Pokemon Throwback is a rom hack of Pokemon Fire Red developed by RichterSnipes in 2014 for the Game Boy Advance.

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Pokémon Throwback is a hack created to serve as the definitive version of the original Kanto journey. Based off of Pokémon FireRed, Throwback includes a bevy of features and fixes to make it worth playing over the original game.

Features:

• A GB Player item allows for players to hear the original 8-bit music in the game, as well as switch between it and the standard FR/LG music at any time.
• Reasonable Pokémon placement throughout the game ensures that all Pokémon from the first two generations, sans Celebi, are obtainable through official-esque means (including canon evolution methods).
• The main characters now wear clothing similar to their original depictions in the original games and related media.
• All text has been decapitalized (consistent with the most recent games).
• TMs and move tutors are infinitely reusable.
• Trees only need to be cut once, several more items are now obtainable within the game, you can run indoors, many “tutorial” moments from the game have been removed, and much, much more!
• Various fixes for the original game.

Note that the title of the hack in-game is simply Pokémon. This is because the game within is a version of the original adventure from 1996 (1998 internationally) and is version-agnostic.

Author's Description:

There are tons of hacks out there that completely change up the Pokemon experience to make something new. But what if you just wanted something that attempts to improve upon the great game that is already there? Pokemon Throwback is my attempt at doing just that. This hack incorporates new features and fixes into the 1st Gen remake to try and create the best, most faithful version of the original Kanto story available.

...Oh, you wanted the game's story. You're a kid from Pallet Town who is sent off into the world of Pokemon to capture monsters for sport. And battling! Be the best by becoming champion and...catching 'em all? Insert motivational sentence here.


-GB Player-


Offering both new and old versions of tracks for a game is never a bad thing, as both have their own charm. This hack introduces tunes that represent what Pokemon Red/Green/Blue/Yellow had to offer. They're based right off of the code from the original ROMs. Barring a few discrepancies, these tunes are highly similar to their original iterations.

• A completely separate sound bank with the recreated 8-bit soundtrack from Pokemon Red/Green/Blue/Yellow (and a little bit from Gold/Silver/Crystal). They play off of the GB Synth instruments of the Game Boy Advance instead of DirectSound to ensure minimal loss of sound quality. As they are based off of the original code, they are incredibly accurate recreations. These put the songs played using the GB Sounds item in HeartGold/SoulSilver to shame!
• Stereo sound for all tracks. 1st-Gen tracks use similar panning to Yellow's "Earphone1" sound option, while 2nd-Gen tracks retain their original panning.
• A new key item, the GB Player, in your house in Pallet Town. With it you can choose which music you want to listen to throughout the game. The game saves which bank is chosen, so saving with the 8-bit tracks on will allow you to keep them on when booting the game up.

Note that there will likely be a few minor sound differences. Here's why:

*Any quirk in the GBA's GB Synth playback (or an emulator's coding of it, for that matter) will cause some things to not sound quite right. Viridian Forest comes to mind.
*GB Synth can't seem to reproduce duty shifting, meaning that tunes that used it (currently) can't be ported properly to the GBA. This applies to Jigglypuff's Song and the Game Freak logo. An alternative for the latter has been given, but Jigglypuff's Song will remain as-is.
*Note attacks/rises have been applied as best as possible. Some instances could not be implemented perfectly because of differences of handling note rises between the two hardware sets.
*LFOs have been estimated with the LFO functions in Sappy.
*It seems the original Game Boy could play two noise samples at once. I don't think it can be recreated in GB Synth. It's used in the Route 1 theme and Johto town music.
*I haven't perfected note bending. Although it's been implemented in the title screen track, it's the reason there's no 8-Bit evolution jingle right now. Unless that has to do with note sweeping, I'm not sure.
*There are a couple of fanfares that I can't replace without the game deciding not to play them when they're supposed to be heard. These fanfares are the (modern) Level Up and Game Corner ones.


-Catch 'em All-


Stuffing 386/493/649/719 Pokemon into a game the size of FR/LG can make things awfully cramped and nonsensical. What I offer is an alternative that puts in all the Pokemon fitting for this game: the first two generations. They're all soundly located and dispersed throughout the game with no awkward confrontations in strange routes. I've added several new events for the one-off Pokemon such as starters and legendaries.

This means that there will be no Hoenn Pokemon in this hack. They really don't exist in the standard FR/LG game, and including them would make all areas too congested. If you want to play with Hoenn Pokemon, go play Pokemon Emerald. I hear it's a great game and that it has some great hacks available for it. The same goes for Sinnoh, Unova, and Kalos Pokemon, by the way. Trade-evolved Pokemon still evolve through trade to keep with series canon, but can also be caught on one specific map in the game. Also, Celebi is currently not obtainable.

Playing this complete hack will yield you a new, version-agnostic (even though it requires a specific ROM) title screen. "But Richter, why call it just 'Pokemon'?" you may ask. Well, if you think about it, the name makes sense. What's the name of the original Final Fantasy? Final Fantasy, of course. As a remake of the original experience that took the world by storm, it holds the name strongly.


-Wardrobe-


One of the presentation changes of FireRed and LeafGreen was new clothing styles for the main characters (the player and the rival). With this hack, I try to replicate the looks of the characters' original looks to the greatest of my ability. All relevant sprites, including the overworld sprites, battle sprites, and opening and credits sprites, have been changed to resemble their classic, fly versions. Keep living in the old days to the max!

Note: Yes, the female protagonist has a hat on. It's to keep with the tradition that all playable characters in the main Pokemon games have some sort of headwear on and totally not because I suck at drawing hair.


-Extras-


Did you ever wish that Game Freak/Nintendo had made a few things more user-friendly or convenient for serious playing? Or do you just want to enjoy a few of the spoils brought about from later generations? This hack attempts to satisfy that craving of yours. With a varying array of fixes available, there's certainly something here to please you.

• Collecting items from the ground or from certain people now plays the proper fanfare instead of the Level Up tune.
• Cut down a tree once and it will be gone for the rest of the game.
• TMs can be reused infinitely.
• All move tutors will teach your Pokemon their moves an unlimited number of times.
• Wade off random battles more easily with Darthatron's BW2 Repel System!
• The Scope Lens, BrightPowder, Mental Herb, and Light Ball items are now obtainable.
• All missing flutes (sans the redundant Blue Flute) are now obtainable.
• All sensible missing Poke Ball and Mail types are now obtainable.
• The areas in Mt. Moon have been more properly filled out.
• Jambo51's Trainer Facing Fix has been implemented.
• You can now run indoors, a convenience officially introduced in the 4th Gen games.
• The Pokedex species glitch and roaming legendary IV glitch now have their fixes, as shown by HackMew.
• Your room no longer has a Help message, the little girl in Pallet Town no longer acts as a Start tutorial, and the old man in Viridian City no longer gives you the Teachy TV.
• Giovanni's last Pokemon during the final Gym Leader Battle has been promoted back to a Rhydon.
• The Elite Four and Pokemon Champion have had their 1st playthrough teams' levels increased by 2 to reflect their original Red/Green/Blue iterations.
• The Pokemon League lobby music is now the Pokemon League theme.
• Some transparency tile issues have been fixed.
• Two charactes now hold their canonical U.S. names; Green and Charine are now Blue and Janine.
• The Game Freak opening now displays the word "Presents" as it should, ported back to v1.0 by diegoisawesome.
• Decapitalization to meet with official game standards. In other words, everything besides menu items are no longer shouting at you!


Known Bugs:


-GB Player-


*Registering the GB Player and using it while the music is fading out (due to moving to a different area) will cause all sound to fade away until the scene changes.
*Upon beating your rival in the final battle, the victory theme will restart rather than continue playing past the battle screen.