As you know, we love covering Pokémon ROM hacks; we've been doing it for years now, so seeing new ideas and creatives come to the field with unique additions is what makes my job so enjoyable. One new ROM hack that I want to share with you today is called Pokémon Emerald Arena, and it has added real-time battles to the game, which gives the repetitive task of fighting and catching Pokémon a refreshing approach.
I had to download it for myself to give it a go, and it indeed works wonders, offering a fast-paced battle sequence that requires your focus and intellect to move around the battlefield and attack your targets as smartly as you can. As of now, I believe the real-time battling is exclusive to wild-Pokémon and not trainer/gym battles.
It has been developed by GBurgardt and was officially released on the 11th September. This ROM hack offers the ability to use 12 animated Pokémon in the "Arena", which is the environment which offers you real-time battles; if it's not one of the 12 Pokémon, it will result in the "normal" Pokémon battling sequence. So, in a way, the game forces you to use certain Pokémon if you want a complete real-time battle experience, but no doubt the developer will work on more updates in the future that add to these 12. The Pokémon that offer real-time battling are: Charizard, Blastoise, Eevee, Dragonite, Scizor, Blaziken, Treecko, Poochyena, Bulbasaur, Squirtle, Grovyle and Sceptile.
- 10 move profiles: Pound, Tackle, Quick Attack, Leer, Absorb, Water Gun, Wing Attack, Slam, Peck and Scratch.
- Breakable rocks, wood, foliage, crystals and explosive pods.
- Enemies that navigate obstacles, aim and dodge, with level-based reactions.
- Native HP, PP, experience, leveling and saves. Classic battles remain available.
There's also the fact that the "Arena" has breakable objects such as wood, rocks, boxes, crystals and even explosive pods that can deal extra damage, allowing you to use A to attack and B to dodge. There's still a lot of work to go into this, alongside adding more move sequences and more available Pokémon, etc., but it's a new fun way to explore the original game. I dig it. It can be downloaded via GBurgardy's official GitHub page. You'll need your own Pokémon Emerald ROM to patch this hack.
