Pokemon Ultra Violet

Pokemon Ultra Violet is a FireRed hack by LocksmithArmy with a simple, very practical goal: let one player with one save file complete the National Dex. In the official games that meant owning both FireRed and LeafGreen, trading, and linking to Ruby, Sapphire or Emerald for Hoenn Pokemon. Ultra Violet removes all of that, so every one of the 386 Pokemon from Generations 1 to 3 can be caught in a single run.

The story and overall structure stay close to FireRed. You still travel through Kanto, beat eight Gyms and face the Elite Four. What changes is everything around catching. LocksmithArmy merged the FireRed and LeafGreen encounter lists so both version exclusives appear, added a handful of Johto Pokemon that neither game offered, and then built a new location, 4-Points Isle, that holds the entire Gen 3 roster along with new events and areas.

Ultra Violet also smooths out the things that usually block a full Pokedex. Trade evolutions happen without trading, items like the Sun Stone that some evolutions need are made available, and the last two Sevii Islands can be reached with tickets sold in a shop, which opens up Ho-Oh, Lugia and Deoxys. One of the earliest additions was an option to skip Oak's starters and catch your own first Pokemon instead.

The hack first appeared in July 2013, and the creator continued to fix bugs through several updates. The most recent build listed is v1.22 (updated June 2018). Ultra Violet also has a RetroAchievements set, including a "Catch 'em All" achievement for registering all 386 Pokemon, which shows how central the full Pokedex is to the experience.

• All 386 Pokemon from Generations 1-3 catchable in one save file
• FireRed and LeafGreen version exclusives merged together
• A few extra Johto Pokemon missing from both Kanto games
• New 4-Points Isle with every Gen 3 Pokemon, new areas and events
• Option to catch your own starter instead of picking from Oak
• Trade evolutions work without trading
• Evolution items such as Sun Stones made obtainable
• Tickets for the last Sevii Islands sold in a shop, with Ho-Oh, Lugia and Deoxys
• RetroAchievements set, including a full-Pokedex achievement

Ultra Violet is not a difficulty hack. Trainer battles feel close to vanilla FireRed, so a first-time player or someone returning after years can finish it comfortably. The challenge, if you want one, is the Pokedex itself: hunting down 386 species is a long project.

It is a good fit for collectors, for players who never completed a Gen 3 Pokedex because of trading, and for achievement hunters who want a clear goal. If you want the same idea with modern Pokemon and mechanics, look at a CFRU hack such as Radical Red or Inflamed Red instead.

• Patch a clean FireRed US v1.0 ROM; other revisions are a common cause of crashes with older hacks.
• Decide early whether you want Oak's starter or to catch your own first Pokemon, since the option comes at the very beginning.
• Ask around in Kanto towns for the way to 4-Points Isle; that is where the Gen 3 Pokemon live, so you can start filling Hoenn entries before the post-game.
• Check shops on the Sevii Islands for the tickets to the last islands rather than looking for event items.
• Keep a checklist of version exclusives; both FireRed and LeafGreen Pokemon appear, so routes have more species than you might expect.

Ultra Violet's updates have been bug-fix releases rather than content expansions. Early in the thread, version 1.10 fixed glitches with the legendary dog events, and the creator later prepared a 1.21 release with more fixes. Download sites now list v1.22 from June 2018 as the most recent build, and the hack's feature list has stayed the same: a completable Pokedex and the catch-your-own-starter option.