Pokemon Blaze Black

Long before Renegade Platinum or the Redux project, Drayano made his name with a pair of Unova hacks. Pokemon Blaze Black is the Pokemon Black half of that pair, and it set out the formula he would refine for years: keep the original story, then make every Pokemon obtainable and every trainer worth fighting.

Black and White famously restricted you to new Gen 5 Pokemon until the post-game. Blaze Black throws that out — all 649 species can be obtained in a single save, without trading. Wild encounters, evolutions, field items and all five in-game trades were edited to make that possible, and items that were previously locked behind the League, such as certain TMs, evolution stones and fossils, appear earlier.

The other half of the overhaul is the battles. Every trainer in the game has an edited team built for a new, steeper level curve, and the game makes more use of Gen 5's Double, Triple and Rotation formats. Many Pokemon have new stats, typings, abilities, experience rates or level-up moves — more than 600 movesets were touched — and Dream World abilities are offered where they exist. Event Pokemon such as Reshiram were adjusted to fit the new levels.

The final release, v3.1, came out on 24 December 2011. It also adds a new post-game with Gym Leader rematches in eastern Unova, where the leaders appear in disguise. Drayano later followed it with Blaze Black 2, and the modern Blaze Black 2 Redux builds on the same ideas.

• All 649 Pokemon obtainable in one save, no trading needed
• Every trainer team rebuilt for a harder level curve
• More Double, Triple and Rotation battles
• Stat, type, ability and EXP-rate changes for many Pokemon
• 600+ level-up movesets edited, with new TM/HM compatibility
• Dream World abilities available as options
• Evolutions and all five in-game trades edited
• Post-League items such as TMs, stones and fossils available earlier
• New post-game with disguised Gym Leader rematches in eastern Unova
• Full and Clean patch versions

Blaze Black and Volt White share the same changes, and the full Pokedex is available in both. The only differences are the ones inherited from the original games: Blaze Black has Black City and Reshiram as its story legendary, while Volt White has White Forest and Zekrom, and Opelucid City looks different in each.

Pick Blaze Black if you prefer Reshiram's Fire typing on your team or simply own Pokemon Black. The patch must be applied to a Black ROM — it will not work on White.

Blaze Black plays roughly like a permanent Challenge Mode: trainers are higher level, better built and more varied, but the game is still fair. Unova's experience formula, which gives more EXP for beating higher-level opponents, keeps grinding to a minimum.

It is a great Nuzlocke game thanks to the full encounter pool, and a good choice for players who want a harder Gen 5 adventure but find the sequel hacks' bigger scope intimidating.

• The download ships xdelta patches with a batch file. Put one unmodified Black ROM in the folder with the patches and run it; an anti-piracy-patched or edited ROM fails the checksum.
• The readme recommends a European ROM; the US ROM may also work but is not guaranteed.
• Some very high-level opponents give unusually low EXP — this comes from the base game and cannot be fixed.
• Save before fishing repeatedly near Driftveil City, where an error has been reported.