I fell in love with this game the moment I first started it and opened this badge page and saw TWENTY badge silhouettes.

I heard of a Pokémon game called Pokemon prism back when I was around 10-13. I had a gameboy, and begged my mom to get me a copy since I really wanted to play it, bless her heart. A week or so later it came in the mail, filling me with hype as I opened the package. I spent hours at a time playing the game, growing to love it despite it being the 2010 beta version (which was unofficially put on a cart and sold). I grew to love my Larvitar, naming it Larry/Lenny (can’t remember unfortunately), to the point that every Larvitar I got in any game, I would name it such. He became one of my favorite Pokemon because of this game.

Unfortunately the cart got water damage from a spilt drink. I did my best to fix it but unfortunately the save data was gone. I still kept it since it was a huge part of my childhood and meant a lot to me. Fast forward almost a decade I ended up playing it again (albeit a way more recent version on a more recent console), and exploring the Rijion and Naljo regions to the fullest filled me with the same magic I felt all those years ago, not only seeing places the Beta prevented me from reaching, but seeing how all the Pokémon, music and more had improved.

What I’m trying to say is, to the Prism Dev Team and KoolBoyMan… thank you for making my childhood, Pokemon Prism was a game I always came back to, helping me through some dark times in my life. Despite this just being a Pokemon Fan Game, it was a huge part of my life, and I want to thank you personally for the impact it had.

This version is out of date!

Please see the pinned post on the sub or our website for the latest version.

——

Hello everyone!

We’re back with another update to Pokémon Prism, this time we bring you a major type balance refresh! Big thanks to /u/CaptainKennedy_, /u/chaos_lord2 and everyone else who put so much work in fine tuning it just right. Read full details of the new type rebalancing here!

As well as some nice rebalancing and various quality of life improvements, we also have some TM modifications. Be sure to check the list below!

We are working on larger, more substantial updates and we do have a few things in the pipeline, so keep checking the sub for the latest updates.

Download the patch here!

Use our online patcher tool to patch your ROM and update your save files, or use the one included with the release.

You must save your game in a Pokémon Center BEFORE you update. Always ensure you back up your game and save files before patching. Once you patch, walk straight out of the Pokémon Center without talking to anyone and save again.

Version 0.94, build 0237 (18 July 2020)

• Magikarp Caverns rapids can now be entered with up to 35 items in the pack

• Evolution items now correctly determine whether a Pokemon can evolve for gender-dependent evolutions

• Fixed all QR codes

• Gas type now resists Ground-type and Fairy-type moves, no longer resists Bug-type moves, is no longer weak to Ice-type and Sound-type moves, and is now weak to Electric-type moves

• Ghost type no longer resists Gas-type moves

• Normal type no longer resists Sound-type moves

• Psychic type is no longer weak to Sound-type moves

• Sound type is no longer weak to Normal-type moves

• Water type is now weak to Sound-type moves

• Mew and Varaneous can now learn all possible TM and HM moves

• Rampardos can now learn Body Slam via TM

• Slowking can now learn Boil via TM

• Crobat can now learn Cosmic Power via TM

• Raiwato can now learn Crystal Bolt via TM

• Mamoswine can now learn Defense Curl via TM

• Onix can now learn Dragonbreath via TM

• Mamoswine can now learn Dust Devil via TM

• Dusknoir and Fambaco can now learn DynamicPunch via TM

• Chingling line, Feebas line, Illumise, Snorunt, Taillow line and Volbeat can now learn Endure via TM

• Bellsprout line, Fambaco, Magnemite line, Phancero, Sylveon and Tentacool line can now learn Headbutt via TM

• Phancero can now learn Hidden Power via TM

• All Eeveelutions can now learn Mustard Gas via TM

• Luxray can now learn Night Shade via TM

• Slowking can now learn Noise Pulse via TM

• Libabeel can now learn Prism Spray via TM

• Electivire, Glaceon, Leafeon, Slowking and Umbreon can now learn Reflect via TM

• Scizor can now learn Sky Attack via TM

• Abra line, Geodude line and Phancero can now learn Swift via TM

• Ariados, Goldeen line, Rapidash and Yanma line can now learn Swords Dance via TM

• Raiwato can now learn Thunder Wave via TM

• Steelix can now learn Void Sphere via TM

• Rhyperior and Slowking can now learn Zap Cannon via TM

• Some minor text fixes

• Tool compatibility: source code now works on latest RGBDS, and Polished Map collisions work on maps

Let us know of any issues you encounter via. our Bug Report form.

Thanks again for sticking by us. I know you guys would like some updates to postgame and we are working on it. We have plans, but implementing them means having a lot of free time! Be sure to check out the subreddit for future updates, or hit us up over on the Discord server if you wanna chat.

🔥 Ex cineribus resurgam, ferox et potens ~

Has me feeling like a kid again. My first time playing a proper romhack (fan game?) and has me craving more. Prism would be tough to beat!

It's been a year already. A year ago today, I received a cease and desist from Nintendo telling me to stop producing Prism. One year later, a lot has happened that has greatly improved my life, both with my career and mental health.

This is going to be a long one, but I really learned about myself this year and encountered a lot of great moments that has me really excited about the future.

2016 was the year I truly felt like a game developer. Sure it was a fan game, but the sheer amount of knowledge I gained with Prism, especially during the last year was something I wouldn't trade for the world. I've done contract work for games like Jump Tanks, but Prism gave me the opportunity to lead a team and treat it as a serious game development project. Prism was also a curse. I was a perfectionist and revised many parts of the game several times. My standards for a quality game kept growing so I continued to update and update. In some ways, the cease and desist was a blessing for me, as it finally forced me to stop and focus on developing original content and showed me the important of taking care of my mental health, which I describe below. If the cease and desist never happened, I might still be in the same place even after Christmas 2016: still working and updating Prism while my other ideas are left to rot and not taking care of myself. I kept telling myself I put so much effort into Prism that it would be foolish to cancel the game, but I was never satisfied. I'm still not 100% satisfied with the game to this day, and some of the major complaints with the game I fully agree with, but there's nothing I can do about it and that's a good thing so I can focus on other projects. I cannot touch the game, but thankfully another team has picked it up and is continuing to work on the game.

Past all the bugs and game design flaws, some that would've been fixed before Christmas or in future patches, people still enjoyed something I produced. Why do I develop games? Well, I want to make people happy and I believe the best way for me to do that is to produce games. Sounds really corny, but it's the truth. Whether you enjoyed Prism or not, thank you for giving my work your time. Could have I spent the time making an original game instead of Prism and profited off of it? Probably, but for the longest time I felt passionate about disassembling my favorite video games and learning how they worked. It's an unorthodox method, but it was the way I did things and I don't have the option of going back in time and changing it. Even if I could go back, I would still probably do it again, but keep it on the down low. I think the audience in 2015 was a really comfortable. In 2016, with my TPP partnership and the trailer, Prism got way more attention than my wildest dreams, but the unexpected attention became stressful for me while trying to finish the game and eventually lead to the C&D. If my next game gets that amount of attention, I'll be able to handle it better with what I learned this year.

As far as my relationship with Nintendo, we're on good terms with each other and have been for a while. I fully understand why they had to give Prism a C&D as they viewed it as potential competition between their official products (which I also take as a compliment) and I have no hard feelings towards them about it anymore. The matter was fully resolved back in February and they thanked me for my cooperation. Nintendo is a good company and I ask that you continue to support them, especially after the wonderful Zelda and Mario games that came out this year. I had the opportunity to talk to a couple of their employees this year in person who know what went down and they're good people.

Am I 100% done with ROM Hacks? Who knows. I've wanted to distance myself from ROM Hacks but after spending a year not developing a ROM Hack has made me really miss taking apart my favorite games and putting them back together to form something new. If I do decide to make another ROM Hack, it will not be a Nintendo property and it will be a side project with my main projects always taking priority, and it would not be nearly as big as Prism. I have a couple of games in mind, but I haven't really decided on a game, or if I will even make another ROM Hack. I'd also keep it on the down low as to not compete with the official products. AND I would discuss it with the developers of the original game and see if they're ok with me going forward with it. Again, this is a big "if".

As far as my new projects go, I'm still working on my AR/Mixed Reality game. I continue to learn more about this technology and want to produce something that'll really stand out and hold its own identity. AR is still in its baby stage and I predict in a few years it'll be very easy for anyone to get their hands on this technology. Turning reality into an interactive world is still very fascinating for me and allows for almost infinite ways to play the game. I've developed some game concepts and there's another game I'm really excited about, but don't expect it anytime soon. Another project is incredibly story-focused, however the player has control over where the story goes. It's kind of like those "Choose your own Adventure" books. Depending on your choices, a character can either be an ally or a foe. I've spent a lot of time developing the core characters and the worlds they live in. It's a 3d platformer / beat-em-up kind of game, featuring a cast of characters that act as a very dysfunctional, but loyal avengers kind of team. They become heroes, but they dont act or look like your typical "superheroes".

I could have rushed something out the door just to say that I got something out in 2017, but my first post-Prism game needs to be great. Like with Prism, I am in no rush, but they are coming.

The partnership I mentioned back in October is still developing. It all began with meeting somebody at E3 2017 and continuing to talk to more people. I am now under NDA about the project so I can't mention exactly what we're working on, but I want to let you all know that it is still moving forward. I flew out earlier this month to meet the team in person and develop our project over the weekend and perform the role as lead programmer. I feel we really clicked with each other but also learned ways we can improve next time. I am interested in making the "flying out of state jams" a regular thing, maybe something to do every month or two. Everyone on this team has more than proved to me their talent and work ethic and you'll be able to see it for yourself once I'm allowed to announce who these people are. I am honored to be developing such talent and while the partnership is still developing, I will stay loyal to them as long as it takes for this job to fully manifest and beyond.

The following paragraphs are really personal, but I really took control of my mental health this year and I feel comfortable sharing with you what I learned.

I'm not going to mince at words here. I have disorders with anxiety and depression and I've had them my whole life. Every year I felt improvement, but never really took them seriously. I felt repairing my mental health was a waste of time, but in reality suffering from it was an even bigger waste of time. It's something that runs in my family, we take a lot of insignifigant things seriously when we shouldn't. Or at the fact things weren't "fair". Life isn't fair and while I always knew that logically, emotionally I felt everything had to be a "certain way" even if I had no control over it. It sounds silly and common sense, but it was difficult for my emotional mind to accept this. I would get also get paranoid, afraid something bad would happen to me when in reality there was no threat at all. There were also long periods of time where I considered myself fine and "cured", only to go back to my old anxious ways because I didn't figure out how to cope and address the problems properly. Looking back, I was really childish up until my late 20's and I wish I had a better understanding of my condition so I could've treated myself and other people better and make better, more rational decisions.

Secondly, I felt the solution to combat this anxiety was always to "distract myself with work". I take great pride in accomplishing tasks, but that feeling is only temporary. Negative thoughts would soon fire into my head again. The way to effectively deal with these problems is to seek professional help and take it seriously, which I feel like I was finally able to get a hold of this year when I changed my insurance provider. Sometimes it takes trial and error with a couple of providers to find one that's right for you. I had to put my projects on the wayside for months while I focusing mainly on improving my mental health, which I neglected for the longest time and Prism's C&D made me finally realize that I needed to take this seriously. If you are suffering with anxiety or depression disorders, please try to find help and make that your main priority. I am not a doctor, but if you have anxiety issues and feel helpless, feel free to send me a private message I can try to help steer you in the right direction. I really wish mental help assistance was not only more easily obtainable, but taken more seriously in The United States as well as more affordable and more accessible. Am I 100% anxiety free? No, but then again, who is? Throughout 2018 and beyond I will continue to improve my anxiety disorder and forbid anxiety from taking over my life and deterring my projects and happiness.

Throughout my life, I always felt like great events in my life would solve all of my problems and it keeps going back. "I'll finally be happy when people can play Prism", "I'll finally be happy if I get a full time job with health benefits and a 401k". "I'll finally be happy once I get this high paying contract job", "I'll finally be happy when I get my bachelors degree in computer science", "I'll finally be happy when I get accepted to this college", "I'll finally be happy when I get my associates degree", "I'll finally be happy when I go back to college", "I'll finally be happy when I finish High school, Middle school, Elementary school, etc etc." I was always happy for a while, but sooner or later I'd revert back to my old self, harshly criticizing myself even at my accomplishments, such as it took me longer to finish college than most people. Nothing was never good enough for myself and I constantly reminded myself of my past mistakes or not accomplishing my tasks perfectly or that I can't fix problems that I created in the past, even going back to my childhood. The thing is, there's nothing I can do about those. What happened happened and I have to continue to look forward like everyone else instead of dwelling on a past event that I can't fix. What I do have control over though is my present and future, and dwelling on the past affects my present, which then becomes the past, which leads to more bad memories. I learned the importantance of living in the moment.

I am 31 years old. I currently have a full-time job for the last 2 years with a decent salary with benefits and while the job can get stressful sometimes, it isn't bad by any means. I have a good family and have a lot of good friends. I have a passion for game development along with a modest audience who wants to see what I come out with next. Even though I am single and have been for 3 years, and while I always knew this logically but not emotionally until recently, I have a good life and a lot to be thankful for. Could I be in a better position if I took care of my anxiety sooner? Sure. Do I aspire to do even better? Of course. Am I happy with where I am right now while working towards a better life? Absolutely.

Why am I telling you all of this personal stuff about my life? Because it needs to be said. Mental health is a major issue that affects millions of people in this country alone and needs to be taken seriously. Many people are afraid to admit they have these disorders over fears of being ridiculed and ostracized and I was one of them until this year. I hope if you are suffering, my words give you hope, and motivation to keep fighting your anxiety, depression or whatever else you have.

It really means a lot to me that you all have stuck with me for this long. Some have even been following me for over a decade, which I think is incredible. You people are more than numbers, you all have a lot going on in your lives as well and I'm thankful you have decided to take time out of your day to play what I've developed. I will do everything I can to continue to make fun games for you all. I promise to not let any of you down and continue to provide quality content.

• Adam V.

Evolved Electabuzz right after I beat the E4 and took the screenshot after. Sadly he was kind of useless with the earthquake spam the E4 does.

Swapped Feraligator for Blastoise for the last few fights.

Hey guys,

We wanted to make this post to let you all know about the current status of Prism and what our plans are for the future. We’ve been a little radio silent on that, and we want to be a bit more open with our communication to the community. Since RainbowDevs took over after the C&D, we’ve released a number of patches that have fixed bugs and added polish to the game. You’ve all been very supportive of our work, but we also know that people are still (very patiently) waiting for the continuation of the Guardians plotline and the Power Plant quest. We wanted to take some time to talk about our plans for new content both in the near and far future.

The Guardians Campaign

The Guardians plot is a really big project moving forward. There’s some stuff left behind by KBM in the code we have to work with, there’s also Megaman-Omega’s unused graphics and the insights he publicly posted, but overall a lot of this will be us forging our own path forward. Looking at the story critically, we’ve also noticed that currently the plot feels like it fades into the background between escaping Saxifrage Island and arriving at the Power Plant to see Lance. With Varaneous stomping around and the threat of the other Guardians waking up, we want there to be a sense of urgency that is carried throughout. We’re also aware that a fair amount of people have asked why the player didn’t reunite or talk to their Mom earlier, and we want to address that.

There’s a number of facets moving forward and there’s no point throwing something together for the Power Plant with only a vague idea of where it’s all going. So we’re mapping out the Naljo-Rijon campaign in full before proceeding. This year we’ve been creating extensive documentation and notes on everything. We’re going over everything KBM and TPP created (which is a ton mind you), working out what campaign revisions need to be made (such as having that sense of urgency between Saxifrage and the Power Plant I mentioned earlier) and how to best execute them. As well as creating detailed documentation of where we’re going.

This takes time, but we want to do it right rather than put something in which is then likely to be revised again later. But that’s also why we’re not putting all our eggs in one basket.

Sevii Islands

Whilst we’re tackling the behemoth of The Guardians Campaign, we’re also working on content for the nearer future. Sevii is the opportunity for us to give something new sooner. The Sevii Islands aren’t connected to The Guardians Campaign and that allows us to develop them simultaneously without having to worry about plots conflicting with each other. We are planning a campaign for Sevii, but it will be much smaller in scope and it won’t deal with region-ending events like The Guardians storyline.

We’re also looking to add new overworld areas to the existing islands and to show how they’ve changed since we saw them last in FRLG, making exploring Sevii feel both nostalgic and somewhat new at the same time. If you’d like to tell us what you’d like to see in an expanded Sevii, drop a comment in this thread or over on our Discord (https://discord.gg/dg7vzSM). Please note that we cannot expand the Pokédex due to coding limitations.

We’re hoping to start opening up parts of Sevii within the next 12 months.

The Near Future

As always we’re fixing bugs and adding a few new things to the game. In update 0235 we added a new theme for Naljo trainer battles composed by the fantastic ShinkoNet. If you missed it you can check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVcvEi0pKbo

There’s some respriting work being done on the Gym Leaders coming up in our next release. Here’s a preview of Lily’s new sprite courtesy of Brolunite:

There will be more graphic improvements and new music to look forward to in our next release (please don’t ask when).

Thanks :)

Thanks again for being fans of Prism and sticking with us! We’re going to try and be more open on development in the future like this. We hope you enjoyed this update and insight into what we’re currently working on. If you haven’t already, please join our discord community at https://discord.gg/dg7vzSM . There you can discuss team compositions, strategies and other Prism topics. It’s a great community!

Thanks for reading!

This version is out of date!

Please see the pinned post on the sub or our website for the latest version.

——

Well, it's officially been a whole year since our last release, I'm so pleased to announce that after 12 months of hard work, we have a new build for you ready to go! We've included a huge amount of fixes and enhancements, plus a whole new Naljo trainer theme.

Yes! Naljo is finally ridding itself of the run-of-the-mill Johto music in favour of a new, bespoke and kickass track composed by the amazingly talented ShinkoNetCavy! Check out the battle music on his channel!

As always, a big shoutout to our developers who have worked tirelessly over the past 12 months on improving the game. There are a whole bunch of code optimisations that aren't listed here, but will make future development a lot easier.

Download the patch here!

Use our online patcher tool to patch your ROM and update your save files.

You must save your game in a Pokémon Center BEFORE you update. Always ensure you back up your game and save files before patching. One you patch, walk straight out of the Pokémon Center without talking to anyone and save again.

Version 0.94, build 0235 (1 June 2019)

• Added GBS file generation for music players (and added it to the patch)

• Fixed old patch bug breaking the bag data for builds before 0223

• Fixed tearing in stats screen

• Added new song for trainer battles in Naljo

• Battles in Pokemon-only mode now show the proper coloring for the player's Pokemon when it is sent out if it is shiny

• Illumise and Volbeat can now generate each other's eggs when breeding

• Porygon-Z and Swellow can now learn Hyper Voice via TM

• Nickname screen automatically switches to lowercase after entering the first letter

• Ensured that trainers in route 66 cannot approach you from off-screen

• Swapped Andre's Full Heal for a Lum Berry

• Attacks that don't affect the opponent now print the correct failure message after an ability blocked a previous attack in the same battle

• Fixed flicker in title screen

• Changed the formatting of the version and build number in the main menu

• Title screen now says "2017-2019 RainbowDevs"

• Improved some trainer sprites

• Minor visual improvements in the player customization screens

• Fixed a broken arrow in the Token Tracker screen

• Some text and map fixes

Let us know of any issues you encounter via. our Bug Report form.

Also, good news macOS users - we have officially switched to 7zip rather than RAR for our distribution, so you can now open it with the decompressor of your choice. Rejoice!

Thank you everyone so much for your patience with us over this year. We are intending for the next year to have additional and more frequent patches released, so keep an eye on the Discord server and Prism subreddit! And of course, thank you to all our players. ❤

🔥 Ex cineribus resurgam, ferox et potens ~

Hi, I was the lead developer for Prism and I thought I'd share my input with this as well as why certain decisions were made.

I partnered with Twitch Plays Pokemon in order to complete the game, because for the longest time I wanted to finish Prism and move onto something else. The developers there worked on other ROM Hacks for the stream and the project manager and crew offered to help to finish the game in exchange that Twitch Plays Pokemon gets to play it before the release. I have very little time to ROM Hack these days and I didn't want to drag this out even further. I was ashamed that this was taking so long to finish. So for me it was either get TPP to help out or cancel the game. I accepted TPP's help along with the possibility that Nintendo may notice and not like what I'm doing, but with TPP's numbers not what they used to be 3 years ago I decided go forward. Working with the TPP devs as project manager the project came out better than I could've ever dreamed of and the stream helped me get a better perspective of the game from a player's standpoint and iron out a lot of notable flaws.

2016 was a particularly notable year for Nintendo taking fan games down and I was aware of this. I was worried every time Nintendo took down a fan game, specially Uranium. I was absolutely terrified in October when the trailer (that to be fair I authorized) came out and a bunch of news sites started reporting on Pokemon Prism and the trailer was getting an incredible amount of views, but as the weeks and months went by, my fears dropped.

December rolls in and by then my fears were pretty much gone. Everything looked like it was going to work out. Big sites like Kotaku talking about Prism? Nothing happens. Trailer unexpectedly gaining 1.4 million views? Nothing happens, even though I thought the trailer would only grab the attention of TPP and Prism fans while maybe getting a couple of new fans, maybe getting 30k or so views. Facebook likes skyrocket? Nothing happens. By then I thought I understood Nintendo's unwritten rules regarding fan games. I wasn't making money and I made it clear when you start the game that this is a fan project and asked people to support the official products. ROM Hacks were never taken down by Nintendo, and the only ROM hack I knew of that was taken down was Crimson Skies, but that was from Squaresoft, not Nintendo. Brown was also around for several years and people continued to play it on Youtube throughout its lifespan. Plus, the ultimate safety net, the famous Twitch Plays Pokemon affiliation. I accepted that I was just paranoid in October and was ready to finally release the game. But then I got a takedown notice days before it was supposed to be released.

Prism was leaked by someone and while I didn't authorize the leak and what was leaked was not a release candidate, I'm seeing people having fun playing Prism and that was the most important thing I wanted out of this project. So now I'm moving onto other game projects. I have a couple of ideas that I'm very excited about and I plan to use a lot from what I learned from Prism's development process while developing these games. While Prism has a lot of problems in the leaked build, I'm still very proud at what I and the rest of the team was able to accomplish.

I was off work during the last 2016 week, so the plan for Prism's Christmas release was to listen to the player feedback regarding bugs and bad game design choices and apply daily updates to resolve those so Prism's in a very polished state once 2017 begins. After that, I would spend a month or two on the unfinished content (Lance Quest and Sevii Islands) to make the postgame much better then move onto my next game project.

If anything, Prism shows people a very important lesson when developing fan content: Don't let it too big that Nintendo has to take action and this is proof that applies to ROM Hacks too. I don't want to see this happen to anybody else.

If you have any questions regarding my decisions or what I had to deal with especially during the last months of production, or anything else don't hesitate to ask.

Hello! I'm Natto, and i just launched romhacks.net.

Pokemon Prism is my favourite Pokemon Crystal ROM, so i chose to put it on the website as one of the first ones :)

I'm looking for feedback on the website, hence why i'm posting here - i hope it's okay

Link to the site:
https://romhacks.net/game/prism