emerald tinted glasses
I've been playing Pokemon Emerald Seaglass recently and it's lovely. It's the second Pokemon romhack to really geab me like this, first one being Fool's Gold the romhack of Pokemon Crystal that redesigns every Pokemon and gives them new typing. Was easy to get lost in the rediscovery of once familiar Pokemon. Emerald Seaglass has been easy to get lost in for a different reason though. At its core its a reskin of Emerald made to evoke the visual style of the Gameboy Color Pokemon games, using a more restrained color palette than Emerald originally had. Feels like a release for an imaginary console that came between the Gameboy Color and Gameboy Advance. The thing that was most immediately striking to me was the incredible battle backgrounds. The third generation of Pokemon games uses some nice gradients and simple patterns for backgrounds in battles that wouldn't have been nearly as effective when sticking to a GBC color palette, so Emerald Seaglass gives us some lovely detailed backgrounds to match the environment the battle takes place in. The sprites done for Pokemon are wonderful as well, gen 1 and 2 Pokemon mostly use the sprites they had in thr GBC games, but any newer Pokemon had to have their sprites redone in the GBC style to be included in Emerald Seaglass and they're all lovely. Because of saving shenanigans I have restarted the game a few times and have used a different starter each time (RIP Dave the Torchic and Evad the Treecko, long live Mouthwash the Mudkip), and the starter sprites in particular really nail the assignment. The locations and environments are redone similarly, even trying to match some of the cultural aesthetics kf the gen 2 games, buildings are redone to not be the sleek modern looks they have in the gen 3 games, instead opting for something more similar to the older Japanese style architechture of Johto. The encoumter pools in Hoenn have been redone to include more Johto and Kanto Pokemon than original Emerald as well, giving each route a new surprise. On top of that a lot of the newer added evolutions that came from later generations have been added, I'm close to getting a Dawn stone to evolve my Snorunt (named Timbers) into a Froslass which is exciting! The starting town Oldale even has a new addition, a patch of grass behind a tree that can be cut. Not gonna spoil what can be found there, but there were a few appearances that really surprised me, highly recommend checking out that grass if you give Emerald Seaglass a shot.
Another big thing that has had me hooked to this romhack is circumstantial. I managed to get someone to play it alongside me. One of the greatest things about Pokemon as a series that has played a part in me sticking with the series is the community aspect. The multiplayer features supporting this are obvious between trading and battling, but less obvious on the surface are how fulfilling it is sharing information or even talking about accomplishments and experiences in the games can be with others also playing, and sometimes it's just a single other person you're playing alongside that makes it special. I feel like this could be a longer piece to write about my many associations and experiences with this, so I'll keep it short. It's no surprise that a lot of my playthrough of Fool's Gold was fueled by being able to play alongside a friend and share that experience, and furthermore no surprise I've stalled out on progress in Fool's Gold once that aspect slowed down. These games are best being able to turn my Gameboy towards someone else and go "hey look at this!" and I think that's beautiful, and romhacks facilitating that vibe are by far my favorites.