Pokemon Prism

Pokemon Prism is a Game Boy Color hack of Pokemon Crystal that sends you to Naljo, a region nobody had seen before. Its creator, Adam Vierra (better known as Koolboyman), had already made Pokemon Brown for the original Game Boy, and Prism was meant to be its bigger, more ambitious follow-up. Development ran for roughly eight years, with public betas along the way starting in 2010.

Prism is also famous for how its release went. A full launch was scheduled for December 25, 2016, and a trailer announcing the date drew more than a million views. On December 20, five days before launch, Nintendo sent a cease and desist that stopped the project. A development build leaked within days, players started patching and documenting it, and the attention arguably made the hack better known than an ordinary release would have.

The work did not end there. A group called RainbowDevs, who had helped with code and music, kept improving the game. The current build is v0.95 build 0254, also called Hotfix 5, dated August 24, 2023. RainbowDevs described 0.95 as their biggest update yet and said they would ship hotfixes for it while working on 0.96.

In the story you play as the child of Lance, the Dragon-type Champion from Gold and Silver. An earthquake separates you from your mother, and you set out across Naljo to collect badges and take on its League. The game lets you customize your trainer's look, and after the main story it opens up Rijon, the region from Pokemon Brown, along with other areas.

• New region, Naljo, plus Rijon and further areas after the main story
• Roughly 250 Pokemon species drawn from the first four generations
• Three fan-made types: Gas, Sound and Abnormal
• Sections where you control one of your Pokemon directly in the overworld, starting with Larvitar
• Up to 20 badges across the game's regions
• Mining and smelting ores into items, plus a jewel-crafting system
• An orphanage where you donate Pokemon for points that unlock rare species
• Trainer customization with different hairstyles and outfits
• Mechanics borrowed from much later games, running on Crystal's engine
• Tuned to be tougher than a standard main-series game

Prism is harder than Crystal, and the new types are a big part of why. Gas, Sound and Abnormal change matchups you thought you knew, so early fights can surprise even experienced players. Reviewers have also pointed out bugs and some mechanics that feel unusual, so it rewards patience more than speed.

It suits players who want a long, original Game Boy Color adventure with lots of side systems to dig into. If you prefer polished, finished games with no rough edges, a fully released hack such as Polished Crystal may be a safer pick.

• Patch the newest build, 0.95.0254, onto a clean Pokemon Crystal ROM; older leaked builds have bugs that were fixed later.
• Look up the new type matchups early. Knowing what Gas and Sound hit hard saves a lot of frustration.
• Do not skip the mining and smelting systems — they are how you get many useful items.
• Donate spare catches to the orphanage; the points unlock Pokemon you will not find elsewhere.
• Save often and keep a backup, since this is still a beta.

Hotfix 5 (build 0254) from August 2023 is a small fix release on top of 0.95. It corrects the team of a Sage on Route 54, fixes the requirements for the first rings in the jeweling recipe book, fixes an NPC blocking a door in Saxifrage Prison and ships a save patch that restores Route 81 for affected files.

There is no confirmed release date for 0.96. If you already have a 0.95 save, it should carry over to the hotfix builds — but back it up first.