Pokémon Amethyst – A Classic-Style GBA Pokémon Adventure Set in the New Kulure Region
Game Information
Hack Name: Pokémon Amethyst
Original Game (ROM Base): Pokémon FireRed
Hack Status: Completed, v1.3.0
Language: English
Content Type: New Region, Vanilla+, Traditional Adventure, CFRU, QoL Improvements
Original Game (ROM Base): Pokémon FireRed
Hack Status: Completed, v1.3.0
Language: English
Content Type: New Region, Vanilla+, Traditional Adventure, CFRU, QoL Improvements
Table Of Contents
About This ROM Hack
Pokémon Amethyst is a FireRed-based ROM hack that tries to capture the feeling of playing an official Pokémon GBA title for the first time again. Instead of focusing on extreme difficulty or heavily experimental mechanics, the project leans into a more familiar and comfortable style of gameplay while still modernizing the experience with newer mechanics and quality-of-life improvements.
The game takes place in the completely new Kulure region, where the goal is to travel across the region, battle powerful trainers, discover rare Pokémon, and eventually challenge the region’s strongest Champion. The overall tone feels intentionally close to the classic Game Boy Advance era, but with enough modern systems mixed in to keep things fresh without losing that older Pokémon identity.
This hack is built using CFRU, meaning it includes many modern Pokémon mechanics that are now expected in newer ROM hacks, including the Fairy type, Physical/Special split, Mega Evolution, expanded Pokémon support, modern battle improvements, and several interface upgrades.
One thing that stands out about Pokémon Amethyst is that it clearly tries to stay approachable. The developer describes it as a game meant for people who are most familiar with official Pokémon titles, and that design philosophy shows throughout the hack. It avoids becoming overly punishing while still offering meaningful challenge through boss battles, optional difficulty settings, and postgame content.
The developer also mentions that this is their first ROM hack project, and despite that, the hack appears to have received a lot of care and long-term attention. The game is fully playable from beginning to end, though the creator openly notes that some bugs may still exist.
Story Overview
Pokémon Amethyst features a completely original adventure set in the Kulure region. The story focuses on a more traditional Pokémon journey structure, where you travel across a new land, encounter rare Pokémon, challenge increasingly difficult opponents, and work toward becoming the next Unbeatable Champion.
Key Features
- New Region: Explore the completely original Kulure region with its own locations, progression, trainers, and adventure structure inspired by classic Pokémon games.
- Classic GBA Feel: The hack is designed as a “love letter” to the Game Boy Advance Pokémon era, keeping the overall style familiar instead of radically changing the formula.
- CFRU Enhancements: Built using CFRU, allowing the game to include modern mechanics like the Fairy type, Physical/Special split, expanded battle systems, and Mega Evolution support.
- Curated Pokédex: Features a custom Pokédex with Pokémon ranging from Generations 1 through 8 instead of trying to include every single species.
- Difficulty Options: Includes optional Casual and Hard modes so players can tailor the experience to their preferred challenge level.
- Balanced Boss Battles: Trainer fights are designed to be challenging but fair rather than unfairly difficult or Kaizo-style.
- Mega Evolution: Mega Evolution mechanics are included as part of the battle system enhancements.
- PokeChips Currency System: Introduces a separate currency called PokeChips, which encourages wild battles and can be spent in special shops.
- Built-In Modifiers and Cheats: Unlockable gameplay modifiers can be earned through progression and reused in future save files.
- Daily Events and Postgame Content: Includes repeatable activities and additional challenges beyond the main story.
- Modern Quality of Life Improvements: Features improvements like reusable TMs, revised trade evolutions, HM improvements, clarified natures, running shoes, DexNav functionality, and built-in randomizer support.
- Day and Night Cycle: The game includes a working time system that changes depending on the in-game time of day.
- Vanilla+ Design Philosophy: Keeps the overall feeling of official Pokémon games intact while modernizing the experience carefully instead of completely reinventing it.
- Minigames and New Systems: New mechanics and side activities are introduced consistently throughout the adventure to keep progression feeling fresh.
Known Bugs & Issues
- The developer states that the game is fully playable from start to finish, but also mentions that players may still encounter occasional bugs since this is their first ROM hack project. No major game-breaking issues were specifically listed in the provided information.
Screenshots
Download Links
v1.3.0: Mediafire
Documentation
Dev Diary (design philosophy, loosely a walkthrough): https://shorturl.at/FhCrNFeature List and Documentation: https://shorturl.at/L4IBd
Encounter List: https://shorturl.at/bDdB6
Boss Trainer Teams: https://shorturl.at/8bZrp
v1.3.0 Changelog, July 11, 2026
This release introduces many sizeable QoL changes and bug fixes, as well as introducing the new Divergent Species feature. After upgrading, players will need to double check their preferred diffculty and level cap settings.New Features
- Adds Divergent Species mode, which revamps all wild encounters and trainer teams to provide a fresh experience
- All encounters and trainer definitions are hand-curated
- This can be set in new games, or toggled midgame when using a new game modifier
- Dex entries 1-300 (minus Rotom, Ditto, Victini, and Jirachi) change when in this mode
- The pokedex, DexNav, and dex assessment reflect the current mode
- The habitat list always shows all Pokemon encountered, with those not in the current mode appearing as #000 (this only applies when toggling between modes)
- Gift Pokemon do not change, but trades do
- Mega Stones and held items are restored when flipping between modes
- Certain shops stock changes depending on the mode
- Added an option to skip the nicknaming prompt when catching a pokemon
- Elevated the old Hard Caps (-2 below next boss's ace) to be Extra Hard Caps, and introduced a new Hard Cap (= next boss's ace)
- Added Extra Hard difficulty, which gives all trainers max IVs and maxes out their best 2 stats' EVs
- Added an EV/IV Viewer as a game modifier, which can be accessed from a Pokemon's summary screen
- Added the ability to move a Pokemon to the first slot of the party by pressing Start on it
- Added a system that allows players to interact with TVs to get hints toward their next story objective
- Reordered PC options so the order is Move Pokemon > Move Items > Withdraw Pokemon > Deposit Pokemon
Significant Changes
- Lake Laplaz is now surrounded by rocks instead of small currents, to feel less out of place
- New events were added to some maps to support divergent mode events (ex. Laplaz Town)
- Improved the nuzlocke-friendly Rare Candy gift to add up to 999 candies, so the player no longer has to toss the ones they have
- The camera now pans during a title defense so the player can see their challenger during dialogue
- Hard & Extra Hard level caps now calculate correctly based on the chosen difficulty level (since Hard & Extra Hard have higher levels)
- Changed the Last Ball feature to instead always choose the optimal ball (excluding Master Ball)
- When changing level caps from the options menu, the player is now informed what the current soft or hard cap is
- Professor Sakura now recommends bringing Beast Balls to the Dais of Light, to prepare for the encounter there
- Renamed the Uteya Gym copycat NPC's name from Liam to Caleb to match the canonical MC name
- The Uteya Gym copycat now consistently takes 1 step with the player, even when colliding with a wall
- Opponents' Pokemon now match their trainer's gender
- The DexNav now attempts to search up to 3 times before giving up, making it more consistently usable
- Starting the game with QoL items enabled now tell the player how to use them.
- This also informs the player of the EXP Share's impact on game balance, instead of waiting to tell them on Route 10 when it is normally found
- Altered the Hall of Fame legendary reset event to reset the Poipole gift if they are marked as caught but not in the party or boxes. This is in response to a bug report
- Adjusted Farfetch'd's evolution to trigger both when at high friendship and when triggering 3 crits in battle
- Held items are now restored automatically after beating Kaito
- The player can now save and quit during the Carnelidge Volcano story sequence
- Adjusted the Stats Dojo EV disciples so they no longer scale with the player. Their Pokemon are now levels 15/30/45 for tiers 1/2/3
- Updated Raine's sand rematch team to give Gigalith a Rocky Helmet instead of an Assault Vest it couldn't use
- Flash, Dive, and Waterfall no longer appear in the party menu's quick move list, since they are not used in Amethyst
- The PokeVial now refills when whiting out
- Added a Scope Lens & Muscle Band for purchase in Daimyn City Mall
- Added a Throat Spray item which can be bought at Tsarvosa City Market
- Adjusted the Laplaz Town Gym Expert's text to clarify the player is still meant to challenge the gym
- Adjusted a policeman's text during the Carnelidge Volcano story conclusion to guide the player toward Daimyn City
- Increased the pokechip drop rate by 5% (to 20% base or 45% with the PokeChip Charm) to make them more accessible without trivializing their acquisition
- Added a postgame Pokemon donation feature to Tsarvosa City, allowing players to trade in unneeded Pokemon for PokeChips
- Adjusted the Stick's item description to clarify it works on Sirfetch'd as well
- The rival's Eevee can no longer use Sand Attack in the first battle, on Standard difficulty
- The dex nav now shows Surf/Rod options for Pokemon not yet seen, and also shows "Rock Smash" pokemon in the land section (the latter cannot be searched for because they do not spawn in the overworld like other encounters)
- Added a hidden PokeChip gift in Anthra Town to support challenge runs (ex. nuzlockes, etc.). Due to the impact this has on progression & balance it is not intended for normal play
- Updated overworld code to allow the player to lava surf with the ADM, as long as they have the Surf HM
- Casey's dad now makes a full recovery when the player enters the hall of fame in standard mode, and after completing a postgame quest in divergent mode
- The pokedex's second page (i.e. stats and catch map) now includes hidden abilities
- The daycare man will now hop in place and show a "!" over his head when an egg is ready
Bug Fixes
- Fixed a bug that caused many select pokemon scenarios (ex. move tutors, Uteyan Ruins puzzle, etc.) to fail if Greninja was in the party
- This also ensures Nincada can be evolved into Shedinja
- Fixed hidden item flags that overlapped with boss flags, causing the player to suddenly experience level cap hikes and become the champion abruptly
- Additional automated fixes were added to try and correct this state in existing saves
- Fixed a bug that could corrupt the player's party during the Carnelidge Volcano story sequence (poison effect in overworld, bad egg when returning)
- Fixed various graphical issues in double battles (no highlight on second opponent, lingering sprites)
- Fixed a bug that caused the gym background to appear on maps it shouldn't, if the player battled Iris and Stella at Daimyn City Restaurant
- Fixed a bug that caused the "sent to PC" text to not display when catching Pokemon
- Reworked how postgame checks (NPCs and legendaries) are handled to prevent them from suddenly forgetting the player became the champion
- Fixed a bug that caused the breaker state in Daimyn City Factory to reset when reloading the game, which could lead to softlocks
- Fixed a bug that prevented pickup from working after battle
- Fixed a bug that prevented the player from escaping Route 17 caves with Dig
- Made changes to the post-credits party scene to reduce the likelihood of postgame NPCs from vanishing
- Fixed a metatile issue in Heleo City streetlights, so players no longer stop under them while cycling
- Fixed a couple tiles in the Forgotten Manse and Route 13 that should not be passable
- Fixed a tile in Hesson Pass's second floor that should be passable
- Fixed some bad movement permissions and smashable rock locations in Torma Cave
- Fixed bad mountain tiles on the borders of route 4 & 13 so they seamlessly connect
- Fixed Cosmog's overworld sprite to use it's non-shiny form
- Fixed a missing event script for the Rhodanzi City plant girl
- Fixed a bug that forced the player to make a choice at the level 3 IV maxing scientist, due to the Nevermind option being broken
- Fixed a bug that caused the game to crash if the EXP Share was registered and used from the overworld
- Fixed the text for Selene's badge assessment at the Route 12 Rest House
- Removed the debug code from Daimyn City Restaurant that would give 100 pokechips
- Fixed the item flag for Route 24's Dream Eater TM so it doesn't clash with Carnelidge Volcano's Fire Gem anymore
- Fixed a display issue when using a registered PokeTool in the overworld
- Fixed a bug that prevented the "all gym leader rematches in a single day" condition from being met
- Fixed a bug that prevented the "instant friendship" game modifier from unlocking when finishing the postgame
- Fixed a bug that would allow the plyaer to go to the Dais of Light without Type: Null
- Fixed a bug that caused Professor Sakura to miscount the number of remaining wormholes
- Fixed a bug that caused the timebox to remain on screen when pressing A on the Tools Menu's Exit option
- Fixed a bug that caused the Victory Road guard to teleport depending on where the player was standing
- Fixed a bug that caused the "scale trainer teams" game modifier to be disabled after certain battles (ex. trainer houses)
- Fixed the "instant friendship" game modifier so it has a separate flag from the "randomize Kulure dex" setting
- The DexNav now stops scanning when stepping onto an active tile script, to avoid issues with the scripts triggered by them
- Fixed a bug that caused the Bruccie Village ball swapper to refer to item names instead of PokeBall names (ex. Burn Heal instead of Quick Ball)
- Fixed some issues with the Lucky Species and Slowpoke News features. Regional forms that look identical (ex. Koffing and Mime Jr) are now treated as equal
- Fixed a bug that caused Pokemon capable of mega evolution to devolve too many times in Benjamin Butterfree battles, causing corrupted devolution states
- Fixed a bug that prevented Silvally from being nicknamed, if it's OT didn't change
- Fixed a bug that allowed the "double battles" game modifier to trigger a wild double battle when the player only had 1 Pokemon
- Fixed a missing flag from being set when completing Pluto HQ with the Skip Cutscenes option enabled
- Fixed a bug that caused Mega Coalossal to have Iron Fist instead of Solid Rock
- Fixed the DexNav's shiny chaining so any chain at 100+ has elevated odds, instead of just a chain of 100
- Fixed the DexNav's shiny calculation so a shiny is found when the "shiny Pokemon" game modifier is on
- Fixed a bug that allowed Mega Stones to be knocked off in battle
- Fixed a bug that caused the player's starter to stop obeying when put into the PC
- Fixed a bug that caused Greninja to lose Battle Bond when put into the PC
- Removed the Ampharosite from the Route 11 South rival partner team definition (he shouldn't have it until after the sequence)
- Adjusted how pre-battle mugshots work to reduce the possibility of a black screen crash
- Fixed a bug that caused the camera to move unpredictably when battling two independent trainers as a double battle
- Fixed a bug that allowed the player to battle each trainer in a pair, in the Uteya Village Gym
- Added missing post-badge text to the Laplaz Town gym expert
- When whiting out during the Carnelidge Volcano story sequence conclusion or after visiting the Route 13 Rest House, the player no longer sees the Pokemon Center healing machine animation
- Fixed issues with flight flags, teleport spots, and whiteout revival spots
- Fixed a bug that caused music fanfares to not play if other sound effects were playing (such as the "press a button to continue text" chime)
- Fixed a bug that prevented Destiny Knot from passing 5 IVs down during breeding
- Added missing item data for Muscle Band
- Fixed Razor Claw's held effect so it always gives a crit boost and not just when at low HP
- Fixed a bug that caused Pay Day to not award money when fainting wild Pokemon
- Fixed a bug that caused encounters in Secret Trail to appear on Calicin Bay in the pokedex catch map
- Fixed a bug that caused the E4 and Champion room lights to not animate
- Fixed a bug that caused the battle tutorial textbox to become glitchy
- Fixed a bug that caused HP numbers to have poor contrast in double battles when pressting Start
- Fixed a bug that caused the first rival event to hang, when interacting with them after completing their event and reloading the game
- Update the multi-page options menu to allow wrapping between pages with L & R
- Fixed bad tree tiles in Heleo Ranch above Ampharos, where Route 10 intersected Heleo Ranch
- Fixed a missing hidden item quantity on route 12 east and Daimyn Factory Overworld
- Fixed inaccessible hidden items in Torma Cave & Route 6 due to elevation layers
- Fixed impassable tiles in Olenic Town (when accessing from the conservatory) and Route 12 West
- Fixed a bug that could cause post-credits NPCs to appear in Anthra Town when they shouldn't
- Fixed a missing hidden item tile sprite in Route 6
- Fixed a bug that would cause the DexNav to show the incorrect regional form when presenting swarming species, due to it checking by dex number and not species ID
- Added guards to the egg trade rival event to reduce the possibility of the player's name from being cleared (saves that are already affected are not fixed)
- Fixed various typos, grammatical errors, and clunky dialogue
Developer Information
Developer / Team: Collin (duck_caper) & Crystal (PurpleHaunter)
Credits:
- Core Features & UI: Skeli, Ghoulslash, Leon Dias, Sierraffinity, Kiy, usigusom, (), 黒インク, Againsts, Green Jerry, Greenphx, Verloren 5, LukeeGD, GoGoJJTech, Wobbu, ipatix, Enn, Froosty, VentZX
- Overworld Sprites & Tiles: SageDeoxys, Wolfgang62, tammyclaydon, Fanking Omega, Splash, aveontrainer, Kidkatt, Larryturbo, Princess-Phoenix, J-Treecko252, Clara-Dragon, Delta231, Kalarie, UlithiumDragon, Diego_WT, shadowurshifu
- Battle Backgrounds: KWharever, Zeo254, WesleyFG, charchagui, Princess-Phoenix, 44Tim44, Tacoma29, adrix89, Cyangmou, Saint11, ThanatosIXII, LibertyTwins
- Battle Sprites: BaysenAhiru427, Rizon, Falsever, Sky High, Greenphx, Sacredgbc123
- Gameplay Features: vinylfantasy, Mr.Pkmn, Greenphx, Stevebel, BluRosie, knizz, André Freitas, Yave Yu
- Testing Support: Crystal
Source & References
Official Thread / Website: https://github.com/assassinsgreed/
Community Link: https://discord.gg/PAKps59djr
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: What kind of Pokémon ROM hack is Pokemon Amethyst?
A: Pokemon Amethyst is a traditional-style Pokémon adventure that focuses on feeling like a polished GBA-era Pokémon game while adding modern mechanics and quality-of-life improvements.
Q: Does Pokemon Amethyst have a new region?
A: Yes. The game takes place in the original Kulure region with its own progression, locations, and regional experience.
Q: Is Pokémon Amethyst a difficult ROM hack?
A: The game is designed to be challenging but fair. It is not intended to be a brutal difficulty hack, and it even includes optional difficulty settings.
Q: What Pokémon generations are included?
A: The hack uses a curated Pokédex containing Pokémon from Generations 1 through 8.
Q: Does the game include Mega Evolution and Fairy type?
A: Yes. Both Mega Evolution and the Fairy type are included thanks to the CFRU battle system enhancements.
Q: Are there quality-of-life improvements?
A: Yes. The hack includes many QoL systems like reusable TMs, revised trade evolutions, DexNav support, built-in cheats, HM improvements, and more.
Q: Is Pokemon Amethyst fully completed?
A: Yes. According to the developer, the game is fully playable from beginning to end.
Q: Who is this hack for?
A: Pokemon Amethyst is a good fit for players who enjoy classic Pokémon games and want a modernized experience that still feels authentic to the GBA era instead of drastically changing the formula.