HeartGold hack: Pokémon Pure Heart & Pokémon True Soul

gunsho · Mar 9, 2024

Pokémon Pure Heart and Pokémon True Soul are my ROM hacks of Pokémon HeartGold and Pokémon SoulSilver.
HeartGold and SoulSilver are by far my favourite and most cherished games in the Pokémon series, and
I wanted to make a ROM hack that would elevate these wonderful games into what I'd describe as my perfect Pokémon games.
The purpose of this hack isn't to introduce a bunch of QOL from newer games, make all 496 Pokémon available to obtain
before taking on the Pokémon League, or change the base stats of various weaker Pokémon, but instead to simply make a
number of edits ranging from minor changes to substantial additions. In essence, Pure Heart and True Soul are my
"dream Pokémon games", and my realised vision for the Johto remakes. I had never planned to share my
creation outside of a small circle, but I have come to realise that there are many people who share my ideals, specifically
regarding HeartGold and SoulSilver, who may appreciate my vision for these games. Please note that Pure Heart
and True Soul are ROM hacks solely made for my pleasure, but in choosing to share them with the public, I am
making them open to suggestions and ideas. I'd love to hear your thoughts on the changes I made to HeartGold and
SoulSilver, and I hope you enjoy reading my post, and maybe even playing through my ROM hack!

✨ Features ✨

Spoiler: Features

🖼️ Screenshots 🖼️

Spoiler: Screenshots

🔗 Download 🔗

Spoiler: Download

📝 To-do 📝

Spoiler: To-do

📜 Credits 📜

Spoiler: Credits

Soulmates · Mar 13, 2024

this looks really cool! Trying it out now. any game-breaking (or annoying) bugs i should know about? Also, do any Pokemon (including Starters) have alternate abilities?

SalutingHades41 · Mar 13, 2024

This is really good! Do you plan to re-expand Mt. Moon and/or Route 23 to what they were in RBGY/FRLG since they got left out of the Kanto re-expansion in HGSS?

Additionally, I feel like changing Red & Blue's teams to something similar to their Let's GO teams (Red having Venusaur, Blue having Charizard, etc) could be a good idea.

gunsho · Mar 13, 2024

Soulmates said:
this looks really cool! Trying it out now. any game-breaking (or annoying) bugs i should know about? Also, do any Pokemon (including Starters) have alternate abilities?

I haven't encountered any bugs or oversights in my testing. Only issues I had was trying to get it to run on my 3DS, the game kept crashing in intervals, couldn't figure it out. Worked fine on my DS Lite though.

There are no changes to the stats or movepools to any Pokémon whatsoever.

SalutingHades41 said:
This is really good! Do you plan to re-expand Mt. Moon and/or Route 23 to what they were in RBGY/FRLG since they got left out of the Kanto re-expansion in HGSS?

Additionally, I feel like changing Red & Blue's teams to something similar to their Let's GO teams (Red having Venusaur, Blue having Charizard, etc) could be a good idea.

Hmm, it's a possibility, but it's not high up on my list in terms of priority. HGSS fixed most of the gutted Kanto locations, didn't it? I'm definitely not going to re-add Route 23, despite how weird it is that it seemingly got retconned out. You have Route 27 and 26 as well as Victory Road to get through to reach the Pokémon League, that's more than enough in my opinion.

With regards to Red and Blue's teams, I'm trying to avoid the "update [x] to modern standards" many hacks fall victim to. The only time I ignored this rule was with the Linking Cord, and that was only really out of necessity. Besides, I like Blue's team in the Johto games as it is. He uses all three of his starter substitutes from RBY (Arcanine, Gyarados, Exeggutor).

qazmachuck · Mar 13, 2024

Why is this at Progressing section? I didn't get any indication for being incomplete as in until Mt. Moon.

Soulmates · Mar 13, 2024

wait, so it doesn't work in Twilight Menu (3DS)? what if i run True Heart in DS Mode?

gunsho · Mar 13, 2024

Soulmates said:
wait, so it doesn't work in Twilight Menu (3DS)? what if i run True Heart in DS Mode?

I think I am using nds-bootstrap to run DS games on my 3DS, which I believe Twilight Menu uses. I just checked and it appears that HGSS (among other games) have anti-piracy measures that cause the game to crash. I also experienced this with vanilla White. The latest version of TM includes this addition:

@DeadSkullzJr: Updated AP-fix for Pokémon: Refined Gold Overhaul (v3.2).

I'm not sure if it has anything to do with what I was experiencing, but if something about ROM hacks triggers the AP measures in TM then it may be worth a try with the latest version. I will also test this tomorrow.

qazmachuck said:
Why is this at Progressing section? I didn't get any indication for being incomplete as in until Mt. Moon.

Because it's not complete.

Soulmates · Mar 20, 2024

ETA until next version? i really want to play this.

gunsho · Mar 20, 2024

Soulmates said:
ETA until next version? i really want to play this.

I've begun making steady progress on the next version. Maybe 3-5 weeks, depending on how well things go, and how much of what I want to add gets done.

looneyman1 · Mar 21, 2024

Something I'd like to reccomend is that it might make just as much sense to add the moss/icy rocks to Ilex Forest and the Ice Path too. Also it might be a good idea to make the team rocket story a lot more compelling too.

Also, please make it possible to get the kanto starters without having to go to Kanto first. An idea I began thinking as of late is it would have been interesting if professor oak gives you a kanto starter to go with the johto starter you get at the beginning. Since Oak gives you the pokedex in the same breath, it seems like a fitting concept. I suggest it since it is what they did in X/Y as part of the mega evolution mechanic.

gunsho · Mar 21, 2024

looneyman1 said:
Something I'd like to reccomend is that it might make just as much sense to add the moss/icy rocks to Ilex Forest and the Ice Path too.

I've been considering that, and may do it at some point, but I don't know where I'd place the magnetic field in Johto. It wouldn't sit right with me being able to evolve Eevee into Leafeon/Glaceon before Kanto, but not Magneton. I considered Route 43 for this, but the issue is that the radio waves being sent out by Team Rocket is a temporary story event. I am happy with them being exclusive to Kanto for the time being, but if you have any ideas I'd love to hear them.

Also it might be a good idea to make the team rocket story a lot more compelling too.

I don't know how to do this without adding more story events, which seems like it goes against my whole idea for the hack because it just creates more linearity and railroading. One thing I disliked about Renegade Platinum and the original SGSS was that they added forced events with the evil team in what were previously optional areas. What good does this do for the player? How does this make the game any more enjoyable? Sure then, I could add more encounters with Team Rocket in an area you are forced to go through anyway, but that just seems pointless. Team Rocket's story is fine in the Johto games and it works because their motives and plot points are simple and don't interfere with the main story, which is the player's adventure. Eusine got more attention during the story in my hack because he is a severely underdeveloped character who never got the screentime he deserved. If you can convince me otherwise, I'm all for it. But at the moment, I am firmly against altering the Team Rocket plot.

One thing I am planning to add in the next update is a little event in Kanto where you encounter a Kimono Girl, and she gives you the GS Ball which you can use to catch Celebi and activate the Giovanni event. I don't know if that counts as expanding on the Team Rocket story, but it's really as far as I'm willing to go.

Also, please make it possible to get the kanto starters without having to go to Kanto first. An idea I began thinking as of late is it would have been interesting if professor oak gives you a kanto starter to go with the johto starter you get at the beginning. Since Oak gives you the pokedex in the same breath, it seems like a fitting concept. I suggest it since it is what they did in X/Y as part of the mega evolution mechanic.

This doesn't sound like a good idea. For one, it would greatly devalue the Johto starters. It would also introduce balancing issues that the Johto region simply isn't designed for, having two slowly-levelling Pokémon given to you for free in a region where enemy levels go up slowly anyway. Being given them in the post-game feels more rewarding and makes a lot more sense. Why would Oak give some random kid who just got a Pokémon from his acquaintance for a quick errand, another rare Pokémon, when the idea of taking on the Pokémon League challenge hadn't even been suggested by Elm at that point?

looneyman1 · Mar 21, 2024

Well, Mt. Mortar could be a good place for a magnetic field. Its so easilly overlooked since once you have surf you can just skip the mountain altogether. The only reason one would normally go there is to get the Tyrogue from the Karate King but even then it's such a long slog to get to him and you need all 8 badges to do it. Giving it the magnetic field would make it more worth visiting.

As for the rocket storyline I only brought it up because in recent years, it just felt like Team Rocket was....just there just because, almost feeling like an afterthought, one where they almost come off feeling like the gen 1 pandering people have complained about for a while now (I know I sound hypocritical given I suggested the gen 1 starters and all but its a bit logical in this case considering how close Johto and Kanto are). Personally I don't mind extra story events, even if they are optional. More gameplay content is gameplay content. Of course it doesnt men its good content, but considering how otherwise short gen 1 and 2 were as gameplay experiences, I felt giving Team Rocket the notoriety that we would see later with Team Magma/Aqua, Galactic, or Plasma would be only right. They were after all the first criminal syndicate in pokemon after all. The anime did them far better justice than the games.

TheLuiz · Mar 23, 2024

Does it have more pokemon past gen 4 or is it yet another Remixed Johto with more wild encounters and slightly better difficulty/quality of life?

gunsho · Mar 23, 2024

TheLuiz said:
Does it have more pokemon past gen 4 or is it yet another Remixed Johto with more wild encounters and slightly better difficulty/quality of life?

Why don't you read the post? Or did you open the thread just to make a snarky remark?

Sheep · Mar 25, 2024

In regards to the former administrator being mentioned here, I want to clarify that they've already been removed from the community/banned years ago and have nothing to do with the site. As the current webmaster I can confirm we are extremely serious about user safety here and that kind of behavior is not tolerated.

We are doing our best to handle reports as they come in but our fan games team is small and everyone is busy with their jobs and real life. I'm super sorry for the delay in actioning certain things - it's not intentional. We can be a bit lenient with certain comments since we wanted to allow users a bit more freedom in expressing their opinions, but it's clear that this may have gone a little far in recent situations. Really sorry about that.

Salemwhich · Mar 31, 2024

This looks very cool! Johto is my fav region alongside Hoenn! i'll def give this a go!

if it's okay could i suggest some cosmetic things such as:
- Gen 6 party icons
- Gold Bottom Screen for PH and Silver for TS (akin to HGSS+)
I was gonna suggest swapping Lyra out for Kris but there always seems to be divisive response to it when other rom hacks do it
although there is a decent middle ground which is her manga design for the HGSS arc, either way I'm fine with either.

Whether these suggestions get added or not I'm still hyped for the final product I would've never thought of giving Eusine a bigger role but I'm all for it!
I wish you good luck with the project, no rush!

gunsho · Apr 6, 2024

Salemwhich said:
Gen 6 party icons

While this is a nice QOL, I don't think I will add it. I'm trying to avoid referencing future Pokémon titles, with the exception of the Linking Cord for obvious reasons. Besides, there's some charm to the old icons.

Salemwhich said:
Gold Bottom Screen for PH and Silver for TS (akin to HGSS+)

That sounds interesting. I may look into it.

Salemwhich said:
I was gonna suggest swapping Lyra out for Kris

Better to just leave it as Lyra, in my opinion.

CadmiumRED · Apr 6, 2024

Not sure if it's in the cards, but something that has always bugged me about the Gen 4 games was that even the fastest text speed is still slow compared to Gen 5. Do you think that making the text speed faster is possible in this hack? Another thing is that the Lure Ball is oddly green in the Gen 4 games which it should be blue like in the later generations.

gunsho · Apr 6, 2024

CadmiumRED said:
Not sure if it's in the cards, but something that has always bugged me about the Gen 4 games was that even the fastest text speed is still slow compared to Gen 5. Do you think that making the text speed faster is possible in this hack? Another thing is that the Lure Ball is oddly green in the Gen 4 games which it should be blue like in the later generations.

Hello, fellow Johto enthusiast. I will look into those things. In the meantime, I believe UPR has a "Fastest Text Speed" patch for HGSS? I haven't tested if it's compatible with ROM hacks, though.

ariaah · Apr 22, 2024

Loving Pure Heart, great job

I've been training up Haunter & Graveler and just got to the PokeAthlon Dome and can't find the linking cord in the prizes shop, is it only available on a certain day like some other items or is this a bug?

Also, will it be reusable or will I need to save 3,000 for each evolution?

HeartGold hack: Pokémon Pure Heart & Pokémon True Soul

More options

gunsho

Soulmates

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qazmachuck

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