Pokemon Run & Bun

Pokemon Run & Bun is a pure difficulty hack built on Emerald by dekzeh. It takes inspiration from Emerald Kaizo and Radical Red, but goes its own way: Hoenn is revamped, the order you travel through it has changed, and nearly 500 trainer battles have been rebuilt with individual movesets designed to test you.

The headline rule is simple — the opposition is better than you. Trainers regularly use strong Pokemon you cannot catch yet, and certain locations have custom field effects that change how battles play out. Level caps tied to boss fights stop you from out-leveling the problem, so every major fight is a puzzle you have to solve with the team you actually have.

To keep the focus on strategy, the hack strips away most grinding. EVs are removed entirely, IVs are visible on the summary screen, and an NPC at every Pokemon Center can relearn moves, max out IVs and change natures for a price. An Endless Candy key item and a toggleable repel mean you spend your time planning fights, not walking in grass.

Version 1.07, from April 2023, is the current release. Run & Bun ships with complete documentation of Pokemon locations, item locations and every trainer team, which is a big reason it has become a staple of Nuzlocke challenge runs.

• Pokemon from Gen 1 to Gen 8 with Gen 8 mechanics (with some tweaks)
• Revamped Hoenn map and a changed route through the region
• Nearly 500 battles with individually designed movesets
• Level caps tied to boss fights
• EVs removed completely; IVs visible on the summary screen
• PC NPC that relearns moves, maxes IVs and changes natures for a fee
• Endless Candy key item and a repel you can toggle on and off
• No HMs required to get around
• Mega Evolution, unique trades and move tutors, and roaming legendaries
• Full documentation for encounters, items and trainer teams

Most hard hacks are hard because of grinding or random spikes. Run & Bun is hard because of planning. With documentation for every trainer, players know exactly what they are walking into, and the challenge becomes building a team and a game plan that survives it — which is exactly what makes Nuzlocke runs exciting to play and to watch.

Removing EVs and giving free access to IVs, natures and move relearning also levels the playing field. Two players with the same encounters have the same tools, so success comes down to decisions rather than hours spent training.

• Read the trainer documentation before each boss and plan your leads.
• Use the PC NPC early: a good nature and maxed IVs make a real difference at low levels.
• Keep the toggleable repel on when you are not hunting encounters to save time.
• Pay attention to field effects in special locations — they can swing a fight either way.
• Bench a strong Pokemon for a boss it matches badly; the level cap means you cannot brute-force bad matchups.