Pokemon Crystal Ultimate v1.0

[Major_Agnostic]

The wait is over, folks; Pokémon Crystal Ultimate v1.0, the complete hack, is out!

NOTE: v.1.0.7 is the current version, please see the hack's romhacking.net entry for a YouTube video with details

OVERVIEW:

The goal of this ROM hack is to be the ultimate Pokemon Crystal experience for fans, a remaster of sorts: same story (with a few new scenes and dialogue), same Pokemon, same world (with some restored and improved areas), but the game is more playable, balanced and challenging. There's extra content added too as well as many QoL improvements from music to sprite work to brand new features and battle system improvements! Here's an overview trailer for v1.0:

https://youtu.be/xWUJOSRBteo

And here's the patch notes for 1.0.7 (since 1.0.5):

First of all, please note that this ROM hack is based off of Pokemon Crystal 1.1, so make sure to have that ROM if you intend on using a patch instead of the .gbc ROM.

SCREENSHOTS:

FEATURES:

As seen in the screenshots:

• Map changes that bring previously unimpressive areas to life (e.g. Victory Road in the first screenshot) and add convenience, such as the Goldenrod shortcuts
• Reworked in-battle and overworld sprites for notable characters and Surfing, as well as for Pokemon in the party menu and overworld
• Added evening as a time of day with a golden hue
• Convenient features such as being prompted to reuse Repels, resuable TMs, new gen 1 (GENWUNNERS) move tutors, a move reminder, and a Pocket PC
• More item variety and accessibility, such as a Lucky Egg early on, rare items found as milestone gifts in your room, all decorations can be obtained outside of Mystery Gift, and fossil Pokemon are found in the Ruins of Alph

Here are some other features not shown in the screenshots:

• Over 90 new trainers added to the game
• New music and softer night versions for all outdoor themes
• Hold B to run
• Cross-region Fly
• All 251 Pokemon and all items obtainable through normal play
• Base stat, move and Pokemon type changes to rebalance the battle system (see the documentation linked below for details on a Classic version that limits some of these changes)
• New special trainer battles and superbosses
• New side quests
• Restored Kanto maps and revised/revamped many others
• A level and stat exp curve that match a diligent player's progression
• Level caps for extra challenge (added in v1.0.2)
• Trainer card badges are in colour and a third page has been added for Kanto
• Sprites have a softer and darker hue at night to match the darkness
• 1/256 shiny encounter rate (1/3 for the Odd Egg) and shinies always have high DVs
• Fixed many bugs (such as Kirt's balls) and restored things like the Celebi event
• Significant AI improvements
• Improved rematch system: rematch trainers offer their number automatically after you first defeat them and have much better scaling
• Every ball has a unique colour palette and catching Pokemon yields exp
• In-battle weather indicator
• Elite Four rematch with new dialogue

I could go on about a ton more features in Ultimate, but I believe that this will suffice to pique your interest! For all of the details and files, including documentation, I invite you to join my Discord server: https://discord.gg/XMYBvDA
Note: If you do not wish to use Discord, I am told that the ROM is available through some download links you can find on Google. However, I am not responsible or advocating for the distribution of the ROM via such links.


CREDITS:

I would like to credit the following people who helped me in the process of creating this hack and learning about asm and Crystal disassembly hacking (which wouldn't exist without iiMarckus and co's work on the project). First of all, the fine pret folks that form the backbone of the pokecrystal github community, including Rangi (made countless great tutorials and Polished Crystal), others who made tutorials (such as growlie777), Seasick, Electro, ax6, Idain (also gave me his tailless Slowpoke sprite), i0brendan0, potato, TriAttackDev, TriteHexagon (created the night themes and helped me integrate them), Stan40 (title screen), and Mmmmmm and Pigu (many music themes). Thank you to ChattyCrystal for the files for the gen 3 Pokemon added and Nuukiie for the gen 7 one added, and SirWhibbles for Lance's second in-battle sprite, which SailorShirayuki improved upon.

I'd also like to especially thank Seasick, KDLPro and Idain, who helped quite a bit with some coding issues for some of the QoL changes and have been good friends and collaborators, and the fine folks who made the unique menu/overworld sprites for every Pokemon in the game (see documentation).

Finally, I extend much gratitude to the members of my Discord community who have supported me and given feedback throughout the ongoing development process, namely Jason Biggson/Ben&Co (trailer credit, TO DO), Sir Kitten Tavo, Ping Pong, Vamsi, KingCoocuroo, No_Honor, FyodorVoynich, and knight13117 (these last three helped notably with testing and feedback), Azurot, Idain, Animage, and KDLPro.

[Cris1997XX]

There's not really an "Ultimate" version of a game, even if it's ROM hack. Some people are gonna be disappointed anyway. But it's still nice to see a new promising hack, especially since Crystal Clear raised the bar a lot. P.S: The genwunner old man cracked me up LMFAO

[Major_Agnostic]

Why doesn't it seem like an Ultimate version of the game? I'm not sure what else people would want from this kind of hack, although I'm always open to ideas. At least if they're disappointed, it won't be for long because all of the details are in the documentation Glad you liked the GENWUNNERs hahaha. Yeah, Crystal Clear is what got me to make this hack. Hope you give my hack a try!

[ThegreatBen]

Damn this looks good. Might actually get me to play crystal again. Though I do have some concerns...

The original game did not respect your time at all. You'd spend hours trying to get a rare pokemon to appear, then if you managed to catch it you'd spend a few more hours evolving it. Not something I wanna do 100 times. Hopefully this hack mitigates that more than a little.

Second is removing the buffs from the badges.  While they did give you an unfair advantage taking it away also takes away the fun of earning badges. A better solution is to make sure most trainers have 6 pokemon at competitive levels so the buffs seem useful rather than overpowered.

Lastly if I understand correctly you swapped the palette of the regular a shiny Gyrados? This would be contrary to the lore and a deal breaker for me.

[Major_Agnostic]

For your first point, wild Pokemon levels stay fairly close to trainer levels, so evolving shouldn't be an issue. They get quite high level later on so evolving for the Pokedex is not really an issue.

I never really thought of the badge boost as the fun of getting badges (isn't it just taking down the gym leaders?), since it's invisible anyway lol.

I swapped the palettes because Gyarados is pure dragon in Ultimate, so red suits it better. If it really bothers you, you can always play Classic version, which doesn't have type/palette swaps.

[gamingcat02261991]

Not to sound mean, but the three old men in Celadon City should've been named "old salts", since the term "Genwunner" seems offensive, at least to me...

[ThegreatBen]

Just to be clear I think the quality of life additions you've added are brilliant and fixed a ton of what was wrong with this game.



Higher level wilds sounds like a good solution for saving time evolving. Reducing the egg hatching time was a good idea too. I would also go so far as to reduce the time achieving friendships to evolve pokemon (nobody wants a Golbat on their team that long!)

And maybe increasing the encounter rate for some really hard to find ones like the Santa clause penguin and that octopus for example. Gotta remember your target audience is in their 30s and most likely have jobs and kids.

As for the badge buff thing there are people who are going to want it both ways. I would personally include a standalone patch that adds it back for whiners like me.

The classic patch you mentioned all that does differently is keep the type and palettes?

Keep up the great work.

[Major_Agnostic]

The classic patch you mentioned all that does differently is keep the type and palettes?

It also removes most base stat changes, evolution level changes, and a few other minor changes, mostly related to trainer parties to accommodate the type/stat differences compared to regular Ultimate. There's also a couple of neat spoiler-y differences. And thanks for the support.

[ThegreatBen]

You should post a direct download link. I found it on Google myself.
December 27, 2021, 11:10:38 AM - (Auto Merged - Double Posts are not allowed before 7 days.)
Playing classic version. Got to the first battle with the rival and he had a level 205 Electrode.

[Major_Agnostic]

Playing classic version. Got to the first battle with the rival and he had a level 205 Electrode.

This is a known bug. You must use the emulators suggested in the post until a fix is found. Your save file will carry over

[Major_Agnostic]

The files on my Discord have been updated for v1.0.1, which fixes the glitches with other emulators, among other things.

[Chronosplit]

I've been playing through Classic bit by bit now that 1.0.1 is out, and I gotta say that I love the fact that you found a way to address the problems the Special Stat Split introduced without going the scattershot route of Gen 4's damage formulas.  It's great to actually use Totodile's biting and water moves just as well as the other starters.  I can't wait to encounter the "Red" Gyarados with these new stats!

[Major_Agnostic]

I've been playing through Classic bit by bit now that 1.0.1 is out, and I gotta say that I love the fact that you found a way to address the problems the Special Stat Split introduced without going the scattershot route of Gen 4's damage formulas.  It's great to actually use Totodile's biting and water moves just as well as the other starters.  I can't wait to encounter the "Red" Gyarados with these new stats!

Thanks for the feedback! Yeah Gyarados is quite scary now :O

[Special]

So where can I download the patch and all the documentation? I don't have and no plans to ever use Discord.

[Major_Agnostic]

I've seen other sites with a download of the ROM but I don't think 1.0.1 is up anywhere other than my Discord. You can just make a Discord account, download the files, then never use Discord again if you want; it just takes 5min.

[ThegreatBen]

I've seen other sites with a download of the ROM but I don't think 1.0.1 is up anywhere other than my Discord. You can just make a Discord account, download the files, then never use Discord again if you want; it just takes 5min.

You know you're allowed to post the link here in the topic

[Special]

Seems ridiculous to me to use RHDN as a place to post your updates and news posts but refuse to offer download links to it.

[Major_Agnostic]

I'd rather have more of a barrier between the wild web and the ROM's availability. Also, I don't want to check various sites regularly to collect feedback and such. People joining Discord is a win-win because I have more tools and everything's in one place, and thus people get answers/help more quickly. It's also a better platform for a community for the hack.

[Special]

I'd rather have more of a barrier between the wild web and the ROM's availability.

Won't happen, ThegreatBen already said he found his copy from Google, you're only hurting your users doing this with this whatever "barrier" of yours.

I don't want to check various sites regularly to collect feedback and such.

Then why did you post on this site in the first place?

While I'm not against authors using their own site for downloads and such, no problems at all actually. I am against it when needless bullshit hoops and account creations are being required, just to access this stuff from a reliable source. If your not going to give an easy no bullshit way, no e-mail required, etc. link to your hack, even when being asked from people in this very thread who would likely play it, then I don't see why you posted here in the first place about it...

Hopefully RHDN cracks down on this sort of stuff, or makes some kind of rule about it. What's next? adFly links behind CAPTCHA's, behind more CAPTCHA's, behind even more CAPTCHA's, just for a download so the author can maybe make 2 cents from a download click....

Oh God! Hope I didn't give anyone here any ideas... :/

[ThegreatBen]

The first result in Google search  has been updated to 1.0.1 on January 13th.

I can't post the link cause it's a pre patched rom. But that's enough for anyone to find it.