Pokemon Sacred Gold

Pokemon Sacred Gold is a HeartGold hack by Drayano, the same author behind Renegade Platinum and the original Blaze Black 2. It keeps the Johto and Kanto journey you know from the DS remakes, then reworks almost everything that decides how hard that journey is: wild encounters, trainer teams, Pokemon data, item availability and the level curve.

Released in 2012, it is Drayano's fourth set of edits and a direct twin of Storm Silver, which applies the same changes to SoulSilver. The version to play is v1.05, distributed as an xdelta patch for a clean American HeartGold ROM. The patch already includes the fix for the anti-piracy check, so you do not need a separate one.

The headline change is availability. All 493 Pokemon from the first four generations can be caught in a single save, most of them before you first face the Elite Four. You receive the National Dex together with the Pokedex, trade evolutions are replaced with methods you can trigger alone, and every evolution item and TM is obtainable before the first Elite Four round.

The challenge comes from the trainers. Gym Leaders, Elite Four members and other key opponents use six Pokemon, rosters reflect the new species, and the second half in Kanto is levelled far higher than in HeartGold. New scripted events — an early Eevee from Cynthia, a Team Rocket takeover of Route 47 and the Safari Zone, a Shellder and Cloyster siege in Fuchsia City and a Legendary Trainer subplot — give you more to do on the way.

• All 493 Pokemon obtainable without trading; legendaries handled by scripted events
• National Dex from the start of your Pokedex
• Gym Leaders and Elite Four members with full six-Pokemon teams
• Redesigned wild encounters for every area
• Optional Pokemon data changes: stats, abilities, types, TM compatibility and level-up moves
• All evolution items and TMs available before the first Elite Four round
• EXP Share in Violet City, fewer Cut trees and evolution stones in shops
• New events, including an early Eevee from Cynthia and a Rocket takeover of Route 47
• Black/White battle sprites and Hoenn/Sinnoh overworld sprites
• Classic and Complete patch versions

Sacred Gold is a good step up from vanilla HeartGold without being a puzzle-style kaizo hack. Bosses have full teams and better coverage, so you need a balanced party, but the wider Pokedex also gives you far more tools to build one. It is a popular Nuzlocke base for exactly that reason.

Players who enjoyed Renegade Platinum will feel at home. If you want to experience Johto for the first time, it is still approachable — just expect to think about matchups more than in the original.

The patch comes in two flavours. Complete includes every change, including edits to Pokemon stats, types, abilities, TM compatibility and level-up moves. Classic keeps the new trainers, encounters and events but leaves Pokemon data as it was in HeartGold.

Most players pick Complete, because the buffs make many weaker species usable. An unofficial v1.1 mod by mikelan98 adds the Fairy type on top of the Complete version.

• Patch onto a clean, unpatched US HeartGold ROM; for updates, always start from the clean ROM again.
• Grab the EXP Share in Violet City early — it makes training a full team much easier.
• Expect a route blockade forcing Cianwood before Mahogany; plan your team around Chuck coming earlier.
• Use the shops that sell evolution stones instead of waiting for random finds.
• On flash cards, save before the Mew event, which is known to freeze on some cards.