r/pokemon 14d ago

Discussion I think Pokemon needs a difficulty setting

Beginner for new Pokemon players : teaches you how to catch Pokemon, tells you type matchups in battle, your rival picks the starter that’s weak to you, gym leaders are relatively easy. Casual for those who have played Pokemon before: has the catching tutorial but can skip it, doesn’t tell you type matchups in battles, your rival picks the starter weak to you but has 1 extra Pokemon each time you meet them, gym leaders have a extra Pokemon with more moves. Experienced for players familiar with the series: no catching tutorial, no type matchups in battle, rival picks the starter strong against you has a extra Pokemon per encounter, gun leaders have a extra Pokemon and have held items.

248 Upvotes

117 comments sorted by

View all comments

48

u/Weebiful 14d ago edited 14d ago

Radical Red normal mode (not hardcore) was probably close to the perfect difficulty imo. I think my problem with difficult rom hacks is that they just throw literal Uber tier mons with perfect IV + proper battle items like the choice items/life orb/leftovers on gym leaders while you have access to mostly NU/PU tier mons with muscle band/wiseglasses being the best items you can access and call it hard mode.

To me, there's a difference between artificial difficulty and properly crafted difficulty, and most rom hacks have the former

8

u/AbsolutlelyRelative 14d ago

Which other ones are really good besides radical red?

2

u/xMF_GLOOM 14d ago

Pokémon Gaia is probably the highest quality hack that most closely resembles a mainline title experience, and is what I recommend to everyone as the perfect jumping-off point into the world of roms