Hello, what's this?
Pokémon Radical Red starts just like Fire Red. (In fact, the title screen is unchanged from the original game, which is uncharacteristically lazy for this hack.) Don't worry: we'll see where it departs before long.
So far, so good...
Yep, there we go.
So! First of all, Radical Red has a bunch of convenience features. We can already run.
Second of all, it has a built-in randomizer, which we'll be using. This makes the early game easier but effectively removes legendaries from the game. You can further toss in the Hard Mode variation on the randomizer, which prevents cool stuff from showing up. Of course we won't be doing that.
What's random? Encounters, trainers, and gifts, but not "boss battles." That means E4 and Gym Leaders, obviously, but also probably higher-ranking Rocket fights and a few others. Radical Red has more boss battles than Fire Red, though some are optional.
You can separately toggle random abilities and random learnsets. I've opted not to do either of these. I think a key feature of a good randomizer is keeping important things the same, and it's fairly important to know that most of the things you run across can't use Selfdestruct.
True facts.
Here's our selection of starters. Pretty uninspiring. Of these, I'll take the Fire Pokémon, Charmander.
Tim sends out Squirtle, and we're off to the races. Let's take a look at Charmander.
Every learnset in the game has been updated to emphasize competitive battling. The AI has also been overhauled. I strongly suspect Squirtle has a water move, so we're hosed (ha). I start with Bide, reasoning that if we survive long enough, it should seal the deal. Squirtle responds with Supersonic. Charmander hurts herself for 7 damage. She does have an Attack stat, folks.
In fact, she has terrible attack IVs and a Mild nature (+defense, -sp.atk), which seems like a bad deal all around. (Trapinch loses a lot of Attack when it evolves to Vibrava, but Flygon has Trapinch's Attack stat plus pretty well-rounded other stats. In the long run, we could build Charmander as a mixed attacker.)
Anyway, Charmander hits herself again, but she was holding an Oran Berry, so we're saved. Squirtle, for her part, seems to know nothing but Supersonic, although it's proved effective enough so far. But then Squirtle busts out Bubble, taking Charmander down to a single hit point. Squirtle uses Supersonic for the rest of the battle, and we squeak out a victory. This is a tutorial battle; we can't expect the game to go easy on us after this.
While delivering Oak's parcel, we get a preview of what's available on Route 1. You'll notice that there's a bit of chrome here that wasn't in Fire Red. The interface has been overhauled.
We spy Banette, Taillow, Croagunk, and Nidoran (female) on our way back to Palette Town. Charmander reaches level 8 and learns Bulldoze. We swap out Bite because it has the same power as Feint Attack and Charmander will never outspeed anything to make Bite's flinch relevant.
Our first encounter after receiving our Poké Balls is the most disappointing of the lot. I'm very unlikely to run a strict Nuzlocke, but I will restrict myself to the first capture on each route, and Nidoran is ours for route 1.
Charmander has nothing that won't kill the bunny outright, but she puts up no struggle and hops in the first ball I throw. I'll let you decide on nicknames for the rest of our companions.
The game does not remove the catch tutorial for some reason, but it does at least randomize the battle.
Who's that Pokémon? Emboar hails from Black/White, which is notably a couple generations ahead of when Fire Red was released. We'll see other unexpected faces before long, I bet.
We head west from Viridian City for our second encounter. I thought this would be a tough catch. It used Confusion to OHKO Nidoran, and I figured Feint Attack would return the favor, but Charmander took it to 40% health, and two Poké Balls added Claydol to our party. A great addition for our Ground-type gym-leader-to-be.
Claydol was worth a lot of experience that Nidoran didn't get, so I come back to play catch-up. I run into a Litleo and a Minccino, taking our two new members to level 5 and 6, respectively.
We run into someone from an even newer generation. I never played Sun/Moon, but I gather Oricorio comes in a variety of dance-themed formes. This one is Electric/Flying. He takes Nidoran to level 7, which I decide is good enough for now.
Our encounter for route 2 is Minccino. I have to double-check that this is a new route. (It is.) Minccino is a simple catch, but I don't know what she'll bring to the team, especially with Cute Charm as an ability.
En route to Viridian Forest, I learn I could have had a Dracozolt instead. Dracozolt is a powerhouse from Sword/Shield. That's right: Radical Red has the entire 'dex represented. This includes oddballs like Battle Bond Greninja that were never officially released.
About this time, I'm interrupted by Oak's aide, who gives me five Oran Berries and a Dex Nav. I understand the Dex Nav has something to do with hunting shinies or abilities or something. It certainly wasn't in Fire Red, so please help me understand why I care.
A bug catcher in Viridian Forest offers to teach Bug Bite in exchange for an Oran Berry. Charmander is the only one who can learn it, and it makes a nice replacement for Bide. There's apparently a whole bunch of these move trainers scattered across the game.
Our Viridian Forest encounter is Misdreavus, whom Nidoran can't touch. Claydol uses three shots of Confusion to bring her to a sliver of health, and it still takes four balls to catch her. Good thing I bought more.
Misdreavus evolves via Dusk Stone, so we'll keep our eyes out for one.
Our exploration is interrupted by some guy named Brendan who thinks he's the star of his own Pokémon adventure. Brendan has a Corphish with Bubble and Harden -- trouble for Charmander and Claydol, but Nidoran, now level 11, takes care of it -- and a Treecko, which, you know, same.
It's worth mentioning that battles are locked into Set and items are forbidden in trainer battles. Now that the lede has been properly buried, I should mention that Radical Red is a difficulty hack.
I manually switch to Misdreavus and back on the Treecko, because Nidoran is way ahead of everyone else on experience.
Brendan has just the thing, though. The difficulty does not come from a dearth of experience; instead, you get as much as you need, and you're level-capped. Before beating Brock, our mons will go no higher than level 15.
He also gives us the Stat Scanner, which reveals EVs and IVs for the target. Fun fact: Charmander has 1 Attack IV and 6 Defense. Everything else is in the 20s, though, so it's not worth complaining about.
The very next trainer has a Blissey. Our entire team gains a couple of levels. Blissey is also a standard encounter here. Half the team is level 15 before Pewter.
We can't enter the Gym without first visiting the museum.
This is absolutely 100% so that we're forced to encounter Falkner.
Of course, by "encounter," I mean "battle." Falkner is a Flying-type gym leader natively found in gen 2. He opens up with this Bulbasaur, which takes down Minccino but dies to Misdreavus.
His next mon is Emolga. I switch to Charmander, but Emolga is packing Air Cutter, which kills Charmander before she can even attack. Claydol dodges an Air Cutter and lands a Rock Tomb. Two of those would've killed Emolga, except he had an Oran Berry. He switches to Corvisquire before we can finish Emolga, but repeated Rock Tombs carry the battle to its conclusion. Falkner gives us TM51, Roost, and leaves.
With that, the Gym is open. Camper Liam has a Pumpkaboo and a Deerling, which are both easily dispatched by Charmander. (You know, the Fire Pokémon. It checks out.)
Brock opens with an Alolan Geodude (Rock/Electric instead of Rock/Ground). I open with Minccino because I'm not paying attention. I swap to Claydol, whose Mud-Slap is an easy OHKO except that Geodude has Sturdy.
Brock's next challenger is Vulpix, who is decidedly not Rock-type, but I think Brock had one in the anime. Vulpix hits Claydol with Ominous Wind, which is super effective and lands the 10% all-stats-up.
Vulpix doesn't quite take out Claydol, leaving Onix to do the rest of the work. I allow Claydol to fall to get a free switch to Misdreavus, largely because she's not at the level cap yet. She lowers Onix's attack a few times, then Charmander Bulldozes Onix into oblivion.
For our troubles, we're granted the Boulder Badge, TM 39 (Rock Tomb), and, most importantly, a much higher level cap. We're now free to level to 27.
Next time, we'll take on Mt. Moon and Misty. Until then, please give our pals a name!
New party members: Minccino (F), Nidoran (F), Misdreavus (F), Claydol (N)
...Oh, one more thing: I've spent some time blowing these images up to double their native resolution. If this is helpful, I will continue doing it. If it is not, then I'd rather upload images that look like this:
Please weigh in, and don't forget to hand out some nicknames!
Pokémon Radical Red starts just like Fire Red. (In fact, the title screen is unchanged from the original game, which is uncharacteristically lazy for this hack.) Don't worry: we'll see where it departs before long.
So far, so good...
Yep, there we go.
So! First of all, Radical Red has a bunch of convenience features. We can already run.
Second of all, it has a built-in randomizer, which we'll be using. This makes the early game easier but effectively removes legendaries from the game. You can further toss in the Hard Mode variation on the randomizer, which prevents cool stuff from showing up. Of course we won't be doing that.
What's random? Encounters, trainers, and gifts, but not "boss battles." That means E4 and Gym Leaders, obviously, but also probably higher-ranking Rocket fights and a few others. Radical Red has more boss battles than Fire Red, though some are optional.
You can separately toggle random abilities and random learnsets. I've opted not to do either of these. I think a key feature of a good randomizer is keeping important things the same, and it's fairly important to know that most of the things you run across can't use Selfdestruct.
True facts.
Here's our selection of starters. Pretty uninspiring. Of these, I'll take the Fire Pokémon, Charmander.
Tim sends out Squirtle, and we're off to the races. Let's take a look at Charmander.
Every learnset in the game has been updated to emphasize competitive battling. The AI has also been overhauled. I strongly suspect Squirtle has a water move, so we're hosed (ha). I start with Bide, reasoning that if we survive long enough, it should seal the deal. Squirtle responds with Supersonic. Charmander hurts herself for 7 damage. She does have an Attack stat, folks.
In fact, she has terrible attack IVs and a Mild nature (+defense, -sp.atk), which seems like a bad deal all around. (Trapinch loses a lot of Attack when it evolves to Vibrava, but Flygon has Trapinch's Attack stat plus pretty well-rounded other stats. In the long run, we could build Charmander as a mixed attacker.)
Anyway, Charmander hits herself again, but she was holding an Oran Berry, so we're saved. Squirtle, for her part, seems to know nothing but Supersonic, although it's proved effective enough so far. But then Squirtle busts out Bubble, taking Charmander down to a single hit point. Squirtle uses Supersonic for the rest of the battle, and we squeak out a victory. This is a tutorial battle; we can't expect the game to go easy on us after this.
While delivering Oak's parcel, we get a preview of what's available on Route 1. You'll notice that there's a bit of chrome here that wasn't in Fire Red. The interface has been overhauled.
We spy Banette, Taillow, Croagunk, and Nidoran (female) on our way back to Palette Town. Charmander reaches level 8 and learns Bulldoze. We swap out Bite because it has the same power as Feint Attack and Charmander will never outspeed anything to make Bite's flinch relevant.
Our first encounter after receiving our Poké Balls is the most disappointing of the lot. I'm very unlikely to run a strict Nuzlocke, but I will restrict myself to the first capture on each route, and Nidoran is ours for route 1.
Charmander has nothing that won't kill the bunny outright, but she puts up no struggle and hops in the first ball I throw. I'll let you decide on nicknames for the rest of our companions.
The game does not remove the catch tutorial for some reason, but it does at least randomize the battle.
Who's that Pokémon? Emboar hails from Black/White, which is notably a couple generations ahead of when Fire Red was released. We'll see other unexpected faces before long, I bet.
We head west from Viridian City for our second encounter. I thought this would be a tough catch. It used Confusion to OHKO Nidoran, and I figured Feint Attack would return the favor, but Charmander took it to 40% health, and two Poké Balls added Claydol to our party. A great addition for our Ground-type gym-leader-to-be.
Claydol was worth a lot of experience that Nidoran didn't get, so I come back to play catch-up. I run into a Litleo and a Minccino, taking our two new members to level 5 and 6, respectively.
We run into someone from an even newer generation. I never played Sun/Moon, but I gather Oricorio comes in a variety of dance-themed formes. This one is Electric/Flying. He takes Nidoran to level 7, which I decide is good enough for now.
Our encounter for route 2 is Minccino. I have to double-check that this is a new route. (It is.) Minccino is a simple catch, but I don't know what she'll bring to the team, especially with Cute Charm as an ability.
En route to Viridian Forest, I learn I could have had a Dracozolt instead. Dracozolt is a powerhouse from Sword/Shield. That's right: Radical Red has the entire 'dex represented. This includes oddballs like Battle Bond Greninja that were never officially released.
About this time, I'm interrupted by Oak's aide, who gives me five Oran Berries and a Dex Nav. I understand the Dex Nav has something to do with hunting shinies or abilities or something. It certainly wasn't in Fire Red, so please help me understand why I care.
A bug catcher in Viridian Forest offers to teach Bug Bite in exchange for an Oran Berry. Charmander is the only one who can learn it, and it makes a nice replacement for Bide. There's apparently a whole bunch of these move trainers scattered across the game.
Our Viridian Forest encounter is Misdreavus, whom Nidoran can't touch. Claydol uses three shots of Confusion to bring her to a sliver of health, and it still takes four balls to catch her. Good thing I bought more.
Misdreavus evolves via Dusk Stone, so we'll keep our eyes out for one.
Our exploration is interrupted by some guy named Brendan who thinks he's the star of his own Pokémon adventure. Brendan has a Corphish with Bubble and Harden -- trouble for Charmander and Claydol, but Nidoran, now level 11, takes care of it -- and a Treecko, which, you know, same.
It's worth mentioning that battles are locked into Set and items are forbidden in trainer battles. Now that the lede has been properly buried, I should mention that Radical Red is a difficulty hack.
I manually switch to Misdreavus and back on the Treecko, because Nidoran is way ahead of everyone else on experience.
Brendan has just the thing, though. The difficulty does not come from a dearth of experience; instead, you get as much as you need, and you're level-capped. Before beating Brock, our mons will go no higher than level 15.
He also gives us the Stat Scanner, which reveals EVs and IVs for the target. Fun fact: Charmander has 1 Attack IV and 6 Defense. Everything else is in the 20s, though, so it's not worth complaining about.
The very next trainer has a Blissey. Our entire team gains a couple of levels. Blissey is also a standard encounter here. Half the team is level 15 before Pewter.
We can't enter the Gym without first visiting the museum.
This is absolutely 100% so that we're forced to encounter Falkner.
Of course, by "encounter," I mean "battle." Falkner is a Flying-type gym leader natively found in gen 2. He opens up with this Bulbasaur, which takes down Minccino but dies to Misdreavus.
His next mon is Emolga. I switch to Charmander, but Emolga is packing Air Cutter, which kills Charmander before she can even attack. Claydol dodges an Air Cutter and lands a Rock Tomb. Two of those would've killed Emolga, except he had an Oran Berry. He switches to Corvisquire before we can finish Emolga, but repeated Rock Tombs carry the battle to its conclusion. Falkner gives us TM51, Roost, and leaves.
With that, the Gym is open. Camper Liam has a Pumpkaboo and a Deerling, which are both easily dispatched by Charmander. (You know, the Fire Pokémon. It checks out.)
Brock opens with an Alolan Geodude (Rock/Electric instead of Rock/Ground). I open with Minccino because I'm not paying attention. I swap to Claydol, whose Mud-Slap is an easy OHKO except that Geodude has Sturdy.
Brock's next challenger is Vulpix, who is decidedly not Rock-type, but I think Brock had one in the anime. Vulpix hits Claydol with Ominous Wind, which is super effective and lands the 10% all-stats-up.
Vulpix doesn't quite take out Claydol, leaving Onix to do the rest of the work. I allow Claydol to fall to get a free switch to Misdreavus, largely because she's not at the level cap yet. She lowers Onix's attack a few times, then Charmander Bulldozes Onix into oblivion.
For our troubles, we're granted the Boulder Badge, TM 39 (Rock Tomb), and, most importantly, a much higher level cap. We're now free to level to 27.
Next time, we'll take on Mt. Moon and Misty. Until then, please give our pals a name!
New party members: Minccino (F), Nidoran (F), Misdreavus (F), Claydol (N)
...Oh, one more thing: I've spent some time blowing these images up to double their native resolution. If this is helpful, I will continue doing it. If it is not, then I'd rather upload images that look like this:
Please weigh in, and don't forget to hand out some nicknames!
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