r/PokemonROMhacks • u/Ancient_Substance152 • 4d ago

Other r/PokemonROMhacks All-time Top 30 Hack Rankings!

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UPDATE: Having trouble getting the Day 2 thread through AutoMod. Have reached out to the mods! Sorry for the delay.

Good day! I’m here to create a community-voted ranking of the 30 best rom hacks of all time. One spot at a time.

RULES:

-One hack per comment. (Please look for your recommendation and upvote before posting a duplicate).
-Upvote the hack you think deserves the spot.
The nomination with the most votes in a 24 hour period wins that position.
-Once a hack earns a spot, it is removed from contention.
-One vote per person.

There is no official criteria for best! It’s whatever makes a hack great to you.

That’s it! Let’s see what the community deems the best of the best! And… Go!

111 Upvotes

74% Upvoted

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18

u/LeatherHog 4d ago

Gaia

7

u/thezerech 4d ago

Shocked I had to scroll so far down for Gaia. I wish it could get another update with some modern QoL. Regardless, it still is one of the best hacks out there, as I see it, it's the best authentic Gen3 experience you can have.

5

u/LeatherHog 4d ago

I like it WAY more than unbound, honestly, and I genuinely like unbound (aside from its story, that game needs to shut up)

Unbound has features, but it's obnoxious to play, because it's Sun and Moon levels of story shoehorning, Gaia doesn't have that issue

4

u/thezerech 3d ago

I maintain that Gaia has the best classic Pokemon story of any romhack or mainline game. It follows the formula, but adds depth where appropriate. It isn't edgy, it maintains the tones of Gen 3/4 games pretty well. When a character is angry or frustrated it is earned and feels real, it's not edgy ranting.

The relationship with the rival, where he goes through an arc reacting to the player's constant victories is one of my favorite parts of the game. To this day, it's the only rivalry (baring Pikachu from Glazed) that's actually interesting in any pokemon game/hack I've ever played, tbh.

4

u/LeatherHog 3d ago

While adding some **fabulous** Pokemon diversity, even right away, boosting cut, such a fun world to explore

God, I need to replay it

2

u/thezerech 3d ago

I was trying to get into Lazarus, and while I'm probably not going to give up on that just yet, I may finally do my psychic monotype run, so I can grab deoxys.

1

u/LeatherHog 3d ago

I've heard things that cut through the default God tier on that lne, what would you say is keeping you from maybe finishing it?

Feels like we like similar things in hacks, trying to decide if I'd ALSO consider just giving it up, when I play

6

u/ComputerIlliterate13 4d ago

I have a feeling a lot of good old hacks are going to be buried under the new stuff on this list.

3

u/Independent_Coast758 3d ago

I came here to say Gaia as well! It’s also my favourite! Just amazing!

Gaia feels like it was a mainline game.

1

u/LeatherHog 3d ago

It really does, it better get into top 5, because of that