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This hack is amazing! It has been so long since I've had the patience to play through a more vanilla version of gen 1 and this hack strikes the perfect balance. It makes filling out the pokedex fun and the overall progression of the game much more engaging. This feels exactly how a gen 1 game should play if remade for the modern age. Highly recommend to anyone who doesn't want a Red hack that doesn't stray super far away from the source material. Personally, I can't wait to see what Vortiene does next!

When you was a kid did you ever want to play a fully completed version of Red/Blue/Yellow? Honestly this is it.. all 151 Pokemon available with no silly requirements for evolution or travelling half way across the world for an event.

This game is the purest way to play gen 1 the way it should have always been.

The quality of life improvements or some things that even the latest Pokemon games still aren't doing!

The added features add replay-ability and all full perfectly suited to the core gameplay.

10/10.

I gotta admit it's a very close call between this and its biggest competitor (Shin Pokémon by jojobear13).

However I have played both and although I loved both and there's a few things that Shin does better than Pure but there's of course also a few things that Pure does better and overall I enjoyed Pure a little more.

Since this is a review of Pure, I won't go over features of Shin in detail but name a few things that Pure does better that I prefer.

• Options menu = rather uncomplicated with no button combos needed, unfold over several pages to easily understand and toggle each option
• speaking of which... there's a TON of options to tweak the experience to your own liking and it's really hard playing any other Gen 1 hack afterwards that lacks these features
• Sprites = Vortiene just used the most fitting front and back sprites for each Pokémon in my opinion, battles look phenomenal especially on an Analogue Pocket
• "Time savers" = ...like holding a button to speed up the healing dialogue in a Pokémon Center! It's the little things like this, really! :)
• Movedex = While I didn't play too many GBA PKMN hacks yet, I played a good amount of Gen 1 and 2 hacks at least and never saw something like that ever before. It's SO handy, really.
• "How to obtain Mew" = This is absolute personal preference and I highly prefer the way how Mew can be caught in Pure rather than in Shin.
• Moves = While this is the one "feature" I've heard a few people argue on that it takes away from a "vanilla experience" the most, I personally like the changes Vortiene made to the moves a lot. Especially the rather useless HMs became pretty handy in battle now!

As I said, Shin does a few things better than Pure too and I won't go over them here since this isn't the right place. There's one thing however that I do wanna mention since it is what I'm missing from Shin while playing Pure the most and that is: The randomizer. Being able to change the encounter seed right within Oak's lab at the start to encounter totally different Pokémon from the start rather than being stuck to Rattata over and over again was my biggest joy in Shin. And while in a perfect world, Vortiene and jojobear13 would just work together* to actually merge Shin and Pure into one hack, making each individual feature of both hacks a toggeable one in the options menu... at least including Shin's randomizer into Pure would be the best fix until that happens (if ever).

(*I know very well that both devs DO work together and use code from each other in their hacks, they go well with each other and there's no bad blood which is great, but there's no plan that I'm aware of, to indeed fuse/merge Shin and Pure)

tl;dr: Pure is my favorite way to experience the original story of Gen 1 and I can't ever go back to the stock rom from GAMEFREAK. Instead I'll probably have another few playthroughs with Pure (and Shin) in the next years of my life, while I currently enjoy Pure a little more. :)

And if it's not, then it can likely be customized to make it that way in the new enhanced options menu. I've played to Cinnebar Island so far and this hack remains true to the Gen I experience, while adding a level of modernity to its gameplay and some much appreciated cut content and fan service (Mew y'all).

I only have extremely minor nitpicks at the moment, which includes the changes to the rivals lineup (without any option for an og or og+), and some move changes. Things I liked so far include almost everything else in the changelog (legit go read it if you still have doubts).

I'll be editing this in the future if it doesn't remain a 10/10, but as it stands now, this is far superior to Firered and Leafgreen and the original games.

An amazing update to a classic, fixing the awful bugs and annoying limitations of the original (no more saving when changing boxes and you can auto store items!) while keeping true to the vision of the creators. There's also a lot of small new additions that contribute to the atmosphere of Kanto and its denizens, making the space feel more lived in and real.

There is a great feature, letting Haunter keep his physical form and name after evolving to Gengar but keeping the stat boost. However it isn't extended to other Pokémon with unsightly(albeit this is subjective) evolutions (Dragonair to Dragonite, Rhyhorn to Ryhdon, etc). I'd assume some people would also like to keep Pikachu in their original form while getting the stat boosts from Raichu. If anything was on my wishlist for this hack it'd be extending Haunter's Curse to other Pokémon.

Otherwise there's really nothing else to say about this hack aside from "perfection".

Great romhack, these are very good changes, such as the availability of several pokemons for capture, as well as status improvements, such as the jump in power between magikarp that is exchanged when it evolves into Giarados. I haven't tested to see if it works with the colorization pokemon red romhack. I recommend.

Otherwise this truly is the definitive version, I thought with the absolute mass behind all the little changes there would be a hiccup or two, but there hasn't been a single screw-up from what I've played. So it really is a shame, but I figure there will be others like me who'll find the type modifications a change too many and will appreciate being made aware of it in case they don't read the Full Features page before playing, since it's not pointed out in the main description.

The changes aren't absurd, some of them are even really cool (Marowak being part Ghost, Doduo having Ground typing instead of Normal), but in the end it's just too much and breaks my immersion. I would love a Lite alternative, but the Full Features page does helpfully recommend an alternative.

EDIT: The hack creator messaged me after posting this that being able to re-adjust the type changes is going to be a feature in the next update. So the problem is soon to be solved!

I created an account for this site just to leave this review - I love this hack. It stays so true to the original game while still making many meaningful changes and QoL improvements. If you're looking to replay Gen 1 after having played it a bunch in the past I would highly recommend this for your next playthrough.

I don't play enough Pokémon to play all the different romhacks, I just play through Red or Blue every few years and this will be the way I play it going forward.

Thanks a lot for your hard work, it's much appreciated and enjoyed!!

In brief, this is THE definitive game to introduce someone to Gen 1, imho. I played the PureGreen version of this hack.

Even after having played through every gen since Pokemon was first invented, I was surprised at still finding joy at playing a Gen 1 game. There is a ginormous amount of QOL improvements and tweaks to Pokemon stats and learnsets, that literally any pokemon you like can be used and viable. Was first skeptical at how effective all Pokemon could be at first, due to the game not including the Physical/Special split, but I see the hack contributors worked together to tweak stats and moves to make it a non-issue. All pokemon have easily obtained color variants too (not to be confused with shinies, which don't exist here).

The Pocket Abra and Booster Chip (Exp boost) are a couple of creative solutions to returning to a Pokemon Centre at a moment's notice and the fix to a lack of Exp share in Gen 1. The Pokedex was vastly upgraded too, aside from simply improving clarity on AREA where to find Pokemon, but now the Town Map is integrated into it, as well as including a brand new MOVEDEX. I see it probably would've been too difficult to add move descriptions to the basic status screen of each Pokemon when you're checking them out in your party, so the MOVEDEX is a great out of the box solution (basically works exactly like the Pokedex, except for moves you've seen).

And with even all these improvements, you might think the game became too easy. Nope, it's still a challenge. From the OPTIONS, you can choose to have the opponents' Pokemon pseudo-scale with your own party, so they can have increased levels, and their AI is improved. Still, you can always just grind to overpower anyone.

And the Post-game is great too. No Battle Tower unfortunately (it's fine, can't expect miracles), but there's quite a few new easter eggs which I enjoyed (e.g. Bill's Garden, Rocket basement, Oak the Master Trainer, new Safari Zone game modes, Mew actually under truck, etc.). Literally, I cannot possibly even begin to list all the game's improvements, you'll have to check them out via Google and this guy's Github pages.

5/5 Will introduce my future kids to Pokemon Gen 1 via this romhack.

The scrolling in this hack is better than gen 2. Just for that it's worth a look. As a matter of fact, this smooth scrolling has probably ruined most hacks for gen 1 and 2 for me. But no, seriously, this hack should be the starting point for future gen 1 hacks. Gen 2 hacks better pay attention to this one too.

As for the rest of the changes, they're certainly pleasant. It's nice to have decent options for Pokémon that were too weak before. SGB palette choices are well made too.

This hack is a brilliant example of how you breathe life into an old classic.

Let me start by saying that I've been a fan of the 1st Gen Pokémon games ever since I played Blue as a kid. I enjoy a playthrough every couple years or so to relive my childhood nostalgia.

That said, the first couple games had some balance issues like Pokémon barely learning STAB moves naturally, some types being pretty worthless offensively and many Pokémon just being plain worse than others.

This hack fixes all of that and more. Many Pokémon have been given alternate types and adjusted base stats to make them stand out from each other. Nearly all of them fit thematically and makes them far more usable - no more plethora of mono water-types that were rather forgettable.

Besides that, many moves have been changed to make types like Ghost or Bug more viable offensively. Pokémon have reworked move lists that gives them more coverage and work better with their natural stats (no more Rhydons that barely learn STAB moves!) and makes the game a lot more fun in general.

Lastly, wild Pokémon locations have been changed so you'll have a bit more options when building a team. All of these factors combined give a sense of exploration as you can head out to any given Route, see what is available to catch and experiment with their new learnsets - something the somewhat stale Gen 1 gameplay desperately needed. The new update makes their new typings and base stats viewable in the Dex as well so you don't have to look up the GitHub files all the time.

It does all of this without adding any later-gen evolutions, typings or the Physical / Special split, keeping the spirit of the Gen 1 games intact. I ended up with Pokémon like Rapidash and Kabutops being my MVPs despite being rather forgetabble in the vanilla game.

Besides that, this hack also adds a lot of QoL features, in-game changeable sprites for a lot of Pokémon, new ways to tackle the Safari Zone without the annoying RNG mechanics, earlier access to fossil Pokémon, a couple cool nods to old-time urban legends, TM's that can be rebought, all 152(!) Pokémon available to catch, a new item that maxes DV's... everything works like a charm and greatly improves the game IMO.

I can honestly say this hack beats the original for me. The amount of work and live the creator poured into this hack is palpable and all of it is aimed to make the game more fun. There is even an extensive wiki on GitHub that documents all changes, new features, move changes and whatnot (while keeping a few surprises hidden).

So yeah, if you want to replay Gen 1 in a new and exciting way you needn't look further and hit that download button now!