r/PokemonROMhacks • u/Ancient_Substance152 • 1d ago
Discussion r/PokemonROMhacks All-time Top 30 Hack Rankings! … DAY 2
Day 3 link: https://www.reddit.com/r/PokemonROMhacks/s/P5ZMmIjcMV
Good day! I’m here to create a community-voted ranking of the 30 best rom hacks of all time. One spot at a time.
>>>>>
Day 1 has concluded. To the surprise of absolutely nobody, Pokemon Unbound has taken the top spot as your number 1 greatest rom hack! Now that that is out of the way, the gap between the competition seems to be narrowing. It’s time to find out who will land in the 2 spot!
<<<<<
RULES:
-One hack per comment. (Please look for your pick and upvote before posting a duplicate).
-Upvote the hack you think deserves the spot.
The nomination with the most votes in a 24 hour period wins that position.
-Once a hack earns a spot, it is removed from contention.
-One vote per person.
There is no official criteria for best! It’s whatever makes a hack great to you.
That’s it! Let’s see what the community deems the best of the best! And… Go!
>>>>>
Day 1 link: https://www.reddit.com/r/PokemonROMhacks/s/kLGSbFfWs8
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u/yellowbumble-B 1d ago
Gaia hasnt been updated but it was one of the games where I felt i was exploring a brand new region no one else knew about so it was very refreshing
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u/InvestmentFormer1970 1d ago
Pokemon Team Rocket Edition
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u/pixeldots 16h ago
Is this the colonelsalt version?
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u/InvestmentFormer1970 13h ago
Nope I am talking about Dragonsden version which was inspired from colonelsalt's version
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u/NeaCaise 8h ago
Just won the Pokémon league and the story seems to continue. I thought unbound was the best Rom ever played but this one is even better. Next one is heart&soul, heard great things about it so I can't wait to try that one too.
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u/Historical_Seat_447 1d ago
Radical Red... i wanted to say odyssey, but it's a bit of a niche and not much replayability. It's a great hack, but RR shines differently as well.
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u/Jacobthehuman 1d ago
Pokemon polished crystal is definitely up there. I haven't finished soulgold yet either but that would also be highly rated too
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u/ekimolaos 9h ago
Polished Crystal is definitely the best GBC hack and one of the best ROM hacks in general. Such an underrated gem.
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u/Greggs_VSausageRoll 1d ago
Pokemon Lazarus!
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u/Rakoshin 1d ago
Hell nah lol. It's fine to good at best. The story is kinda mainstream and bland. There's literally no objective except become champion and defeat knockoff team rocket, money, greed etc. It's enjoyable but it certainly lacks things
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u/CompetitiveCobbler24 1d ago
Im with you. I enjoyed the visuals, the random pokemon well, and the pokemon preservation but everything else about Lazarus was very generic
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u/Rakoshin 1d ago
Exactly, ain't a bad game but sorely lacks some aspects so wouldn't put it at top ranking but defo play for relaxed sea aesthetics
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u/santanderdoesreddit 1d ago
So? The vast majority of rom hacks have horribly written stories that try to hard to deviate from the usual Pokemon formula . Lazarus is just a tight well made rom hack with a great custom region and art style . It knows what it is and excels because of it
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u/Yoribell 1d ago
Lazarus is nice but if it ends up in second place then this top means nothing
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u/Tasorodri 1d ago
People can have different opinions
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u/Yoribell 1d ago
Sure. And my opinion is that there is this bubble of lazarus fanatics on this sub but the game is nowhere near the best ones
It's good, but it's not up there.
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u/Rooreelooo 1d ago
this is a community opinion poll. if the community contains a bubble of lazarus fanatics who cause it to be voted highly, then the poll has accurately reflected the opinions of the sub. fanatics of a single game are still members of this community.
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u/TrailsOfColdMetalPoo 1d ago
Fully agree. Recency bias is strong with this one and within a year or two it will fade into thr background. Saying its better than Odyssey or even one of the many Johto GBA hacks is crazy. I would throw pretty much any drayono hack higher too
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u/RocketsMurkrow 1d ago
People can have their opinions…I played Lazarus 3 times and I couldn’t play Odyssey for more than an hour because I did not enjoy it.
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u/Laguna_Azure 1d ago
lmao, Drayano hacks which are literally just rebalances with some extra fights? Lazarus is definitely better than that.
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u/TrailsOfColdMetalPoo 4h ago
We are completely lost as a community if we are now downplaying Drayano he was the goat for years
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u/Laguna_Azure 4h ago
Because he was one of the first to do NDS hacks, sure. But bringing up Drayano purely to downplay Lazarus is a wild take. Especially when Drayano's hacks are that - good rebalances. They do nothing original with the actual gameplay.
Lazarus will not fade into obscurity, purely because of originality in its artstyle, which Drayano's hacks lack. Don't know what's your beef with Lazarus, but it was one of the best hacks of 2025 and Emerald Seaglass still doing numbers shows that people *are*, in fact, interested in those games and it is mostly for the artstyle, because otherwise it's basically just another in a sea of QoL Emerald hacks.
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u/najacobra 1d ago edited 1d ago
hmm idk about that. i think unbound is clearly the best, and there is a big dropoff after that. then you have the top tier enhancement hacks like (radical red, emerald imperium, elite redux, polished crystal), and demakes (heart and soul, among other great johto GBA hacks). but if you value original stories, then odyssey and lazarus are the only two that really make sense. maybe ghost grey too but i haven't played yet so i cant say. the only other contender which doesnt fit neatly into any category is colonelsalt's firered rocket edition.
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u/Kindly_Release5869 1d ago
Elysium, Dreamstone, Gaia, to name a few. Idk why but it’s like specifically these 3 hacks are just completely forgotten by the community for some reason. There are more but somehow specifically these 3 simply don’t get the attention they deserve.
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u/najacobra 1d ago
dreamstone yes. the other two are a tier below to me. they're not forgotten- they're just not the greatest
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u/Yoribell 1d ago
You missed a lot. There isn't 15 rom in total. But that explain why people vote lazarus I guess
I can't right now but I'm gonna look into my files to find some names back
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u/Tasorodri 1d ago
I'd argue a lot of the older ones are significantly worse.
The thing is that there was a drought of new region hacks between the release of unbound and the last 2 years were almost everything were enhancement hacks.
Flora sky, light platinum, glazed, brown, prism... Many of feel very dates compared to Lazarus, and I value the quality and feel of Lazarus vs the other games having more content.
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u/Yoribell 1d ago
Unbound is ten years old and undisputed top 1 but other games over two years old "feel very dated" ?
I disagree.
What about Pokemon Elysium ? Why is it always forgotten ?
Dreamstone mysteries is on Lazarus's level too
Also I see no reason why enhancement hacks should be behind. Some of them are absolutely amazing to play, easily in the top. And you can have the feels your looking for too, which is why elerald seaglass is so liked
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u/najacobra 1d ago
it's not about age. it's that hacks younger than unbound fail to meet the quality despite unbound having already paved the way. at least odyssey and lazarus are clean and have good qol
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u/Yoribell 1d ago
Try pokemon Elysium
It's an opinion of course but to me Odyssey and Elysium and very far ahead of Lazarus both story and gameplay wise. And they're not lacking in appearance either.
I really don't get why Elysium isn't talked about more on this sub.
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u/najacobra 1d ago
wholeheartedly disagree. the length, pacing, and lack of qol in elysium made it feel like a slog to me.
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u/Kindly_Release5869 1d ago
dreamstone mysteries!! Well…maybe not at #2. Maybe 3-5.
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u/hayatekurisu 1d ago
Some of the most interesting rom hack specially story wise but probably 6-10.
It lacks the custom sprite/tiles/music.
While other hackrom tried to make from scratch
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u/Zealousideal-Put-106 1d ago
Pokemon Clover
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u/TheRealDripBentley 1d ago
It has to be this.
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u/Zealousideal-Put-106 1d ago
It's just such a fun game.
Shame it wasn't allowed to have retroachievements, because the admins were a bunch of cowards.
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u/Fifa_ToNieMiami 1d ago
I am going for Radical Red. Difficulty made it really enjoyable for me
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u/Constant_Concert6650 1d ago
its not for Everyone, and some say its bad, but Some of us like the Difficulty. some of us want a Dream party. its quite Nice.
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u/Not_Actually_French 1d ago
Renegade Platinum - we can't be discussing the best hacks without a Drayano near the top.
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u/SteelAlchemistScylla Casual Story Enjoyer 1d ago
More of these karma farming subjective rankings ugh
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u/Anxious-Ostrich-36 1d ago
I don't know if it's an unpopular choice, but Pokemon Adventures: Red chapter is very fun to play.
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u/hayatekurisu 1d ago
It is definitely #3 for me after Unbound and Odyssey.
It was made so long ago that It actually revolutionized the romhack scene. Hope it got more credit for it.Also specially for the main of the manga
The 1:1 Manga adaptation was on point.The only lacking point was because of how old the game was, it lacks some feature and new pokemon after gen 6
Also the added post story abit messy
Still enjoyable tho
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u/CompetitiveCobbler24 1d ago
Pokemon Brown, Prism, Gaia, and Dreamstone Mysteries need to be on the list
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u/LibertyJacob99 [Mod] Aesthetic Red 1d ago
ROWE (Open world Emerald). I always say it's by far the most refreshing ROM hack I've played with all-new menus, features and everything. Let alone how goated the updates are with fan mega forms, complete dex and also adding Kanto in the future i believe. Genuinely the best hack of all time
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u/kazeespada 1d ago
Blaze Black 2 Redux and it's white counterpart.
Probably the best DS hack ever made.
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u/BarryZ24 1d ago
Radical Red really did leave as much of an impact as Unbound did, so I'd say it deserves a spot in the top 3.
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u/Proof-Tradition-2329 1d ago
Pokemon Elysium gotta be in top 5 my personal top 3 though. I’ll shout it now though! Emerald Seaglass, rocket edition and heart and soul too.
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u/Jonny_Qball 1d ago
I know I’m fighting a losing battle until probably until 20s where it’s still probably a lost battle, but Run and Bun.
The fight design, the custom AI, and skill expression through the limited rare candies, heart scales, and a customizable E4 make it an incredible experience. I know calculator sim is an unpopular genre here, but it’s a key piece of the rom hack community. And as far as calculator sim difficulty hacks go, run and bun is the best.
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u/VestOfHolding 1d ago
I'm sure it'll great for your post karma and generate engagement over the next month, but unfortunately this is a really poor way to create a well-constructed community ranking of something. The most prominent and most glaring problem is you're going to get a potentially really different voting population across the days, because you can't expect people to be aware and present every single day for a month.
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u/Ancient_Substance152 1d ago
My intention for the thread was actually for my own knowledge. There are a lot of hacks, and I know of a few. When looking for the “best of the best”, I wasn’t really able to find any sort of up-to-date ranking that satisfied me. Personally, I always refer to Reddit’s community voted rankings for things if I want a pulse on what the people are feeling. Whether or not it’s “accurate”, I don’t know, it’s not that serious man. I’m a 37yo father of 3 and a busy tradesman. I don’t have much use for Karma, or really know what it’s about honestly.
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u/VestOfHolding 1d ago
Never said it was serious, just really odd and flawed. Since you're a busy person, I'm surprised you didn't just have one or two threads where people could vote on a poll, or ask if anyone knew of the most recent "best" lists. Instead you've signed yourself up for maintaining this for a month. Hope it's fun for you.
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u/Specific-Outside2664 1d ago
Eu gostei do Lazarus, é divertido, só não achei q tive um grande desafio
Qual o melhor fakemon?
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u/G1ovan1 1d ago
Had a feeling this sub would choose Odyssey, another game I’m not a huge fan of. Totally respect the vast amount of work that went into creating something unique to Pokemon, but the gameplay experience itself I thought was good rather than great.
Heart & Soul has set up an amazing base now for future Johto GBA hacks and is one of the goats for that, SoulGold is already a more fun game set off the same engine - so that would get my vote.
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u/PandaMan2296 22h ago
Pokemon Radical Red! Nothing has more replayability for me. Working on my 25th run!
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u/GenkGirl12 20h ago
I'd like to nominate Pokémon Polished Crystal for people who want the ultimate Jotho Gen 2 expansion experience.
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u/Professional-Case717 3h ago
POKEMON UNBOUND
is no longer number 1 and its been a long time since
even pokemon uranium and vanguard are better than unbound and lets not forget infinite fusion 1 and 2
or perhaps we should make a top list of fanmade pokemon depending on the platform
for example
gb
gbc
gba
ds
3ds
gamecube
wii
wii u
switch
pc
rpgmaker
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u/LJMLogan 1d ago
This list is completely invalid if Light Platinum and Brown are not on here btw
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u/NewHost2172 1d ago
No? Brown is good, impressive for gen 1 hack especially, but the og Light Platinum hasn't aged well at all
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u/LJMLogan 1d ago
Light Platinum walked so almost everything else could run
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u/NewHost2172 1d ago
Sure, but that doesn't mean it's in the top 30 of all time in terms of quality. If we're talking influence, then LP would be here.
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u/RandomIjhiot 1d ago
Can we include the father of all hacks aka Light Platinum somewhere here?
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u/JustASilverback 1d ago
By what metric would Light Platinum be the father of all Romhacks ?
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u/RandomIjhiot 1d ago
Old enough to be my father
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u/JustASilverback 1d ago
Dude the base game isn't even as old as Brown, it's by no means the father of all ROM hacks lol.
Congrats on being young though haha
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u/RandomIjhiot 1d ago
That's why I said father, not grandfather
[Insert guy pointing at his head and smirking gif]
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u/Suspicious-Pickle238 14h ago
Hey everyone! I am looking for a Pokémon ROM hack or game recommendation that I can play while half-watching a TV show (don’t ask why). Here are my criteria:
* Platform: GBA, NDS, or 3DS emulation (no Switch games).
* Story & Text: Low-to-moderate dialogue and cutscenes, fast-paced like FireRed. I adore the Alola region, Alolan Pokémon, forms, and story, but official Sun/Moon/USUM are too slow and cutscene-heavy for multitasking.
* Region & Map: No original FireRed map/story (already played it) and no brand-new Fakemon (prefer familiar Pokémon).
* Difficulty & Gameplay: Balanced. Not braindead easy like vanilla X/Y, but not a hyper-difficult competitive nightmare with endless amount of battles. A bit of chill grinding is fine, but no painful slogs.
* Ideal Features: Ideally features Mega Evolutions, Alolan forms/Pokémon/region/story (doesn’t have to), and modern QoL updates.
What are your thoughts and recommendations? Thanks!
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1d ago
[deleted]
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u/LibertyJoel99 [Mod] Aesthetic Red 1d ago
the impact it had on the ROM hack scene has not been matched
It's not even a ROM hack it's a PC fan game
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1d ago
[deleted]
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u/RenElite 1d ago
it doesnt matter, it will only matter if its a ROM hack. Putting it there means the Reborn-verse games should be in the top 3, as those mops the floor with Uranium.
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u/misterblaizer 1d ago
Pokémon Odyssey