Pokemon Elite Redux

Most difficulty hacks make battles harder by giving trainers better teams. Pokemon Elite Redux goes a step further and changes what a Pokemon is. Every species can run one switchable ability chosen from up to three options, plus up to three fixed abilities that are always active — the hack calls them innates. A Gyarados with Moxie and Aerilate working at the same time is the developer's favourite example, and it gives you an idea of how wild the battles get.

The hack is made by Darkyy (Darkyy92x on PokeCommunity) with a team that includes Giolitti on coding and balancing, Ydarissep on the online Pokedex and Karathan and Sbird1337 on abilities. It is built on Inclement Emerald and the Yda patch, used with permission, and runs on the pokeemerald decomp with the RH-Hideouts battle engine. More than two years of work went into the first release in 2023.

Because innates change matchups so much, every trainer party in the game was rebuilt by hand around the new abilities and moves. There are more than 370 abilities in total, around 50 of them changed or extended, plus custom TMs, tutor moves, custom Mega Evolutions and Frostbite replacing Freeze. The engine supports Pokemon from Gen 1 to 9, Hisuian forms included.

The current build is v2.65, still labeled beta on the official PokeCommunity thread even though the hack itself is complete from start to finish. The patch is applied through the online patcher on the official site, using a clean Emerald ROM.

• Up to 3 innate abilities per Pokemon, active alongside the chosen ability
• Every trainer team rebuilt manually with a reworked AI
• Three difficulty modes: Easy, Ace and Elite (can be lowered at any Pokemon Center, never raised)
• Three level cap options, with the current cap shown in the Start Menu
• Zero-grinding tools: Candy Box, EV editing on the Summary screen, auto-heal before battles
• Custom Mega Evolutions and a permanent Mega option
• Frostbite instead of Freeze
• Encounter, ability, innate and move randomizers, plus a Nuzlocke captures mode
• Custom Pokedex with abilities and innates, and an improved DexNav
• Post-game rematches and legendary encounters

In normal Pokemon games each Pokemon has one ability. In Elite Redux, the ability shown in the Summary screen is only part of the picture: each species also has up to three innates that are always on and cannot be changed. You can still swap the main ability between its options, so building a team means thinking about four abilities per Pokemon at once.

This also applies to the enemy. Before every important battle, check the opponent's Pokemon in the in-game Pokedex or the online Pokedex — a Pokemon that looks harmless can carry an innate that flips the matchup.

• Easy — trainers have no EVs, but bag items are still disabled in battle and the battle style is set to Set.
• Ace — the same restrictions, with custom EVs on trainer Pokemon and a sleep clause.
• Elite — Gym Leaders and the Pokemon League use much harder teams. In Elite mode, more innates unlock after the first two Gyms.

Elite Redux is for players who already enjoy Radical Red or Run & Bun and want something stranger. It is not a good first hack: even Easy expects you to understand abilities well, and the innate system takes a few hours to read naturally.

• Start on Ace or Easy — you can always lower the difficulty, but you can never raise it later.
• Use the Candy Box to jump straight to the level cap; Rare Candies follow Gen 8 rules, so you can evolve at the cap.
• Read the innates of every Pokemon you catch; some early species are far better here than in Emerald.
• Avoid heavy fast-forward in Wattson's Gym — the official warning says the flashing effects can be a problem.
• Keep the online Pokedex open for trainer teams and ability details.

The v2.6x line of betas expanded the hack well beyond its 2023 launch, and the PokeCommunity thread now lists v2.65 as the current build. Because it is distributed through an online patcher, updates are applied to a clean ROM each time instead of on top of an older patched file.

If you are starting a long run, back up your save file before applying any new beta, and check the thread's changelog to see whether trainer teams you have already studied were changed.