A new Pokémon fan game is making waves in the community, called Pokémon GS Vitro, a remake of Crystal, now with an open-world experience made precisely for fans of the second generation wanting something a little different and something a little more refreshing.
This remake comes with an expanded Pokédex, new mega evolutions, modernised mechanics and new places to explore in a design philosophy that takes inspiration from your favourite Pokémon Nintendo DS games, built for PC and Android users using the RPG Maker XP developer toolkit. It can work on iOS, but apparently you have to play it through an app called Empo.
Credit: pkmnvitro on IG
Pokémon GS Vitro was made with the idea of experiencing Johto without all of the roadblocks from the get-go, allowing you to have access to multiple towns and routes from the moment you set out from the starter town, even going as far as allowing you to use field moves from the very begginning; this is basically a new name for your HMs in this game.
Because it's open-world, all Pokémon that you come across in the wild will increase in level alongside your own Pokémon team, meaning you will never feel overpowered or somewhat artificially controlled in terms of where you go due to the wild Pokémon's levels. To make things a little challenging, Gym Leaders will have several different team variations, so you'll have to come prepared; the same goes for many secondary trainers
The Pokédex will feature regional Johto and Kanto Pokémon alongside the addition of a small number of newer Pokémon, bringing the total to 350 Pokémon to collect, and all can be obtained "normally", which I guess means in the wild without the need of trading and other external sources. There will also be Mega Evolutions, but I don't want to spoil which ones are being featured. The developers have listed some quality-of-life features that are included, such as:
- Gen 8+ style EXP sharing, where Pokémon in the PC also gain EXP.
- New Pokégear functions, such as an Encounter List and PC Access.
- Turbo mode only during battles.
- A quick-heal option for the Pokémon in your party.
- And more.
- Field Moves replace HMs, and some have unique functions. For example, certain Pokémon can use Rain Dance outside of battle, etc.
- A selector at the start of the game for Permadeath Mode (Nuzlocke) and Random Mode.
- Pokémon can have slight variations in their colours, similar to Pokémon Stadium 2.
Pokémon GS Vitro is not out yet, but the release date has been confirmed for October 30th 2026, and will be available to download via their official website.
