"ROM Hacks have reignited my love for Pokemon."

I've been a Pokemon fan since Pokemon Blue, over 20 years of my life.Like many of you, as I have gotten older, I have become more jaded with the franchise, particularly the mainline games.I felt for a long time, that the games were undercooked and basically money grabs. No need for them to push the limits of what is possible as we would buy whatever that put up regardless.But what really made me jaded was the lack of any difficultly or challenge. Don't get me wrong, I know Pokemon will always be aimed at kids, but it frustrated me beyond belief that they refuse to acknowledge the millions of fans who have grown up with the franchise and who are now in their late 20s and 30s. In fact, they have gone in the opposite direction, making games unbearably easy. With features such as exp share, and trainers only having like 2 Pokemon, the rival choosing the starter that is weak to you etc, and the happiness gauge meaning Pokemon survive even if they should have fainted, it's literally impossible to fail anymore. Cutscene after cutscene and the removal of dungeons, puzzles and expansive routes have gutted all sense of adventure or jeopardy. I swore Sword and Shield would be the last Pokemon games I ever bought. And I still have no intention of buying the Sinnoh Remakes or Arceus.Enter my discovery of ROM Hacks. Oh my God. Particularly enhancement Hacks, such as Radical Red, Inclement Emerald, or Drayano's Storm Silver & Renegade Platinum.The difficultly is amazing. Gym Leaders etc have full rosters of EV trained, competitively bred Pokemom with proper strategies and synergies. It is literally impossible to beat these games without EV training your own team, and building them with competitive movesets, natures and items. Every fight needs proper planning and trial and error. You can expect to wipe out at least 50 times on your way to becoming champion. There are restrictive rulesets in place, like forced set mode, no items in battle and level caps.The best part is, every single Pokemon and Mega Evoltution is available. Like its basically Fire Red or Emerald, but with every Pokemon including Gen 8, every mega, dynamax... EVERYTHING. Every route has so many interesting Pokemon to choose from.It is so difficult but never unfair. Every time you finally beat a gym leader it's incredibly rewarding.TLDR: For anybody out there like me, who was tired of basically being out on a train track and wheeled through the new games as if you're a 5 year old kid... get these ROM hacks.They've reignited my love for Pokemon and I hope they do the same for you. Sorry for the long post! via /r/pokemon https://ift.tt/3CbGojd