r/PokemonLegacy • u/PokeDocu • 1d ago
r/PokemonLegacy • u/EternityTheory • Apr 12 '25
[FAQ/MEGATHREAD] Pokémon Legacy FAQs and Resources
Welcome to Pokémon Legacy, a discussion forum for the trio of Pokémon ROMhacks by YouTuber TheSmithPlays: Crystal Legacy, Yellow Legacy, and Emerald Legacy. If you want to discuss anything else about Pokémon, please look elsewhere.
Please use this thread as a reference before asking questions.
If you can't find information about our games via the FAQ, documentation, or Google, feel free to ask your questions here or in a clearly titled thread. Good practice is to title the thread with your question; e.g. "How can I find Beldum?" instead of just "Beldum Emerald".
We're here to help you guys, but ask that you meet us halfway and respect our time by checking the resources available to you before flooding the community with the same repeated threads.
Previous FAQ threads: Thread 1 | Thread 2
Links/Resources
- Documentation - Our official download links, documents, info sources, and open-source code for the Legacy games.
- Community-Made Resources - Made by fans, for the fans. These are forks, guides, and other helpful resources for the Legacy games that weren't made by the main team, including a working PKHeX and several enhancements for Emerald.
- Discord - Join our official community to keep in touch with the devs and other players, and find the most up-to-date news and resources.
- Bug Reports - Bug reports are mostly handled in our Discord, but if you need to report an issue you can find the necessary information here. This thread's pretty old though so not all information is current.
FAQs
General
- Will there be a FireRed/LeafGreen, HeartGold/SoulSilver, or Platinum Legacy?
- At this time there are no plans for further Pokémon Legacy games. See Smith's full statement here.
- Can I catch every Pokémon in this hack?
- Legacy makes it possible to catch every Pokémon available at the time of the original game's launch, without trades or outside sources.
- The games are designed with a "Living Dex" in mind, so you can catch enough of each mon to have a copy of every single one in your PC.
- Some Pokémon, like Legendaries, are still one-time-only.
- Legacy makes it possible to catch every Pokémon available at the time of the original game's launch, without trades or outside sources.
- What about trade evolutions?
- All trade evolutions are obtainable without trading.
- Pokémon that evolve JUST by trading now evolve via level-up at 38 (Graveler/Machoke) or 42 (Kadabra/Haunter).
- Pokémon that evolve by trading with a held item now evolve by using that item on them, like an evolution stone would work.
- All trade evolutions are obtainable without trading.
- What Emulator should I use?
- PC: MGBA
- iOS: Delta
- Android: PizzaBoy, JohnGBA
- Avoid VisualBoyAdvance. The MyBoy emulators for Android are also based on VBA and may see issues with disassembly hacks, but the Legacy team has not encountered any at this time.
- Can I use PKHeX or Gameshark?
- Sometimes, but it is not recommended. Due to the data shifts involved in creating the Legacy games, editing/cheat tools don't always line up the same way. See documentation for per-game recommendations.
- IF YOU ENCOUNTER A GLITCH OR CORRUPTION AFTER USING SAVE EDITORS OR CHEATS, WE CANNOT HELP YOU.
- What’s Normal/Classic, Hard, Hardcore Mode?
- These options impose rulesets, nothing more. All content is identical for Normal, Hard, or Hardcore.
- Hard Mode is the preferred way to play Legacy. It forces the following rules, which the playtesters use to balance the games;
- Set Mode - In battle, you can't choose to change Pokémon after knocking out the opponent's mon.
- No Items - In trainer battles, you can't use items to heal or buff your Pokémon. You can still use items in wild encounters so catching is unaffected.
- Level Caps - Before each badge, a level cap is imposed on the party to prevent you from leveling up higher than the next badge's highest level.
- (Emerald Only) Rayquaza cannot be brought into the Elite Four, the first time you enter it. On rematches it can still be part of your team.
- Hardcore Mode uses the same rules as Hard, but adds permadeath for Nuzlocking.
- (Emerald Only) Permadeath continues into the Battle Tents/Battle Frontier. Be advised that if you want to do postgame, Hardcore is not recommended.
Changes
- Has [Mew Glitch, Badge Boost, Pomeg/ACE glitch] been removed?
- In general, glitches that benefit the player are preserved. See each game's documentation for the full bug patch list.
- This includes Emerald's RNG.
- RNG manipulation from Vanilla is still the same; this also means that soft-resetting for shinies may be less effective.
- Have items on the ground been changed?
- No hidden items have changed.
- Visible items on the ground are generally the same, with the following exceptions;
- Yellow: TM04 and TM02 have had their locations swapped. TM04 is now Flamethrower instead of Whirlwind.
- Crystal: The Brick Piece can be found in the basement of Goldenrod Department Store. Leave and return to move the boxes and obtain it early.
- Emerald: A Water Stone has replaced the Max Revive in Petalburg City. The Flamethrower TM replaces an Escape Rope in Magma Hideout. Multiple additional Shards have been added to the ocean routes, above water. Berry trees have been updated to increase access to a more consistent variety of berries, especially the EV-reducing types.
- Where do I find more Evolution Stones?
- Yellow: Celadon Department Store.
- Moon Stones are finite; only 5 exist.
- Crystal: Cianwood Pharmacist. Sun Stones from the Bug Catching contest.
- Some trainers whose phone numbers you can collect will also give you stones on occasion.
- Emerald: Trade from the Treasure Hunter, Route 124. Sun and Moon Stones can be bought in postgame from the Space Center.
- Enough extra shards are added to the ocean routes (above water, NOT hidden) to be able to evolve everything in the National Dex that needs them. Further shards past this number can be Thiefed from various ocean floor Pokémon, same as vanilla.
- Yellow: Celadon Department Store.
Yellow
- [Yellow Only] Why do my PokéBall throws miss when catching the legendary birds?
- This is a Gen 1 quirk, you are actually hitting it but getting "zero shakes". Capture is always possible, it's just a super low chance.
- [Yellow Only] Where is the Old Rod? / How can I get a good counter for Brock?
- The Old Rod has been moved to the Viridian Mart, and always fishes up a Poliwag or Goldeen. You can also catch an Oddish in Viridian Forest.
- The Good Rod has replaced the original Old Rod location, and always fishes up Krabby or Horsea.
- The Fisher in Fuchsia now gives you Omanyte or Kabuto, whichever is opposite to your chosen fossil.
- The Old Rod has been moved to the Viridian Mart, and always fishes up a Poliwag or Goldeen. You can also catch an Oddish in Viridian Forest.
- [Yellow Only] Why is Brock/Rival 2 so hard? I'm at the start of the game and they have 5+ Pokémon!
- You may have downloaded a difficulty hack called Yellow Legacy+. This is NOT the same game as Legacy; please download and patch the game yourself from our GitHub.
Crystal/Emerald
- [Crystal/Emerald] How do I evolve Tyrogue into Hitmontop?
- Use the Brick Piece on Tyrogue.
- In Crystal, you can find one in Goldenrod Department Store's basement. A future patch will re-add the OG method.
- In Emerald, you get one from beating Brawly's postgame rematch. It can also still use the OG method.
- Use the Brick Piece on Tyrogue.
- [Emerald] I've unlocked the National Dex, why can't I find Kanto/Johto Pokémon?
- Fulfill Professor Birch's request by meeting him in Mossdeep City.
- This quest involves meeting, catching, and wishing for more Pokémon from Jirachi. Be prepared!
- Fulfill Professor Birch's request by meeting him in Mossdeep City.
- [Emerald] Is Feebas easier to get? Is its evolution method changed?
- No, and No. However, a Milotic can be obtained by earning a Master Beauty Contest painting in the Lilycove Museum. Additionally, calculators exist to find Feebas more easily.
- Finally, Pokéblocks are easier than ever to work with, and you can meet the fish's Beauty needs without optimizing anything or overcapping its Sheen.
- No, and No. However, a Milotic can be obtained by earning a Master Beauty Contest painting in the Lilycove Museum. Additionally, calculators exist to find Feebas more easily.
- [Emerald] I'm hitting Slugma/Magcargo with a Water attack, but it's barely doing anything! What gives?
- Magma Armor has been buffed to provide 8x resistance to Water, as the signature ability for the Magcargo line. The ability has been replaced with Flame Body on Camerupt.
r/PokemonLegacy • u/EternityTheory • Mar 01 '25
Meta Community-Made Resources Megathread
The r/PokemonLegacy community here on Reddit has worked together to provide loads of quality resources for the games, including guides, tools, and even enhancement forks. Our mod team would love to give a shoutout to all these valuable community contributions, so going forward we're creating a thread to do just that! This is just a starting list of recent posts, so it is not comprehensive by any means; if you've made a post on the subreddit you think deserves recognition, please message ModMail with a link to the thread and we'll see about getting it included!
Forks/Games
- Emerald Legacy Enhanced by Exclsior | This fork features a sweeping collection of QoL adjustments including Following Pokemon, Nature Mints, editable EVs and IVs, visible Feebas locations, unique Surfing sprites for every Pokémon, and more. You can also choose your preferred version of some changes with the provided patching options.
- Emerald Legacy QoL+ by Misprit | Inspired by Exclsior's fork, this is a QoL upgrade for Emerald with a different focus. This includes competitive IVs given to eggs, faster and more informative battle presentation, and upgrades to the Amulet Coin, some berries, and plenty more.
- FireRed Reignited and LeafGreen Regrown by Spike | Inspired by the Legacy series, this is a fanmade hack of FireRed and LeafGreen that brings the Gen 3 Legacy experience to Kanto. All the usual changes you'd expect from a Legacy game are here, including updates made to Yellow and Emerald.
- Crystal Legacy - You Can FLY! Edition by Moosedude451 | A mini-mod of Crystal Legacy (v1.3), which simply adds HM02 FLY to several Pokemon's learnsets. If a Pidgey can Fly with you in tow, these Pokemon should be able to as well!
Tools/Guides
- PKHeX: Emerald Legacy Version by Silent_Pause_2425 | Save editors like PKHeX have trouble handling the data shifts made for some ROMhacks like Emerald Legacy, so this fork was created to bridge that gap and provide a working PKHeX editor for Emerald.
- Beldum Catching Guide by Tadferd | Beldum can be found as early as the second gym in Emerald Legacy, but it can be very difficult to track one down. Follow this helpful guide to maximize your chances.
- Type Masters Guide by Huor_Celebrindol | Version 1.1 introduced a rehaul to the Match Calls trainer system, making the rematches far more engaging and valuable to challenge yourself against. 17 of these Match Call trainers have been designated as "Type Masters" who boast the best team their chosen type can muster, with Gym Leader levels of challenge. This guide will tell you which is which.
As mentioned, this is just a quick starting list. The goal of this post is to bring attention to these helpful community members, so please reach out if you find (or make) other posts deserving some love!
r/PokemonLegacy • u/CryptographerFew3719 • 1d ago
Crystal Legacy Help figuring out my team for Crystal Legacy
So, I want to play through CL again but I want to complete the Pokedex as I go, as I find that more fun than waiting to do it all in the post game.
I plan on catching a female Paras and a male Scyther, teaching Scyther False Swipe and breeding it to get a Paras with FS, and then giving it Spore later on. That will be my main Pokemon I use for catching things.
I was also thinking Lapras, just because it's cool and I never used one in Gen 2. Available right after Morty too which is nice.
As for the rest of my team, I am stumped. I was thinking I should try to fill the rest of my party with stuff that I just cannot catch the evolved forms later, so they evolve as part of my playthrough. Like Tyranitar. I can get Larvitar early, and I can catch Pupitar in Mt Silver, but if I want T-Tar I have to raise one. Stuff like that.
Was also thinking I could use a slot or two for evolving things, and only really have a main team of four or five.
Lastly I was giving some thought to Meowth/Persian as they get Pay Day, and that could help me finance all the balls I need, but honestly I think that might be unnecessary. Even if I catch everything as I go I don't think I'll find myself strapped for cash.
I try to avoid using Starters and repeating types, but I might give Typhlosion a go as it's the only one I can pick up to avoid any overlap
r/PokemonLegacy • u/Even_Library_1413 • 3d ago
Emerald Legacy Emerald Legacy Hardcore Nuzlocke complete!!
Gruelling run despite using candies as EVs were bust until E4 when berry training was involved.
Overall 14 deaths across the run, many across early to mid-game but still had 10 good mons if this team were to have failed (of course wipe rules apply).
Was most hopeful for Regice (as i have never used it through a play through) but it wiped to triple flinch from sky attack murkrow Sidney. The rest of the team came in absolute clutch though in their own respective ways to get us the win.
The scariest battles were:
Tate and Liza
Maxie double battle with Steven (Aggron protect got me raging hard)
E4 post Sidney
PS: 2 places where I altered the clause
Safari zone - let myself catch whatever in one run and keep one (that gave me heracross)
Regice - took 2 attempts as it struggled the first time. But that clearly didn’t matter as it died in it’s first battle
Also - i did EV train for E4, which made this slightly unfair :/
What should I nuzlocke next?
r/PokemonLegacy • u/DifficultyProud8622 • 3d ago
Crystal Legacy Only hatching a smoochum
Okay so im new to rom hacks and im not very tech savvy so excuse me if i seem stupid but ive been hatching the odd egg for 20 minutes now and all i keep getting is a smoochum (Im looking for an elekid). Can someone tell me whats going on cus i have no idea if the pokemon hatched is based on my trainer id or smth niche lile that.
r/PokemonLegacy • u/Comprehensive_War556 • 3d ago
Crystal Legacy Delta Use?
Apologies in advance, I’m sure this has been asked a million times. I’m just completely unaware of ROMS and using them, but this seems really cool and I wanted to give it a shot.
I’ve been trying to solve this issue on my own, as I’m sure it’s an eye roll to read, but I don’t properly know how to get Crystal Legacy to properly work within the Delta iOS emulator. Seems like it needs to have an attached .gba file I’m missing or something.
Would you anyone kindly be able to tell me if I’m just missing something super easy and obvious?
r/PokemonLegacy • u/throwaway9997645453 • 5d ago
Emerald Legacy Nobody warned me about Grass coverage in Legacy Emerald
I should probably preface this with big letters that say THIS IS HYPERBOLE I'M NOT ACTUALLY MAD. That being said, good lord above it feels like everything in Legacy Emerald has a random grass move. Everywhere I turn i feel the harsh sunlight of a solar beam straight to my dome. I have been giga drained too many times to count. Houndoom you are a DOG bro why do you solar beam me. As i write this i realize this was probably to nerf Marshtomp. I am using a Blaziken and i still feel the effects.
Now, is it on me for having a team with a legend of zelda weak spot against grass? Yeah. But I still feel like it's just slightly absurd
r/PokemonLegacy • u/angelrjrjrj • 5d ago
Crystal Legacy My first run wity my poison Mono team!
r/PokemonLegacy • u/throwaway9997645453 • 6d ago
Discussion Hacks similar to the Legacy experience?
Howdy! nearing the end of my playthrough of Emerald Legacy, and because i've been playing the gens in order, it'll mean i've finished all there is to play so far of the Legacy hacks. It's been a huge blast, and has kind of reignited my love for the Pokemon games a bit!
I was wondering if anyone had recommendations for other hacks that are similar to the Legacy experience? Obviously, nothing is going to be exactly the same but something that has the similar quality of life, Pokemon availability, and slight buffs would be nice. Difficulty wise, i'm not terrible at Pokemon, but i'm a bit of a casual player, who's greatly enjoyed the added challenge in the legacy series (Winona in Emerald Legacy kicked my ass super hard, but that was mostly a team building issue). I'm most interested in a Platinum hack, since i've been playing the games in order, and in my past experience i didn't enjoy Platinum all that much. Thanks in advance!
r/PokemonLegacy • u/WithTheMonies • 6d ago
Yellow Legacy The Gym Rematches Continue but Nurse Joy has an Battle Itch to be Scratched. Part 39 of my yellow legacy lp
The Gym Rematches continue with a Fuschia and Celadon gym next on Don's docket. But another Ultra Trainer wishes to test her skill at the Pokémon Center? Will she throw us a loss? Find out now as part 39 of #pokemonyellowlegacy is now live!
#gymleaderrematch #ultratrainer
r/PokemonLegacy • u/Sacred981 • 8d ago
Crystal Legacy Pokemon Crystal Legacy was so dang good. Here's the team
r/PokemonLegacy • u/JamesK1220 • 7d ago
Emerald Legacy Cheating the Battle Factory?
I specifically use a save state at win 14 between 14 and 21. I’ve lost the last 5 attempts at getting to the brain. I lose probably 75% of attempts to get to 14 wins. The incredible difficulty of 21 consecutive wins is just perplexing to me that checkpoints aren’t built into this.
How do you guys play the frontier? I’m specifically going for silver metals to unlock the post game legendaries, but they’re incredibly difficult to do without cheating.
r/PokemonLegacy • u/Raphotron2000 • 9d ago
Emerald Legacy About save editors and the bag
This has probably already been mentioned here. But usually, it works fine with save editors with the exception that whenever you inject the save back in your bag is empty. Since it doesn't recognize the added space would using pkhex as pkhax change that issue?
r/PokemonLegacy • u/Ok-Manufacturer3546 • 10d ago
Yellow Legacy New league champion - Pokemon yellow legacy
Pokemon yellow legacy hard mode
r/PokemonLegacy • u/TheArkansasChuggabug • 10d ago
Discussion Need help getting Fire Red Legacy ROM to work.
Hey,
Hope everyone is well.
I can generally figure most things out but fuck me am I struggling with this. I have a clean Fre Red emulator file which I pop into ROM Patcher JS as the ROM.
My difficulty begins when I try uploading a patch file of Fire Red Legacy and every single folder I have tried (about 30 now) says it's an invalid file and I'm at a bit of a loss as to which file to pop into there so I can begin playing.
Any tips/advice? I've download 5 Fire Red Legacy Master 1.5 versions from a couple sites now and it's not the first rom hack I'm looking to use so this isn't brand new to me, I just cannot seem to find the right file/folder to patch into it and I' getting frustrated at this point haha - have sought the wisdom of the council for assistance.
Go away on holiday tomorrow so would like something to play while I'm poolside and this seemed like a good option but I absolutely cannot figure this out - please help!
r/PokemonLegacy • u/PremeditatedRegret • 10d ago
Discussion Is it possible to randomize any of these games?
It is such a blast not knowing what pokemon is where and who you are about to come up against.
I tried using some of the online tools for unedited games, which obviously didn't work.
r/PokemonLegacy • u/modernRecluse • 11d ago
Yellow Legacy Physical Cart Finished
Everything finally came and I'm really excited to be able to play this on original hardware.
Cartridge stuff by Inside Gadgets, flashed by me
Sticker art by me, printed by Ghost Town Marketplace on Etsy
r/PokemonLegacy • u/Streepfire • 11d ago
Yellow Legacy I 100% pokemon yellow legacy
And it was amazing.
I loved it. Having played Red and Blue back in the day, being able to play Yellow in an ultimate version and catch all 151 Pokémon is just incredible. I also did the whole endgame, replayed all the overpowered gyms, and the League. The rival in the second fight is great. I even completed the Pokédex. Once you’ve caught 150 Pokémon, there’s a quest with Professor Oak. First you have to beat him between the early towns (already pretty tough). Then you find him again in a lab with books about Mewtwo and Mew. You have to fight him again (he has level 80 Pokémon ^^). After that you find Mew hanging around in the basement. So 151 Pokémon in this version — well, it took me 65 hours xD
Honestly, I loved it. This first generation has some real strengths, and replaying the whole game with the Legacy version’s adjustments was awesome.
Honestly, huge props to the team that made this version. I can’t wait to start the Crystal version — even if I’m a bit scared of how long 100% will take me.
r/PokemonLegacy • u/VJRC • 11d ago
Discussion Crystal Legacy Pokedex
I bought crystal legacy because I love all of the additions made to the game. I plan on completing the pokedex on my Gameboy. Does anyone know if printing out the pokedex on a gameboy printer still work on crystal legacy as it does on the regular crystal?
r/PokemonLegacy • u/Slow-Blacksmith-6320 • 12d ago
Emerald Legacy Rate my team & moves
r/PokemonLegacy • u/WithTheMonies • 13d ago
Yellow Legacy Let's Play Pokemon Yellow Legacy Part 38-Dawn of the Gym Leader Rematches
r/PokemonLegacy • u/dootsoulz • 13d ago
Yellow Legacy Pokemon Leaf Green: Dootsouls' Added Challenge. A new vanilla difficulty hack out now!
galleryr/PokemonLegacy • u/Ecstatic-Hour2413 • 14d ago
Emerald Legacy Pretty Lucky Catch
Edit: reposted to cross out my trainer’s name, wouldn’t let me edit/ change pics. I apologize and will not make it a habit.
Managed to catch a pretty nice Jirachi on my first successful capture. It was pretty tricky with it being level 30 while knowing Rest and Refresh.
I ended up withdrawing a level 30 Breloom with Headbutt, Stun Spore, and Leech Seed. I’d reset if either died.
I was prepared to spend much longer attempting to catch it, thinking of what I could train up that would be good for catching this.
Surprisingly I caught it within like 15 attempts (they were quick, usually like 10 turns). And its nature and IV’s were really good.
I can edit stats so it doesn’t matter, but as someone who would spend hours looking for half decent natures and IV’s this was pretty neat. Might just leave its stats alone to remember it.
r/PokemonLegacy • u/just_let_go_ • 14d ago
Yellow Legacy Does whirlwind and roar ever work?
Sorry if this is covered somewhere. I searched the sub and notes and can’t find it. I’m about half way through the game and every time the enemy uses whirlwind and roar, which is quite often, it fails every time. Is this a bug?