If you’ve been checking out the pictures of us playing Delta and our other favourite iPhone emulators, then, you’ll no doubt already know that we love our Pocket Monster ROM hacks. We’ve reviewed plenty of them over the years and put far too many hours into playing them when we should have been doing work or seeing family members (including our partners). We’ve also played all of the Pokémon games from the main series too, so when it comes to Pika and the gang, it’s safe to say that we know our stuff.
It’s also safe to say that when a new ROM hack comes out, we get very excited. The Retro Gaming community knows no bounds when it comes to their creativity, and modder SauceyaTTa has spent 600 hours (yes, you read that right) making a fan-made RPG that takes elements from HeartGold, SoulSilver, and Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky, three of the greatest DS games ever made! Pokémon Mythic Silver is built on the Generation 4 engine but has pocket critters from all of the generations including Scarlet and Violet!
Breaking Open The Mystery Of Mythic Silver
So what’s happening in this ROM hack? What makes it tick? Well, it takes place after Explorers of Sky and, according to the game’s creator SauceyaTTa in an announcement post on Reddit, ‘Mythic Silver takes place after the events in PMD Explorers of Sky, this time with Darkrai seeking revenge, mangling both time and space from different regions all into one. Blessed by Arceus to encounter the most absurdly strong Pokemon, and partnered with some other familiar faces, the protagonist must journey throughout a new region to put a stop to Darkrai’s plans.‘
I know what you’re thinking – it sounds amazing, right? And the pictures look incredible too, giving us tonnes of features that we know and love from the Pokémon series and indeed other ROM hacks and features that never happened in Gen 4. Expect reusable TMs just like in Pokémon Unbound, hard-level caps, and much more! SauceyaTTa tells us that ‘Throughout the game, you will meet many familiar faces, like the dynamic duo, Flint and Volkner from Sinnoh, who have come to make renovations to some towns. You will also learn more about Team Galactic, and other trainers like Clair, Whitney, Cynthia, Cyrus, Blue, Red, and many more.’
It’s Johto, But Not As You Know It
Let’s talk about the region – as this uses elements of HeartGold and SoulSilver, players will be heading back to the region of Johto, but it’s been expanded tenfold. Judging by the pictures we’ve seen, there are some amazing new areas to delve into that didn’t appear in the original game. The graphics all look superb, and the whole thing promises to be just as exciting as our other favourite DS ROM Hacks.
With new maps, a new story, new sprites, new Pokémon, nostalgic music, and much more, this is an incredible piece of engineering from sauceyaTTa. Expect to take advantage of automatic trick room battles, Primal Kyogre and Groudon weathers, custom opponent Pokemon nicknames, and lots of exciting features – I don’t want to spoil the whole thing for you before you’ve even had a chance to play it, so I’ll leave some bits for you to discover!
Unlike Pokérogue, this is a patch that you’ll need to put onto a ROM of HeartGold. You can find more information about this process on the Reddit blog post underneath sauceyaTTa’s post on the Beta. We’re looking forward to checking out Mythic Silver over the next coming weeks and giving you all a review as soon as we’ve made our way through the adventure!
