Pokemon Polished Crystal GBC ROM Hack – Full Game Overview
Game Information
Hack Name: Pokemon Polished Crystal
Original Game (ROM Base): Pokemon Crystal
Hack Status: Completed
Hack Style: Major enhancement + content expansion
Language: English
Release Type: Fan-made ROM Hack
Table Of Contents
About This ROM Hack
Pokémon Polished Crystal is exactly what the name implies: Crystal, but rebuilt, expanded, cleaned up, and tweaked until it sparkles a bit more than the 2001 original.The project started from long-standing ideas about making a Pokémon game someday — old notebooks full of region maps, Gym concepts, and route sketches that were drawn way before any code existed. The real push came when Luna’s Red++ showed what a true enhancement hack could look like, which basically lit the fuse. The goal became clear:
Do for Generation 2 what Red++ is doing for Gen 1 — modernize it, expand it, and make it feel like the version we all thought we remembered, even if it never actually existed.
Story Overview
The adventure still begins in New Bark Town.You still:
- Collect Johto badges
- Challenge the Elite Four
- Travel to Kanto
- And eventually face Red on Mt. Silver
No plot rewrites, no region replacement — it follows the classic Gen 2 storyline, just with more layers, more surprises, more optional events, and more reasons to wander into places you normally wouldn’t.
Difficulty has been moderately increased, but balance is still being tuned, so some fights might be fair, and some might feel like the AI drank 5 Energy Roots.
Key Features
Pokémon & Evolutions:- 289 Pokémon species (251 original + later-gen relatives) + most alternate forms
- Full Pokédex catchable in one game
- Version exclusives from Crystal relocated logically into Johto early routes (ex: Houndour, Murkrow, Misdreavus)
- Trade-held item evolutions now trigger by leveling up while holding the item (ex: Seadra + Dragon Scale)
- New evolution methods added
- Eevee → Glaceon near Ice Rock
- Yanma → Yanmega if it knows AncientPower
- Magneton → Magnezone via:
- Thunderstone, or leveling up inside Magnet Tunnel (Johto) or Dim Cave (Kanto Power Plant area)
- Machoke / Haunter / Graveler / Kadabra evolve using Linking Cord
- Fossil Pokémon revived at Pewter Museum of Science
Added Moves:
- Aerial Ace, Air Slash, Aqua Tail, Aqua Tail, Astonish, Avalanche, Bug Buzz, Bulk Up, Bullet Punch, Calm Mind, Dark Pulse, Dazzling Gleam, Disarm Voice, Dragon Claw, Dragon Dance, Dragon Pulse, Drain Kiss, Earth Power, Earth Power, Energy Ball, Extrasensory, Fairy Wind, Flare Blitz, Flash Cannon, Focus Blast, Gunk Shot, Hail, Hex, Hone Claws, Hurricane, Hyper Voice, Ice Shard, Icicle Crash, Iron Head, Metal Sound, Moonblast, Nasty Plot, Night Slash, Play Rough, Poison Jab, Power Gem, Psystrike, Seed Bomb, Shadow Claw, Stone Edge, Water Pulse, Wild Charge, Will-O-Wisp, X-Scissor, Zen Headbutt
- Acid Armor, Amnesia, Barrage, Beat Up, Bide, Bind, Bone Club, Bone Rush, Bubble, Clamp, Comet Punch, Constrict, Conversion2, Cotton Spore, Detect, Fissure, Frustration, Guillotine, Horn Drill, Horn Drill, Jump Kick, Kinesis, Lovely Kiss, Meditate, Mega Kick, Mega Punch, Mimic, Mind Reader, Mirror Move, Poison Gas, Powder Snow, Present, Psych Up, Psywave, Razor Wind, Rolling Kick, Sharpen, Skull Bash, Smog, Snore, Spider Web, Spite, Sweet Scent, Synthesis, Tail Whip, Vice Grip, Withdraw
- Move learnsets updated close to Gen 6, missing ones replaced via:
- Egg moves
- TM/Tutor moves
- Event-exclusive alternatives
- Fairy / Dark / Steel types implemented
- Fairy boost item: Pink Bow
- Physical / Special / Status split
- Updated type chart (Gen 6 parameters)
- Natures generated via DVs (no personality values in Gen 2)
- EXP gained from catching Pokémon
- Modern shiny rate: 1 / 4096
- Type-boosting items increased to 20% (instead of 10%)
- Wild held items improved
- 50% common
- 5% rare
- With Amulet Coin lead boost: 60% / 10%
- AI improvements
- No paralysis on Electric types
- No burn on Fire types
- Smarter move selection
- Money system updated (Gen 5 loss formula)
- Some Gen 6 mechanics added, some still missing (ex: Sound moves don’t bypass Substitute yet)
- Hold B to run, or toggle always-run mode
- Reusable TMs
- Continuous Repel system
- Poison no longer KOs outside battle (stops at 1 HP)
- Eggs hatch at Level 1
- Berry trees drop 1–3 Berries randomly
- Surfing speed matches Running Shoes / Bicycle
- Bag capacity expanded to 75 items + new pockets:
- Medicine
- Poké Balls
- Berries
- TM/HM pocket
- Key items
- Apricorn Box
- Wing Case
- Candy Jar
- Coin limit: 50,000
- Money cap: $9,999,999
- Bill auto-calls to switch PC boxes when full
- Fly unlocked to extra spots (Rock Tunnel & Power Plant Pokémon Center)
Maps & World Additions:
Restored from other official titles:
Restored from other official titles:
- Viridian Forest
- Pewter Museum
- Celadon Hotel
- Silph Co.
- Pokémon Mansion
- Seafoam Islands
- Cerulean Cave
- Goldenrod PokéCom Center
- Bellchime Trail
- HG/SS decorative tiles & HG/SS-style Town Map
New or custom locations:
- Cinnabar Volcano
- Extra Rock Tunnel floor
- Cherrygrove Bay
- Goldenrod Harbor
- Route 35 Coast
- Ecruteak Shrine (from Pokémon Christmas)
- Custom PokéWalker routes
- Trainer House rematch area (Viridian City)
- Battle Tower trainer expansion
- Some NPCs now use shiny Pokémon
Events & Side Content:
- Team Rocket returns with a new scheme (details intentionally not spoiled)
- Wonder Trade NPC added in Goldenrod PokéCom Center
- Random trainers
- Random held items
- Unown collection now has real payoff
- 26 Unown unlock hidden interactions involving door-like grooves
- Move Maniac in Cianwood (code adapted from TPP Anniversary Crystal)
- Daily happiness boosts via Photo Studio (replaces haircuts/massages, no GB Printer support)
- Daily Berry from Mystery Gift girl in Goldenrod Dept. Store (Mystery Gift system itself removed)
- Gym & Dojo rematches unlock after 16 badges
- Gym Leaders
- Elite 4 (higher levels)
- Special bosses
- Fossils revived at Pewter Museum
- Revised:
- In-game trades
- Game Corner prizes
- Buena’s Password rewards
- Fainted legendaries respawn post-League (except Celebi)
- Suicune now roams instead of static Bell Tower encounter
- Sudowoodo also respawns
- Set battle mode default
- No badge stat boosts
- Level curve rises smoothly
- Final challenge hits Level 100
- One Trainer exists at Level 100, making it the unofficial “level cap boss”
- Faithful Patch: keeps original canon stats & move attributes
- Main Patch: includes all balance changes and new mechanics
Graphics & Music:
- Restored JP sprites for:
- Beauty
- Fisher
- Medium
- Sage
- Swimmer
- Twins sprite replaced with a B/W-style variant
- Music ports from:
- RBY
- Later generations (devamped/remixed)
- Unique mini-sprites per Pokémon
- Updated shiny palettes (ex: Blue Dragonite, Silver Scizor, Sky-Blue Espeon, Red Electabuzz, etc.)
- TM item balls recolored blue
- Surfing on Pikachu plays Pokémon Yellow minigame music
Known Bugs & Issues
- Some palettes may flicker or brighten briefly when using items
- Roof colors may change when crossing nearby routes
- Inherits some technical limitations from the Full Color base port
- ⚠️ Real hardware stability not guaranteed — emulators/flash carts recommended
Screenshots
Download Links
Normal Version: Mediafire
Faithful Version: Mediafire
Developer Information
Developer / Team: Rangi
Credits:
- yenatch, kanzure, Pikalax, iimarckus, and everyone else who's contributed to disassembling Pok?mon Crystal.
- Crystal_ for their in-depth RBY/GSC mechanics research, and help on /r/PokemonROMhacks.
- Mateo for their thorough Red++ ROM hack, help on Skeetendo, and some sprites and tiles.
- Tauwasser, comet, and other members of Skeetendo for helpful advice.
- PikalaxALT, pigdevil2010, Koolboyman, chaos_lord2, padz, and everyone else who developed TPP Anniversary Crystal 251 and made the code public.
- FredrIQ for multiple feature code contributions.
- VictoriaLacroix for their Running Shoes routine.
- Blue Emerald, Chamber, solo993, Lake, Neslug, and Pikachu25 for many Pok?mon sprites and icons.
- FroggestSpirit, Pum, Pigu, Mmmmmm, and huderlem for devamping some great music.
- jpmac26 for editing the Pok?mon Center signs.
- Twilir, Danny-E, Poketto, Nic7C5, BettyNewbie, and Fo0xerz for various sprites.
- Satoshi Tajiri, Game Freak, and Nintendo for creating Pok?mon Crystal in the first place.
Source & References
Official Thread / Website: Pokecommunity
Community Link: https://discord.gg/ZK5pqK8
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