Pokémon Scorched Silver is The Sequel We Never Knew We Needed

It’s difficult to fathom that Pokémon Gold and Silver were first released over a quarter of a century ago, landing in Japan in 1999.

Of course, many of us had to wait a tad longer with the duo arriving in North America in 2000 and Europe in 2001.

Kicking off Gen 2, Gold and Silver introduced us to some all-time great Pokémon, including the likes of Chikorita, Celebi, and Umbreon.

Well, those are some of my favourites anyway.

This iconic pairing was revisited in 2009 when Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver were released, but these remakes haven't exactly stopped fans from clamouring for more.

There is, technically, a sequel that awaits those willing to seek it out; you’ll just have to jump through a few unofficial hoops first.

Pokémon Scorched Silver is a ROM hack created by a user known as Sloo.

“Travel back to the majestic lands of Johto through the perspective of a young boy or girl from Cherrygrove City on their way to becoming a great Pokémon Master,” reads the synopsis.

“Set 20 years after the events of Gold and Silver, you will meet many old and new characters along your journey, as well as unravel more secrets of the region. Discover a wide variety of Pokémon and a brand new storyline, as your path becomes intertwined with a mysterious group calling themselves Team Phoenix, who seem hell-bent on capturing Celebi for some nefarious scheme.”

Sounds good, doesn’t it?

If you’re wondering if this one will be sniped by Nintendo, it likely won’t as ROM hacks exist in somewhat of a grey area legally.

You’ll need to own a legally-purchased version of Pokémon Emerald in order to access this sequel, as that’s what Sloo used as their base.

Then, it’s onto the process of ripping the files and transferring them to PC which you can find tutorials for online.

Once you’ve got your ROM hack, you can download Sloo’s files for the Pokémon Scorched Silver mod and you’re good to go.

It’s a sequel that's garnered rave reviews from fans.

“I just finished the latest version of Pokémon Scorched Silver by Sloo (version 1.3) and I think it may be amongst the best ROM hacks ever made. I wanna bring a little more attention to it since it seems to have been overshadowed by some other hacks that came out this year like Emerald Seaglass,” Reddit user nunez0601 wrote.

“It may be my favourite ROM hack that I’ve played and is the only one that I immediately started a second play through of after the final battle (against a familiar face that is also a throwback to the classic games), 10/10 experience.”

“I just beat the league literally an hour ago and I can say It is one of the BEST ROM hacks ever made,” added JayEssPeeYT.

Praise doesn’t get much higher than that, so why not give this one a go?