Pokemon Mercury also known as Pokemon Azoth, is a Chinese romhack built on FireRed (CFRU, Complete Fire Red Upgrade) engine; its storyline and content are adaptations based on Gold/Silver/Crystal and HeartGold/SoulSilver. There are also many elements, characters, easter eggs from Diamond/Pearl/Platinum, Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire, Legends: Arceus, and Legends: Z-A, making Johto actually feel connected with other regions/gens.
Currently it’s the most popular GBA romhack in the Chinese community atm due to the story, content, and features this romhack offers; it’s considered a major breakthrough due to its quality.
Features
- HGSS recreated on GBA, with beautiful full DS tilesets, while new areas are added as well.
- New story built upon HGSS, with new stories, quests, and characters from other regions.
- Many wild Pokémon in the overworld are interactive, be friends with them, and you might receive gifts from them.
- Not a difficulty hack, but offers a balanced, slightly more challenging experience compared to vanilla HGSS. Many trainers/gym leaders receive new rosters while keeping it fair and lore-fitting. NPC AI is also greatly improved; they use items and set up moves accordingly based on the situation.
- Balanced level curve and Pokemon availability throughout the game, ensuring players have many options to build their team and won’t easily overlevel.
- Important story characters now have portraits, more depth/personality, and voice clips (based on Pokemon anime), adding immersion.
- 97 side quests, many with deeper stories expanding world-building.
- Pokémon up to Gen 9 (Scarlet/Violet) (not all Pokemon can be obtained before the Elite 4).
- Mega Evo added, including those from Legends: Z-A.
- Dynamax added and Max Raid Battle.
- Move pool updated to Gen 9 (Scarlat/Violet/ZA) (not all moves can be obtained before the Elite 4). Phy/Spe split as well of course.
- Mega Evo mechanics similar to those from Legends: Z-A (optional in-game; you can choose X-Y or Z-A style of Mega Evo mechanic).
- Outfit system, following system, Synchronizer, Wild Pokemon in overworld, and Quick battle/catch system, etc. (all optional and configurable).
- Full time system and dynamic weather system. Morning, day, dusk, and night each provide different Pokemon availability and in-game events.
- Typical QoL such as unlimited TM use, HM use without needing to teach, Exp all (optional), etc.
- RTC and fake clock system; you can switch it easily at any time.
- Battle Tower, Pokemon Contest, Secret Bases, and more.
- Soundtracks from later-gen Pokémon games.
- HOME system and Mystery Gift via the official wiki site.
- More new content is planned and will be added in the future.
English Changelog
Beta 32
- Bag pockets: tabs read Hold, Misc, Gem and Material; the Balls label is no longer indented; the backpack picture highlights top-left for All Items/Misc, top-right for Key Items and bottom-right for Balls.
- Pokédex search page: the Search and Sort tabs are left-aligned like Cancel, and “Switch” (which opens the sort options) now reads “Sort”.
- Pokédex type filter: type names are title case (Normal, Fighting, Flying, Ground, Rock, Psychic; “PSYCHC” is fixed).
- Egg: an Egg’s name was still the Chinese “蛋”; it now reads “Egg”.
- Battle: the double space in “gained x Exp.” is gone.
- Capture tutorial: says “Lyra” instead of “the old man”.
- Everything from beta 31 and earlier is included.
Beta 31
- Forgetting a move: “Totodile将 Water Gun忘记了！ 然后……” is now “1, 2, … Poof! Totodile forgot Water Gun! And…”.
- Trainer Card: the label above the party reads “Pokémon” instead of “PKMN”.
- Box “Move Items”: “Give to a Pokémon?” instead of “GIVE to a POKéMON?”.
- Shop prices: the Poké Mart showed the Chinese 元; prices and the money box now use the Pokédollar sign (¥200, ¥3000).
- Quest list: two titles ran into the “Open” column and were shortened (“The Trainer’s First Step”, “Fierce Pokémon in Dark Cave”).
- Trainer defeat lines: 13 one-word lines such as “……啊？” (the Primo Quest in Violet City), “Whew!”, “Whoa!”, “Clang!” were never found by the text dump and stayed Chinese. Now translated.
- Pokédex FORM page: the “A 切换” label now reads “A Swap”.
- Help Tips, Mom’s Bank page 2: a stray pointer overwrote part of the English line, leaving garbled symbols; fixed.
- Everything from beta 30 and earlier is included.
Beta 30
- Pokégear call end: the “哔！” at the end of a phone call (40 copies, one per caller) now reads “Click!”.
- PC box and releasing: “Bye-bye, Clefairy!”, “Silk Scarf is selected.” and “Silk Scarf is now held.” (plus “Changed to …”) were still Chinese because the box code reads a second table of message pointers that was never listed; the “BAG” button is now “Bag”.
- Pokédex: the INFO description now fills its box (it was centred in a narrow Chinese-width block, with the last line clipped); the AREA time label “Morning” was Chinese; “Late night” is now “Night”; the FORM page reads “Caterpie Shape” (a space was missing). 16 very long entries were condensed to fit four lines.
- “Bracer Points: the space was missing in the shop and reward texts (52 lines).
- Bag tab: “Held Item”, “Misc Item” and “Balls” fit their labels and are centred.
- EV Adjustment screen: column headers (Tot./Rem./Cur./Tgt./Allo.), stat names (HP/Atk/Def/SpA/SpD/Spe), “Vitamins”, “Enough / Not Enough / Over Limit” and “OK” no longer overlap or clip; the insufficient-items message is now “EV Items not sufficient, please check again!”.
- Help Tips: the text window extends past the right edge of the screen, so text and button icons ran off it. Pages now wrap at the real visible width with the icons counted, and 25 pages were shortened to still fit five lines.
- Everything from beta 29 (English Pokédex, battle status icons) and earlier is included.
Useful Links
