Pokemon Radical Red GBA Roms

Intro

I’ve been playing Pokémon ROM hacks since I was a kid, beginning with Quartz, Ruby Destiny Reign of Legends, and Shiny Gold, all of which fueled my obsession and turned me into a community lurker for a long time. Although I attempted to make one myself, I simply lacked the necessary knowledge and dedication. Now, around 10-12 years later, having seen how far ROM hacking has progressed and having gained more confidence in my abilities, I’ve decided to revisit developing my own ROM hack.

There’s no shortage of fire red enhancement hacks these days, so you’re probably wondering what this one has to offer. Personally, I prefer difficulty hacks, which is why I consider Clover and Vega to be the best ROM hacks available.

Description

This hack is at its core a difficulty hack with additional features; quite similar to Drayano60’s enhancement hacks, which provide access to nearly all the Pokemon while also adding relevant buffs to make all sorts of different Pokémon and playstyles viable, and with an insane amount of quality of life features added that also make many gruesome tasks far less tedious

This is a collaborative project between me and a friend koala4; while I’ve handled the majority of the technical aspects, he’s been invaluable in balancing, making suggestions, doing the majority of the wild Pokemon locations, testing, and more.

Features

This hack utilizes the Complete FireRed Upgrade engine (!!!!) and Dynamic Pokemon Expansion built by Skeli789, Ghoulslash, and others. It’s responsible for most of the significant features in the hack; I’ll list the important ones below.

Provided by CFRU & DPE

• Physical/Special split + Fairy Typing
• All Pokémon up to Gen 9 are obtainable (with some exceptions, see further down)
• Moves up to Gen 9, including some of the Isle of Armor DLC moves!
• Updated Pokémon sprites
• Mega Evolution
• Abilities up to Gen 9
• All important battle items (with some exceptions)
• Raid Battles
• Reusable TMs
• Expanded TM list
• Additional move tutors
• EV Training Gear
• Ability popups during battle
• Gen 8 Exp Share
• Hidden Abilities
• Day and Night
• DexNav allows you to search for Pokemon with hidden abilities and other neat things!
• Even faster turbo speed (!!!)
• Abilities like Magma Armor have field effects like recent Gens
• Destiny Knot, and Everstone have updated breeding mechanics
• … and more!

Additional Features

Do keep in mind many of these are also provided by CFRU.

• Much higher difficulty
  • Bosses have max IVs with proper EV spreads (barring the early bosses), along with optimized movesets/hold items
  • Improved AI
  • Battle style forced to Set
  • Can’t access bag against Gym Leaders and other select bosses
  • Similar to Pokemon Clover, there is a soft level cap based on the next boss battle. Many “challenge” hacks can easily be beaten by simply spamming turbo boost and overlevelling. This prevents you from doing so, instead allowing you to reevaluate your team and strategy to defeat bosses.
  • Bosses near the end will randomly choose between 1 of 3 teams
  • Elite Four Members each have a Legendary
  • Gym Leaders have access to Mega Evolution before you do
  • Some optional side bosses will have their levels scale according to your team
  • Johto Gym Leaders as additional side bosses(Some mandatory, but mostly optional)
  • Brendan as an additional Rival
  • Archer and Ariana present as Admins
  • Thief/Magician won’t steal from trainers
  • An additional Team Rocket event right before the 8th gym
• My own curated buffs to a lot of deserving Pokémon, including Megas!
  • May include type changes, stat changes, ability changes, an additional learnsets
• Brand new abilities (Some taken from Clover, others exclusive to this game)
• A revamped Game Corner
  • No more coins/Coin Case, just exchange with regular Pokecoins
  • Sells pseudo legends for a steep price, with options to upgrade to Shiny
  • Sells even more TMs
• IV grade and colored natures on Summary Screen
• An IV perfecter in Celadon for a very steep price
• EV checker/reducer in Saffron
• An ability swapper also in Saffron, along with an option to swap to Hidden Ability in exchange for an item
• EV training areas with its corresponding EV training gear
• Move relearner moved to Cerulean
• Move tutor that teaches Egg moves
• Additional Legendaries obtainable before the Elite Four:
  • Virizion, Cobalion, Terrakion, Keldeo.
  • Roamers: Raikou, Suicune, Entei, Landorus, Thundurus, Tornadus, Latios, Latias, Victini, Meloetta
• Gym leaders may ask for rematches or side quests for their Mega Stones and other rewards
• Day care south of Cerulean now can hold two Pokemon allowing for earlier breeding
• … and more!

Unobtainable Pokemon as of Version 3.0

• Regigigas
• Lugia Ho-Oh Groudon
• Rayquaza Dialga Palkia Giratina
• Reshiram Zekrom Kyurem-Black Kyurem-White
• Xernas Yveltal
• Zacian Zamazenta Eternatus Calyrex forms
• Deoxys Darkrai
• Arceus Marshadow

• CFRU features (Mega Evolution, Gen 1-8 Pokemon)
• Hisuian Forms
• Dynamax Raid Battles
• Much higher difficulty
• No need for teaching HMs
• Curated buffs to a lot of deserving Pokemon
• Brand new abilities
• A revamped Game Corner
• IV grade and colored natures on the summary screen
• An IV perfecter in Celadon for a very steep price
• An ability swapper also in Saffron
• EV training areas with their corresponding EV training gear
• Move tutor that teaches Egg moves
• Additional Legendaries obtainable before the Elite Four
• Cannot use items during trainer battles
• Gym leaders may ask for rematches or side quests for their Mega Stones and other rewards
• See the official thread for a more detailed list

Changelog – v4.1

Note: This is just a brief summary of the actual changelog. If you want to read it in detail in its entirety, you can do so by clicking on the ‘changelog’ button in the useful stuff section.

• Added Scarlet & Violet DLC mons/moves with several caveats
• Added Character Customization – talk to the dresser in the starting room
• Added new OST
• Small new areas that can be unlocked when the roaming legends are activated
• Added Monotype option for New Game Plus which can be redeemed through the Mystery Gift option by the Pokemon Center assistant
• New code to encourage shiny hunting! Redeem in New Game Plus Mystery Gift at the PokeCenter by talking to Nurse Joy. The code is “Shiny” case-sensitive.
• Added custom shinies for numerous Pokemon, full list can be found in the full documentation. (Darkster also made a video showcasing all the new custom shiny sprites here with timestamps!)
• Shiny odds updated from 1/4096->2/4096, Shiny Charm boost updated from 3/4096->6/4096
• Safari Zone is now treated as a normal area (do not need to use bait/rock/Safari Balls etc) and has a new area accessible with Surf.
• New signature items: Electirizer, Magmarizer, Upgrade, and Burnt Seed.
• Added mysterious new Pokemon as an Easter Egg
  • It can be obtained from the Route 2 trade in exchange for Furret
• All Pokemon obtained from in-game trades now have IVs of 31 in all stats, and are female Gender (except Ursaluna Blood Moon)
• Minor team changes to several boss/mini-bosses for inclusion of new S/V DLC Pokemon
• Erika Rematch now gives Ogerpon as a reward for defeating her
• Many Mythical legendaries that were unobtainable in Species Randomizer have been added to the pool
• Tutor in Fuschia now teaches Nasty Plot, Calm Mind, Bulk Up, Swords Dance, Iron Defense, and Meteor Beam.
• Dragon Dance Tutor is now in Victory Road.
• Replaced Sound type (Stereo, Mono) in Options menu to Music On/Off. Sound Type will be defaulted to Stereo. Toggling Double Battles is now also available in Options menu.
• Added Dream Patch item that switches ability to Hidden Ability and vice versa, replaces the Saffron City NPC
• Added Set To Level Cap option to Pokemon Center assistant, available if player enabled the Rare Candy cheat (Woyaopp on NES)
• Improved Vermilion Gym Puzzle
• Various TM Changes
• A Ton of Pokemon Changes
• Some Move/Ability Changes
• Minor Evo Adjustments
• A lot of Bug Fixes
• & Much More! (Read the full changelog using the “Changelog” button in the useful stuff section)