Pokémon Undercover – FireRed Kanto Spy Adventure with Team Rocket Plot, Expanded Johto Link & Deep Evolution Rework
Game Information
Table Of Contents
About This ROM Hack
Pokémon Undercover is a FireRed-based ROM hack created by Charizard203 that reimagines the classic Kanto journey with a spy-themed narrative twist. Instead of a standard trainer adventure, the player is sent on an undercover mission in Kanto, tasked with investigating and stopping Team Rocket’s hidden plans while still progressing through the traditional Pokémon League structure.
The hack keeps the core FireRed identity but expands it significantly with new locations, rebalanced systems, rematch content, and extended regional connections, including partial access toward Johto. It also introduces a large-scale evolution system redesign, removing trade barriers and replacing them with alternative evolution methods.
While still a beta project, it is designed as a feature-heavy enhancement of FireRed with story-driven mission framing and expanded gameplay systems.
Story Overview
The player is assigned a special mission by Professor Oak, who sends them and their rival to Kanto under the guise of starting a normal Pokémon journey. However, this is actually an undercover operation.
The real objective is to investigate Team Rocket’s hidden plans and stop their activities while maintaining the appearance of a standard Pokémon Trainer. Alongside this mission, the player continues the traditional goal of becoming the Pokémon Champion, creating a dual-purpose journey.
As the story progresses, the world expands beyond Kanto with additional access toward Johto-linked areas and new routes such as Route 26 and 27, giving the sense of a larger connected region.
Familiar characters and rivals appear, but the narrative is reshaped through mission-based progression, rematches, and upgraded trainer encounters, making the journey feel more structured and tactical compared to vanilla FireRed.
Key Features
- Undercover Mission Storyline: The player takes on a secret assignment to investigate Team Rocket while posing as an ordinary trainer.
- Kanto Starters Retained: Charmander, Squirtle, and Bulbasaur remain the starters to keep the Kanto identity intact.
- Gym Leader Rematches: Gym Leaders can be battled again in rematch scenarios, offering stronger teams and extended challenge.
- Elite Four Expanded Rematches: Elite Four members use full teams of six Pokémon during rematch battles.
- Tohjo Falls Area Added: A connection area near the Pokémon League referencing Johto’s border region has been introduced.
- Limited Johto Access: Players can barely access parts of the Johto border such as Routes 26 and 27.
- Mirage Cave Location Added: A new cave near Tanoby Key gives access to event-related areas.
- Running Shoes Early: The running shoes are given by May in Pallet Town, improving early-game movement.
- Starters Available from NPCs: Additional starter Pokémon can be obtained through specific NPC interactions.
- Trade Evolution Alternatives: Pokémon that normally require trading now evolve through level, stones, or held-item level-up methods.
- Expanded Evolution Methods: Many species such as Kadabra, Machoke, Haunter, Seadra, and others have new evolution triggers that remove trade dependency.
- All TMs Purchasable: TMs become available at department stores after certain battles or progression points.
- Mart Inventory Scaling: Poké Mart stock changes depending on your badge count.
- Professor Oak Battlable: Oak can be fought as a trainer along with other notable characters.
- Multiple Protagonist Battles: Characters like Red, Green, Blue, Ruby, and Sapphire are included as battleable trainers.
- Name Decapitalization: Pokémon and move names are no longer written in all caps.
- Nidoqueen Breeding Enabled: Nidoqueen can now breed, unlike in the original games.
Known Bugs & Issues
- Rival dialogue may still incorrectly use “Gramps” in various scripts.
- New Bark Town was reported as glitchy and incomplete in earlier builds, though marked as fixed in a later beta.
- As a beta project, unfinished scripting, mapping issues, or balance problems may still exist.
- No finalized, comprehensive bug documentation is available.
Screenshots
Download Links
Download: MediafireDocumentation
List of Added Evolutions- Kadabra-Trade to Alakazam, Sun Stone to Alakazam
- Machoke-Trade to Machamp, Level 36 to Machamp
- Graveler-Trade to Golem, Level 36 to Golem
- Haunter-Trade to Gengar, Moon Stone to Gengar
- Slowpoke-Level 37 to Slowbro, (Level Up with) King's Rock to Slowking
- Poliwhirl-Water Stone to Poliwrath, (Level Up with) King's Rock to Politoed
- Onix-(Level Up with) Metal Coat to Steelix (next BETA)
- Scyther-(Level Up with) Metal Coat to Scizor (don't worry it's this one)
- Eevee-Thunder Stone to Jolteon, Fire Stone to Flareon, Water Stone to Vaporeon, Sun Stone to Espeon, Moon Stone to Umbreon
- Porygon-(Level Up with) Up-Grade
- Seadra-(Level Up With) DragonScale
- Wurmple-Level 7 to Silcoon, (Level Up with) Pokeball to Cascoon
- Feebas-Level 20 to Milotic
- Clamperl-(Level Up with) Deepseatooth to Huntail, (Level Up with) Deepseascale to Gorebyss
Developer Information
Developer / Team: Charizard203
Credits: Various GBA hacking tools and community resources were used; full individual credit details are not clearly listed.
Source & References
Official Thread / Website: Pokecommunity
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What is the main difference in Pokémon Undercover’s story?
A: The player is on a secret undercover mission to investigate Team Rocket while progressing through a normal trainer journey.
Q: Are the starters different in this hack?
A: No, the original Kanto starters are kept to preserve the region’s identity.
Q: Can Gym Leaders be battled again?
A: Yes, Gym Leaders have rematch battles with stronger teams.
Q: Does the Elite Four get stronger?
A: Yes, in rematch stages each Elite Four member uses a full team of six Pokémon.
Q: Do I still need to trade to evolve Pokémon?
A: No, trade evolutions have been replaced with alternative in-game evolution methods.
Q: Is Johto fully explorable?
A: No, only limited border areas like Routes 26 and 27 and Tohjo Falls are accessible.
Q: Can I obtain extra starters?
A: Yes, additional starters can be obtained from certain NPCs in the game.
Q: Are there new locations?
A: Yes, areas like Mirage Cave and Tohjo Falls were added to expand exploration.
Q: Is the hack finished?
A: No, it remained in beta status with development progress reported around 60%.
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