Pokemon Ultra Violet

Game Overview
Pokemon Ultra Violet is a fan made ROM hack for the Game Boy Advance, released unofficially around the mid 2000s. It takes the familiar foundation of Pokemon FireRed and expands the available roster significantly, letting you encounter creatures from later generations much earlier in the adventure. This was a common type of project during that era, made by enthusiasts who wanted to tweak the established formula.

You control a young trainer on a journey to collect eight gym badges and challenge the Pokemon League. The core loop involves exploring routes and caves, battling other trainers, and capturing a wide variety of Pokemon from across multiple generations right from the start. Key changes include a vastly expanded Pokedex that integrates Johto and Hoenn species into the Kanto map, alongside a noticeably increased difficulty curve where gym leaders and rivals use stronger, more strategic teams. It feels like discovering a fuller, more challenging version of a world you thought you knew completely.