Pokémon Emerald is Worse Than You Remember

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Credits: Craig Livingstone (Production), Weebra (Editing)
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➤Music Tracks used:
Color Your Night ~ Persona 3 Reload
Rustboro City ~ Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire
Highway ~ Yakuza 5
Like a Dream Come True ~ Persona 4
Fish on ~ Yakuza 3
Joy ~ Persona 3 Reload
Godot - The Fragrance of Dark Coffee ~ Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney T&T
It's a Golden Show ~ Catherine
Breeze Time ~ Yakuza 0
So Happy World ~ Persona 5 Royal
(unreleased substory track) ~ Yakuza 0
Hyper Massage ~ Yakuza 4
Tomouki City ~ Ape Escape 3
Kung-Fu Alley ~ Ape Escape 3
On Your Way ~ Ridge Racer R4
Move Me ~ Ridge Racer R4
Overworld Sand Surfing theme ~ The Big Catch
At the 1st Bottom ~ Yakuza 0
ファースト・インプレッション (Disc 2 track 17) ~ Yakuza 0
Funk Goes On ~ Yakuza
Funk Goes on ~ Yakuza Kiwami
Lullaby of Outlaws ~ Yakuza Like a Dragon
Receive You The Prototype ~ Yakuza
Champion Steven ~ Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire
Your Vibe ~ Ridge Racer R4
Sleepy Eyes ~ Yakuza 5

[@smithplayspokemon]

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[@shadowdragonlord2295]

So no Discord?

[@shadowdragonlord2295]

I have ten but I've cut it down to five. 1- Rivals: Post game final battle with Brendan/May and give Wally the last starter. 2- Champion: Make it a player's choice on who ends up being the champion. 3- Feebas / Trendy Phrase House: Hated this mechanic, so please make Feebas easier to find and evolve and repurpose the Dewford TP House into a place you can trade items and Pokemon. Evo items, TMS, Kanto and Johto Pokemon and Lucky eggs. 4- Secret Bases Search: Have you staff's characters and characters from past games have secret bases you can find and battle in, with clues to the final base location. 5- Pokeballs: Pretty sure this is not plausible but how about having traded and gift Pokemon Pokeballs be something other than the generic red/white one.

[@GardevoirBoy]

It seems that, I'm going to miss Wallace as Champion in Pokémon Emerald Legacy. The votes were very disheartening. Out of the two Hoenn Champion people preferred, it's very disheartening to see Wallace get a pathetic 6% out of all the total votes. It really upset me that Steven got 94% out of all the total votes for preferred Hoenn League Champion. It's not fair many people voted for Steven because Wallace's team is super effective against Steven's Pokémon and most people voted for Steven only because of nostalgia. The preferred Hoenn League Champion poll you made was rigged right from the start. You shouldn't have made that poll.

[@MattiosUK]

As miniscule as it is to list this as a change. Change the Zigzagoon that chases Professor Birch in Emerald back to a Poochyena like it was in Ruby and Sapphire.

[@Outlaw4188]

Do you know what would be a really cool idea I know you mentioned towards the end of the video that you wish that Emerald had a few more double battles in it well what about this idea since gen 3 was the birthplace of double battles why not give every single trainer/gym leader/evil team member/elite four members/champion a “Yes or No” prompt before you start the battle with them asking if you want to participate in a single battle or a double battle? I just think that would be so cool and gen 3 would be the perfect gen to do it with sense like I said before double battles were created there so theoretically every single trainer in that region in a real world scenario would be up for doing a double battle of course you don’t have to make every single team including random trainers double battle ready/specialist but just getting the option to pick different people to double battle that we couldn’t double battle before would be insanely cool like imagine going through the entire game choosing to pick the option to double battle everybody that would create a totally new and awesome experience for people to participate in it almost reminds me of how the old gamecube Colosseum and Gale of darkness (which both games were gen 3 by the way) was to where you had to go through the whole game doing double battles but in those ones you were forced to have double battles but in this Emerald game at least having the option to double battle or single battle anybody would be incredible like a imagine being able to have the option to double battle Stephen as the champion like that would be crazy.

[@vanbaasten17]

Is not that people don't like Wallace. It's that people really love steven

[@richardleach2931]

Tbh I was just bored of water trainers by then. After the 7th gym its all team aqua, then a water gym, then 3rd member of E4 is majority water and then a water champion.

[@IKMcGwee]

True, after all the Aqua, and like third of the world map being ocean and thus swimmer's, and a water gym, last thing we want is a water champion.

[@caspervestergaard2430]

An entire near-endgame with water. Team aqua needing to be taken down. A final water gym leader AND Wallace, as well as Sydney having 1 water type. Glacia having 3 water types. Drake having 1 water type. Steves pokemon were also "rarer" to see, and much more exciting.

[@pixality7902]

Yeah Wallace was meh and just another water type trainer. He didn't have nearly as much of an identity as Steven.

[@solanceDarkMOW]

No, i don't like Wallace

[@thehaymaker3660]

Here's my take on the champion situation - Steven should be the champion initially. After you defeat him, he takes a step back from the Elite Four and goes back to his house to geek out over fossils. Wallace then takes over as champion for all the rematches. You can have a rematch with Steven in his home. You're his bro, he would always make time for you. I think this would be satisfying for players, and makes perfect sense story wise. Edit: Some people have mentioned the rematch with Steven taking place at Meteor Falls or in some post game event story. I think this setting would be a lot more exciting than going to his house, thanks for the idea!

[@thepokesannin4434]

This…actually makes a ton of sense and sounds amazing

[@Clevernamegoeshere]

that makes a ton of sense actually, i really like that

[@AedraRising]

What about the new area in Meteor Falls you get to fight Steven in the main game? I'd still probably move his second fight there and then all rematches could be in his house.

[@thehaymaker3660]

@@AedraRising Yeah man I like that! If they end up adding all the event content for the post game you could add Steven in to the story beats (if he wasn't there before) and battle him again too!

[@Chawinyaw]

I actually typed out this idea before looking through the comments lmao. I think this would be a really good way to go about it

[@stevensimmermon8802]

Make Groudon’s half of the screen land instead of putting him on a rock in the middle of the ocean 💀

[@isaelsky21]

They really said Water Supremacy

[@lpfan4491]

Groudon:"You overgrown fish are still on your mission to spite me, aren't you!?" Overgrown Fish:"Heh. Maybe."

[@D-Havoc]

Well Groudon can create land under its feet, so it's fine.

[@rhinowithInternetaccess]

The way i see it kyogre is sarrounded, what's under the ocean that's right more land

[@volbla]

Maybe Groudon creates a volcanic island that grows a little bit during the cutscene.

[@BananaGatorProds]

"That was the team everyone ran as a kid right?" My dude most kids teams consisted of their starter and hm/revive fodder taking up the other 5 slots until getting Rayquaza

[@MegaDarklee]

You’re right. Because that’s exactly what I did when I got it too.

[@dogsbecute]

most people played the game that way, weirdlt enough. me and my best friend were very competitive and had many favorite pokemon, so our teams were always purposeful. My mind was actually blown when i gave his lil bro my pokemon sapphire cartridge, and after a week or so he wanted to battle me, so i took him up on his offer and his team was a level 50 something swampert with the rest of the slots filled with legendaries lmaoooo thank you for that memory. i was like 12 at the time. im way older now

[@ImPacTMaSTer1]

My revive fodder was aggron cause he could just eat damage while i got the lads back together

[@littleevsamoyed7130]

My Emerald Team: Arcanine (I used the universal pokemon randomizer to have a growlithe as a starter instead of torchick) Rayquaza Salamance Manictrik Aggron Breloom

[@DeathofHeavens]

guilty as charged, good ol blaziken, nothing beats that, not even wallace

[@unwithering5313]

One thing that I find downright criminal in Hoenn is that they made a Bug/Water type and then took it away by turning it into just another Bug/Flying type.

[@nc5958]

Yes. Surskit should have stayed Bug-Water type when he evolves. It was a unique type combination at the time.

[@joshuakuester2633]

Surskit is extremely hard to even find in Emerald. You have to trade it in from Ruby and Sapphire or use the enigmatic newsflash system to find it

[@JaharNarishma]

The evolved form even has water puns in its Japanese name as well as the English name. It is made to be a Water type.

[@carterlazarus813]

They did this with Nincada too. Yes at least there's Shedinja, but Ninjask is, again, Bug/Flying while Nincada was Bug/Ground! To this day our only fully evolved Bug/Ground type is Sand Cloak wormadam; and I get why a cicada wouldn't keep the ground type; but they made 2 unique type combos for the time and both Surskit and Nincada then gained a type seen multiple times before AND elsewhere in the game. Lunacy

[@50zezima]

I didn't know that masquerain wasn't a water type! That is a really dumb decision, especially because it would buff his water moves that he learns.

[@joshmccarter8225]

1: I’d love to see a Winstrate family rematch that scales with your gym Badges. 2: Gym leader rematches with the option to choose single or double battles

[@dvillines26]

I did always like that the mentioned WInstrate son shows up in Victory Road, that was such a cool payoff

[@joshmccarter8225]

@@dvillines26 now I’m thinking the son should also show up for the final battle along with the rest of the family for a 1 v 5

[@hentaispyder]

Having the Winstrate family be repeatable after each badge would be nice. A little bit of extra cash. then to see the son be an actual beast in Victory road would be nice.

[@alecrutz956]

@@dvillines26 the problem is it's kinda underwhelming iirc, and there's nothing that comes of it once you beat him, no acknowledgement of it from the family they keep going on about how he'll destroy you, even long after you destroyed him

[@neilsaura-sacatropez9372]

Their strongest trainer should also appear he appeared in the anime he showed a shiny swellow and Alakazam

[@nicholastodd8904]

and somehow gorebyss, huntail, lanturn, and relicant arent used! juan deserved them

[@fbjkatsuu]

Especially since you have to dive to get to Sootopolis!

[@Radiogumdrop]

Gorebyss would’ve fit him so well! It’s a beautiful Pokémon but also a little creepy from its dex entries. Gorebyss also is nothing to snuff at. I used one in a Ruby nuzlocke and it was really strong

[@cesarmito5341]

​@Radiogumdand and Gorebyss kinda fit with Wallace's Milotic in terms of looks Y'know, beautiful water type pokemon, and Juan and Wallace are all about beauty

[@charizardoreo]

Someone on victory road uses a lanturn... with earthquake...

[@nautgamingnautgaming9949]

Lanturn is more of a wattson Pokémon I Gave wattson a chinchou To FIX gym 8 make that A DOUBLE BATTLE with rival Wally as your partner vs Juan n Wallace Bold n it's in the spirit of gen 3

[@wonjontheaxolotl]

one thing that i felt emerald did REALLY WELL was the gym puzzles. its so unique for each gym and not to mention things like the trick house, strength boulder puzzles that really sit with me till this day. i still remember trying to figure out the rotating puzzle from Winnona's gym and the correct pattern for Juan's gym, its amazing

[@jeremenichelli]

Strong agree. This was a clear unmentioned upgrade.

[@GrumbleGombol]

"I'm not a nerd. I'm an experienced ass player" So.. a Nerd?

[@competitively3315]

Nerds come in many shapes and sizes

[@SCHMALLZZZ]

A nerd's nerd

[@JohnnyVincent420]

no just an experienced ass player

[@marbleq9586]

​@@JohnnyVincent420So...a nerd.

[@R-SXX]

*copium*

[@Andrew-ke3qh]

Other difficult normal trainer battle: Just after Fortree, there are two trainers set up to spot you simultaneously for a double battle. It’s naturally raining, and they have a Milotic and a thunder Manectric.

[@TracinyaLachance]

My Nuzlockes have lost way too many friends to this pair ^^

[@robertlupa8273]

Some of the trainers in Norman's Gym can be problematic, like the guy with Swords Dancing Zangoose.

[@elibashi]

I believe in emerald the Milotic got changed to a rain form castform

[@brhayashi]

Cooltrainer Jennifer had a Milotic in the rain on Route 120 in Ruby and Sapphire. Needless to say, that was a very rough fight. Her sole Milotic is downgraded to Sableye in Emerald.

[@brhayashi]

The only other normal trainers that gave me any challenge were because of running suboptimal teams. Winstrate Vicky on Route 111 was only tough because my team could not handle Hi Jump Kick Meditite at the end of three consecutive fights. Psychic Kayla at Mt. Pyre leads with a Wobbuffet that is only hard because Shadow Tag was introduced.

[@KayJordan17]

Let me cook... Imagine Steven as champion &... Juan and Wallace Tag Battle gym fight with Wally as your tag battle partner!

[@joyous7944]

This idea has got to be the best! I hope it gets seen. I get the feeling he wants to move Glacia to the 8th gym (it does have a very icy feel) and demote Wallace to E4. Maybe Juan gets a cameo or something.

[@vee3732]

But, the problem with that @KayJordan17, is that the gym battle before Sootopolis is also a double battle with Tate and Liza, and it would be too drastic to make a double battle fight with an NPC character on your side to fight with against Juan and Wallace. The point that he's trying to do with the Legacy series is to keep most of what the original games have, while adding things that would make sense and would not be too drastic. A new and unique double-format gym battle would not make sense at all for the purposes that I've said earlier.

[@thisrandomdude2880]

LET THIS MAN COOK!

[@nesradub360]

ooh now this is an awesome idea!

[@themurderouswildgoose]

That is pretty epic

[@coryhrycuna6707]

When i was younger i was OBSESSED with growing berries. Idk why, but those tiny pixel plants were my babies

[@JayClearman411]

Same..I kept a pkmn with pickup on my team because of it.. I knew all the places where you can get berries, an was actually very Very irritated I didn’t have a e-reader to get access to the those rare exclusive berries

[@JayClearman411]

Likewise I was infatuated with the concept I’d water berries a lot.. at 1 point I had 99 of every status an pokeblock berry except pamtre belue and for Apicot Berry Ganlon Berry Leichi Berry Petaya Berry Salac Berry I had very few of those I legit had to clone em from the battle frontier

[@GonzoMD1993_]

Growing berries was fun until my battery ran dry. Then I discovered item duping and solved my problem xdd

[@thelividhero]

Honestly, introducing Wallace with the contests makes sense for his character. The first city with a contest, you run into him, he gives a brief synopsis about contests, how they work, etc etc, but he doesn’t bring up the fact that he’s a champion. Sometimes you’ll see him standing by a contest stadium and he’ll give tips about them or something, but I’m just spitballing.

[@thelividhero]

Somewhat like seeing cynthia around for the first time and knowing nothing about her

[@thelividhero]

I got this idea from Wallace being Ruby’s mentor in the PKmN Adventures Comics

[@robertlupa8273]

Makes perfect sense to me. 👍

[@FireFog44]

Doesn’t really work in Emerald, I’m afraid. Three of the four contest halls got converted into the way less interesting Battle Tents in Emerald leaving only the Lilycove Contest Hall. With only one Hall and it being so late in the game, it wouldn’t provide enough opportunities to meet with Wallace. It’d still be better than the nothing we currently have, but not nearly as good as it would have been in Ruby/Sapphire where there are four Halls to work with.

[@thelividhero]

@@FireFog44 Very good point actually. Maybe meeting him somewhat early just at *random*, (just because I have no idea how or why you would run into him early), but he introduces the existence OF a contest which could leave new players wondering “What in the world is he talking about”, until they reach Lilycove. Maybe have an NPC or two bring up Wallace’s name just to show the player that he has SOME relevance

[@SeaSaltSunset]

nutshell: we shouldnt fight AGAINST wally more than in the OG games, but he could make for a great double-battle teammate mid-game. he could also pop up in increasingly random places, showing his growing confidence and his ability to explore and enjoy the outside world. details: i like the idea of wally as a surprising big fight, so having a fight against him in the mid-game feels counter that. he works best as a surprising titan. the sickly boy turned force of nature. so...what if we get one mid-game fight with him... but as an ally. we stumble upon him getting cornered by evil team grunts. we jump in to save him, but before the fight begins, he interjects, asking to fight alongside you. its a relatively low stakes fight for you, but big progress for him. he has a kirlia now, and maybe one other early evo of his final team. still no good movesets yet, but he is starting to branch out. after the fight, he says he's happy he stood up for himself, but you are so far above him. in later encounters, you see him in the world map... if he sees you, he gets the trainer battle exclamation point and rushes to you... but then he's just happy to see you. he asks if its okay if you DONT fight, claiming he's not ready yet. but maybe one day. in the meantime, he remarks about the beauty of the area, and comments about rare pokemon he has seen there (this helps as a red-herring. giving him dex/exploration purpose instead of combat). maybe he tosses you a decent nature/culture themed item. lava cookies, rare berries, and the herbal medicines, are all on theme. estsblish him as a support. someone who admires and learns from you. but after the loss in front of gym 3, he never talks about challenging you. you are too far above him. and maybe the exploration theme can help in the late game. pacifidlog town is oddly entirely optional in the story. what if at some point, he calls you and asks to meet there? in pacifidlog town, he small talks about the thrill of riding the currents, but then brings up sky tower. something amazing is there, but its too dangerous for him/he cant figure out how to get in. nobody else believes him about the place being special, but he trusts you. maybe you can check it out sometime? this helps him/the town be relevant in-story without being a spotlight. if i recall correctly, at the time wallace asks you where to find Rayquay, you can say Sky Tower without ever having been there. this wally scene helps fix that. and then, next you see him, is victory road, with a scary team of some of the best the region has to offer. obviously, these are hefty changes. i dont blame your team if you dont go this route, but i hope this can at least help ideation.

[@dvillines26]

Wally as a double battle partner against Aqua/Magma IS the play, absolutely. I agree he shouldn't actually be fought until the end, but having him as a doubles partner allows you to see his growth as a trainer without coming up against him.

[@connormackay7098]

Love this idea!

[@Kushala16]

No, Steven should still be Champ.

[@elius1548]

Okay potentially crazy idea for the Wally fight: All he’s got is a single Kirlia. The battle starts with 2 opposing Mightyena. He’ll start by firing off a confusion on one of them, not realizing it’s immune. He’ll then get really needy and just spam Calm Mind, trying to get a grip after being able to do nothing. Yes, he’ll be useless in this double battle, but the enemies don’t have to be strong. Having essentially a 2v1 could make for an interesting fight against low-level grunts, while advancing Wally’s story.

[@Trinsicity]

I like this idea but as someone making their own emerald rom hack I can attest that making team up double battles is next to impossible without using decomps, whereas Smith and team are using binary hacking from what I can tell. The sprites exist for you to do double battles with Wally, your rival and Steven (obviously) but the game's code treats the Steven team up battle as a special event that can't easily be replicated. I hope they can pull it off because it's something I wanted to implement but don't get your hopes up as it's not as easy as you'd think it should be.

[@NoneyahBusiness-cd5ow]

The thing is, if Glacia was running hail strats, they could have given her Castform. Sure, Castform is weak, but it would have at least been unique compared to 2 Sealeo and 2 Glalie

[@SaxBoya42]

I know it's probably outside the scope of the project, but I also always wanted to see a sandstorm form for Castform

[@14bj337]

Castform could also offer great coverage, with Flamethrower and Thunderbolt.

[@kaimobley5324]

They also could've given Castform a Sand stream Form

[@renatoramos8834]

Castform should automatically set the weather move in his 4th moveslot.

[@robertlupa8273]

@@renatoramos8834 Or 1st, since we already have a move dependent on the 1st moveslot (Conversion)

[@TheJazzMan333]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="2215">36:55</a> I think Gamefreak's obsession with making ice type a late game thing is two-fold: 1) Ice was originally the only weakness to dragons, and early gen dragons were intentionally designed to be the Pseudo-legendaries, making ice a late game typing makes it so they reveal this right before dragons, 2) Mountains are seen as difficult to traverse and therefore more challenging, so icy mountains are seen as something you need experience to go to, not just something any kid can do easily. I'd love to see a game where you start in a mountain, and have to deal with ice types early on.

[@corenlavolpe6143]

Would be interesting if you played in a colder region, similar to Sinnoh, or you start in the north of the region to justify seeing a lot of ice pokemon early on.

[@___________0Z0X]

The ice gym was actually kind of tough in GEN four. It’s more difficult than the eighth.

[@RINEES98]

Pokemon unbound is very similar to what sort of game you wish for

[@nataliecoronado4206]

also from a mechanical standpoint, Ice is one of if, if not the best offensive type in the game, with so many powerhouse Pokemon being 2x or 4x weak to it. It's just downright atrocious defensively to balance it out, which is ironic considering Game Freak's obsession with making defensive ice types with relatively weak offensive stats. Personally I think Ice fits best as an early-midgame gym, where its strong offensive potential is threatening and the natural restriction in team options mean its lacking defenses aren't as prominent

[@Chimburger12]

Couple things: 1. With how many HMs are needed here, I recommend incorporating a feature that allows the use of HMs without teaching them, as long as you have a Pokemon with you that could learn them. There is a tutorial online for adding that to the decomp. 2. I really like the idea of giving Wally a Whismur. He goes to live with his family in the town that Rusturf Tunnel connects to, and I feel its line really fits his story of a weak, shy boy coming into his own. An early battle with Ralts and Whismur would contrast nicely with a final battle including Gardevoir and Exploud.

[@Shalakor]

Totally agree on the Whismur. I actually came up with some decent full team ideas for his encounters I think fit really well, after getting some inspiration from watching the "Fixing Hoenn"s Rivals" video by RoryTheFiend (can't post links in KZbin videos). Basically the context was the learn sets of the vanilla games, but with any TM the player had access to at that point in the game being legal assuming a Gen 5 style "Hard Mode" type of difficulty, but I also included "Normal Mode" options. ----- 1st Wally Encounter (before 3rd Gym, originally just a level 16 Ralts): Level 17 Azurill, Slam, Bubble, Tail Whip, Charm, no item. Level 18 Shroomish, Leech Seed, Stun Spore, Tackle, Mega Drain, no item. Level 18 Whismur, Pound, Astonish, Uproar, Howl, no item. Level 19 Ralts, Confusion, Growl, Double Team, Teleport, no item. No TMs or strategic move choices yet, he's just done some catching and level grinding. Even in context of a "Hard Mode" would be the same as "Normal Mode" difficulty for this fight. Azurill is in front solely because it's lowest level, but obviously would be a bad idea for Wattson if he was to get its friendship high enough while challenging the Gym. ----- 2nd Wally Encounter (newly added immediately after the 5th Gym, with Norman healing your team, losing doesn't white out and the fight isn't repeatable if lost): Level 26(Normal)/28(Hard) Swablu, Fury Attack(Normal)/Secret Power(Hard), Peck, Astonish(Normal)/Steel Wing(Hard), Sing(Normal)/Mist(Hard), no item(Normal)/Sitrus Berry(Hard). Level 25(Normal)/27(Hard) Breloom, Leech Seed, Mach Punch, Headbutt, Mega Drain, no item(Normal)/Sitrus Berry(Hard). Level 25(Normal)/27(Hard) Magnemite, Spark, SonicBoom(Normal)/Hidden Power Grass(Hard, can buy in Slateport by then), Thunder Wave, Metal Sound, no item(Normal)/Sitrus Berry(Hard). Level 26(Normal)/28(Hard) Marill, Slam(Normal)/Double-Edge(Hard), BubbleBeam, Rollout(Normal)/Dig(Hard), Charm, no item(Normal)/Sitrus Berry(Hard). Level 26(Normal)/27(Hard) Loudred, Stomp(Normal)/Strength(Hard), Astonish, Supersonic(Normal)/Flamethrower(Hard), Howl, no item(Normal)/Sitrus Berry(Hard). Level 28(Normal)/29(Hard), Kirlia, Psychic, Growl(Normal)/Shock Wave(Hard), Double Team(Normal)/Thief(Hard), Calm Mind, Bright Powder(Normal)/no item(Hard). Decided it'd be okay to let Wally have a full team (if wanting to avoid that, removing Magnemite probably makes the most sense), but with nearly all of them not fully evolved so they would have further to grow for the next encounter. Besides the obvious upgrades, party order is especially effective for countering STAB kills on Set Mode. Loudred in particular is built to be Kirlia's bodyguard, countering Kirlia's weaknesses and baiting out a Fighting type to knock it out for Kirlia to hit. Normal Mode Kirlia/Gardevoir leans into the evasion hacks angle (but walled by Dark types) while making their Hard Mode follow more of a fair competitive set theming. Magnemite/Magneton gets Metal Sound to rep its Steel typing and to set up potential kills for other Special attacks on the team. And Gardevoir with Psychic, Calm Mind, and a coverage move on an enemy team is too much overkill for that point in the game, Rom Hack Difficulty (tm), so the bigger team of primarily mid-powered Pokemon is more fitting. ----- 3rd Wally Encounter (Victory Road): Level 45(Normal)/47(Hard) Breloom, Leech Seed, Sky Uppercut, Counter(Normal)/Sludge Bomb(Hard), Giga Drain, no item(Normal)/Poison Barb(Hard). Level 45(Normal)/48(Hard) Azumarill, Toxic, Surf(Normal)/Dive(Hard), Dig, Ice Beam, no item(Normal)/Leftovers(Hard). Level 44(Normal)/47(Hard) Magneton, Thunderbolt, Tri Attack(Normal)/Hidden Power Grass(Hard), Thunder Wave, Metal Sound, no item(Normal)/Miracle Seed(Hard). Level 45(Normal)/47(Hard) Altaria, Dragon Breath(Normal)/Dragon Claw(Hard), Aerial Ace(Normal)/Fly(Hard), Mist/Iron Tail(Hard), Dragon Dance, no item(Normal)/Focus Band(Hard). Level 44(Normal)/47(Hard) Exploud, Hyper Voice(Normal)/Return(Hard), Shadow Ball, Flamethrower, Earthquake, no item(Normal)/Shell Bell(Hard). Level 46(Normal)/49(Hard), Gardevoir, Psychic, Future Sight(Normal)/Thunderbolt(Hard), Double Team(Normal)/Thief(Hard), Calm Mind, Bright Powder(Normal)/no item(Hard). I kept a fair amount of what RoryTheFiend did for their move choices, but tried to hone in on some move consistency between encounters over pure strongest choice for each Pokemon individually (and mostly different held items). Prime example is having Hard Mode Altaria upgrade Steel Wing to Iron Tail to have a more direct line of progression, even though Steel Wing's better accuracy makes this mostly a side grade and there's better end-game options (though, yeah, also because the one allowed Earthquake TM on Exploud is scary), and Mist being a fairly rare move worth being featured. And, yeah, Azumaril's gimmick build is held back a lot in Gen 3 (though probably wouldn't be in Emerald Legacy), but it felt like a natural advancement of Hard Mode Maril using Dig for coverage. Also decided to cash in on the idea of GameFreak cheating moves that make sense, and gave myself a pass for Normal Mode Exploud getting Hyper Voice. Also also figured Breloom is too frail to be doing both Bulk Up and Leech Seed, so picked the more fun one just to let it not get entirely shut down by Ghosts in the second fight and carried that over to the third. Also also also felt like excluding sleep strats for Hard Mode teams. Also also also also, Wally definitely visited Shoal Cave in my Hard Mode. ----- P.S. Additionally of note, is that RoryTheFiend leaned in to the team inconsistency of Brandon/May from the rushed development of Emerald and was inspired to make it where that Rival's team changes up some of the Pokemon used in each encounter in-line with being focused on filling their Pokedex (generally still keeping that Grass/Water/Fire core, though). Think that could also be a good angle to take for this hack, and was why I wanted Wally's team to be very fixed in contrast, since he strikes me as a very straightforward fella that'd only catch the Pokemon he'd have accompanying him.

[@mopmob03]

One part of the game I loved was fighting the winstrate family back to back. They let you know what you're about to get into, and they aren't half bad. But if you could revamp their team a little as well as their moved set, I always thought the grandmother should have more than a meditite.

[@Shalakor]

Definitely do what other comments have said with Badge number gated rematches.

[@OisínMcColgan]

Lots of really unique pokemon in this game that needed more love. Whismur, Mawile, Castform, Tropius and more all felt like there should have been some crazy strategy that made them really scary, but Gamefreak forgot to put it in the game

[@CheeseBlaster]

If we're talking story, Exploud is more than viable with access to a wide TM pool and decent stats. No buff needed Castform is a gimmick and can't change very much, but maybe making it so not all of its stats are 70 would be good Mawile can be found relatively early and doesn't evolve but that shouldn't be a reason for it to be below average. Best things it got for itself are its mediocre Attack and Defense stats which are 85 and the rest are 50/55. Making it so it has a bit more of a balanced range would be a good start, and give it actual STAB while you're at it, like Iron Tail or at the very least Metal Claw Aaaaaand I've got nothing for Tropius that thing has no reason to be this bad

[@50zezima]

​​@@CheeseBlaster I think you missed his point that the whole issue IS that they made castform a gimmick rather than a cool and rare pokemon with unique battle features that weren't fully realized. He only needs buffed a little bit though I'd say. I'm no expert in how that works though or how much to buff them. I'd say probably 10-15 stats more at least.

[@owenaspinall2046]

​@@50zezimaOne cool element of Castform is that it is the only ice type available for Winona unless you delay her gym a lot.

[@ninjabic3588]

@@CheeseBlasterpretty sure mawile in emerald can only be found in victory road. It was version exclusive with sableye in ruby/saphire where they both would have been found in dewford. In emerald sableye got to stay in dewford cave but mawile got bumped to victory road, which with its stats made it totally unplayable that late in the game.

[@SMCwasTaken]

And Plusle and Minun

[@BeefyBidoof]

This is my own personal nitpick, but GOD I wish that we could combine the Mach and Acro bike, or at least have the option to "upgrade" during the story so that you don't need to backtrack halfway across the region to access one hyper-specific spot on the map !!!

[@nicholascooney]

It's in Mauville City near the Pokemon Center. Not hard to find and Fly makes it easy to get to. You saying "hyper-specific" makes it sound like it's in a secret location on one of the routes.

[@nataliecoronado4206]

@@nicholascooney it's more getting back to the point where the other bike is needed that's the annoying part

[@wendelllacerda4069]

@@nicholascooney i believe they meant you're in the middle of a long ass cave and have to backtrack all the way and then making all the way again into the cave or into the forest and stuff

[@Gingerbreadley]

Give me that Steven Wallace double champion battle.

[@davidwatson6202]

Would be amazing I love how this generation introduced doubles and having a champion double battle would free up some mons for my boy Juan!! Also water steel work great together!

[@LesCrocsSepulcraux]

Us and May/Wally vs the double Champions. OMG

[@zzthedon4k]

this just makes too much sense. bringing in the new champ PLUS the old one with the new game mechanic introduced in this gen? Yes please.

[@LuizOMenudo]

up

[@Shalakor]

@@davidwatson6202 No, go full ROMHack difficult (TM) with it and let both use their full team of 6 against you together. This is a joke.

[@melindamuller4466]

To be fair, Ice types are generally shafted. The first time you can truly do an ice type nuzlocke is gen 8 with the wild area. The ice routes, if they even exist, are always at the end of the game. Arguably the only early one is the cold complex in gen 5. And let's be honest, the fact that basically all water types learn Ice Beam or something equivalent makes ice types never a desired type for playthroughs anyway.

[@thedon6079]

That just gives more of a reason for them to be an early gym leader instead of a later gym/elite 4 member

[@adamwalker3560]

The strangest thing is that Ice types aren't that bad. Articuno is cracked in Gen 1, Regice (if you could be bothered to slog through all that) is really powerful once you get a decent moveset on it, etc. For example, Ice is super effective against Grass, Flying, Ground, and Dragon, which is an excellent offensive spread, as it can hit both common and early game types like grass and flying while destroying later game and more competitive threats like Dragon and Ground. Its weaknesses aren't as bad as most make them out to be, either: Rock, Steel, Fire, Fighting. Fire and steel types you usually see coming, and Rock and Fighting are also somewhat predictable. The only major flaw in Ice types, type balance-wise, is that the only resistance it has is against Ice itself, so it takes neutral damage against anything that isn't Ice or super-effective. Even Normal type has more defenses, and that is saying something. The real problems are that 1, Ice types, stat distribution-wise, are almost always slow, special defensive/special attackers, where their weaknesses are (before the physical/special split) mostly attack-based (fighting, rock, steel). Also, two of those types are THE most common secondary types to ground, and practically all ground types learn moves from them (plus fighting) regardless of being that type, so they can't safely take advantage of that super-effective typing either. Ice also suffers from water types being incredibly common, and said water types are the best walls against Ice types in the game, not to mention they also ALL learn Ice Beam, thus negating the purpose of an Ice type entirely. Just look at fire types, for example: while not quite as rare, and definitely earlier to access in the game, fire shares a lot of similarities in terms of coverage and weakness (super effective against grass/bug/ice/steel, two early game common types and two late game competitive types [ice being more theoretical here], and weak to water/ground/rock), but the key difference is here: the pokemon that are fire type, have decent stats particularly in either offensive speed or bulk (Camerupt and Magcargo being a notable exception, being 4x weak to water in an ocean sim game) and are ACTUALLY available for a large portion of the game. Which brings us to the 2nd issue: Ice type pokemon are both rare and late game. They could be taken out of the game and it wouldn't matter (which should not be a thing). The type is practically only existing for Ice Beam and Blizzard to counter Dragon types, and since there are practically no Ice types, they felt obliged to give access to those moves to the myriad of water pokemon. What is the point of obtaining a pokemon type you have not seen before in all of the game (except maybe a castform?) that the best member of its roster is ANOTHER water type pokemon. Most first-time players of pokemon don't even realize there is an Ice type in the game until THE ELITE FOUR. For example, in every generation, almost everyone forgets that Shellder and Dewgong actually evolve into part Ice types (mostly because these also tend to be a late game addition, and sub-par to boot). So basically, there are no Ice types that aren't water, and the best "Ice types" aren't Ice at all, since Ice is super weak defensively and strong offensively. And lastly, 3rd: Their movepools always seem to be utter trash. Typically, their move selection is weak, the possible strategies with them are also weak, they don't have other common secondary types in their movesets other than normal, and as stated beforehand, their two strongest moves are easily and readily available for practically every water type in the game. Game Freak basically just gave them the shaft since they needed a counter to Dragon types, but couldn't think of how to implement the type outside of cold caves. It's not like seasons exist, do they? The best ways I see to fix Ice types would be to offer more utility for them. Let them resist Grass, Water, and Dragon at the very least (because that makes logical sense, and is actually more confusing as to why it didn't in the first place), find more places earlier on to find them (too bad adding a season mechanic would be excessive, but caves and maybe at night will have to do), and either make Ice type pokemon faster, or more bulky (especially in terms of defense, after all, isn't ice supposed to be kind of hard?). Also, hail should be a much scarier weather condition, or else it has no point even existing. I would go so far as to say that hail should be painful enough to consider counters to it (like perhaps an additional 30% damage for Ice, and weakening everything that isn't Ice, Rock, Steel by a similar amount [why rock and steel? Because, why would they get weakened? They are hard and more inorganic, so hail and the chill wouldn't affect them very much], so a sandstorm strat would also be a good option against them, and thus weather would be a good balancing tool. Sandstorm could then raise accuracy of the affiliated types while lowering everything else, for example, as well. Sun could hurt/weaken Ghost and Ice, and rain could also boost Ice a smaller amount, etc.). I've always loved Ice types, but it is hard to love using them when the representatives of the type are always either unavailable until the late game, somewhat weak and underwhelming, and their roles are outclassed by the most common type (we're looking at you, Water) in practically every game.

[@ciskeone]

@@adamwalker3560someone give me a TLDR

[@thedon6079]

@@ciskeone Ice types could be good if placed earlier in the game with better movesets. Also give them some resistances

[@robertlupa8273]

In Gen 5's case, it helps that you don't get an Ice Beam TM until post game, only Blizzard, so if you want a reliable Ice move, you kinda _need_ an Ice type that naturally learns it or accept that you're going to miss 30% of the time (or you could use a move reminder on Stoutland to teach it Ice Fang, I guess). Not to mention that - at least in my opinion - most of Unova's Water types feel a bit... underwhelming? Jellicent is great, Samurott and Carracosta are solid, Seismitoad, Simipour and Swanna (huh, all S) are... ok, while Basculin and Alomomola are "undesireable". Then again, the Ice types aren't much better. I used Vanniluxe on my first playthrough and it was... alright, though it takes a while to become usable (I doubt it'd be of much help for Clay). Then you have Beartic, who has to rely on Icicle Crash, which is prone to missing, or Cryogonal, which seems alright too but has paper-thin physical defense.

[@aurafox1]

I wish you could find Bagon more realistically without just *knowing* where to look. It's only in a single tiny room you normally only cross three tiles in. It feels like it should be present at a lower encounter rate (2%?) throughout the whole basement.

[@Redpoppy80]

Same for Feebas.

[@AedraRising]

Eh, I think it makes sense. Pseudo legendaries in the earlier gens were supposed to be very rare. There's a reason why Dratini was only available through the Game Corner and the Safari Zone in the Kanto games and why Gible is in a very well hidden cave in Sinnoh.

[@aurafox1]

@aedrarising2760 Dratini is available in the Game Corner as you said, Larvitar is in a much larger cave, and Gible is in the entire basement, and not even a rare encounter down there. In contrast, Bagon is only found in a secret area that's far too small to even imply you might find different pokemon there, in the back of an already secret area barred by Waterfall. To make Bagon comparable to the others, I think it's fair to put it throughout the basement area where you need Waterfall to get to it, and leave it at a lower encounter rate. Then, where Bagon is originally found, you can also add a small chance of finding Shelgon. (Dragonair and Pupitar could similarly be found). Also, Gabite is pretty common in Victory Road in Platinum, too. Which is fair game to compare since we're talking about Emerald here. And it would definitely make sense to find Shelgon in Victory Road as well. Also, let's not forget that Beldum is outright *given* to you. Beldum should've been found in Victory Road or Meteor Falls as well.

[@rafilosofo]

I agree, but I think is like, ok. Since I have the information I can get it easily. The worst is Feebas that you suffer to get EVEN WITH INFORMATION.

[@shadow_realm47]

@@aurafox1 I use walk through walls to hit that location as soon as I can!

[@lasercraft32]

To be fair, Steven is the only champion in ORAS, which is far more recent than the original. Wallace retired and became the water gym leader I guess.

[@Shalakor]

I'm pretty sure, in-lore, ORAS is a whole separate dimension/timeline from the original games. (Though, from a more practical perspective, they're remakes of Ruby and Sapphire, so Wallace becoming Champion hasn't happened yet even though the ORAS games are more recent.)

[@alexking3053]

One idea I had, that addresses the Steven-Wallace-Juan conundrum AND solves the issue of there being several Water-type specialists in the region: Canonically, Juan was the Sootopolis Gym Leader prior to Wallace. More specifically, he was Wallace’s teacher. Emerald Legacy could do something similar to what Yellow Legacy did (ie. having Janine as a Fuchsia Gym trainer). When the player finally reaches the Sootopolis Gym leader, they arrive to find Wallace and Juan training. The player, upon interacting with Juan, is informed that Wallace is currently being trained as his successor. Juan decides to use the player as an opportunity to test Wallace, and asks the player if they would be interested in a double battle with both himself and Wallace. This allows Emerald Legacy to retain Steven as Champion, and have both Juan and Wallace as a Gym fight. Not only this, but it capitalizes on the newly-introduced (and sorely under-utilized) double battle mechanic, with the potential for some interesting strategies. Like having a fast Rain Dance setup Pokémon (like Kingdra) partnered with Rain Dish Ludicolo. Some other ideas I had: - Give Flannery a Ninetales with Solar Beam so that it can take advantage of Sunny Day setup and punish Rock, Ground, and Water sweepers (ex. Marshtomp). - Give Norman a Girafarig with Calm Mind and Psychic. It being part Psychic means that it can wall Fighting-types. It’s also a fun nod to Norman being from the Johto region. (You could even go a step further and have him send out the Girafarig in an Apricorn ball.) - Have wild Beldum available at New Mauville. Thematically, it fits the location, and it allows the player to have early access to it (rather than having to wait until the post-game). - Combine the functionality of the Mach and Acro bikes into one, and make it so that the player can switch between them via button press. - Reduce the encounter rate for the water routes, and change NPC rosters so that they feature teams consisting of more than just Water-types. If you want to preserve Swimmers using exclusively Water teams, then maybe have other trainer classes appear on water routes, and have them surfing on a Wailmer silhouette (similar to the player). - As for improvements to a specific Pokémon, why not give Tropius Thick Fat in order to reduce its x2 Fire and x4 Ice weakness? I had other ideas, but in the interest of maintaining a pretense of brevity, I'll end it here. (Also, it goes without saying, but I'm so hyped for Emerald Legacy. Good luck to you and your team! I'm sure it'll be incredible!)

[@mikosan6]

Not one of those was poorly thought out, so I hope they get noticed!

[@CoffeeFlavoredMilk]

Gen 4 combined the Mach and Acro Bikes into one which was such a nice QoL feature and I'm surprised not many Emerald hacks have capitalized on 'porting' this over, or at least allowing you to get both bikes so you don't have to keep going to the shop over and over if you want to access the side paths that require a specific bike to access.

[@AnthonyAllen-y8y]

All great/thoughtful/balanced ideas pal 👌 Makes you realise how easy and great it would be to outsource even just some of pokemon's development to fans like you who care

[@ianwesley8074]

I love this double battle idea! I think it'd pair really well with the idea someone else commented of having Steven retire and Wallace appear as the post-game champion, which would mean that Juan would appear solo for the gym leader rematch.

[@alexking3053]

@@mikosan6 Thanks! Emerald is near and dear to my wretched black heart, so I couldn't not toss out some ideas.

[@ralphaustinfernandez9851]

The biggest issue with Brawly is that he literally can't touch you if you use a Sableye.

[@nathanandsugar5252]

Rock Tomb has entered the chat- HP Rock would be cool too.

[@joshuamahon260]

I honestly don't see this as an issue. I see this as one of those rewarding things. I wouldn't call Sableye a good Pokemon other than the fact that it has a good type matching. What this does mechanically is show type matchups and that if you look around the area, you'll be able to find something to help you out. That is where I think Watson falls flat though. I don't think making you backtrack proves anything. They could has easily added a cave nearby for you to be able to get a Geodude there for the ground typing against his electric typing

[@427Arbok]

Don't forget that Dustox and Beautifly are also available and (especially the former) turn him into a complete joke thanks to supereffective moves and quad-resisting every attack his team has.

[@vlissblisskiss]

norman also has serious difficulty with a toxic sableye

[@ivanbluecool]

Title: how to fix emerald Real title: how to indirectly nerf swampert Jokes aside. Giving more grass mons in the gyms and field it would help balance the game out overall.

[@bricemckeel255]

Nothing indirect about it. We nerfin swampert

[@Schlaym]

Just not more with stun spore please. There are routes in the game with Oddish and Electrike where you get para'd EVERY DAMN ENCOUNTER 😂.

[@JayceCH.]

??? Dont be a bot. Pokemon games do not need to "balance the roster types." All that does is make the game easier by giving you more choices.

[@_y4020]

​@@JayceCH. What is this even supposed to mean lmao

[@mannather]

@@JayceCH. I apologise but I don't understand your point here. If you don't make an effort to balance the roster, you'll end up in a gen 2 situation where Meganium is /barely/ chosen as Feraligator and Typhlosion are objectively better picks in almost every regard.

[@turtlewaffle5131]

You could delete Juan and replace him with Wallace and make Steven champ then have his champ fight be a rematch.

[@mistergrool3941]

My guy putting Torkoal, Whiscash and Tropius as the "good" 'mons. And coming from someone whose favorite games are the Sinnoh ones, Emerald isn't nearly as bad when it comes to team building options when 99% of DP teams consist of your starter, Staraptor, Luxray, Lucario, Gastrodon/Floatzel and Roserade/Garchomp/old gen mon

[@Shari362]

Counterpoint, Platinum has much better team building options than Emerald. Which I count more since it's the definitive version of Gen 4 Sinnoh. RSE has some heat in its Pokedex but it makes you work for the great mons. Most Hoen teams I've seen are even weaker than the standard DP team.

[@D-Havoc]

​@Shari362 Counter-counterpoint, Sinnoh teams seem stronger than RSE because it's pretty clear-cut what works in DPPt and what sucks. You almost have to rely on Staraptor for Fly as the other Fly options come mid to late game or, in the case of Pearl and Platinum, loses to version exclusivity (Murkrow line). Floatzel is your go-to option without ol'reliable Gyarados. Fire type? LMAO. Or and good luck with Rock Climb targets. For some reason, there's not a lot of NATIVE Pokémon to Sinnoh to teach that move to. So your Starter usually gotta eat shit by getting a move which isn't very good.

[@Shari362]

@@D-Havoc Plat teams don't seem stronger, they are stronger lol. You can very easily run Crobat or Togekiss in place of Staraptor. All three are great. You can run Vaporeon instead of Floatzel of Gyrados, all three very strong options. For fire types you have Houdooom, Flareon, Magmar and Rapidsh outside of Infernape. And that's off the top of my head. You also have access to: Garchomp, Espeon, Jolteon, Lucario, Tentacruel, Weavile, Gliscor, Gardevoir, Gallade, and Rhydon. If you have friends you can get Scizor, Alakazam, Gengar, Machamp, Electrivire etc. If you have patience to deal with the trees you can get Snowlax and Heracross. The Platinum dex doesn't seem better than Emerald's, its just significantly better. If you see someone run a standard Staraptor-Luxray team in Plat thats on them. I've made some insane teams in my Plat runs. Plat easily has the best regional team building options up until BW2.

[@DariaJames3777]

@@Shari362 To be fair, he definetly didn't really talk about the wobufet in the room. Silly little dude makes the rest of the game trivial if you know how the battle script works.

[@ReliableDiamondThug]

@@D-Havoc generation 4 teams as a whole are stronger because of bigger, better, and more diverse movepools, + the addition of the physical/special split truly unlocking the potential of many pokemon.

[@geg708]

One thing that I hate about Emerald is how they completely removed Courtney, I hope you can add her back in Emerald Legacy

[@stanbrule9357]

Who?

[@Trycex09]

​@@stanbrule9357 I said that "who?" Then I check bulbapedia, she is the female admin of team magma(that never show up in emerald)

[@AkamexAris1023]

Courtney is so underrated!!

[@ItachiKakashi123]

I'd love to see Courtney return as well

[@Toast_94]

Somehow I never noticed that. That is so weird. Yet you fight Tabitha like three times or something.

[@gatorboymike]

If you're a dumb kid trying to take out Roxanne's Nosepass with just Normal-type moves, making you fight a member of the Aron family would just be cruel.

[@JoshTheValiant]

Kid's gotta learn somehow

[@kirbyofthestarsfan]

Good thing downloading this hack requires one to already be deep enough in Pokemon to want a fix hack lol Aron's a very good choice

[@cellP8]

lol

[@JaimeNyx15]

All of the starters do at least neutral damage to Aron, so I don’t think it would be a problem

[@nathanandsugar5252]

Corraction: It’s A-aron.

[@ThorpenAlnyr]

"As a pro" Sir, your opinion is discarded. Nostalgia wins the day.

[@finmat95]

Exaclty, who gives a fuck if you're a pro or not.

[@lofidante1778]

A more out there change would be to lean into the fact Sidney has two grass types and make him a grass type elite 4. Breloom and sceptile both fit his aesthetic.

[@L-Thatcher]

Would be a good way to challenge Swampert as well

[@theserpent8667]

I did have an idea on how to fix the champion problem, and it involves taking inspiration from ORAS. So, like in Ruby and Sapphire, Steven will be the champion you fight at the end of the game. However, once you beat him, he decides to go exploring in order to train, and so out of necessity, he appoints Wallace the champion in his place, and he's who you'll fight in the rematch. Meanwhile, after completing a certain post game event (maybe capturing Deoxys), you'll get a call from Mr Stone informing you that Steven is currently training in Meteor Falls, and has requested that you go there to battle him. You go, with a requirement to have beaten Wallace and sone other criteria, and you fight Steven again, maybe this time with a new Pokémon.

[@nautgamingnautgaming9949]

I like that

[@DrMemeD302]

And it's not like Gamefreak is opposed to having different champions in the same game. In Black and White, you fight the E4 and then N is the champion (and there's a Ghetsis fight too), then in rematches with the E4 it's Alder as the champion.

[@theserpent8667]

@@DrMemeD302 Precisely. This makes both crowds happy, as both get to be champions.

[@vajukal]

This is a good solution to the Wallace and Steven issue

[@theserpent8667]

@@vajukal Thank you.

[@moebro101]

Contests were shafted until Lily Cove towards the end of the game. The battle factory was cool in the Battle Frontier but not at the beginning of the game. It made learning contest moves kind of irrelevant because you would have to keep useless moves until Lily Cove. It would be cool if there was a side story with Wallace and Contests as well as some sort of reward for perusing it.

[@CrashJetTech]

Aside from putting some of the Contest Halls back where they were, it really feels like there should be more rewards for it. Like getting some of the rarer berries or some of the TMs which you otherwise only get one of. As it stands, I think the only actual reward is Luxury Balls for repeatedly winning Master Rank contests, which is neat, but not that exciting. If they wanted to be simple, getting some coins for the Game Corner would be a pretty nice reward to help get the powerful TMs there.

[@RAJKevis]

I would love putting contests early and giving out a feebas

[@brhayashi]

I'm glad you mentioned battle facilities. I skip the three Battle Tents because the single item rewards make too little difference to a playthrough. Locking Trainer Hill to after the Elite Four is extremely underwhelming when it has to compete with the 7 facilities of the Battle Frontier for your attention.

[@dihexa7256]

Idk if this would be a popular addition but ripping the CD-quality soundtrack and patching it into the romhack to replace the standard low quality soundtrack would be awesome

[@AlfieriV]

I remember the NPC with the Milotic in the rainy route to Lilycove. That was surprisingly challenging

[@w1q2e3r4t5]

I don't think that Wallca is massively DISLIKED, just people like Steven MORE. Wallace is still a good fight but Steven just feels more like the champion. As for changes.... a big shake up in gym leaders / E4 ordering and such? Like... Steven as Champion again, maybe make Wallace an E4 member and shift an E4 member to a gym leader? That's probably a bit too out there, but it feels like it could solve some issues with lack of challenge in spots. And more diverse teams on the grunts, dear lord.

[@Logicalleaping]

Glaica fits perfectly into gym 8, with it being an ice puzzle and all. Wouldn't surprise me if an ice gym leader was the original gym 8. Might need to add sneasel or delibird to the game or something so she has a slightly more fun team. Or just give glacia some random ass pokemon like a relicanth, gorebyss and huntail (not used in any major battle).

[@chasefitch2245]

I actually really like this. I do think a grass leader needs to be somewhere tho

[@robertlupa8273]

Give some of the grunts (or at least the Admins) Solrock or Lunatone depending on the team. The moon is what causes tidal waves, so it fits Team Aqua just fine (and I don't need to explain why Solrock fits Magma).

[@nautgamingnautgaming9949]

​@@LogicalleapingI think gym 7 actually is better Move the ice puzzle to mossdeep Give glacia a sealeo castform glalie n walrein

[@Logicalleaping]

@@nautgamingnautgaming9949 OH castform is a fantastic idea. If Hail is buffed to actually have utility having a hail gym would be cool. I think thematically Mossdeep having the moon and sun pokemon is better than it being an ice gym though.

[@HoratioMcAlge]

GIVE THE FOSSILS EARLIER! Anorith and Lileep are so interesting, but their stats and movesets are way outclassed after Flannery.

[@finmat95]

Like in Kanto?

[@webrevolution.]

<a href="#" class="seekto" data-time="2">0:02</a> I have to strongly disagree with that. It is my personal opinion that gen 3 is not one of the best installments of the series. It is THE best. Followed closely by "gen4" with Heart Gold and Soul Silver, which aren't proper gen4, but remakes of previous gens. And to be honest I don't even think it's necessarily close to the next best gen, which for me is gen6, but as I said, much worse than previous two. Also, I think it's a skill issue for you when saying how bad the fire choice as a starter is. I have finished my last emerald run about 2 weeks ago and I've picked fire-type as a starter. I have not experienced loss in any of the fights you've mentioned. You might be underleveled or maybe just not as good as you thought. I definitely agree that the water-type starter is the optimal choice for this region, but fire-type is not that far behind. It just requires you a bit more skill than hitting the same stab attack over and over again on whatever might come your way. Sometimes it might be in the form of TM that you give him to learn or just spending those 5/10 extra minutes to level the pokémon before fighting against someone with a good match for your team. And not just go at it as if the game was ONLY playing through the story and that's all. Unless you are speedrunning, that is NOT the way to play this game, or any pokémon game for that matter. Cause having just recently played this, I can assure you that once you get your 2nd evolution on the fire-type you will not encounter much of a resistance from opponents anymore, unless they are water type. Even the 7th gym can be bulldozed through with a good Blaziken, despite them having some stab against you. Cause by that point you've already made it to the point where you can buy some good TM moves for your pokémon and make his moveset more than decent against pretty much everything you might face. While if you choose the grass-type starter you will never get to the point when you can just take on almost anything. It will always be kind of a struggle and you'll have to balance your team in a completely different way, forcefully. So putting the fire-type and the grass-type in the same kind of "bad starters who don't match Mudkip" is naive to say the least.

[@jasperclark1122]

I think one thing that would fix the game is more Pokémon that are low on types. Don’t go to crazy but put a murkrow here and a misdrivus there. Just adding a few Pokémon to increase the roster so we have more team building options and give some lack luster Pokémon some more time to shine.

[@ghozt3167]

Yes, it could be similar to Platinum Dex-Expansion. Gastly/Misdreavus in Mt. Pyre, Seel/Jynx in Shoal Cave, Clefairy in Meteor Falls, Growlithe in Route 112, etc.

[@jasperclark1122]

@@ghozt3167 I would like to see more gen 2 representation because gen 1 has been used a lot between the first two games. So poloswine, murkrow, misdrevius, forretress, and sneasel would be more of what I’d focus on. That way we can have a different experience.

[@ghozt3167]

​@@jasperclark1122 In this case, a good solution could be unlock the Safari extra zone before Elite Four. Even though you can find trash Pokémon like Ariados, Ledian, Gligar, etc; also you can get good mons like Ampharos, Houndoom or Ursaring. Otherwise, re-distribute the species in Safari Zone locating Johtomon in regular sections and change the extra with Kanto species. However, some gen 1 Pokémon should be necessary in that expansion bc cross-gen evos, since in that case only would have trashmon like Unown, Dunsparce, Qwilfish, Delibird, Yanma (exception Tyranitar or Miltank).

[@jasperclark1122]

@@ghozt3167 I’m not saying all of them need to be gen 2. I just want to see different Pokemon that we could use so, teams don’t look the same from gen 1 and 2. Just some underrated Pokemon could be used to fill the gaps in types.

[@thewerdna]

Yeah, like, add 1-2 more lines to Fighting, Fire, Electric, Dark, and Ghost, for steel make 2/3 of Fortress, Scizor, and Steelix available, and Ice needs 3-4 more options

[@KeroTheInvincible]

The one thing I reall want to see is fixed level-up learnsets for pokemon. Hoenn really leaned into the idea of hiding moves on lower stage pokemon, so that you can get them if you hold off on evolving them. Encouraging you to have a little more challenge now for a stronger payoff later. Unfortunately, they went way too far. Expecting you to keep Nincada until lvl 38 to learn Metal Claw, or have Trapinch learn Dig naturally at lvl 41, or let Treecko learn Giga Drain at lvl 45. It's an interesting CONCEPT that Shroomish learns all the Grass moves and Breloom learns all the Fighting moves, but your Rival showcases why a late-game Shroomish is a bad idea. And holding off until level 54 just to get Spore is absurd.

[@CrashJetTech]

This is an aspect of Gen 3 movesets that I appreciate, but they definitely went overboard. It's the sort of thing where it might make sense waiting 5 levels for a better move, but the cases where it's nearly 20 levels is absurd. Like if Shroomish got Giga Drain at say, level 26, and then Spore at 30, I could see people being more willing to hold out. Though it'd also be nice if Breloom did eventually learn Spore regardless, even if it was at level 60 or something, just so you're not completely screwed out of getting it.

[@dvillines26]

Spore Breloom is kind of busted though, so I comprehend why they'd want to hide that from all but the most dedicated players.

[@nc5958]

Golem learns Earthquake, Explosion, and Double Edge too late in Gen 3. I am playing Pokémon Sapphire and I plan on trading him to Pokémon Leaf Green so that he can learn Explosion and Double Edge earlier. They should have kept the same idea from Gen 2 for Golem's Gen 3 learnset.

[@CrashJetTech]

@@dvillines26 I can understand the desire, but in practice it just means that most players would never figure out how to teach Breloom spore without a guide. And those that read a guide still probably wouldn't use it during a playthrough. At that point even putting a Move Tutor for Spore hidden on an island somewhere feels preferable if it's meant to be a secret. Like how you can only get Softboiled in Kanto by backtracking to Celadon with Surf.

[@KeroTheInvincible]

@@dvillines26 If by dedicated players you mean bringing a Shroomish to the Elite Four and evolving it in time for the Champion. Then sure.

[@jbserver1334]

There is a normal trainer I will never forget: after you leave Meteor Falls & head south to Rustboro you encounter a trainer with a Zangoose. This guy swept half of my team with that monster, so now if I’m doing another run I always have to prep in advance. Other than that you’re 100% correct on all this. In my most recent play-through I was particularly shocked by how bad the grass types were. Seedot’s only attacking move is nature power, Oddish only learns acid and absorb until you fully evolve it, Cacnea can’t be caught until after the 4th gym-so if you don’t pick the starter your best option is Shroomish or Lotad. Not great considering how many water types are in the game.

[@nc5958]

Gen 3 Grass Type was designed better than Gen 2 Grass Type. The Bullet Seed TM is available before the first gym. Teaching Treecko Bullet Seed means he does not have to rely on the weak Absorb to defeat Roxanne. The TMs for Giga Drain and Solarbeam are available earlier in Gen 3 than in Gen 2.

[@JayceCH.]

That is in no way a negative about the game lol. And you conveniently leave out TMs, and saying Lotad or Shroomish are "not great" when they are some of the strongest.

[@nc5958]

@@JayceCH. Yes. IDK why people are ignoring the Bullet Seed TM. Unlike GSC, Grass Type Pokémon are not stuck with their level up learnsets in RSE. Bullet Seed is enough for Grovyle until he learns Leaf Blade at Level 29. Also, there is no need to delay Treecko's evolution. Sceptile can learn Giga Drain later in the game when the player gets the TM in Route 123.

[@jbserver1334]

Breloom isn’t a great grass type because it’s a physical attacker and all grass moves are special prior to gen 4. Tropius has a similar issue. If you look at Lotad’s moveset it’s terrible. Absorb is the best you got until it’s in the 40s. Your TM options are the two turn solar beam, the inconsistent bullet seed, or base 60 giga drain after the 4th gym. Besides, Pokémon shouldn’t have to rely on TMs to be any good.

[@nc5958]

@@jbserver1334 Ignoring Spore or Grass STAB, the best moveset for Breloom in Gen 3 might be: Leech Seed, Stun Spore, Sky Uppercut, and Mach Punch or Bulk Up. Breloom is more of a Fighting Type than a Grass Type in Gen 3. Relying on TMs is not a problem. Relying on Egg moves is a different story. Lotad would have been good if he started with Water Gun instead of Astonish. Lombre not having Water STAB until Surf is bad.

[@thohillesland]

As someone who has played trough pokemon emerald probably around 70 times, has used almost every pokemon in the game at least once, and has spent way to much time over analysering this game, there are a lot of the balancing issues i do not agree with here, and especially how you rate a lot of the pokemon here. First of, the fact that there are a ton of water types, and that water types are very good is not a Hoenn exclusive issue, its a thing in most of the games in the series. Water has always had a good defensive and offensive profile, and since Surf is almost always a required TM, they always have get access to one of their best stab moves. And when comparing the amount of water lines, Gen 4 has 17 water type lines, and gen 1 has 16 water type lines, while this isn't as high as gen 3, it is still very high compared to all the other types in the game. Now to go over some of the comments you made about the actual pokemon. - In what universe is Combusken/Blaziken bad???? It isn't any worse against Brawly than Marshtomp is, and after that you get access to bulk up, which is insanly broken. you can just set up on all of wattson, Flannery and Norman for easy wins against them. Even after that, the only gym it somewhat struggles against is Winona and Tate and Liza. It doesn't really matter that its weak to a lot of the late game water types when it can just outspeed and one shot them as a Blaziken. Of course, Blaziken isn't better than Swampert, but it is still one of the best Pokemon in the game. - Gardevoir, while gardevoir itself is very good, Ralts and Kirlia are absolute trashfires. You can only catch them at level 4, their stats are so insanely low, they are both slow, frail, and weak, and is stuck like this until level 30 (around when you fight Norman). You have to baby it for so long untill it can actually fight on its own. Compare this to the other early game psychic type Abra, that you get it at level 8-10 and it evolves at level 16, and can imidiatly trade evo for Alakazam. Even if you don't evolve it to Alakazam, kadabra is basically just as strong as Gardevoir, at half the level. Kadabra is broken for this part of the game, and even if it gets psychic later it doesn't really matter, since by the time you get Gardevoir, Kadabra has already destroid about half the game already. I would also like to note that while getting Psychic early is a good perk, it isn't that special since you can buy the Psychic TM at the casino in mauvile, which is way earlier than level 26. I wouldn't even put Gardevoir in the top 5 Psychic types in gen 3. I'd consider Alakazam, Kadabra, Girafarig, Starmie, Medicham, Lunatone, and Solrock are all to be better than Gardevoir. - Aggron is not that great, even how much i like its design. Rock Steel is just an awfull typing combined with low special defence and low speed. It also evolves super late so you are stuck with Aron untill level 32 and Lairon untill 42, all the while you are terrified of and crumple to any Ground, Fighting or water moves as well as most special attacks in the game. The only major fight in the game where i'd say it is genuanly good is against Norman. - Flygon is also really not that great... Trapinch is so slow and frail, and vibraba's stats are also quite lackluster, and you are stuck with this until level 45 (essentially the very end of the game). It also is a TM hog, since its level up moves all basically suck. - Salamence is just too much of a training project to be worth it at the very end of the game. - Claydol isn't great, while it has quite good stats and movepool, its typing is genuanly awful especially for late game Emerald, and it takes a bit too long to evolve for it to be worth it with baltoy's bad stats. - Genuine question here, have you ever looked at Tropius's stats and movepool? no attacking stat over 72, 51 speed, and not really that bulky either with a horrible defensive typing, The best thing it can do is be a somewhat ok sun sweaper with Chlorophyll, but for that you can just use Bellossum or Shiftry instead... While i mostly agree with you about the gym leaders in Emerald, I have to somewhat dissagree with your stance on Wattson. Not that he isn't super lopsided, he definitly is, but that there are no good strats against him without Marshtomp or Geodude. The thing to remember here is that the biggest problem with the fight is the Magneton, sure the Manectric isn't free, but its the Magneton that is the huge roadblock for most players. And 90% of the problem with the Magneton is its insane typing, electric and steel resists or is immune to 13 out of the 17 types in the game. Its only neutral to water, which isn't a good option for obvious reasons, and is only weak to ground, fighting and fire. The amount of these types you have access to before Wattson is absurdly limited, so doing any decent damage aginst it can be very difficult. While it is limited, there a quite a number of other pokemon that work very well against Wattson. Combusken, Breloom and Haryama are the obviouse ones and can all very easily setup and sweep with bulk up. You also have Alakazam and Kadabra with Psybeam or even Psychic (from the game corner), who are powerfull enough to be able to straight up overpower the Magneton, even with resisted hits. Vigeroth gets both encore, slack off and bulk up. You can Encore the Voltorb or Electrike into a weak move then start setting up with bulk up, even with just Uproar as your attack at +6 its still more than enough to force your way trough the Magneton. Shedinja is immune to almost every single move in the fight. Nincada + Sableye can PP stall the Magneton and the Manectric. Loudred can get Flamethrower from the Game Corner which is a easy 2 hit ko on the Magneton. Gloom resists electric and has access to Sleep Powder. (in R/S) Roselia also resists Electric with access to Leech Seed and Stun Spore.

[@beaky8138]

Agreed and I hope that people with strong ties to gen 3 will be involved in playtesting and feedback.

[@DanielisAwesome52]

Treecko hurts the most because even in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire where they finally have a Physical/Special Split and he gets a Mega they doubled down on making him bad. They flood his movepool with Physical Attacks and then his Mega gets boosted Special instead, which makes sense when only looking at Sceptiles stats. But Leaf Blade was his signature attack in Gen 3, it was a Special Move cause Grass was Special but now its Physical and they kept giving him more and more Physical Attacks like Dragon Claw and X-Scissor but he can barely use them and you have to find a way to breed a Treecko with Dragonbreath or find a tutor for Dragon Pulse to use his new Type as a Mega, it was just all sorts of crap ontop of a badly dealt hand already.

[@NeightrixPrime]

I agree it needs physical Leaf Blade (so do Breloom and Shiftry), especially since it already gets Swords Dance.

[@Gojira-ri6rj]

gamefreak shoukld've swapped the physical and special attack of bro

[@explodeinto2]

If you give Sceptile Dragon type I'll give every dev member a kiss on the mouth.

[@nautgamingnautgaming9949]

I second this idea

[@JoshTheValiant]

Let's make Grass/Dragon the new Fire/Fighting, and give it to Meganium and Serperior too! :D /hj

[@seegurke-bd3yr]

Considering the amount of watertypes in the Game, being Dragon Grass isnt even that good i mean you could eat an icebeam at any Corner 😅

[@jessevandendoren]

Check out Inclement Emerald, absolutely insane rom hack

[@devilrider39000000]

I think Smith already gave Sceptile the Grass/Dragon typing in a previous video. So he might bring it back for Emerald legacy.

[@da1ace]

I have an issue with your first point and it's stopping me from watching the rest: when you're picking your starter pokemon, you have no way if knowing what the gym leaders and trainers and pokemon along the way will bring you. You're making a more or less blind decision on your starter, and saying that mudkip being the best is an inherent issue with the game is looking at it backwards. We know now it's the best, but when first playing the game it's not an issue in my opinion.

[@jeremymullens7167]

Yes but if you pick mudkip you’ll have an easier time. Gen 1 straight up told you. Mudkip is my favorite starter. Torchick is cool but the only person I knew that like treeko liked it from the show.

[@ConfusingZark-hj5bt]

No one picked mudkip. Even a water type lover picked treeko over him. Mudkip was the Bulbasaur of early gen 3.

[@qwertyuiopzxcfgh]

My team as a kid was Sceptile, Exploud, Rayquaza and 3 HM slaves. I barely understood English at the time, yet I still beat the Elite Four on my first attempt (using a lot of full restores and revives). This entire "same experience" theory assumes that kids back then knew their type matchups, let alone stats of specific pokemon.

[@whiskers3100]

I think making Steven the champion and putting Wallace back as the 8th gym leader just makes too much sense

[@Shalakor]

Also make the Contests more accessible again, and let Wallace have interactions with the player in those locations.

[@ElsaRochelle]

I kinda wanted the Winstrate Family to have a bigger payoff. I would have loved for the son to be a tough Victory Road battle or something.

[@dvillines26]

he is in Victory Road tho

[@ElsaRochelle]

@@dvillines26 I know, but I wanted a more satisfying battle from him than what I got. It felt anti-climatic.

[@AedraRising]

@@ElsaRochelle His entire purpose was to be a red herring.

[@ElsaRochelle]

@@AedraRising It just would have been nice if one of them was actually strong. Like maybe the oldest child left because he discovered he actually wanted to get stronger.

[@ronnieketchum1241]

Emerald Legacy is COOKING.

[@Kashikizu]

FR CANT WAIT

[@drel3082]

Aww yeah! And he’s giving out free schmells now lol

[@denis2381]

​@@KashikizuImagine defining something as an "issue" because your vision doesnt allign with the vision from the creator. Pure entitlement. The only issue i can see are people breaking copyright law because of said entitlement. You can be sure that i forward this to the company doing takedowns for Nintendo. After all these so called "fixes" are a financial gain for that Smith guy while insulting the franchise

[@Kashikizu]

@@denis2381 I see. Oh well

[@gmerc1333]

@@denis2381 beasting

[@MSgtRazor]

tbh, i gotta disagree with your evaluation of the Torchic line.. unless you're speed running, Torchic into Combusken is amazing for Roxanne, as doublekick puts in a lot of work. peck + the level adv handles brawler really well, and you have the dmg output to handle watson reasonable well. wtf is Flannery gonna do? not much to you. and Blaziken roflstomps Norman a casual playthrough without always being as fast as you can, or specifically focusing on the timer, will see a lot more levels than a challenge run. the Game Dev's set out to make a casually played game - it was NOT made for speed running.. so idk why people with said mindset try to point out stuff using that point of view, about a game that was never intended to fit said point of view.

[@brucelee42069]

Please dont neglect all the side content when refining the game! Contests, berry cubes, the challenge houses (Winstrate, Trick House...) are all a big part of the immaculate vibes in Gen 3. It was the first game where it really felt like a place, because of all these different things going on. The first two games really did just feel like a straight line of running between battles.

[@GoldLuminance]

ABSOLUTELY

[@gordonhuskin7337]

"immaculate vibes in Gen 3" LMAOOOOO. Oh wait, you are serious.....LET ME LAUGH EVEN HARDER!!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[@islandboy9381]

@gordonhuskin Great counter argument

[@andrewrabon]

You can prop up Gen 3 without crapping on the first two Gens. Like wow, Final Fantasy 4 has a more living world than FF1-3 on previous-gen hardware... No one saw that coming... Gen 1 and especially 2 were literally hitting the limits of the system they were on. For me, Gen 3 played like a refined Gen 1 retread with this weird new double battle focus, which I didn't enjoy as a kid and doesn't really make much sense outside of a competitive play. Gen 3 being a Gen 1 retread is great for the kids who were too young for the first two generations when they came out, but respect your elders guys, come on. As a kid, it really sucked not being able to trade into Gen 3 when 1 and 2 could trade between each other (any of the original 151 can be traded back from GSC to RBY, which has never happened since) and going back to a single region felt like regressing, even if it was more scalable for the series in the long run. I'll always carry that disappointment with me, even if as an adult I can now appreciate what Gen 3 was trying to do. (Keyword: trying, mostly unsuccessfully -- see the sales drop from Gen 2 to 3, then the explosion in Gen 4.)

[@Gojira-ri6rj]

@@gordonhuskin7337 my butthole is warmer than the surface of the sun

[@JxJ-Station]

Gonna borrow a phrase I picked up from a Fire Emblem video, A lot of the Pokemon in this game have really bad "unit feel" and it makes me so happy you addressed how much different the game feels when you aren't picking the top ten as you put it.

[@GeneralCDragon]

Praises Flannery for being a fire-type trainer before all the water-types show up. Admonishes Winona having 2 quad ice weaknesses before ice pokemon show up. Prepare for standards, and make them double.

[@GeneralCDragon]

@j.d.714 Right. But in the same vein, you have Swampert, Gyarados, Tentacruel, Pelliper, and even Azumarill. All available before the fire gym. Camrupt ironically, is also a good counter as well. Also bold of him to say it's easy to set up on Swablu when it comes with Perish Song to stop that nonsense in its tracks.

[@sirdrmr101]

Here’s how I think you could fix your problems with the rivals: 1. Make it not an error that may/brendan has a torkoal in that second fight, in fact give them more random pokemon. Their arc is that they love pokemon but don’t understand battles well, so make every fight have with them have different pokemon, like they’re just using the pokemon they caught in the area. Dont make them stronger, in fact give them worse teams to really make them seem clueless when it comes to battling. This fixes your problem with them not having a satisfying conclusion as they never really seem like a battler in the first place. 2. Give Wally two more fights with you. The first before you fight norman, because you both get back to the same point you met but with a better understanding of battling. The second before or after Tate and Liza because his ace is also a psychic type(before as a warm up or after as a final psychic hurdle). Also give him a hariyama instead of delcatty to stop you using an ice type to sweep half of his team. I think that this would play down the thought that may/brendan is a battling rival and up Wally’s presence in the game so it doesnt feel like he comes out of nowhere to jump you after victory road

[@Shalakor]

1. I agree with the premise of having Branden/May using a bunch of different Pokemon to go along with their Pokedex completion goal (maybe not on them being totally incompetent, since it would be less fun to curb stomp what's framed as boss battles on a regular basis), but the ones they use should still be Pokemon that can actually be caught in the areas visited (same could be said for any TM moves that they may be taught). I doubt Emerald Legacy will be making Torkoal available that early, so that'll still need to be changed. Should definitely be the one to use Skitty and Delcatty instead of Wally having it all the way at the end of the game. 2. Wally needs to have a fixed team to contrast (and May/Brandon shouldn't using any of the same evo families as him), and I agree at least 1 extra fight. I prefer that the most important place to have an encounter with Wally added is at the 5th Gym to have a coming full circle moment for the place you first met him, but instead of coming before it, you should have to fight Wally immediately after winning the Badge, with Norman healing your team and suggesting the battle to test his progress. After that, he could just be met in more talking-only encounters, not being ready to rematch you again until surprising you on Victory Road. I also was partially inspired by the "Fixing Hoenn's Rivals" video by RoryTheFiend (which took a similar-ish approach to your idea for May/Brandon, but can't post links in KZbin comments) in picking a good team for Wally to use (moves based on the original games, not on expected changes in the Legacy version): ----- 1st Wally Fight (before 3rd Gym, originally just a level 16 Ralts, which was more embarrassing than it needed to be): Level 17 Azurill, Slam, Bubble, Tail Whip, Charm, no item. Level 18 Shroomish, Leech Seed, Stun Spore, Tackle, Mega Drain, no item. Level 18 Whismur, Pound, Astonish, Uproar, Howl, no item. Level 19 Ralts, Confusion, Growl, Double Team, Teleport, no item. All weak Pokemon, making him similar to a generic Trainer fight at best compared to Wattson and the Gym Trainers. No TMs or strategic move choices yet, he's just done some catching and level grinding. Even in context of a "Hard Mode" would be the same as "Normal Mode" difficulty for this fight. Wanted to rep Azurill as the new baby Pokemon of Gen 3, and it's in front solely because it's lowest level, but obviously would be a bad idea for Wattson if he was to get its friendship high enough while challenging the Gym. ----- 2nd Wally Fight (added after the 5th Gym, losing doesn't white out and the fight isn't repeatable if lost): Level 26(Normal)/28(Hard) Swablu, Fury Attack(Normal)/Secret Power(Hard), Peck, Astonish(Normal)/Steel Wing(Hard), Sing(Normal)/Mist(Hard), no item(Normal)/Sitrus Berry(Hard). Level 25(Normal)/27(Hard) Breloom, Leech Seed, Mach Punch, Headbutt, Mega Drain, no item(Normal)/Sitrus Berry(Hard). Level 25(Normal)/27(Hard) Magnemite, Spark, SonicBoom(Normal)/Hidden Power Grass(Hard, can buy in Slateport by then), Thunder Wave, Metal Sound, no item(Normal)/Sitrus Berry(Hard). Level 26(Normal)/28(Hard) Marill, Slam(Normal)/Double-Edge(Hard), BubbleBeam, Rollout(Normal)/Dig(Hard), Charm, no item(Normal)/Sitrus Berry(Hard). Level 26(Normal)/27(Hard) Loudred, Stomp(Normal)/Strength(Hard), Astonish, Supersonic(Normal)/Flamethrower(Hard), Howl, no item(Normal)/Sitrus Berry(Hard). Level 28(Normal)/29(Hard), Kirlia, Psychic, Growl(Normal)/Shock Wave(Hard), Double Team(Normal)/Thief(Hard), Calm Mind, Bright Powder(Normal)/no item(Hard). Decided it'd be okay to let Wally have a full team (if wanting to avoid that, removing Magnemite probably makes the most sense), but with nearly all of them not fully evolved so they would have further to grow for the next encounter. Besides the obvious upgrades, party order is especially effective for countering STAB kills on Set Mode. Loudred in particular is built to be Kirlia's bodyguard, countering Kirlia's weaknesses and baiting out a Fighting type to knock it out for Kirlia to hit. Normal Mode Kirlia/Gardevoir leans into the evasion hacks angle (but walled by Dark types) while making their Hard Mode follow more of a fair competitive set theming. Magnemite/Magneton gets Metal Sound to rep its Steel typing and to set up potential kills for other Special attackers on the team. The potential for Gardevoir with Psychic, Calm Mind, and a coverage move on an enemy team is too much overkill for that point in the game, Rom Hack Difficulty (tm), so the bigger team of primarily mid-powered Pokemon to keep it bellow evolution level is more fitting. Winning or losing would result in different dialogue. ----- 3rd Wally Fight (Victory Road): Level 45(Normal)/47(Hard) Breloom, Leech Seed, Sky Uppercut, Counter(Normal)/Sludge Bomb(Hard), Giga Drain, no item(Normal)/Poison Barb(Hard). Level 45(Normal)/48(Hard) Azumarill, Toxic, Surf(Normal)/Dive(Hard), Dig, Ice Beam, no item(Normal)/Leftovers(Hard). Level 44(Normal)/47(Hard) Magneton, Thunderbolt, Tri Attack(Normal)/Hidden Power Grass(Hard), Thunder Wave, Metal Sound, no item(Normal)/Miracle Seed(Hard). Level 45(Normal)/47(Hard) Altaria, Dragon Breath(Normal)/Dragon Claw(Hard), Aerial Ace(Normal)/Fly(Hard), Mist/Iron Tail(Hard), Dragon Dance, no item(Normal)/Focus Band(Hard). Level 44(Normal)/47(Hard) Exploud, Hyper Voice(Normal)/Return(Hard), Shadow Ball, Flamethrower, Earthquake, no item(Normal)/Shell Bell(Hard). Level 46(Normal)/49(Hard), Gardevoir, Psychic, Future Sight(Normal)/Thunderbolt(Hard), Double Team(Normal)/Thief(Hard), Calm Mind, Bright Powder(Normal)/no item(Hard). I kept a fair amount of what RoryTheFiend did for their move choices (for the Pokemon I didn't replace, anyway), but tried to hone in on some move consistency between encounters over pure strongest choice for each Pokemon individually (and mostly different held items). Prime example is having Hard Mode Altaria upgrade Steel Wing to Iron Tail to have a more direct line of progression, even though Steel Wing's better accuracy makes this mostly a side grade and there's better end-game options (though, yeah, also because the one allowed Earthquake TM on Exploud makes that team member more scary), and Mist being a fairly rare move worth being featured. And, yeah, Azumaril's gimmick build is held back a lot in Gen 3 (though probably wouldn't be in Emerald Legacy), but it felt like a natural advancement of Hard Mode Maril using Dig for coverage. Also decided to cash in on the idea of GameFreak cheating moves that make sense, and gave myself a pass for Normal Mode Exploud getting Hyper Voice (without checking the streams, Smith will probably make/has already made it a legal learn by that level anyway). Also also figured Breloom is too frail to be doing both Bulk Up and Leech Seed, so picked the more fun one just to let it not get entirely shut down by Ghosts in the second fight and carried that over to the third. Also also also felt like excluding sleep strats for Hard Mode teams. Also also also also, Wally definitely visited Shoal Cave in my Hard Mode concept.

[@elibashi]

Definitely think Wally and May/Brendan need a bigger role. I think Wally getting his own battle theme in ORAS, and May/Brendan getting another battle in ORAS made big differences. Also always wanted to play a version of emerald with updated evos, probopass, roserade (make roselia able to be found in the first place), magnezone, farigaraf, dusknoir, etc. Adding frosslass and dusknoir also gives E4 more choices. I think looking at a lot of the ORAS changes in general could be helpful. Good luck, can’t wait to play the completed version!

[@ubercow6611]

Don't do this entirely but take some inspiration from ORAS. I understand that ORAS was too faithful to Ruby and Sapphire in some aspects so keep the Emerald Improvement and whatever was good before ORAS made worse for some reason, but include things like stairs for certain secret bases, the improved narrative, improved learnsets, making hidden abilities available, ability to carry both bikes, ability to fly to any route, and some other stuff I'm probably forgetting. Aside from that, a substitute for HMs would be really great so you wouldn't need 8 moveslots from your team to be taken up by them

[@robertlupa8273]

I don't think adding Hidden Abilities is possible without using one of those highly advanced ROM bases (whatever's used in those recent-ish super advanced Gen 3 hacks) and I doubt Smith is good enough at coding to do it. Remember, hidden abilities weren't added until Gen 5.

[@ubercow6611]

@@robertlupa8273 I know, I was just thinking if a Pokemon has a bad ability it can be replaced with it's hidden ability or have some way for there to be 3 possible abilities instead of 2

[@JayceCH.]

ORAS was never "too faithful" lmfao. Thats only shill arguments for not having Battle Frontier. Look at every other thing, and you'll see they are through and through many changes.

[@ubercow6611]

@@JayceCH. I like ORAS more than the originals and Emerald, but by "too faithful" to the originals I mean things like using the usually worse Ruby and Sapphire gym leader teams and the evil teams still using pretty much the same small pool of Pokemon as before

[@SteamyNachos77]

Having hidden abilities and a substitute for HMs wouldn’t make it feel like Gen 3 anymore

[@clanedogg1]

Swap Phoebe and Brawly around. Phoebe would work as a gym leader for the second badge: ghost type available in the cave, gym set up is already dark like a cave and that way she can have shuppet, sableye and duskull. Then meet Brawly in the E4 and give him Breloom, Medicham, Hariyama, Machamp and Heracross.

[@KyleZonePlus]

Big agree on swapping Brawly for Phoebe. His gym puzzle in gen 3 never really made sense. It was fixed in ORAS but yea...

[@6CornDawg9]

Early game normal types and poochyena will eat phoebe's team alive

[@fungulusmaximus]

@@6CornDawg9 Doesn't matter, the first two gyms are pretty easy. Ghosts can still do a setup gimmick like Brawly's Bulk Up strat, but they have more interesting options to create a new Gym 2 challenge. Brawly being an E4 member is the best suggestion I've heard, that team is super interesting.

[@isaelsky21]

Then E4 gets closer to Kanto's E4 with both a Fighting and a Dragon user.

[@clanedogg1]

@@isaelsky21 Kanto E4 has Agatha a ghost type trainer. So it’s just a swapping one for another. Not that I see it as an issue as the original Kanto E4 and Hoenn E4 share three of the same monotypes (ghost, ice, dragon).

[@lukeryan574]

Physcial Special split is so important to me, it is wild it didnt exist before gen 4.

[@thenerdbeast7375]

The thing that gets me about the rival caring more about completing the Pokedex than battling is you would think they would at least have a full team and maybe get new party members regularly. Imagine if like N they had new team members each fight along with their starter.

[@sky_pirate]

I thought your rival's impotence was a perfect analogy for the weak sauce they used to build this game.

[@mdalion]

This is a great idea. You'd never know what to expect, which adds a different type of challenge.

[@TaLeng2023]

Don't N just use whatever Poke is found in the area you are battling him?

[@DanielPereira-ey9nt]

To put into context the point about gamefreaks obsession with late game ice type specialists Gen 1 - E4 Gen 2 - 7th gym Gen 3 - E4 Gen 4 - 7th gtm Gen 5 - 7th gym Gen 6 - 8th gym Gen 8 - 6th gym Gen 9 - 8th gym Game freak REALLY likes their late game ice specialists

[@connormackay7098]

And none of them are a challenge...

[@kirbyofthestarsfan]

Melony is the only one I'd be able to call a challenge (I can't fight because I'm very distracted by her enormous-

[@Jlaps941]

Which really works against it because having it early could help to alleviate ice’s problems; early game means less Pokémon available with a type advantage against ice, and your Pokemon won’t be fully evolved giving the gym leader a chance for a higher BST edge

[@DanielPereira-ey9nt]

@@connormackay7098 I'd say Candice and Melony can be pretty tough if you can't play around their strategy can just try to brute force

[@kroganshepard6594]

​@@kirbyofthestarsfan Lapras?

[@canapone6921]

Grovyle being stuck with Absorb until level 29 always felt very bad compared to Combusken and Marshtomp getting a reliable STAB option for the early and mid game (Double Kick and Mud Shot) at level 16. An easy fix is giving to all the Treecko line access to Mega Drain and Giga Drain via level up, and making Grovyle learn Mega Drain at 16 instead of Fury Cutter. It is still a weaker option compared to Double Kick and Mud Shot, but should feel way better than being stuck with a 20 BP move until it gets Leaf Blade. Also having a 40BP Grass move with recover will make the May fight on Route 110 a bit harder for Mudkip users. Also Leaf Blade definitely needs to be 90BP in order to be on par with Blaze Kick and Muddy Water. Edit: also Leech Seed and Crunch (both egg moves) could be added to its level up learnset instead of terrible moves such as Screech and Slam.

[@grrman]

You the saddest part about this? Treeko does get Giga Drain via level up, but only if you don't evolve it. Kinda like Spore on Shroomish...

[@buffgarfield3231]

Sceptile is just bad compared to the other two

[@grrman]

@@buffgarfield3231 That's basically it. Leaf Blade is just too weak late game

[@sneedweaver]

I don't care what anyone says I will always run Sceptile with a Tentacruel named "Squidward" and Swellow as my top guys for every playthrough

[@WolfDB]

One thing that needs to be fixed in Emerald that wasn't touched on: PLEASE make it more than six random fishing spots where you can find Feebas Edit: I was wrong on it being 1% encounter rate, but having it be 6 random tiles that you don't know unless you look up a specific guide is still dumb

[@enigmaoftheechidna6279]

I was thinking this too

[@enigmaoftheechidna6279]

Needs a pin or reply from channel

[@Pixtrix_]

its actually a 50% chance to find feebas on those tiles but yeah the 6 random tiles is dumb

[@Cyntaria]

As much as I enjoyed the bragging rights of finding feebas in under an hour as a kid, I do not have the patience 20 years later. I don't mind the evolution method. I loved contests and my crobat and kyogre sitting in pokemon home still have their beauty and smart ribbons (btw they are 50% tiles, not 1%)

[@pebpebs4810]

THIS! I love feebas, it is one of my favorite mons and it is downright criminal for it to be THAT rare

[@Mrbluecheese101]

Honestly, my biggest killjoy for the later part of the game is the absolute ABUNDANCE of needing to use HMs. It really just ruins the momentum the game has going for it for me sometimes, especially with places like the Magma Hideout or Aqua Hideout. I know the concept of HM slaves is always a go to for a lot of people, but if I have to give up a slot on my team for a Pokemon that I will NEVER use and is just fodder, I find it to be a fundamental flaw of Gamefreak’s game design that kind of permeates through most of the early Pokemon games. I would much prefer if HMs were used to make an area easier to traverse, not a requirement unless in certain situations I.E. needing rock smash for north of Mauville City.

[@Pwjdjskw]

Honestly, I heavily disagree, although I’m probably in the minority and you’re in the majority. I’ve always felt that, Gamefreak deciding to remove the reliance of HMs from gen 5 onwards was a STEP DOWN, as it made the game feel even easier than a typical pokemon game already is. To me, having to figure out which of your pokemon should learn this subpar HM move was part of the challenge. You either have to sacrifice some move slots which by default make your pokemon weaker and hence makes the battles harder… or, have an HM only pokemon which makes you have a 5 pkmn team instead of 6.. hence making battles harder! Also, I really miss the HM strength puzzles which, to me as a kid at least, were neat little challenging/satisfying twist to the game. Like, going through victory road in FR/LG or finding articuno by having to push the rocks through holes to be able to traverse through the floor below… I COULD NOT figure that out as a 9 year old and it was so satisfying to finally do it. Also, needing Dive in RSE to even get to Sootopolis or the Aqua hideout. I can go on and on. On one hand, it’s “tedious”. On another, it’s a neat twist that the latest pokemon generations lack completely

[@stuffingtonjfluffypantsiii]

at least gen 3 has Zigzagoon/Linoone that could learn most of the HMs and had the pickup ability to generate random items. Perfect HM mule IMO

[@ryanmahon1]

To me you DO use your hm slave. No it's not a beast in battle but that pokemon alone is helping you travel all over the world. I'll always love my linoone in gen 3 and my bibarel in gen 4 to get places

[@ficoliro]

@@Pwjdjskw i do get you regarding the overall lack of challenge in pkmn games and that is objectively bad game design, but so were hms. hms making the game feel more challenging seems more like an accident than anything else, really. i mean, if you really wanna make pkmn games harder, you could just... make it harder. rom hackers figured that out ages ago with boss fights in general having six pkmn, decent movesets and enhanced ai. seems lazy to just limit base power available to the player instead of, like, maybe making bosses switch pkmn once in a while good game design means creating difficulty through challenges that are engaging and fun. puzzles are nice and engaging, yes. as for the need for hms... nah, just a massive pain in the ass. you don't really need hms to have puzzles or really any overworld interactions in general. in fact, i can't think of any other games with this approach as most just do it through items. hms made things just a bit harder (not even enough to make pkmn games feel like a real challenge anyway) by being massively annoying to deal with. it's the opposite of what you want in good game design and exactly why most good videogames abandoned things like grinding for levels - it's boring, time consuming, lazy, a pain in the ass and not engaging or fun whatsoever. challenges should be hard *and* fun, not hard by virtue of obnoxiousness

[@CrashJetTech]

I think the best point in favor of HMs is that it can help make it feel like your team choice matters, where you do need to account for traversal when picking which pokemon to use. That helps lean into aspects of exploration. It's hardly executed perfectly in Hoenn though. Rock Smash being so weak and Dive/Waterfall both being mostly worse versions of Surf just makes it feel worse. Strength at least has a puzzle aspect, but Rock Smash really should be handled more like Cut where it's an optional obstacle to block off items. Just look at Seafloor Cavern and Victory Road and ask yourself what would change if some of those Rocksmash rocks were removed. In most cases the answer is 'not very much'. If Rock Smash was mainly used to block off items/shortcuts, then that would condense the necessary HMs to Strength/Surf/Dive to get through Seafloor Cavern, and Strength/Surf/Waterfall to get through Victory Road. Given that Rock Smash, Cut, and Watefall were changed for Crystal Legacy though, I wouldn't be surprised to see similar changes to those, as well as potentially to Dive/Strength/Flash to make them more appealing to have on movesets as well. If the ability to readily forget HM moves is also retained, then it may be even less of an issue. If nothing else, the Move Deleter being placed in Mauville would be an improvement to avoid being stuck with Cut/Flash/Rock Smash until Lilycove.

[@kirbyofthestarsfan]

The three aspects not brought up in this video that I want addressed the most: -PLEASE give Mud Sport and Water Sport to Pokémon that could actually benefit from it. Pass Water Sport to more grass types (as plants are naturally hydrated, shooting out moisture seems like something possible) and Mud Sport to Water and some Normal types (mud is just wet dirt and I feel many amphibian water Pokemon could benefit) -Make the rival be on the same tier of quality as ORAS did, good god did the remake really finally give the rival justice with those extra fights -Swap Special and Physical for Dark and Ghost types, in a game that lets you use Dark types from the start we really need this

[@robertlupa8273]

> swap special and physical for Dark and Ghost types _Banette cries in the corner_

[@carucath97]

While Gengar and Misdrevous are specially leaning so it makes sense in Yellow and Crystal legacy all the Ghost types introduced in Gen 3 are physically leaning so I’m not sure about that

[@robertlupa8273]

@@jouheikisaragi6075 XD only had it for the Shadow moves and even then it followed type logic of moves it was based on, if apllicable. For example, Shadow Blast is physical since Aeroblast is physical, being a Flying move, but the latter was changed to a special move in gen 4 (and was presemebly created as such). tl;dr XD's phys/spec split was half-baked and too faithful to the pre-split in rare cases

[@GoldLuminance]

@@carucath97 Agree on Ghost type remaining physical. However Dark should still be physical, or Poochyena and Absol will remain terrible through the whole game.

[@FireFog44]

@@GoldLuminance But then there'd be 10 physical types and only seven special types. That's too unbalanced. Not to mention, dragon wants to be physical too since literally all the dragons in the first three generations, except the Lati twins, are either physical attackers or balanced mixed attackers.

[@sir.asylum]

Emerald was THE Pokémon game for me, it was my favorite as far as overall gameplay and all of that, and I never even owned a copy. At the time we were in THE STRUGGLE when emerald released and my mom just couldn't get it for me; but I had a really good friend that got it, beat it, and then let me "borrow" it for about 2-3 weeks then told his parents he "lost" his copy and his parents got him a new one and he then let me have the original; I played that copy for 2yrs until I wore it out to the point it wouldn't even turn on. Good times. As far as improvements imma throw a curveball and say check out the Modern Emerald hack by Resetes12 he has a long list of meaningful upgrades in there that really bring the game the life.

[@reecekemp31]

I think a way to make Watson easier for the player if they chose Torchic or Treeko would be to move the good rod to the beach just outside of Mauvile instead of across the water on route 118. This would allow the player to get barboach, a good but not over powered counter to Watson. It’s weak enough that it won’t solo the fight, but makes up for that weakness by having a great type matchup for the fight. The encounter levels would need to be tweaked since you can normally fish Pokémon up to level 30 on route 111. This way the fight is kept difficult but the player has more options to combat it with.

[@reecekemp31]

Another option could be to add a grass patch below the rock smash rocks on route 111 to give the player access to Numel before the gym.

[@Werelord22]

Wally’s badass theme from ORAS reorchestrated for the GBA and implemented in his final fight. I can die happy then.

[@danielwatson7386]

Juan Wallace double battle. Steven as champion. A grass E4 member. Glacia getting benched. Phoebe getting Shedinja. Enemy trainers using spikes and shit. Pokemon run and bun shows how you can craft exciting battles without needing a million mechanics.

[@yaduvarma9854]

Juan/Wallace Double battle is an exceptional idea... I saw another comment that suggested we battle Juan/Wallace together with Wally - And we both get the gym badge together... So now we can expect Wally in the Victory road....

[@nautgamingnautgaming9949]

Glacia n Tate/liza swap places Phoebe n Winona swap Sidney n brawly swap places PUT BOTH calm mind n bulk up at victory road to prevent abuse cases

[@anjansharma8631]

"I would create a game that my nostalgia remembers"

[@Shog64]

I don't know why but the most important aspect was not mentioned at all: The Contests and the Battle Frontier. Both need major quality of life upgrades (e.g. Super Vitamins which give 64 EVs and cap at 252 EV so you can train easily) I understand that the focus is on the playthrough but that the Battle Frontier is not mentioned is crazy to me. Also I remember a Milotic NPC kicking my ass in the rain. Maybe it was Saphire tho not Emerald

[@Aerogod223]

Don't worry battle frontier and these other features will get updated I'll make sure of it. But that is pretty far off considering you gotta fix and balance a game before touching these things.

[@danielgeorge3172]

It was Sapphire - they removed the Milotic NPC in Emerald bc of Wallace

[@robertlupa8273]

@@Aerogod223 IIRC they changed the Battle Tower in Crystal Legacy, so there's a non-zero chance that Battle Frontier will get updated, although it will probably be a "maybe in the future" type of thing.

[@dvillines26]

Contest and Battle Frontier updates will be post 1.0 content, I'm fairly confident in saying, especially considering the Battle Palace needs to be scrapped in terms of its original gimmick

[@adamwalker3560]

To be fair though, what you are asking for in terms of the easy EV's would absolutely destroy the game balance pre-Champion. Just look at the games that allow it through the Super Training mechanic. Post game, or exorbitantly expensive perhaps? Also, the Battle Frontier has A LOT wrong with it, and needs specific work, and contests are great, but they are also a secondary priority.

[@BoltTheEmolga]

The big question is, do you plan on going the usual romhack route and just replacing Wallace with Steven again? Because either you fundamentally change the game or you deal with Juan, Glacia, Wallace, and Team Aqua.

[@officialgoosestudios7151]

Double battle aganist boyfriends Steven and Wallace

[@dvillines26]

I really don't like the idea of removing any of them because it fundamentally alters the game in a way that seems contrary to the Legacy project's philosophy to date. getting rid of the Sealeox2 on Glacia's team and swapping in, say, Jynx and buffed Delibird would do wonders, as well as giving Juan Relicanth and buffed Huntail + Gorebyss. if Hoenn is to have so much water, go ahead and showcase EVERY Water type, I say. give some redemption to Huntail and Gorebyss.

[@nautgamingnautgaming9949]

​@@dvillines26or make Wallace n Juan double battle vs you n wally Both get a badge both go to the league

[@scigaming6860]

He is specifically remaking emerald, not ruby/sapphire. He likes Wallace as a champion team, and hates Glacia, Juan, and the Aqua Team teams. I would doubt that he would remove Wallace as a Champion. The legacy projects all have focused on trying to update the past pokemon games while keeping their "feel" and completely changing the Champion in the games whose most iconic thing about the third game is that they made the 8th gym leader the Champion would take away from the "Emerald" feel of pokemon emerald.

[@XxbelligerentxX]

What I’d love to see: -More wallace -Sunny day routes, like there are rain routes (maybe around the volcano or beaches) -Snow/hail overworld spot?? (it’s in the game code but never used) -No miss blizzard -More double battles -Better magma/aqua teams -Better e4 teams (consider a mon or two outside of their primary type specialty like in Gen 1 and 2’s e4s) Fix around some abilities? (pelipper drizzle and torkoal drought? Illuminate, pickup in battle Etc) -Actual day/night cycle, with actual darkness for the evening/night -more incentives for making secret bases -more convenient ways to check the time/clock - add something significant or cool (like a battle or cool item) for pacifilog town -Just one single Courtney battle

[@radaf4429]

Day/night is dumb

[@XxbelligerentxX]

@@radaf4429 great input!

[@amiciyopre]

It has already been said that this duo of weather abilities will remain exclusive to their legendaries.

[@FireFog44]

@@amiciyopre I think they mean overworld weather, like the sandstorm in the desert and the rain on route 120.

[@XxbelligerentxX]

@@amiciyopre I was just listing a couple examples of ability switch ups I’d personally like to see, makes sense to keep it exclusive.

[@StereotypicalCDN08]

I think you're overestimating Tate and Lisa too much. You can cheese the whole fight with just two Dark types.

[@sirensoulegaming4158]

I don't think he is over estimating it at all. Pretty much every single gym leader in the game can be cheesed with a specific strategy, but the point isn't about how hard they are when you're using the most optimum vs them - it's how much of a fair challenge they provide to an average team available at that stage of the game which isn't hand picked to perfectly counter them. Tate and Liza work well as a fight because even without having dark types, surf works reasonably well against them (3 of their pokemon are weak to surf, a tool every single player will be reasonably using at that stage of the game, but due to spread damage the fight isn't as much of a wash as you might think). 2 dark types is VERY specific - the vast majority of players likely aren't running 2 dark types in this game. For Comparison Wattson can be cheesed with a ground type. The difference here is it's almost a requirement to cheese Wattson with a ground type unless you go out of your way to overlevel your team. Other than ground types, the only pokemon that can reasonably stand up to him are like, Hariyama and Breloom. You could make the case that he forces you to be diverse with your teams to win and I would see that... but there is no diversity here. Either you wipe him with a breloom, Hariyama, Marshstomp or Geodude, or the fight is otherwise next to impossible.

[@flamollusk420]

not really, claydol and solrock have strong non-psychic moves that can destroy your two dark types and you can only cheese the fight after taking out both of them

[@cleverman383]

ew how can you be a tate fan?

[@sambingham1196]

Hopefully Smith sees this. Any thoughts about switching Glacia out of the Elite Four? The ice puzzle in the gym really goes well and it would switch up the variety that stage of the game. Not to mention most of her Pokemon can be found in an island nearby. You could then put Juan or Wallace into the Elite Four in her place.

[@guardianeifie]

Glacia as Sootopolis leader, E4 Wallace, Champion Steven, and no Juan, with team levels balanced for the new places? This gives the team diversity desired if Glacia gets an older gen ice type or two to fix her own repeat issue. An EL treatment for Dewgong in gen 3 would give it Tail Glow and Signal Beam, and Cloyster would have access to the newly Steel-type Spike Cannon as well as Explosion. A Glacia fight with Tail Glow Dewgong, booming Cloyster, and locked-on Blizzards in Hail (assuming we port the later gen mechanic in) would be a legitimately difficult eighth gym leader without resorting to Double Team strats.

[@seanforbes1034]

Love these ideas. upvote.

[@Psycho_Sam84]

Honestly, one of the ways you could make Emerald better is by expanding the dex a bit. Balance out the huge gaps in type distribution by throwing in some more Kanto and Johto mons at reasonable spawn rates.

[@ashleyvanbeek7045]

They clearly tried to make Steven into the new Red. This of course does not work for several reasons. There's no air of mystery surrounding this legendary trainer; you meet him as early as the 2nd gym. He's there every step of the way, so it makes way more sense to have a climactic battle with him during the story rather than hiding him away in some dungeon. There's also nothing telling you that there's anything special waiting for you in Meteor Falls now, whereas you did have an incentive to explore Mt. Silver, with it being your reward for beating all the kanto gyms. If you had already cleared Meteor Falls the moment you got Waterfall, you'd probably never find Steven there.

[@shadow_realm47]

There should be an early battle before the 2nd Gym as well where Steven always gets the type matchup advantage on your starter!

[@Dr.Ruffles]

Mr.Stone tells you that Steven is probably somewhere in a cave looking for cool rocks. You get a f*cking meteorite at the top of Mt.Chimney It's a key item Who loves cool rocks? Where can I apply this key item/find someone that would love to have a Meteorite in their collection? . . . . Problem solving and deductions are not a difficult task dude.

[@ashleyvanbeek7045]

@@Dr.Ruffles The meteorite you get on Mt. Chimney has nothing to do with Steven. You give it to a guy in Fallarbor in exchange for a TM. Mr. Stone's comment can easily be interpreted as explaining why Steven isn't in the game anymore. Tons of NPCs make similar comments; it's silly to assume this one is special if you don't know that Steven is in Meteor Falls.

[@Dr.Ruffles]

@@ashleyvanbeek7045 damn, so you're telling me that it was sheer luck I just connected both of those together?

[@ashleyvanbeek7045]

@@Dr.Ruffles it was definitely dumb luck that you connected the meteor with Steven. Without that, the most logical cave to look for Steven in would be Granite Cave, as we've seen him there before. So yeah, i would say it was dumb luck that you found Steven based on these things.

[@CGoody564]

Just to start, you're comparing graphics on entirely different systems. The graphics should not be a basis for claiming gen 1 is "alpha" and gen 2 is "beta". Also, the regions being disconnected is an objectively negative thing. The one thing i couldn't do in gen 3 that i really wanted to do (and thought I could because of gen 2) was going to previous regions after beating the first. Also, Torchic is bae. Ive never, ever felt like I was missing out by not picking mudkip. And idk you're talking about; I used about 2 of those pokemon on the list you gave. We're we even playing the same game? Because those "bad" pokemon worked just fine for me. My only issue with Emerald are shinies being bugged.

[@chasefitch2245]

I think giving the ghost E4 shedninja isn’t crazy. It’s the E4. You should have a Pokémon that has ghost, dark, rock, fire, flying or damaging status moves

[@connormackay7098]

Shedinja just isn't interesting to fight though. It limits teambuilding by requiring an answer to it, but it doesn't really have any impact on the fight other than that because it dies instantly.

[@CirnoFairy]

@@connormackay7098 If you show up without "any" means of taking out a shedinja, you deserve the loss tbh

[@acetrainerdevin1164]

Nah the reason they shouldn't use shedinja is because it is basically unusable for the ai it is extremely easy for the player to deal with it meanwhile the mon is absolutely broken for the player lol

[@erik19borgnia]

To be honest, I'd leave Steven as post game boss, as GSC Red. Wallace as a champion is amazing, but Juan as a gym leader is horrible. So just swap Juan. Change the 8th gym into a Grass gym. Also, you can splash some Wallace on the storyline. That would make the last gym leader more interesting, while keeping Kingdra for Drake and the other good water mons for Wallace, and also creating a threat for Swampert.

[@yokaipinata1416]

You know, one thing that has always bothered me about Grass throughout the whole series is that it's always the early to mid game Gym. Where's my late game Grass Gym? Where's my Grass Elite Four member? We're _nine_ generations in! The other two starter types already got their shot at a late Gym and an Elite Four fight! It's unlikely that Legacy would do something as drastic as what you're suggesting because the Legacy projects have so far tried to preserve as much of the source material's essence as they can while still adding the desired improvements (also because a Gym other than Water would feel out of place in Sootopolis), but if it were to happen, I'd personally feel like a void has been filled. ❤️

[@cuck1ngfunt]

@@yokaipinata1416 The problem with a late grass gym is that the grass type kinda sucks. I say this as someone who usually picks the grass starter. I guess a gym leader with a sun team to take advantage of Chlorophyll and solar beam could be interesting though?

[@yoylestudios530]

Maybe turn the 8th gym into an ice gym (I think he’ll add more ice types and the gym already has an ice related puzzle) and replace glacia with someone new

[@erik19borgnia]

@@yoylestudios530 That's another possibility. Adding pokemon means making all 300andsomething pokemon available tho. And then replace Glacia with a Grass specialist E4 Member.

[@nc5958]

@@yokaipinata1416 We already had a late game Grass Type gym if you count GSC Kanto as part of the main adventure. A Grass Type Elite Four member would have been great in Hoenn instead of an Ice Type Elite Four member.

[@Ddoublechin]

I always thought it would be so cool if Wally and your rival had an interaction around the point where your rival takes a step back as a way to remind you that Wally is training and coming for the title

[@steegen101]

YES, maybe Wally has just beaten Norman when you show up to fight him!

[@cgyh68748]

He should appear in the power plant without saying too much

[@PKgiannycarlo]

@@steegen101 That honestly sounds kind of genius! A reunion at the place where you two first met, and having him say he just beat your dad would help establish his growing strength before the fight, showing that he has come a long way since that catching tutorial, just as you have. I've also heard others suggest giving him the Whismur line, since it's found in Rusturf Tunnel and also sort of mirrors his growth from timid boy to strong trainer.

[@NiallByrne]

I'd like to just point out you can find Lotad and Ralts really early in the game and are kinda the unoffical Starter pokemon in the game. They both pair really well with your main starter. especially Lotad, it can be either your water or grass team member if you picked treeko or Mudkip and both if you pick torchic. While Ralts can be your psychic type starter and compliment the fighting type of torchic will get later in the game. The choices they give you to catch early on are defintiely their incase you are struggling early in the game.

[@redcap5343]

Azumarill not being mentioned in water is a crime. Azumarill is super underrated and sindle handedly saved one of my nuzlocks.

[@smithplayspokemon]

Yeah it’s pretty solid, but there are better water types

[@Aerogod223]

Huge power to make its physical moves stronger. Still doesn't do much with that weak af special stat

[@teo2805]

No type split fucks over Huge Power since Azumarill has a shit move pool for physical type moves

[@redcap5343]

@@teo2805 rollout can be very good. Its how I beat wattson without mudkip or geodude.

[@dvillines26]

the first time Azumarill is truly great is in BW2. from there it pops off in every game it's available, in particularly being a total monster in XY, but it's also great in SV.

[@zacharyhunt9594]

I know you've said earlier that you don't want to incorporate a Physical/Special split, but gen 3 is the one gen that, imo, really needs it. So many mons are hindered by not getting any real stab moves.

[@kingofthemudkips445]

The king of the Mudkips approves of this rom hack Edit: how dare you call my kind a problem

[@VTWS]

So I herd u liek mudkipz

[@illdoittomorrow2368]

@@VTWS But duz he liek being fixed?

[@neolordie]

Suffering from success

[@Ornithopter470]

​@@VTWSelder meme

[@Ornithopter470]

Yo mudkip, how do ya feel about giga drain?

[@Ephydament]

My main, biggest issue and complain with Emerald is Rayquaza. Beat the vilains, save the world, throw the purple ball at the big flying snake. Great. Except it's level 70. Freaking level 70. It's 12 levels above Wallace ace. The same level as the optionnal post game Groudon and Kyogre. And you have 7 badges. Ruby and Sapphire make their legendaries at level 45, perfect for this point of the game but Emerald didn't care. Boom. Level 70. Deal with it. Sure, you don't have to use it but as a kid, you want the game mascot in your team. Just being stupidly overleveled, it makes all the endgame unfun bu turing it in a Raquaza rampage. And if you don't use it to keep the fun, it just turn the endgame into unsatisfying and frustrating experience. It should have been somewhere between level 47~50. A great and fun addition to your team and not an auto-win button. As for a memorable hard fight, I would have said the Cool Trainer with lvl31 Milotic under the rain. Too bad she replaced it by a lvl30 Sableye in Emerald. You're right, some choices in this game don't makes any sense. Thanks four what's you're doing. I'm waiting this rom hack. Also, please, leave Flannery, Norman and Taze&liza as they are. Thoses fights are perfects and don't need to be changed. You didn't mention it but actually, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire made really good improvements, espacially on the rivals treatments. You got your satisfying Brendan/May final match and a proper Wally fight with a great scenery. Maybe you could look toward this and grab ideas for your rom hack.

[@MultiHomersimpson123]

This is out of left field, but I think Wes from Colosseum would be a fun secret final boss if you use Steven elsewhere. He has access to a ton of strong Pokemon and Colosseum is part of gen 3 in my heart

[@ghozt3167]

His team may be Espeon, Umbreon, Raikou, Entei, Suicune and Tyranitar

[@ivanbluecool]

Smith: this will be a dun interesting discussion between adults to explore All of chat:(already calling in kindra with sniper)

[@Firescizor]

You know, hindsight truly is 2020, because how did they manage to make a starter Pokemon that is so clearly unbalanced compared to its home region? If it weren't for Fuecoco's auto-win button in Torch Song, we would still be calling Swampert the best starter Pokemon to date. And it is actually really funny, because at the same time he invalidates every single other water type Pokemon in the game, it also synergizes perfectly with them! Like, from the moment you step out from Littleroot, you get to route 103 and find Wingull, a Water/Flying type, that pairs perfectly with Swampert's Water/Ground. This is a game with zero grass type opposition, and the little ones there are get trounced by Pelipper 💀 and Swampert takes care of any electric type! You probably won't need anything else, but even beyond these two, you can make such a colorful, well built team of waters: Ludicolo has the grass type and Lanturn the electric to destroy opposing waters, Walrein offers Ice STAB, Sharpedo fast STAB Crunches, you even get repeats of these combos in Crawdaunt, Whiscash and GYARADOS if you want to double down 💀 heck, there's even Water/Rocks in Relicanth and Corsola if you really are feeling frisky 😭 I'd argue it's probably easier to complete a mono water nuzlocke of Emerald than a vanilla hardcore nuzlocke. It's truly that unintuitive.

[@ado-]

tentacruel is pretty good special wall and even though its mediocre resists and tentacool just being everywhere would make you think it's a bad mon, it's a good user of giga drain if you opted out of ludicolo, and even screech if you're feeling cheeky. plus it gets clear body which is just decent in this gen but its certainly still a boon

[@rishabhanand4973]

Yeah, water is probably one of the best types in the game. Apart from flying, i think water is the best type in terms of being able to build a diverse team with just that type. That's one of the reasons i find Wallace a harder fight than Steven

[@Reicrow1]

Sharpedo sucks in gen 3 bc dark is special and for some reason both dark types that also are water are physical attackers

[@Latias38]

tbh I would still give Gen 3 Swampert the title... because in its setting it has no competition, it can invalidate everything else. Sure, Skeledirge exists as well as Torch Song, but Meowscarada is not only a fan favorite, but its very fast and does good damage, with a good offensive typing. Plus Skedirge is slow and his typing is poor on the defensive side. Combine this with a wide pokedex meaning he will prob take more than he can handle, and as you said, the lack of grass types means Swampert doesnt suffer the same fate despite having the same drawbacks. Swampert greatly incentivises you to swamp with your starter, cause little else is better, while youll prob use a wide variety of pokemon in Paldea... or at the very least, run different starters.

[@marcustulliuscicero5443]

@@Reicrow1 Sharpedo still has 95 base SpA. That's more than enough.

[@khmatrix]

Damn I don't recall these issues at all, just remember the high points as you say hahah! but since losing my Emerald copy I haven't replayed it in a long time. I'm new to the world of romhacks and I cannot wait to see what you and your team cooks up with Emerald Legacy! :D

[@grunkleg.29691]

Buddy is gonna make _so_ many enemies off the title and thumbnail. Very based honestly, Pokemon fans just get angry no matter what

[@Ukkosade]

He was just spitting facts tho. Anyone that has replayed emerald WITHOUT SWAMPERT 10+ years later had that feeling "man, emerald was much better in my childhood memories" At least he explained why :v

[@Semystic]

Oh no, it's my favorite game but I am well aware of its issues. They bother me every time I play the game. I'm so looking forward to Emerald Legacy!

[@stanbrule9357]

That's the point, bait title = more engagement

[@Infisrael]

​@@UkkosadeI always use the fire type and now with my challenge of catching all pokemons I usually have all the 3 starters at my party.

[@seanscott2677]

I really disagree with the notion that Flygon and Salamence are two of the top 10 iconic or elite pokemon to use on in-game teams in Emerald. Bagon is incredibly hard to find without extensive prior knowledge, and even then it comes super late and you have to train it all the way to Level 50+. Flygon is cool and theoretically comes early enough that casuals might throw it on a team, but the period as a Trapinch is godawful (with the Vibrava stage only marginally better). Also no mention of Alakazam in that list is a crime

[@FrZnPredator]

Honestly I find vibrava worse then trapinch its attack and defense as well as special stats are horrible its like a featherweight its very fast and can't knock out shit, train him is slow but at least his attack stat is respectable

[@Wannabechefguy]

Alakazam is just Gardevoir but for people who had friends or action replay

[@PsiPaula4]

Honestly I find that Trapinch performs better than Vibrava. At least Trapinch has high attack. Vibrava excels at nothing.

[@animatedink2529]

Well, your opinion, but you're wrong. Iconic means memorable and beloved. And whether you like them or not, Flygon and Salamence ARE iconic. Flygon's my personal favorite and if ever I'm going to play Emerald or Gen 3 again, I'm catching a Trapinch as always and leveling it up asap to get Flygon. Not to mention Flygon's typing was unique at the time and it was very useful. It still is, but it has to compete with Garchomp for a spot, but as I despise Garchomp, I'm choosing Flyon over it.

[@seanscott2677]

@@animatedink2529 Ok maybe that works for Flygon but I really don't see it for Salamence. Again, the key point was for "in-game" teams and they certainly don't rate highly on tier lists for beating the game. You can love Flygon, but I'm still not sure it's truly iconic for use in-game

[@EtchASketch115]

Something that always threw me off about Pokemon Emerald was that there was only one Moon Stone in the ENTIRE game. Maybe an idea is to expand the Lilycove Dept. Store to include evolutionary items and a Link Cable to access trade evolutions? In addition, maybe a work around to fix that the clearance sales can happen frequently and not rely on battery which can get dry?

[@FeeFeeFee4]

I've been wanting to play a version of emerald that didn't have these issues but doesn't stray too far from the Emerald experience. Compared to the Pokemon/move availability like in S/V it just feels a bit tedious to play now :(

[@ryuuronin9852]

It begins. As far as changes, I'm hoping for 2 specifically: 1. Move Bagon to the rest of Meteor Falls, instead of locked to a backroom behind a Waterfall and Gym 8. Id love to go through a playthrough with it. 2. Move Shedinja's defensive stats to its Sp Attack. Make them 1 point like the health, its not like it'll change its bulk at all. It always felt like Shedinja (the hollowed out bug shell without arms) should have been a Sp attacker instead of physical. This would at least make it a mixed attacker with a physical Attack of 90 and a Sp Attack of 103.

[@David_Mattox]

Honestly, I’d like to see Flygon get Aerial Ace. That was fixed in Gen IV, but it’s an absolute CRIME in Hoenn.

[@shinobirecords2018]

Make Shedinja a special attacker so it can't make use of its types? 💀

[@franciscopereira7798]

Both bug and ghost are physical types on gen 3, you want to make shedinja worse

[@ryuuronin9852]

​​​​@@franciscopereira7798Well, I said to move the useless defense and Sp def numbers to sp attack, Physical wouldn't have been touched. I don't see how it's Attack staying where it is would make it worse. It wouldn't get worse, it'd just gain mixed coverage options. Also, if history holds true, they'll be swapping Ghost to a Special type.

[@EveryTimeIDavid]

If it follows most of these remakes though, ghost will be switched to a special typing so the actual ghosts can make use of it.

[@shadowdragonlord2295]

Suggestions 1- Rivals: Post game final battle with Brendan/May and give Wally the last starter. 2- Champion: Make it a player's choice on who ends up being the champion. 3- Feebas / Trendy Phrase House: Hated this mechanic, so please make Feebas easier to find and evolve and repurpose the Dewford TP House into a place you can trade items and Pokemon. Evo items, TMS, Kanto and Johto Pokemon and Lucky eggs. 4- Secret Bases Search: Have the staff's characters and characters from past games have secret bases you can find and battle in, with clues to the final base location. 5- Pokeballs: Pretty sure this is not plausible but how about having traded and gift Pokemon Pokeballs be something other than the generic red/white one.

[@rolandoceja1527]

One of the biggest issues with Hoenn pokemon is that many fall into two categories, mixed attackers or "I will be good in Gen 4" because of the physical special split. I definitely think some pokemon need the Flareon special from Crystal Legacy. I do think that most of the dual dark types in this game have a special second type so I think keep Dark special and shift stats to highlight special. Imagine Sharpedo with 120 special attack. Even Absol comes out on top because it's only dark type move is bite and it gets ice beam, TBolt and Flamethrower off of 130 special. Just an idea.

[@Logicalleaping]

Seeing as Dark has been physical in the other Legacy hack I imagine that will happen here too. Seeing as houndoom is the only Dark type with more spatk than attack it seem fair. But spatk Absol does sound sick.

[@dvillines26]

nah, Dark being physical makes more sense for myriad reasons and requires far fewer stat changes. just have mixed attackers, and some Pokemon that simply don't need to use their other STAB. Crawdaunt never even needed STAB to be good, nobody really considers it but it's a beast with Earthquake and Brick Break. Return, Aerial Ace, Rock Tomb, and Sludge Bomb as a specific fuck you to Ludicolo. buff Knock Off to 60 base power and now it works as physical STAB, and Crawdaunt becomes a top tier pick. Sharpedo already wants to be a mixed attacker, so having it get both a physical and special STAB is great

[@NeightrixPrime]

At this point it makes more sense to advocate for the split. It should have happened in gen 3 anyway.

[@Logicalleaping]

@@NeightrixPrime eh personally I love gen 3 without the split. the fun of using pokemon in different ways is great. annoying but makes situations that wouldn't happen in newer games.