Pokemon Coral

Pokemon Coral has a simple, specific goal: to recreate the feeling of playing Pokemon Gold, Silver and Crystal for the very first time. Rather than piling on modern systems, coraldev's Game Boy Color hack sends you to an unfamiliar place — the Onwa region, far from Kanto and Johto — with a straightforward story in the spirit of the first two generations.

The setup is classic. You set out to earn the eight Onwa League badges and challenge the Onwa Pokemon League, while a gang of ruffians abuses Pokemon to fuel their money-making schemes. Along the way there are plenty of optional areas and events, an entirely new soundtrack and Pokemon from all seven generations up to Sun and Moon, drawn with custom Game Boy Color art.

Under the hood, Coral was rebuilt on the Polished Crystal engine, and Polished Crystal lead Rangi appears in the credits. That is where many of its modern touches come from: abilities, the physical/special split, the Fairy type, moves from newer generations and rebalanced movepools, all while keeping the GBC look.

Coral is not finished. The current public build is the 2022 Demo v1.2, updated in December 2022, and the project is still listed as in progress. Community reports from the developer's Discord put the demo at roughly four badges, so expect a substantial but incomplete adventure.

• New Onwa region with its own story and League
• Pokemon from all seven generations, with custom GBC art
• Choose any of the six Gen 1 and Gen 2 starters
• Physical/Special split, abilities and the Fairy type
• Moves from newer generations and rebalanced movepools
• 60fps gameplay and an entirely new soundtrack
• Running shoes with their own running animation
• Rideable skateboard that can jump
• Field moves usable without teaching an HM, once you have the HM, badge and a compatible Pokemon
• Wardrobe in your room to change the player's sprite colour

The developer describes the gameplay as challenging, and players on the PokeCommunity thread have praised how well the trainer levels are tuned. It is not a Kaizo-style hack, though: the challenge comes from a sensible level curve and fresh teams rather than extreme rules.

Coral is for players who miss the sense of discovery from the GBC era and want a new region instead of another Kanto or Johto remake. Because it is a demo, it is best treated as a long preview. If you want a finished GBC adventure today, Polished Crystal, Crystal Clear or Prism are complete alternatives.

• Pick your emulator carefully: Coral uses the Japanese Crystal MBC30 mapper, which not every emulator supports. BGB on PC, mGBA and RetroArch are reported to work; VBA-M is not compatible.
• Choose from the six Gen 1 and Gen 2 starters with the demo length in mind — you will only see the first part of the region.
• Use the wardrobe in your room to change your outfit colour before heading out.
• The skateboard can jump, so look for shortcuts and hidden paths.
• Report bugs through the developer's Discord; one player reported a crash when depositing Pokemon into the PC, so save before using it.

The v1.2 release of the 2022 demo was a bug-fix update. Among its changes, it fixed a major issue that made Arcanine and Exeggutor drop in level after evolving.

There has been no newer public demo since December 2022. The developer has shared development updates with the community, but no release date for the full game has been announced, so treat any 'full version' download you see elsewhere with suspicion.