Pokemon Snakewood

Zombies in Hoenn sounds like a joke, and Pokemon Snakewood is happy to lean into that. Created by Cutlerine as a hack of Pokemon Ruby, it is set a few years after the original game in a region overrun by the undead. Towns are barricaded, most Gym Leaders are gone, and you have to fight your way through a decaying Hoenn to put things right.

Snakewood became a cult favourite in the early 2010s because nothing else looked like it. It adds zombie versions of normal Pokemon (two of which you can catch), six Denjuu from the Telefang games, original fakemon and new legendaries. With most gyms destroyed, badges are earned in unusual ways instead of the standard gym-leader routine.

The writing is a big part of its reputation, for better and worse. Snakewood is packed with references to books, films and manga, and its plot gets stranger and more chaotic as it goes. Many players remember the opening as genuinely tense and the later parts as messy or absurd. Reviewers have also called out difficulty spikes where you are under-levelled compared to leaders and even regular trainers.

In October 2024, Scared_Elk93 released Pokemon Snakewood Improved, a modernised version that keeps the original story and trainer battles while adding quality-of-life features and bug fixes. It is a work in progress at v0.11, but it is the most comfortable way to experience Snakewood today.

• Hoenn after a zombie apocalypse, set years after Ruby
• Zombie versions of Pokemon, two of them catchable
• Six Denjuu from Telefang, plus fakemon and new legendaries
• Most gyms destroyed, with badges earned in unusual ways
• New scripts, overworld sprites, battle sprites and areas
• Dense references to books, films and manga
• Improved version: physical/special split and reusable TMs
• Improved version: bag expansion, HMs without move slots and repel prompts

Snakewood is not tuned like a modern difficulty hack. It can feel unfair in places, mostly because opponents often outlevel you. Grinding a bit before important fights helps a lot.

Play it for the atmosphere and the oddness, not for balanced battles. It is a perfect pick if you enjoy horror themes, absurd humour or ROM hack history, and a poor one if you want a tidy, polished story.

The original Snakewood plays like a 2010-era Ruby hack: Gen 3 mechanics, single-use TMs and HMs taking up move slots. Snakewood Improved (v0.11, October 2024) adds the physical/special split, reusable TMs, bag expansion, HM use without move slots, EXP on capture, nature-coloured stats and an Emerald-style save prompt, and fixes tile corruption, sprite errors and other bugs.

Because the Improved version is still in progress, a few item names and cutscenes are still being fixed. For a first run, it is still the more comfortable option.

• Patch onto a clean Pokemon Ruby ROM — both the original and Improved need Ruby, not Emerald.
• Grind a little before story battles; levels are the most common complaint.
• Catch the zombie Pokemon when you can — they are one of the hack's highlights.
• Save in multiple slots; the plot can take sudden turns you may want to revisit.