Pokémon FireEmerald combines all of Gen 3 games into one campaign

Pokémon fans have debated which Gen is best for decades now, and the popular pick is almost always Gen III.

After all, this was the era popularised by Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald.

There’s a case to be made for Gen II, and a very strong case to be made for Gen IV, but depending on who you ask, Gen III is usually the outlier.

So, what better way to experience Pokémon Gen III than with a new PC ROMhack that combines two of its best games? That’s exactly what Pokémon FireEmerald is.

Pokémon FireEmerald is a Game Boy Advance ROMhack created by ManicPacer, and as the name implies, it’s a hybrid of Pokémon FireRed and Pokémon Emerald.

When you first boot it up, you’ll play through the story of FireRed until you become Kanto’s Pokémon Champion, upon which the story will continue as you journey to Hoenn.

That’s already impressive enough, but it’s so much more than a simple merger of both games. When you get to Hoenn, you’ll find the levels of wild and trainer ‘mon to already be scaled to your progress so far. No going from Level 60+ Pokémon battles to catching basic Zigzagoons.

Some quality-of-life improvements have also been added, such as Pokémon that’ll follow you outside of their Pokéballs as they do in the modern games.

The best improvement, however, is something future Pokémon games really need to consider as a mainline feature: no version-exclusives.

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Pokémon FireRed featured Pokémon you wouldn’t be able to acquire in Pokémon LeafGreen without the use of trading. This made sense back in the days of the Game Boy and Nintendo DS, but nowadays, it’s just a cheap excuse to sell more copies.

Some fans would simply buy both copies so they have access to all of the included ‘mon, but the leaked price of Pokémon Winds And Waves has us second-guessing how much longer we’ll be able to do that for.

It’s said The Pokémon Company would even like to charge more for the games going forward.

Pokémon FireEmerald doesn’t have this problem, though. All of the Gen 3 Pocket Monsters can be found and caught through your own gameplay, which means any team variation is possible without help from friends.

How to play Pokémon FireEmerald

Like any old ROMhack, you need a ROM to play it on. In this instance, you’ll need your own physical copy of Pokémon Emerald, not Pokémon FireRed. Unfortunately, if you don’t currently own one, you’ll have to pay an arm and a leg to get a copy second-hand…All the more reason for the game to be ported to the Nintendo Switch 2.

Those who already have their ROM, though, need only patch the hack into their game online. Once you’ve done that, simply boot it up through your chosen Game Boy emulator, and you’ll be playing.

Pokémon FireEmerald is a must-play if you can get it working, as it encapsulates the same magic of travelling to Kanto from Johto for the very first time.

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