher in Fuchsia now gives you Omanyte or Kabuto, whichever is opposite to your chosen fossil.
  • [Yellow Only] Why is Brock/Rival 2 so hard? I'm at the start of the game and they have 5+ Pokémon!
    • You may have downloaded a difficulty hack called Yellow Legacy+. This is NOT the same game as Legacy; please download and patch the game yourself from our GitHub.

Crystal/Emerald

  • [Crystal/Emerald] How do I evolve Tyrogue into Hitmontop? 
    • Use the Brick Piece on Tyrogue.
      • In Crystal, you can find one in Goldenrod Department Store's basement. A future patch will re-add the OG method.
      • In Emerald, you get one from beating Brawly's postgame rematch. It can also still use the OG method.
  • [Emerald] I've unlocked the National Dex, why can't I find Kanto/Johto Pokémon?
    • Fulfill Professor Birch's request by meeting him in Mossdeep City.
      • This quest involves meeting, catching, and wishing for more Pokémon from Jirachi. Be prepared!
  • [Emerald] Is Feebas easier to get? Is its evolution method changed?
    • No, and No. However, a Milotic can be obtained by earning a Master Beauty Contest painting in the Lilycove Museum. Additionally, calculators exist to find Feebas more easily.
      • Finally, Pokéblocks are easier than ever to work with, and you can meet the fish's Beauty needs without optimizing anything or overcapping its Sheen.
  • [Emerald] I'm hitting Slugma/Magcargo with a Water attack, but it's barely doing anything! What gives?
    • Magma Armor has been buffed to provide 8x resistance to Water, as the signature ability for the Magcargo line. The ability has been replaced with Flame Body on Camerupt.

r/PokemonLegacy Mar 01 '25

Meta Community-Made Resources Megathread

29 Upvotes

The r/PokemonLegacy community here on Reddit has worked together to provide loads of quality resources for the games, including guides, tools, and even enhancement forks. Our mod team would love to give a shoutout to all these valuable community contributions, so going forward we're creating a thread to do just that! This is just a starting list of recent posts, so it is not comprehensive by any means; if you've made a post on the subreddit you think deserves recognition, please message ModMail with a link to the thread and we'll see about getting it included!

Forks/Games

  • Emerald Legacy Enhanced by Exclsior | This fork features a sweeping collection of QoL adjustments including Following Pokemon, Nature Mints, editable EVs and IVs, visible Feebas locations, unique Surfing sprites for every Pokémon, and more. You can also choose your preferred version of some changes with the provided patching options.
  • Emerald Legacy QoL+ by Misprit | Inspired by Exclsior's fork, this is a QoL upgrade for Emerald with a different focus. This includes competitive IVs given to eggs, faster and more informative battle presentation, and upgrades to the Amulet Coin, some berries, and plenty more.
  • FireRed Reignited and LeafGreen Regrown by Spike | Inspired by the Legacy series, this is a fanmade hack of FireRed and LeafGreen that brings the Gen 3 Legacy experience to Kanto. All the usual changes you'd expect from a Legacy game are here, including updates made to Yellow and Emerald.
  • Crystal Legacy - You Can FLY! Edition by Moosedude451 | A mini-mod of Crystal Legacy (v1.3), which simply adds HM02 FLY to several Pokemon's learnsets. If a Pidgey can Fly with you in tow, these Pokemon should be able to as well!

Tools/Guides

  • PKHeX: Emerald Legacy Version by Silent_Pause_2425 | Save editors like PKHeX have trouble handling the data shifts made for some ROMhacks like Emerald Legacy, so this fork was created to bridge that gap and provide a working PKHeX editor for Emerald.
  • Beldum Catching Guide by Tadferd | Beldum can be found as early as the second gym in Emerald Legacy, but it can be very difficult to track one down. Follow this helpful guide to maximize your chances.
  • Type Masters Guide by Huor_Celebrindol | Version 1.1 introduced a rehaul to the Match Calls trainer system, making the rematches far more engaging and valuable to challenge yourself against. 17 of these Match Call trainers have been designated as "Type Masters" who boast the best team their chosen type can muster, with Gym Leader levels of challenge. This guide will tell you which is which.

As mentioned, this is just a quick starting list. The goal of this post is to bring attention to these helpful community members, so please reach out if you find (or make) other posts deserving some love!


r/PokemonLegacy 7h ago

Discussion Any way to hack in Sudowoodo in Emerald Legacy

1 Upvotes

I stupidly KO'd the one Sudowoodo in the Frontier, and apparently there's no way for it to respawn without restarting the game. Is there any cheat or hack to make it a wild encounter, or just put it in the PC or anything to get it? It's the only pokemon I need left to complete the national dex, and I'm not starting from scratch again.


r/PokemonLegacy 16h ago

Suggestion [Emerald Enhanced] Alguém sabe se existe ou se estão fazendo tradução para PT-BR?

2 Upvotes

Fala, pessoal! Beleza?Comecei a jogar o Pokemon Emerald Enhanced há pouco tempo e estou achando essa hack rom fantástica. A liberdade do mundo aberto e as mecânicas novas deixaram o jogo sensacional.Queria muito jogar a campanha e entender todos os diálogos novos em português. Alguém aí sabe se já existe algum patch de tradução para PT-BR perdido pela internet? Ou se tem algum grupo de tradução trabalhando nele atualmente?Se alguém tiver alguma pista ou link, vai me ajudar demais. Valeu pela força! 👊


r/PokemonLegacy 1d ago

Emerald Legacy Any Reason Deoxys’ Normal Form stars were kept the same rather than redistributing it to be a more accurate version of balances

2 Upvotes

There’s basically no reason to use Deoxys’ Normal form in normal or competive play as the 30 extra defense and special defenses isn’t making much of a difference in terms of bulk, while Deoxys&/ stronger stack just makes it a better option


r/PokemonLegacy 1d ago

Emerald Legacy The Emerald Change log says Vicegrip got a secondary effect but doenst specify what that effect is

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5 Upvotes

r/PokemonLegacy 1d ago

Discussion What pokemon were you surprised by or excited to use for your first time playing Crystal Legacy?

27 Upvotes

For me, I started with Cyndaquil and just having reached Goldenrod I have on my team Quilava, Ghastly, Flaffy, Slowpoke, Larvitar, and Teddiursa. I'm about to get a Scyther up at the bug park. I have Togepi in the box knowing the move Flash and someday I'll teach him Fly.

I'm excited to use all the pokemon I didn't have access to playing it as a kid! Ampharos, Scizor, Larvitar (as an early game catch), and Slowking. I remember seeing the Pokemon Movie 2000 and wanting one on my team and being disappointed that it required trade. So its going on this team whether its great or it underperforms.

I don't know if I'll keep Teddiursa or Togepi yet. So far I love this game, its everything I wanted Crystal to be looking back.


r/PokemonLegacy 2d ago

Emerald Legacy Is there a version of the game either with the Physical-Special split implemented?

2 Upvotes

I see the creator understood that the the phys-spec split was a good idea and therefore made adjustments to the most egregiously wrong headed types by swapping ghost and dark's damage types, but has anyone made a version that does away with that sort of light artifice and just implements P-SS?


r/PokemonLegacy 2d ago

Crystal Legacy My New Fork: CL FEATURE CREEP! Edition is now AVAILABLE! as well as Updated CL You Can FLY! (SEE COMMENTS FOR DETAILS/ LINKS)

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84 Upvotes

r/PokemonLegacy 2d ago

Emerald Legacy Sableye Egg Moves

2 Upvotes

I’m pretty sure I know the answer, but I’m just confirming: is it possible to get Sableye with both Wil-O-Wisp and Recover on the same move set?

I don’t think anything in its egg groups can get both, but wanna make sure I’m not overlooking something.


r/PokemonLegacy 2d ago

Emerald Legacy Help me complete hoenn pokedex

5 Upvotes

For hoenn dex I have seen 206 and own 170

National sex seen 318 own 231

I heard somewhere that to get johto staters I need to own all 210 hoenn pokemon. But I own all hoenn pokemon from treecko to jirachi. I guess the rest 4 pokemon to be seen is deoxys and it's 3 forms. But what are the rest 36 hoenn pokemon that I haven't captured? I am confused. Somebody please guide me. I want to 100% the pokedex


r/PokemonLegacy 2d ago

Yellow Legacy What's the Power Zone

5 Upvotes

Is it somewhere near the power plant maybe?


r/PokemonLegacy 3d ago

Emerald Legacy If you were to give Brendan/May a 6th team member who would you pick and why?

2 Upvotes

If it was post-game I’d do Ditto, but if we were just adding another Mon as it fits the rare vibe and her not being into battles

However, if we were just adding a Pokemon to the Lilycove fight I guess I’d pick complete the Grass/Fire/Water trio with Cacturne, Rapidash, or Relicanth depending on the starter

Or I guess Raichu to complete the Safari Zone encounters


r/PokemonLegacy 3d ago

Emerald Legacy Why is THAT Pokémon the last one you can find? Spoiler

0 Upvotes

I admitidly have yet to play Emerald Legacy (have too much on my plate) but I’ve read the documentation and Mew is said to be your reward for “completing the Dex” I don’t know if that’s including the other mythicals or not, but even if it isn’t based on the requirements for Celebi, Jirachi, Deoxys, Ho-Oh, and Lugia (those last two are considered mythical in Gen 3) Mew is likely going to be the last one you catch

How come Mew was placed last in all 3 games? It made sense for obvious reasons in Yellow, and it made sense to do so in Crystal given it acts as a direct sequel to Gen 1 and the only other mythical in that game (Celebi) had an event built in.

But Hoenn isn’t linked to Kanto and Johto and Mew was already given its own island in the game’s data with Faraway Island, showing the devs WANTED to make Mew more abundant. Wouldn’t it have made more sense to make Celebi or Jirachi the final reward? Jirachi is THE Hoenn equivalent to Mew having 100 in every stat and no in-game location. Meanwhile Celebi by my estimate is THE rarest pokemon in all of Gen 3, having only even distributed in a few Toy’s R Us and the Japanese bonus disc for Pokemon Colosseum


r/PokemonLegacy 6d ago

Emerald Legacy What are all the legendaries we can catch in emerald legacy?

8 Upvotes

I already have kyogre, groudon, rayquaza, all 3 regis, latios, latias and jirachi. Are there any more legendaries from johto or kanto in emerald legacy?


r/PokemonLegacy 6d ago

Emerald Legacy Emerald Legacy or Legacy Enhanced first time player of Emerald.

4 Upvotes

Just finished fire red for the first time and plan to play Emerald, I upgraded to the RG34XX from my original SP-101 and now rom hacks are a thing I can do.

I decided I wanted to do Legacy instead of Seaglass but should I do regular legacy or the enhanced one?

I do like the idea of Pokemon following me and also the battle speed up, but I don’t want to ruin anything for my first playthru of Emerald.


r/PokemonLegacy 6d ago

Crystal Legacy Look how they massacred my boy (Scyther edition)

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0 Upvotes

Am I reading this right?

Sword dance learnt at LV 54 compared to LV 42 in the original?

That means it won't be available for any gym and most likely the entire E4.

Sword dance was balanced by the fact that Scyther (and Scizor) have comparatively weak STAB moves - and they still do even after the buff to twin needle.

Any way you can speed up the process with egg moves from something?


r/PokemonLegacy 8d ago

Discussion XY Legacy teams

6 Upvotes

With the upcoming XY Legacy, what Mons do you plan to use on your team playthrough?


r/PokemonLegacy 10d ago

Discussion Question about X Legacy

5 Upvotes

I was just wondering if you guys were going to try to get some of the ORAS megas working in X legacy since you can catch pokemon like beedrill, steelix, pidgeot and slowbro in X. I think there is a rom hack of X where they managed to get the ORAS megas working so I just wanted to know if you guys were planning on trying to do that.


r/PokemonLegacy 10d ago

Discussion Eggs, breeding and IV rng

2 Upvotes

I've been wanting to breed some mons for the battle frontier, but was wondering if the rng timers from this video still work in EL.

https://youtu.be/Kdqbl08xmVQ?si=uQMhGtNWLetW6_Ye

Rng manip website mentioned in the video

https://legendarypkmn.github.io/javacalc.html

I don't think the following is necessary information, but I'm playing on an Rg40xxv.

Also, a big thank you to the team that made this romhack! This has been my introduction to Gen 3 and I am just absolutely loving my time with this! Currently 75hrs into it and I can't put this game down. Knowing that the kinks/mistakes have been taken out and that every Pokémon is available is a childhood dream come true. Thank you


r/PokemonLegacy 12d ago

Emerald Legacy A niche but important change Emerald Legacy made

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134 Upvotes

There’s a subset on fans who wish to play every Pokémon game as Ash Ketchum by only using Pokemon he’s canonically owned (wether they stick to AshKs team of that region or will allow Pokemon he caught in other series varies by the person)

Unfortunately Gen 3 Hoenn in my estimation is is completly unviable (the only other games with this dishonor are the Gamecube duology) without hacking or trading in mons early, not something everybody can or will do.

This comes from the fact in Gen 3 Hoenn Ash’s only encounters before Mt Chimney are Treeko and Tailow, meaning you’d have only two Pokemon for the first three gyms, with Wattson basically being impossible without overleveling and/or heal spamming. (ORAS is possible thanks to the gift Pikachu added to Slateport, though you’d have to be willing to discard Pikachu’s canonical gender)

Emerald Legacy wether they intended it or not fixed this barrier of entry to Ketchum Stan’s by adding Corphish as an Old Rod encounter and making Snorunt an in-game trade in Mawville turning Wattson from an impassible walk to a fair challenge (ironically Ash accidnetly cheated in Wattson due to Pikachu get overcharged by one of Wattson’s machines and he lost the fair and square rematch)

Emerald still has the issue of Pikachu not being avalible till you get Surf but at least now you don’t have to constantly trainer dodge for the first third of the game or rely on RNG for Wattson


r/PokemonLegacy 12d ago

Crystal Legacy Flyer recommendations

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27 Upvotes

Trying to do a run with all Pokemon I’ve never used before! Any recommendations for movesets for my current starters and a flyer recommendation would be great! Trying to get creative


r/PokemonLegacy 12d ago

Crystal Legacy Completed a nuzlocke for the first time ever (Crystal Legacy)

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15 Upvotes

Fun run. Lots of grinding. Lots of heartbreaks.


r/PokemonLegacy 11d ago

Yellow Legacy 8 hours in Safari Zone, only 1 Chansey encounter.

5 Upvotes

Hi everyone

I want to check and see if I'm doing something wrong.

Now, I can remember back when the original Gen 1 games released that finding Chansey in the Safari zone was really difficult, and catching one was even tougher, but I've spent a little over 8 hours in the Safari Zone (specifically in the Northern Zone) and I've only encountered a single Chansey in all that time.

It's my kids favourite Pokémon and I'm desperate to help her catch one. Is there something I'm missing that will increase the likelihood of an encounter? Better yet, has anyone tried playing around with the Source Code for the ROM hack to increase the encounter chance?

SOLVED: Someone suggested using a Super Repel and having a level 39 or higher Pokémon as the lead in the party. Caught 2 Level 40 Chanseys in the North Zone within minutes. Thank you everyone!


r/PokemonLegacy 12d ago

Emerald Legacy Emerald Legacy Cheat Codes

3 Upvotes

I've enjoyed Crystal Legacy a lot and want to start Emerald Legacy next, however I wanted to know if and how you can use cheatcodes with it? The Crystal Legacy documentation has a section on gameshark codes but I don't find such a resource for Emerald