Pokemon Garbage Gold NDS Rom Hack

Pokemon Garbage Gold is a NDS ROM HACK. This Hack is developed by InsipidAxiom.

About Pokemon Garbage Gold (Story)

Many ROM hacks make a plethora of balance changes and trainer edits and call it a day. Garbage Gold goes beyond this and implements an entirely new lore for the region. Questions like "why are only bad Pokemon found?" are answered with gradually more information revealed as the player progresses. Virtually every NPC has changed dialogue to accommodate the lore behind the region. Over 50 different events/cutscenes have been scripted from scratch to keep the player engaged in what happens next. I won't spoil the main story now, but you will meet some familiar faces and new ones from games like Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Sky. Gauntlets are integrated into the story, and feel natural to the progression of the game. Pre-alpha testers have commented that the story is as alluring as the gameplay itself.

Trashlocke Hack:

 

To begin, Garbage Gold is a trashmon hack, meaning the player will only be able to obtain and use weak Pokemon. In most cases, these Pokemon will be less than 425 BST (combined base stat total). There are some exceptions, but this is the general rule. A wide variety of encounters are available, and are significantly different from vanilla Heart Gold. Evolution levels are changed, and some Pokemon wont evolve at all if the evolutions are too good.

 

Gauntlets:

 

Similar to PokemonChallenge's Garbage Green, Garbage Gold will feature a plethora of gauntlets -- areas where the player must defeat all trainers in an area without leaving to progress. Unlike previous trash-style hacks, all of the trainers are completely redone. There is not a single vanilla trainer in the game, giving a completely fresh and new experience, while also making the game easier to balance. Additionally, many gauntlets have some modifier to give a fun or difficult twist to the gauntlet. Some have weather conditions like harsh sun, rain, or hail, while others have inverted turn order (auto-trick room). A limited amount of healing items are available in the game to be discovered in dungeons and routes between towns. Healing items cannot be purchased in shops.

 

Level Curve / Caps / Learnsets:

 

Johto region is known for its abysmal level curve, due to the non-linear nature of the story. Garbage Gold changes this in a number of ways. First, the region is linearized in its progression. It also significantly compacts the level curve to make exp management a valuable skill set (exp share is given immediately after obtaining the starter). The level caps of the gyms show the compacted nature of the game: 6, 11, 14, 17, 23, 24, 27, 30 for gyms 1-8. As such, the player will begin at level 1 instead of level 5. Level-up learnsets have also been completely revamped for every obtainable Pokemon to accommodate this change. Starters have also been changed. Those will be revealed later.

 

QoL Changes:

 

A significant amount of bloat tutorial content has been cut out of the vanilla HeartGold story. A Chansey NPC frequently appears in non-gauntlet routes / dungeons to heal you to avoid travelling back to the Pokemon Center. Grass has been added to every town to help nuzlockers get extra encounters. Encounters can also be reached in the second floor of every town's Pokemon Center. HMs are forgettable. An extra move-relearner is added to Goldenrod City. Running shoes, Rare Candies and Max Repels are given to the player upon receiving starter.

 

Move Overhaul:

 

Every single move has been capped at 10PP. Setup move PP is even more strict, capped at 1-2PP. This, in addition to the harsh level caps, ensures that the player cannot run through a gauntlet with one supereffective-spamming Pokemon. The PP decrease is hardly felt if one utilizes the player's team to its full extent. Certain minor move changes have been added which are typical to hacks / trashlockes: Cut as a grass move, weakened HM power on Surf, Waterfall, etc...

 

There are also moves from later generations, including:

 

Snarl, Electroweb, Volt Switch, Accelerock, Scald, PowerUpPunch, Draining Kiss, Spirit Break, Moonblast, Dazzling Gleam, and Play Rough, (yep, the game has Fairy types)

 

Brand new moves have been added:

 

Quiver Crawl, Centimpede, Taxation, Black Hole, Permafrost, Molten Mud, Shadow Shift, Swift Strike, Fairy Breeze, Star Prayer, New Moon, Earthshatter, and Supernova.

 

Overworld Map:

 

Unlike many DS hacks, Garbage Gold has a completely overhauled overworld map. Thanks to ROM hacker ActiveHenry and his Gen5 tileset for Johto, I have been able to implement a Black 2 / White 2 stylized region -- from trees, to grass, to water... you name it. I have attached a couple of teaser maps for snowy northern area:

 

There are plenty new areas to explore, and one can immediately notice the new layout of different routes. Completely new dungeons have been added, such as the aforementioned Crevice Cave.

 

Brand New Story:

 

Many ROM hacks make a plethora of balance changes and trainer edits and call it a day. Garbage Gold goes beyond this and implements an entirely new lore for the region. Questions like "why are only bad Pokemon found?" are answered with gradually more information revealed as the player progresses. Virtually every NPC has changed dialogue to accommodate the lore behind the region. Over 50 different events/cutscenes have been scripted from scratch to keep the player engaged in what happens next. I won't spoil the main story now, but you will meet some familiar faces and new ones from games like Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Sky. Gauntlets are integrated into the story, and feel natural to the progression of the game. Pre-alpha testers have commented that the story is as alluring as the gameplay itself.

 

Generations 5-6 Pokemon

 

You might be wondering why I referred to this hack as a pseudo-decomp hack. With huge thanks to contributors to the in-development hg-engine (spearheaded by ROM hacker BlueRosie), I am able to implement generations 5 and 6 Pokemon. In addition to this sizable dex expansion, the structures of trainers are completely redone. This means that enemy trainers can have different IV and EV spreads, opening up a plethora of new options for battles. There is far more to discuss here, but I will leave it with this general outline. For more information, look at BluRosie's github repo.

 

 

Future Plans and Closing Notes:

 

This hack has been a huge undertaking. I have been working on it since mid-November, and it is slated for a mid-summer release. The game's difficulty is anticipated to be around a 7/10, so for HC nuzlockers it is a good middle ground between vanilla hack enjoyers and Emerald Kaizo fanatics.

 

While I develop it, I like to take suggestions from the community. I do weekly development streams to show my process and progress.

 

Screenshots (Click on Image to View it clear if not visible)

Maps

Download link

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