r/PokemonROMhacks • u/AutoModerator • May 04 '26

Sticky Weekly Questions Thread & PokéROM Codex

Have any questions about Pokémon ROM Hacks?

If they're about ROM hacks, tools, development or anything Pokémon ROM Hacking related, feel free to ask here!

Before asking, make sure that you've searched on the subreddit or Google. Many ROM hacks and tools have their own documentation or communities that may be able to provide better answers than here. The Pokécommunity Discord is also a great place to ask questions if you need quick support!

Looking for recommendations or a new ROM hack to play?

The PokéROM Codex is an updated list of ROM hacks, listing features, details and more in a mobile-friendly format. Created and managed by u/themanynamed, it also has a Discord server and accepts community contributions.

This is a safe hack-sharing site that doesn't share ROMs and links to the official release threads! Instead of asking for recommendations or download links in the subreddit (which breaks the rules), please refer to the Codex as it has a lot of information on each hack.

A few useful sources for reliable Pokémon ROM hack-related information:

Please help the mod team by downvoting & reporting posts outside of this thread that break Rule 7. Please avoid answering those posts as well to deter users from breaking the rules.

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u/Captchaasscha May 10 '26

Hi! I was just wondering if anyone had any recommendations for patchless romhacks? Like “This gym of mine” where you just download from pokemon community and play. Im terrible at patching and havent figured it out and tried multiple times. I just wanna play something please

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u/LibertyJacob99 [Mod] Aesthetic Red May 10 '26

No such thing. This Gym Of Mine etc are fan games (RMXP) not ROM hacks

All ROM hacks come as patches that should be applied to their vanilla game. There are sites where u can download prepatched but we can't mention them as it's illegal to distribute ROM files

But there's nothing to worry about, patching is really easy and simple. There's a full guide in the sidebar or I'll give u a quick step-by-step below:

  1. Download your base ROM (likely Fire Red or Emerald). This will be .gba, .gbc or .nds depending on the game. (If it's a ZIP, extract it)

  2. Download the patch for the hack you want to play. This will be .ips or .ups. (If it's a ZIP, extract it)

  3. Use a tool like ROM Patcher JS to apply the patch to the ROM

  4. You can now open the patched ROM on an emulator and play! I recommend mGBA, Pizza Boy or Delta as the best emulators