Pokemon Glazed

Pokemon Glazed is an Emerald hack by redriders180 (also known as Lucbui) that is famous for one thing above all: size. Instead of a single region, you travel across three — the new Tunod region, a reworked Johto and Rankor — with a story that eventually spills over into something resembling the real world.

It begins on your twelfth birthday, when you receive your first Pokemon. Soon a mysterious power starts pushing the Pokemon world and the real world toward a collision, while a shadowy team digs through the ruins of ancient Tunod. Along the way you are helped by three roaming trainers from Johto and a scarf-wearing Pikachu that has a score to settle.

Glazed was one of the first GBA hacks to bring in a large share of later-generation Pokemon, including species from Sinnoh, Unova and Kalos, plus the Fairy type and the physical/special split. You also pick from five starters instead of three, and every one of them can be caught later, so nobody feels left out.

redriders180 called v8.6.3 the final official version. Development then continued unofficially under TrainerX493 with help from Tudou, and their v9.1 release from May 2022 is the most up-to-date build. It reworks movepools to match newer games and fixes a long list of issues, which makes it the version most players pick today.

• Three regions to explore: Tunod, Johto and Rankor
• A story that crosses between the Pokemon world and the real world
• Five starters instead of three — all five can be caught
• Pokemon from Sinnoh, Unova and Kalos alongside the older generations
• Physical/special split and the Fairy type
• Dream World Pokemon to find
• Rematches against trainers and every Gym Leader
• Legendaries from Kanto to Sinnoh plus eight from Unova
• v9.1: movepools revamped based on newer games
• v9.1: 1.5x critical hits, 1/4096 shiny odds and Hidden Power that shows its type

Glazed is an adventure hack, not a challenge hack. Its difficulty is moderate and closer to an official game than to Radical Red or Emerald Kaizo, which makes it a good pick if you want lots of content and a twisting story without a wall of hard bosses.

It is ideal for players who loved exploring multiple regions in HeartGold/SoulSilver and want that feeling again on GBA. Players looking for modern Gen 8-9 Pokemon or a polished decomp engine may find it a little dated; newer hacks such as Unbound handle that better.

• Use the v9.1 patch — it has the newest movepools and the most bug fixes.
• Do not stress over your starter choice; you can catch the others later.
• Save often in a fresh slot before big story moments, as the game is long and old hacks can have edge-case bugs.
• Take time to explore Johto again: it is not just a copy of the original map.
• Rematch Gym Leaders when you need experience instead of grinding wild Pokemon.

Version 9.1 is the community-maintained update by TrainerX493. The biggest change is a full movepool revamp based on newer games, which makes many Pokemon far more usable. Critical hits now deal 1.5x damage instead of 2x, shiny odds were raised from 1/8000 to 1/4096, eggs always hatch at level 1 and Hidden Power finally shows its type.

If you only want the original vision of the hack, v8.6.3 is the last version by redriders180. Note that Glazed was removed from PokeCommunity in early 2024 after a takedown request, so you will see fewer active forum discussions than for other hacks of its size.