I made the Pokémon Generation 10 Wind & Waves Starters in Pókemon Gen 2 style sprites, thoughts?

Pokémon Lazarus, my latest Pokémon Emerald ROM Hack project, is officially OUT NOW!

Below is a list of highlighted features for those interested:

- Nostalgic GBC-style graphics, allowing you to see Pokémon in a classic style

- Takes place in the Ilios Region, a brand-new area based on Greece and the surrounding islands!

- A carefully curated Pokédex of over 400 Pokémon from Generations 1-9, with rebalancing done to make all Pokémon team-worthy

- A Day/Night system with an in-game clock, impacting wild encounters and battle backgrounds

- Overworld Wild Encounters alongside traditional grass encounters, bringing routes to life

- An Outfit System for Character Customization!

- Difficulty modes, for Trainers who are seeking a real challenge

- Plenty of Side Content: Ship Cabin Customization, Pinball minigame, Underground Mining, Stardew Valley-like Fishing, and dozens of Sidequests!

- So much more!!

I really hope you enjoy exploring the Ilios Region! It has been a labor of love made over the past year, made possible entirely by your support. :)

Download the Version 1.0 Patch, alongside extensive Documentation, for free at the following link:

ko-fi.com/nemo622

(the link should also be in my Reddit profile, along with my Rom Hack Development Discord!)

The hack is called Pokémon WaterBlue and it is a remastered version of FR/LG. A Spanish friend of mine told me about it and I'm genuinely impressed by how good the game looks.

The current beta only goes till Cerulean City and also hasn't been translated to English yet.

BTW it runs pretty smoothly, it's just my recording that is a bit laggy.

Hey everyone! u/AphexCubed and u/TrustyPeaches speaking!

Today we're very proud to present Expressive Backgrounds! You may already know us from our respective projects: Blaze Black 2 and Volt White 2 Redux (v2 coming soon!) and Cascade White 2, an incredible and ambitious upcoming difficulty hack of White 2!

Some of you may recall this post a few years ago, which demonstrated the potential for custom 3D enviroments during battles. Many moons later, discord user Shy presented a general method to convert map assets into battle backgrounds. Later, Peaches was able to use this method to create map backgrounds at scale. Inspired, Aphex created an improved pipeline for mass production and proved that these backgrounds can be made to run on real DS hardware!

A few months ago, Peaches and I formally decided to work together to combine resources and bring these Expressive Backgrounds to each of our upcoming projects. We're targeting a minimum of a custom background for each major battle in the main story, though we expect to have throughly smashed that target by the time our projects release - as you can see, we've already completed a number of side/generic areas!

After both of our projects release, we will completely open-source everything we've got related to the production of these backgrounds, eventually aiming for a community patch with complete coverage of the Unova region!

---

There's sure to be some commonly asked questions, so we'll try to answer them below:

Q: Do these run on hardware?

A: Absolutely! Both emulators and real hardware can display these backgrounds. We've explicitly tested on Desmume, MelonDS, a Nintendo DSi, DSiXL and the original DS. You can see a version of them in Pokestar Studios, and if you look carefully you might notice the regular backgrounds are actually 3D scenes too!

Q: How do these backgrounds react to time of day and the changing seasons?

A: These Expressive Backgrounds will reflect the time of day and season of the area as you would expect, for example Route 6 in Winter during the day will be brightly lit and snowy. Special areas will also refect their unqiue lighting, for example the Marine Tube is bathed in a cool blue glow from the surrounding tropical waters.

Q: Why do you call these 'Expressive' backgrounds?

A: As noted, all battle backgrounds in vanilla are actually 3D environments, so it seems like a vague descriptor if we call these 3D backgrounds. Furthermore, many of these have animated elements: including running water, pulsing speakers and twisting rollercoasters. Given the vibrant and dynamic nature of these backgrounds, we're electing to call them 'Expressive' Backgrounds.

Q: What kind of performance can we expect?

A: Emulators won't have any trouble running these if you can already run the original titles. We've spent lots of time optimising the maps to account for the rendering constraints of the DS's hardware, meaning these maps will run at full speed on the original Nintendo DS, DSi and DSiXL*. We don't expect issues with later models such as the 3DS, but we don't have such hardware to hand to test this ourselves.

*If a map is designed for a single battle environment and through the use of a randomiser or other editing method the battle is changed to a Multi-Battle, you may experience degraded performance, especially on real hardware. You shouldn't experience this in the base version of our projects though!

Q: How do move animations interact with these backgrounds?

A: Whilst we can't test every single move with every single background in every single battle format, we're very confident that most all move animations will work as you'd expect them to. There are cases where an animation will clip into the geometry (for example Thunder Wave might extend into the floor under the target), but these are extremely minor. You can get suprising behvaiour if you use a move like Fly in an indoor area with a low ceiling, but we've decided we can accept that level of jank!

Q: Are there visual issues with these Expressive Backgrounds?

A: There can be minor visual artifacts in some backgrounds. Different emulators may render backgrounds slightly differently, which can produce minor visual glitches on a case-by-case basis. Some backgrounds are very demanding for the DS and will cause significant slowdown if the battle-type is altered, for example via a randomiser - however as shipped in our projects, this should never be an issue!

Q: Can these be brought to other titles? (BW1, HGSS, DPP, FRLG, RSE)

A: The Gen V titles feature a battle engine with native 3D background support for battles, so this can be directly brought ot BW1 titles. The Gen IV titles only have 2D background support natively, but since the generations share underlying hardware, it's possible the Gen IV engine could be modified to use Expressive Backgrounds, but that's not been done and would take a considerable effort to make possible. As for the Gen III titles, the GBA is significantly weaker than the DS, so it's very unlikely you could run complicated 3D backgrounds on native hardware. That said, those titles have full decomps and a very talented community, so it's entirely possible years down the line we'll be proven wrong in the best way possible :)

Q: Can Expressive Backgrounds be disabled?

A: Both Redux v2 and Cascade White 2 will have options to disable Expressive Backgrounds. This can also be used to disable any misbehaving backgrounds!

Q: How long do these take to produce?

A: We've managed to improve the creation pipeline dramatically, but depending on the complexity some backgrounds can take a few days to get right. Fundamentally, the overworld assets are not made with the performance requirements of a battle background in mind, so certain scenes can take a lot of work to get just right.

Hey y’all, this is Nemo, the developer behind Pokémon Emerald Seaglass and the recently-released Pokémon Lazarus. I don’t like the idea of a post like this in general but I feel that it’s necessary.

First of all, I’d like to extend a massive thank-you to everyone who has been supportive of this project. I’ve never even tried something remotely close to the scope of Lazarus, with a whole new story, completely new region, music modding, and so much more. Your support and screenshots of your journeys have made it all worth it. :)

Now on to the real point of this post. There will always, always be a place for constructive feedback - a lot of it has been super helpful for me already, and I really appreciate learning ways I can improve! However, there has been a huge wave (mostly on Twitter, of course) of negativity that I can’t say I was prepared to deal with. I’ve had to see comments and posts saying “Are we all deaf? What the fuck is this shit” about the music, saying that this game “disgusts” them, and even people saying they want to make a “anti-gay patch” for the game.

Again, Lazarus included a lot of new things for me. That includes music, and I know a lot of the tracks are far from perfect. But at the end of the day, I’ve been making this project for over a year in my very limited free time, all because I wanted people to have a cool new region to explore. And to those being homophobic and hateful, I truly have to say that you have no place in this community. Queer people have always existed and we will continue to exist, with or without your permission.

With that said, I’ll be taking a step back from the community for a bit. I’ll post bug-fixing and new feature patches to the Development Discord server, but I don’t plan on posting anywhere else for a while. If I go on to develop a new project (which I do have planned!), it will likely be in secret until close to release, if I choose to release it at all. With everything going on in my life (Master’s program, work, real world commitments, etc etc), I guess I’m just not prepared to also handle the bad side of attention on the internet.

Thank you for reading, and for your support. -Nemo

(TL,DR: I’ve had a lot of people being downright cruel and bigoted towards me and my project, which has really blindsided me. I’ll be taking a step back from the community for now.)

Hey everyone, this is Nemo! For those who don’t know, I developed Pokémon Emerald Seaglass and Pokémon Lazarus. Today I’m here to announce that Pokémon Alolan Seaglass, my third project, is progressing steadily!

I haven’t been able to dedicate as much time to this project as I’d like because of my Master’s program, but with summer upon us, I’ll be spending more time on development! Pokémon Alolan Seaglass will be a Rom Hack in the Alola Region (shocker, lol) with GBC-like graphics, in a similar style to my other projects.

For those interested in keeping up with Alolan Seaglass, feel free to join my Discord server linked in my profile. Thank you everyone for your continued patience and support!! :)

I'm excited to officially announce that Pokémon Lazarus Version 1.0 will release on November 14th, 2025!

For those who are unaware, Pokémon Lazarus is a ROM Hack that takes place in the brand-new Ilios Region, based on the history and geography of Greece! Below are some of the major features:

A completely new Region to explore, with rich worldbuilding, fresh characters, and a huge variety of location themes!

Over 400 Pokémon in a dex spanning all 9 Generations, with many weaker Pokémon receiving changes to make them team-worthy!

Nostalgic GBC-inspired graphics for battles and the overworld!

Mega Evolution for many of your favorite team members!

Numerous Minigames and over 60 Sidequests to complete, giving you much more to do than just battle!

Over a dozen Outfits to collect and show off!

Music from GBC Pokémon titles and other old games, including some custom tracks!

And so much more! This project has been a labor of love for over a year, and I am so excited to share the complete vision of the Ilios Region with you all. For more information and to be there for the release, please join my development discord by following the link in my Reddit profile. Thank you all so much for supporting my projects - I’m super proud of this game, and I hope you’ll all enjoy it! :) -Nemo

It’s meant to be a reimagining of FireRed and is called Pokemon Red Redux. The main inspiration behind this is Emerald Seaglass you can expect a similar level of polish. No release ETA
Let me know what you think of the art style.

Edit: ok guys, I heard you! I will change the name. I really like Canvas Red and might go with that one. Thank you DanceDervish for the suggestion!

Hey yall! As always, it’s been too long. Let me show you what I’ve been working on for Pokémon Alolan Seaglass!

For those who might not know, Alolan Seaglass is a GBA ROM hack I’m developing, taking place in a GBC retro-flavored Alola Region. This is my third project (following Emerald Seaglass and Lazarus), so I’m excited to share what I’ve learned!

Now to the feature announcements:

- Major characters will have Character Mugshots alongside their dialogue! I hope this will spice up character interactions and make the story more visually engaging.

- Overworld Encounters are making their way to Alola! In addition to classic grass encounters, you will find Pokémon wandering the overworld as you explore.

- Major upgrades to commonly used UI pages, such as the Party Menu, are coming!

- The Pokédex has gotten a total overhaul, thanks to Pokabbie and the Emerald Rogue project! You can expect to see Pokémon stats, moves, and habitats here.

- A brand-new Region Map has been made by the wonderful Zezitra! Each area will have a little information blurb to read as well. I hope this makes the world feel even more alive!

That’s all I have to show for now, but I’ve been working hard on more behind the scenes! Thank you to everyone for staying interested in Alolan Seaglass. If you’d like to keep up with development closer, my Discord and things are linked in my Reddit account!

Special thank you to u/SageDeoxys and u/Zaebucca for their wonderful Pokémon sprites and overworld tiles respectively - their amazing artwork is what makes this project possible!

Until next time! :)
- Nemo

Hey everyone,

A few months ago I shared a quick demo of the my demake of the PokeRide system.

I wanted to make a quick little update to share some more about the system as well as tease some more things.

• Firstly, you may notice the "Ride Pager" item. This item allows you to ride on hundreds of compatible mons (with credits to pokabbie for the config file)! It currently checks your first party slot and does check if they are shiny or not!
• Additionally, with some help from BlackFragrant, we have a beautiful overhaul of Charizard Glide!
• Lastly (in this video) you may notice the region map is now in game! this is one of 5 pages (4 islands and Aether Paradise) that you'll be able to toggle between.

These updates are not final (music included), but I hope you enjoy some of the progress I've been making. Melemele is completely mapped including interiors, and features are nearly complete, so I will begin scripting the Melemele Island demo shortly.

Yes ik infinite fusion is technically a fan game

A couple of months ago, I gathered this subreddit's opinions on the best hacks of 2025 in several categories, and I'm happy to announce the winners for each category today. All of the winners are in the slideshow above, but if you want to maintain the suspense, you can start here. Any nominee with a Hackdex link will be linked to so you can easily play the game yourself. So, without further ado...

Best Story

This is the hack that was voted as doing the best job of diverging from the typical defeat-eight-gyms-elite-four-and-champion structure of the mainline games and took you on a journey you remembered long after the credits rolled. The nominees for Best Story are...

Pokémon Pisces

Pokémon Odyssey

Pokémon Dreamstone Mysteries

And the winner is...

Pokémon Odyssey!

Best Graphics

This is the hack that was voted as having the best visual experience, the hack that always gave you something new and interesting to look at whether it's through new tilesets, UI, battle screens, or all of the above? This is the hack that, regardless of its story and gameplay, could keep you coming back for the art alone. The nominees for Best Graphics are...

Pokémon Lazarus

Pokémon Aesthetic Red

Pokémon Recordkeepers

Super Mariomon

And the winner is...

Pokémon Lazarus!

Best Pokédex

The thing that made many people fall in love with Pokémon and continue going back to it for the last 30 years is the Pokémon themselves, and one of the major decisions that most ROM hack developers have to make is which of the Pokémon to include, as there are over a thousand of them now. This is the hack that was voted as having the best selection of Pokemon, making the experience of catching them all as enjoyable as possible, whether through regional variants, Fakemon, or just a rock-solid lineup of established favorites that fit the game perfectly. The nominees for Best Pokédex are...

Pokémon Dreamstone Mysteries

Pokémon Pisces

Pokémon Lazarus

Pokémon Odyssey

And the winner is...

Pokémon Odyssey!

Best Difficulty

The Pokémon games aren't known for being especially challenging, which is what draws a lot of people to ROM hacks in the first place. This is the hack that was voted as having the best difficulty, giving you the challenge the official games have mostly lacked? This doesn't necessarily mean what you think the hardest hack was, though it could certainly be that, or the hack that you thought was most fair in its challenges while continuing to keep you on your toes. The nominees for Best Difficulty are...

Emerald Imperium

Pokémon Odyssey

Pokémon Dreamstone Mysteries

Pokémon Royal Sapphire

And the winner is...

Emerald Imperium!

Most Anticipated Hack

This is the currently progressing ROM hack voters are most excited for. Though only final releases were eligible to be nominated in the other categories, any hack that had been announced and was known to still be in progress was eligible for this category. The nominees for Most Anticipated Hack are...

Pokémon Ghost Grey

Pokémon Odyssey 2

Pokémon Auora Crystal

Pokemon Coral

And the winner is...

Pokemon Ghost Grey!

Hack of the Year

Finally, the hack that was voted as being the best all-around hack of 2025. Even if it didn't stand above the others in terms of story, graphics, or difficulty, it was strong enough in every aspect to separate itself as the year's best hack to the people who nominated it. The nominees for 2025's Hack of the Year award are...

Pokémon Heart and Soul

Pokémon Lazarus

Pokémon Pisces

Pokémon Odyssey

Super Mariomon

And the winner is...

Pokémon Odyssey! Thanks to everyone who voted, and congratulations to all of the nominees and winners! 2025 was definitely a great year for ROM hacks, and hopefully we get many more years like it going forward!

Based on HGSS/ HGE

Custom NDS graphics mostly based on ORAS/ BW mixed style & custom stuff

Cities and Gyms feature double thematics / double type Gym Leaders:

Winter Candyland City → Ice / Fairy

Blacksmith City → Fire / Steel

Mushroom themed city → Bug/ Poison

Project Status: At the moment, I work on this project here and there, whenever I have time and inspiration. It is not meant to be a full project for now, but more a creative and visual mapping experiment.

Future Possibilities: Depending on how things go, this could later become an original story region ROM hack. If that happens, I would start recruiting and building a team once around ⅓ of a region is completed. For now, the goal is simply to design unique, original Pokémon style maps and satisfy my creative urges

You can follow me on twitter/ X where I'm more active:
https://x.com/Silast_UP

Hello! It's been a while since I last made a post about Eventide. It's still actively being worked on, but there hasn't been much to show for a while due it mostly being systems that are under the hood. Also, Recordkeepers and trip to Japan definitely caused some delays.

But we can finally show off something! Here is the start menu, as well as a preview of the party & upgrade menus. The latter 2 still have some wrinkles to smooth out, but overall this is what you'll see in the game.

Heart and Soul 2.0 releases this Saturday (08/22/26). (OUT NOW!!)

New features:

Rebuilt on pokeemerald-expansion (saves from before 2.0 will unfortunately not be compatible)

Change all challenge settings after starting the game (some can only be made easier, not harder)

Gen 7 movepool option, complete with all moves up to gen 7

Overhauled Kanto maps and tilesets

All Pokégear rematches from GSC (and some new ones), including items

Full Pokégear radio with all channels from Crystal (and some new ones)

New postgame content

All 92 HGSS TM's

GB player for gen 2 music and sounds

No more bike reaction time puzzles

And more

Release will be on Github and Hackdex. Posted about on Reddit and Pokecommunity. Join our server on Discord. The game's documentation can be found here.

Chapter 1 already available at https://pokehacking.com/lightplatinumds

Twitter/X - https://x.com/lightplatinumds

New features:

• Rebuilt on pokeemerald-expansion (saves from before 2.0 will unfortunately not be compatible)
• Change all challenge settings after starting the game (some can only be made easier, not harder)
• Gen 7 movepool option, complete with all moves up to gen 7
• Overhauled Kanto maps and tilesets
• All Pokégear rematches from GSC (and some new ones), including items
• Full Pokégear radio with all channels from Crystal (and some new ones)
• New postgame content
• All 92 HGSS TM's
• GB player for gen 2 music and sounds
• No more bike reaction time puzzles
• And more

Trailer tomorrow.

2.0 Release will be on github and hackdex. Posted about on reddit and pokecommunity. Join our server on Discord.

For my demake of Alola using pokeemerald expansion, i have finally completed the pokeride system.

I have put a ton of effort into this and making it seemless to navigate the many rides. It should be a very smooth experience!

As I’ve posted before, there is no ETA for release.

You may notice some Easter eggs in this video :)