Pokemon - Escape Room - The Secluded Valley ROM

Pokemon – Escape Room – The Secluded Valley is a GBA ROM Hack by EN_KT based on Pokemon Emerald in English. It was last updated on August 01, 2025.

Also, be sure to check out Pokemon Sapphire in Reverse.

Description

Features

• puzzles in the form of trainer battles that can only be beaten by specific team compositions and movesets
• puzzles that require the player to obtain certain items that can be used in the overworld
• puzzles that require the player to obtain and teach certain HM moves that can be used in the overworld
• NPCs that can fully heal and revive the player’s party
• multiple areas with respawn points, so players don’t have to go all the way back to the beginning when their party is knocked out
• NPCs that will repeatedly trade with the player, allowing them to swap Pokémon as puzzles require and not be softlocked if they caught the wrong one
• NPCs that will make one-time trades with the player, giving them access to Pokémon that they wouldn’t be able to catch in the wild
• NPCs that can teach a specific move
• An NPC that can teach any move from a small collection of TMs
• An NPC that can teach a Pokémon any egg move it could have inherited, so long as the Pokémon is level 10 or below and the move meets certain requirements (isn’t damaging, doesn’t inflict a non-volatile status condition, and doesn’t inflict a volatile status condition that can lead to damage (like confusion))
• An NPC that can change the abilities of Pokémon, including Hidden Abilities, so long as the Pokémon is level 10 or below
• An NPC that can release Pokémon that were caught in Poké Balls, returning the Poké Ball to the player (and also any held item that the released Pokémon was holding, so the player won’t be softlocked by releasing a Pokémon holding a critical item)
• NPCs that give hints
  • hints can be a general hint; revealing the items, levels, movesets, and abilities of all the available wild Pokémon in the area; revealing the items, levels, movesets, and abilities of the parties of the trainers in the area; or giving you the solution so you can just move on to the next puzzle
  • one puzzle includes a different type of NPC that also gives a hint in the form of flavor text
• backtracking when progress reveals different needs or gives you different resources that make previously-useless stuff useful
• I have chosen to leave it up to players to determine if there is a time penalty, if any, for using hints. The game does not auto-apply any penalty. The game also does not keep time, as I don’t want to presume that players are racing or going for a timed run. I’m happy to see people play it that way, but I built this with the casual player in mind who is only trying to see if they can solve the puzzles, not trying to see how fast they can solve the puzzles

Escape Room rules

• Uses items, movesets, abilities, and battle mechanics from Gen V (although the Pokémon that appear only go up to Gen III), with the following exceptions:
  • critical hits have been disabled
  • the moves of trainer Pokémon and wild Pokémon start with only half of the move’s usual PP, rounded up. This is so enemies will Struggle sooner, because players might want to check if that is part of a solution
  • Trainers won’t switch their Pokémon (They will, however, have their Pokémon use moves like Baton Pass)
  • All trainer battles except one use the Basic Trainer AI from the Pokeemerald Expansion Project, and the one different battle will have a sign explaining their AI. It is to use the first move in their Pokémon’s movelist that has PP and will not fail (so if its moveset was Confuse Ray, Tackle, Baton Pass, Leer, it would always use Confuse Ray unless the foe is already confused, in which case it would use Tackle unless it had no PP, in which case it would use Baton Pass unless there were no Pokémon to switch in, in which case it would use Leer)
  • the movesets being from Gen V only determines what moves a Pokémon can learn, not what level that Pokémon may know the move at
• The overworld mechanics are from Gen III, with the following additions:
  • each fishing attempt, each tile of grass, and each tile in a cave (that has wild Pokémon) except the entrance will start an encounter. This is so players don’t have to run back and forth and wait for RNG to start an encounter. (It also makes a certain puzzle fit in a smaller space than would otherwise be required)
  • Players can’t catch wild Pokémon unless the wild Pokémon is a lower level than the Pokémon the player has currently sent out. If that condition is satisfied, the capture is guaranteed.
• Pokémon have their HP and PP and status effects restored after battles, but not if they were knocked out. This is so players don’t have to waste time healing after every battle they win, but also so they can control who is and isn’t knocked out in their party when they want to
• Set battle mode is enforced
• There is no EXP gaining or leveling up
• All Pokémon have maximum IVs and a Quirky nature. This is so players don’t have to use RNG to get stronger or weaker Pokémon for puzzles that hang on a difference of 1 or 2 HP here or there
• Players can’t toss items. This is to prevent softlocks that would be caused by tossing items necessary to solve puzzles. If a Pokémon is holding an item and is traded to an NPC, the NPC will return the held item for the same reason

Useful Links

Pokecommunity