Pokemon Polished Crystal ROM

Pokemon Polished Crystal is a GBC ROM Hack by Rangi based on Pokemon Crystal. It was last updated on September 20, 2016.

Description

Polished Crystal is, as the title says, Crystal version but improved. I’ve had vague plans to make a Pokemon game for years, starting with a folder full of map drawings in middle school, but Mateo’s Red++ inspired me to make this one, and I hope to do for Gen 2 what he’s doing for Gen 1.

The storyline is the same, you start in New Bark Town, beat the Johto gyms and the Elite Four, then move on to Kanto and fight Red. However, I’ve added new Pokemon, new moves, new mechanics, new maps, new events, new trainers, new items, new bugs, and Red is not even the end of the game. I’ve also moderately increased the difficulty, although this probably needs tuning.

Wait, new bugs? I mean fixed bugs. Probably there are new bugs too, so I’d like you to help find them.

Features

This isn’t a complete list, just a summary of the notable ones.

Pokemon:

• The entire Pokedex of 253 Pokemon can be caught in one game. Some Pokemon, like Houndour, Murkrow, and Misdreavus, are available at sensible locations in Johto without having to wait for Kanto.
• Added: Leafeon, Glaceon, Sylveon, Togekiss, Weavile, Honchkrow, Mismagius, Electivire, Magmortar, Magnezone, Tangrowth, Rhyperior, Porygon-Z, Yanmega, Gliscor, Mamoswine, and Munchlax.
• Removed: Spearow, Fearow, Lickitung, Goldeen, Seaking, Hoppip, Skiploom, Jumpluff, Shuckle, Aipom, Stantler, Cleffa, Igglybuff, Smoochum, and Delibird. (I miss them too. 🙁 )
• New evolution methods work, like Eevee evolving into Glaceon near Ice Rock, or Yanma evolving into Yanmega when knowing AncientPower.
• Item trade evolutions (like Seadra holding a Dragon Scale) now evolve by leveling up while holding the item.
• Machoke, Graveler, Haunter, and Kadabra evolve by having sufficient stat exp in Attack, Defense, Speed, and Special respectively (five Protein, Iron, Carbos, or Calcium is enough).
• Magneton evolves into Magnezone near the Lodestone in Rock Tunnel.

Moves:

• Added: Aerial Ace, Air Slash, Aqua Tail, Astonish, Avalanche, Bug Buzz, Bulk Up, Bullet Punch, Calm Mind, Dark Pulse, DazzlinGleam, Disarm Voice, Dragon Claw, Dragon Dance, Dragon Pulse, Drain Kiss, Earth Power, Energy Ball, Extrasensory, Fairy Wind, Flare Blitz, Flash Cannon, Focus Blast, Gunk Shot, Hail, Hex, Hone Claws, Hurricane, Hyper Voice, Ice Shard, Icicle Crash, Iron Head, Metal Sound, Moonblast, Nasty Plot, Night Slash, Play Rough, Poison Jab, Power Gem, Psystrike, Seed Bomb, Shadow Claw, Stone Edge, Water Pulse, Wild Charge, Will-O-Wisp, X-Scissor, and Zen Headbutt.
• Removed: Acid Armor, Amnesia, Barrage, Beat Up, Bide, Bind, Bone Club, Bone Rush, Bubble, Clamp, Comet Punch, Constrict, Conversion2, Cotton Spore, Detect, Fissure, Frustration, Guillotine, Horn Drill, Jump Kick, Kinesis, Lovely Kiss, Meditate, Mega Kick, Mega Punch, Mimic, Mind Reader, Mirror Move, Poison Gas, Powder Snow, Present, Psych Up, Psywave, Razor Wind, Rolling Kick, Sharpen, Skull Bash, Smog, Snore, Spider Web, Spite, Sweet Scent, Synthesis, Tail Whip, Vice Grip, and Withdraw.
• Learnsets have been updated close to Gen VI, with missing moves replaced by similar, egg, TM, or event-exclusive moves.

Battle mechanics:

• The Fairy type, with the Pink Bow as its type-enhancing item.
• Type chart, base stats, and move attributes all updated to Gen VI.
• Physical/Special/Status split.
• Natures (determined from DVs since personality values don’t exist in Gen II) thanks to FredrIQ.
• Gain experience from catching Pokemon.
• Play low-pitched cries when a player or foe Pokemon faints.
• Money loss formula from Gen V.
• Shiny Pokemon now have an odd Attack DV, 2, 3, 7, or 11 Defense, 5 or 13 Speed, and a perfect 15 Special; so 1 in 1,024 Pokemon is shiny.
• Type-enhancing items raise by 20%, not 10%.
• Many battle mechanics have been updated to Gen VI, but not all. (For example, Waterfall has a 20% flinch chance, but sound-based moves don’t bypass Substitute. Yet.)
• Wild Pokemon have more common held items (50% chance for a common one and 5% for a rare one). Giving an Amulet Coin to your lead Pokemon increases this to 60% and 10%.

Overworld mechanics:

• Hold B to use Running Shoes, or turn on the Option to always use them.
• Unlimited-use TMs.
• Continuous Repel system.
• Cure poison when it reaches 1 HP outside a battle.
• Eggs hatch at level 1.
• Trees randomly give 1, 2, or 3 Berries.
• Surf at Bicycle/Running Shoes speed.
• Maximum $9,999,999 money and 50,000 coins.
• Maximum 30 items and 16 Balls in your bag pocket.
• Bill calls to switch boxes when one is full.

Nuzlocke mode:

• Available in the Option menu at any time.
• A fainted Pokemon can’t be revived, by items, Pokemon Centers, or events. The only exception is your first rival battle, when you just have your starter.
• You can only catch the first Pokemon you encounter in a new location. “Location” is defined with the Town Map mechanics, so Sprout Tower is separate from Violet City, but multiple floors of Union Cave or multiple sections of the Safari Zone count as one location. And nothing is counted until you receive your first five Poke Balls.
• Every Pokemon gets a nickname, no asking whether you want to or not. Of course, you can cancel out to give the default name.
• The dupes clause is in effect. If you’ve caught a Pidgey and encounter one on a new route, it won’t count unless you catch it.
• The shiny clause is also in effect. Shinies can always be caught.
• Gift Pokemon do not count as encounters. Static encounters like Sudowoodo, Snorlax, and Suicune do.

Maps:

• Restored locations from R/B/Y and HG/SS: Viridian Forest, Pewter Museum, Celadon Hotel, Silph Co., Pokemon Mansion, Seafoam Islands, Cerulean Cave, Goldenrod PokeCom Center, and Bellchime Trail.
• Original locations, including Cinnabar Volcano, a new floor of Rock Tunnel, Cherrygrove Bay, Goldenrod Harbor, Route 35 Coast, the Ecruteak Shrine from Pokemon Christmas, custom-designed PokeWalker routes, and others.
• Decorative features added to cities and routes, often from HG/SS.
• HG/SS-style Town Map.

Events:

• Team Rocket has another plan to thwart.
• Random Wonder Trades in the Goldenrod PokeCom Center, including random held items and original trainers.
• Catching all 26 Unown is worthwhile?
• Move Reminder in the same house as the Move Deleter. (Code borrowed from TPP Anniversary Crystal, thanks to its developers graciously making their source code public.)
• 21 move tutors throughout Johto and Kanto.
• Falkner is in Dark Cave, encouraging you to beat Sprout Tower first.
• Photographing your Pokemon at the Cianwood Photo Studio once a day now makes it happier, like haircuts or massages. (No more GameBoy Printer support.)
• The Mystery Gift girl in Goldenrod Dept. Store gives you a random Berry once a day. (No more Mystery Gift support.)
• The Poke Seer is replaced by the Stats Judge.
• Lt. Surge’s electric fences are back.
• Celadon Dept. Store now has a TV Game floor and a Home Decor wing.
• Revised in-game trades.
• Revised Game Corner prizes.
• Revised Buena’s Password prizes.
• The Odd Egg is always shiny, with an equal chance to be either gender.
• Three of Prof. Oak’s aides give you items as you complete the Pokedex.
• Bill’s grandpa gives you one of each evolutionary stone in Goldenrod City. Later they can be bought in Celadon Dept. Store.
• Eusine shows you the legendary beasts in Celadon City in case you haven’t found them roaming.
• Respawn any fainted legendaries (except for Celebi) after beating the Elite Four. (Suicune roams instead of appearing in Bell Tower.) (Also respawns Sudowoodo.)

Trainers:

• Lyra from HG/SS is your friendly rival. She battles you and gives you some items throughout the game.
• The four Rocket Executives from HG/SS are introduced.
• New trainer classes: Elder, Rich Boy, Schoolgirl, Cowgirl, Battle Girl, Hex Maniac, Guitarist?, Officer?, Sr. & Jr., Couple, Breeder, PI, Dragon Tamer, Ace Duo, and Roughneck.
• Battle Lorelei, Agatha, Bill, Valerie, and some other special characters.
• Battle Cal in Viridian City’s Trainer House if you’re a girl, Kay if you’re a boy.
• Rematch the Elite Four at higher levels after earning all 16 badges.
• Rematch Gym Leaders and other special trainers in the Fighting Dojo after earning all 16 badges.
• Battle Tower has new trainers.
• A few NPC trainers have shiny Pokemon.
• Breeders can be rebattled like in B2/W2.

Items:

• Revised set of 65 TMs and 8 HMs.
• Four new Poke Balls from Devon Corp.
• Dome Fossil, Helix Fossil, and Old Amber. Revive them in the now-open Pewter Museum of Science.
• All of the decorations for your room are available in different places.
• Earn a Silver Trophy when you beat the Elite 4 and a Gold Trophy when you rematch them at higher levels.
• Other items including Eviolite, Muscle Band, Wise Glasses, and X Spcl. Def.

Bug fixes:

• Dragon Fang boosts Dragon-type moves, not Dragon Scale.
• Burn/Poison/Paralyze improve catch rate.
• Moon Ball catches Moon Stone evolvers.
• Love Ball catches opposite sex.
• Fast Ball catches flee-prone Pokemon.
• Medium-Slow growth rate experience underflow at level 1.
• HP bar lowers at the same speed even for high HP.
• Belly Drum needs to cut HP to raise Attack.
• Lake of Rage Magikarp are larger, not smaller.
• Rocket Executives use Team Rocket battle music, not just Grunts.
• The Ruins of Alph tile with their surrounding maps. (Did this annoy anyone else when making huge maps of Johto?)

Difficulty:

• Default Set battle style.
• Enemy AI doesn’t fail an extra 25% of the time with sleep or poison-inducing moves, or 40% of the time with stat drops.
• No badge boosts to stats or types.
• Improved some trainers’ rosters, movesets, held items, and DVs (particularly Gym Leaders, the Elite Four, and other bosses).
• AI improvements, such as not trying to paralyze Electric types or burn Fire types.
• A smoothly increasing level curve, with the final trainer of the game at level 100.

Changes and buffs:

• Many base stat changes, mostly based on Drayano’s Sacred Gold/Storm Silver.
• Cut is Steel-type, and has 60 power and 100% accuracy.
• Hidden Power is ???-type and has 70 power.
• Metronome is ???-type.
• Sing has 75% accuracy (matching Lovely Kiss).
• Supersonic has 65% accuracy.
• Submission and Take Down have 90 power and 100% accuracy, like Wild Charge.
• Hail boosts Defense of Ice-types by 50%.
• Fly has 100% accuracy.
• Strength has 90 power.
• Rock Smash has 75 power.
• Whirlpool and Fire Spin have 90% accuracy.
• Pain Split is Ghost-type.
• Some Pokemon have new types (for example, Ledian is Bug/Fighting, Persian is Normal/Dark, and Dunsparce is Normal/Ground).