Pokemon Ruby Destiny: Reign of Legends

Pokemon Ruby Destiny: Reign of Legends is the opening chapter of destinedjagold's Ruby Destiny series and one of the older story hacks still worth tracking down. Built on Pokemon Ruby, it swaps Hoenn for Gento, an island region split into four main landmasses: Lorina, Selaro, Borora and Retazo.

Everything around you is new. The hack has its own plot, its own rivals and a chain of story events, plus custom tiles that give Gento a look distinct from the base game. Two villain groups stand in your way — Royal Darkness and Luminous Cenaries — instead of the usual single team, which gives the story a little more back-and-forth than most Gen 3 adventures.

Legendary hunters get a lot to do. Every legendary up to Diamond and Pearl is obtainable, and the hack adds two special Pokemon you will not find anywhere else in the series: Baby Lugia and Shadow Lugia. Those two are the hook most players remember.

The current complete build is the 2016 v4.1, last updated in December 2016. destinedjagold later started a remake of Reign of Legends, but it stopped at Beta 1 in July 2018 and was never finished, so v4.1 remains the version to play from start to end.

Reign of Legends also kicked off a full series. Its later entry, Ruby Destiny: Life of Guardians, won PokeCommunity's Hack of the Year for 2011, which shows how much attention the series drew in its time.

• New region, Gento, made of four islands: Lorina, Selaro, Borora and Retazo
• Original story, rivals and chain of events
• Custom tiles that give the region its own look
• Two villain groups: Royal Darkness and Luminous Cenaries
• All legendaries up to Diamond and Pearl obtainable
• Special Pokemon: Baby Lugia and Shadow Lugia
• Complete 2016 v4.1 build
• First game of the Ruby Destiny series

Reign of Legends plays like a Gen 3 game from its era: no level caps, no difficulty modes and none of the modern mechanics found in CFRU or decomp hacks. Battles follow Ruby's original rules, so the challenge comes from exploring a new region rather than from tuned boss teams.

It suits players who enjoy older story-driven hacks and who want to experience a series that was a big name on PokeCommunity. Legendary collectors will also appreciate how many of them are on offer.

If you need the physical/special split, Fairy type or quality-of-life features like running indoors, this is not the hack for you; newer projects deliver those far better.

• Patch a clean Pokemon Ruby (US) ROM — the hack is built on Ruby, not FireRed or Emerald.
• Play v4.1, not the remake: the remake is an unfinished Beta 1.
• Save often in an emulator with save states; older hacks can have rough edges.
• Take your time on each island — Gento is split into separate areas and it is easy to miss side paths.
• Keep a Master Ball for a legendary you actually want; there are a lot of them.

The Reign of Legends remake reached Beta 1 in July 2018. It let you explore Gento again with some Gen 4 Pokemon, an updated National Pokedex list, refreshed learnsets, moves up to Gen 6 and both the Fairy type and a custom Aria type.

Its own notes list several unfinished parts: wrong Pokedex entries, spelling and grammar mistakes, an outdated region map and an introduction that was never updated. The remake was not continued after 2018, so it is best treated as a curiosity for fans who already finished v4.1.