Pokemon Snakewood

Pokemon Snakewood

Pokemon Snakewood is a GBA Rom Hack by Cutlerine based on Pokemon Ruby. And it is now available to download. It was last updated on July 29, 2016.

Download Pre-Patched Pokemon Snakewood GBA Rom

  • Creator: Cutlerine
  • Version: Final Version (Fixed)
  • Hack of: Pokemon Ruby
  • Updated: July 29, 2016
  • Status: “The game is about 98.2% done. Some secret areas/side areas haven’t been made yet.” Discontinued (but essentially complete).

Introduction

OK, so firstly, Snakewood is my first hack. Constructive criticism is welcome, just as long as you don’t kill me or anything. I don’t claim to be the best scripter, or the best spriter, or the best mapper. It’s based, predictably enough given the setting, on Ruby, and catalogues the adventures of the main character (Wraith/Jericho) as they fight their way through a bizarre, slightly insane version of Hoenn that has been invaded by the living dead. Essentially, I’ve made it because every single mainstream Pokémon game is identical: a shallow plot based around thwarting a somewhat bumbling evil Team, a series of 8 gyms and the league, and then more or less nothing. This one has more plot, more twists, more far-fetched nonsense and a great deal more presence for the player character. It’s also, in my own humble opinion, funnier.

Also, given that this was my first hack, I apologise for the way the scripts/sprites/everything is so bad at the beginning. It does get better as you go through and as I learned, I can assure you. Maybe.

What I will not apologise for, however, is the Ruby tiles. I realise that basically everyone on the planet despises them with all their heart – but I don’t care at all. I use them to make a point, and the point is that it isn’t necessary for a game to be pretty. It just needs to have a good story. Now, I’m going to shut up about this before I start writing an essay on the nature of ‘story’.

Also, be sure to try out Pokemon Eclat Pourpre.

Story

You awake in what used to be Littleroot town, having no memory of how you got there or even who you really are. It soon becomes apparent however that something very big has happened while you were out: Hoenn has been invaded by an army of zombies.

Working with Prof. Birch, you set off to find your brother Landon and Birch’s daughter May, who have both gone missing in an attempt to find the source of the undead plague. At the same time, you try to uncover your past. On the way you face zombies, witches, demons and the enigmatic Taoist, Gleis, as well as the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, the Hoenn Internal Affairs Army, and, eventually, the architect of all this misery himself: Senex.

However, it isn’t nearly as dark as all that: there are also the cheerfully insane (and improbably numerous) Deadly Seven, the unruffled and cynical Army Recruiters Tina and Bruce, and a psychic dragon’s egg. Not to mention a special appearance from the Denjuu universe.

Features and New Stuff

  • New scripts, new overworlds, new sprites – the usual
  • Exciting new areas, such as the hidden Meathouse, the maddening Island of Calm and the unexpected Hoenn University of Film
  • Several zombie versions of normal Pokémon, two of which are capturable
  • 6 Denjuu
  • An indeterminate number of Fakemon (somewhere between 40 and 50), including a good number of hidden evolutions to existing Pokémon
  • New legendaries, some of which are very, very evil
  • 7(?) Sinnoh Pokémon
  • 5(?) Isshu (or Unova, depending on how much you care) Pokémon
  • Most Gyms have now been destroyed by zombies, and hence Badges are come by in somewhat unusual ways
  • A few type changes for Pokémon here and there.
  • A surprising pet shop run by a certain Count
  • A host of deceitful characters who will do anything to lie to you
  • An unusual and somewhat wandering storyline
  • An enormous number of references to books, films, manga, other hacks and other such things
  • A somewhat darker plot than usual
  • A slightly increased difficulty level

The type changes mentioned above are as follows:

  • Luxio => Electric/Dark
  • Luxray => Electric/Dark
  • Meowth => Normal/Dark
  • Persian => Normal/Dark
  • Seviper => Poison/Dark
  • Banette => Ghost/Fighting
  • Milotic => Water/Psychic
  • Hariyama => Fighting/Normal

There might be one or two more that I’ve forgotten about… I’ll post them if they exist and I remember.

The Generation Four and Five Pokémon, for those who are impatient/overly curious, are:

Shinx, Luxio, Luxray; Emolga; Bouffalant; Spiritomb; Blitzle, Zebstrika; Weavile; Basculin; Drilbur, Excadrill

The hidden evolutions are:

Mightyena => Zoroark (currently named Gigawolf and with ridiculous stats; I could explain why but it’d take too long. I’ll change it eventually.)
Solrock/Lunatone => Galactimon
Luvdisc => Basculin
Snorlax => Skylax
Vigoroth => Slaking/Vigourlan
Linoone => Dragoone
Zangoose => Zangol
Seviper => Sevicious
Calfby => Tauros/Miltank/Ramshaker

Screenshots

Download

Bugs

No one likes to admit they’re there, but they always are:

  • Some tile glitches in various locations around Hoenn
  • Occasionally, having your emulator on super-speed will cause certain scripts to malfunction
  • There is a part of the introduction that says ‘And you are?’, which appears to be unremovable.
  • Don’t pick berries on Route 114. I have no idea why, but apparently it causes the game to freeze.

Completion Status

The game is about 98.2% done. Some secret areas/side areas haven’t been made yet, and not everything has a sprite – though hopefully everyone that you’ll see in-game does.

Credits

  • Scripting – Me
  • Mapping – Me
  • Spriting – 80% Me, 20% the Rkyeet.
  • OWs – Me
  • Bugfixing – 1158
  • And, of course, credit goes to anyone who created a tool or a tutorial that I used; there are probably so many of them I can’t count, and every one of them has made this hack significantly easier. Most