
Pokémon Black - paulgerhardt
http://tinycartridge.com/post/866743831/super-creepy-pokemon-hack
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swolchok
Seems like it requires too much from the user to be true, particularly
stepping back onto the exact square at which the game started. I also find it
unlikely that it's interesting enough to play "many, many times". Interesting
work of fiction, though.

~~~
sorbus
Stepping back onto the square where it started could have been added by
whoever modified the game, and fits with the message I'm getting from it, even
if it would be hard for the player to realize that they needed to do so.
Playing through many times makes sense, with the goal of finding other easter
eggs which might have been included in the game, and experimenting with
various potential outcomes.

However, I'm leaning towards it being fictional, mostly because it feels
similar to other creepypasta I've read (some of them are quite good, and
highly recommended if you're looking for something unsettling). Of course,
that idea could be implanted by the suggestion of it originating from 4chan,
but there are some other things which make me lean towards that, especially
the bit about misplacing/losing the game several years previously.

~~~
derefr
I'm leaning toward it being fictional simply for the fact that I've never seen
a ROMhack that modified the game's engine to anywhere near this extent. Things
that would need to be done to a Pokemon Red ROM to make it into this game:

* Adding a "removed" state for pokemon in battle

* Adding the capability to playing sounds and BGM at modified pitch (or storing pre-modified copies of all sounds)

* Adding an "enemy is too scared to move" detection step in the opponent's battle sequence

* Creating the Curse move itself

* Creating a "tombstone" state for enemy trainers

* Adding a menu that appears after battles are over

* Keeping track of all pokemon species and trainers that have been "killed," in order

* Adding extra scenes beyond the end of the game

* Changing the way the battle engine deals with a battle where you have no Pokemon

* Adding an additional trainer-side sprite for the "old man"

* Adding a branch to the overworld music-loading algorithm that would always load the Lavender town music if you are in the endgame

* Adding a step to the map loader that removes all non-tombstoned NPCs if you are in the endgame

Anyone who could have done this _at the time in question_ would likely be a
professional Gameboy developer. It could be done more easily nowadays
(especially using a Fire Red GBA rom instead) but back then this was
complicated work.

~~~
chipsy
Not to mention:

* Change the saved game format to store and load all this new data.

That aspect alone throws the whole thing into doubt, since you would have to
change hardware to support the enlarged save data. The original Red and Blue
games already had unusually large amounts of save data for a GB game, enough
that emulators at the time of their release did not properly support them, and
I'm pretty sure it was well-compressed(within the constraint of guaranteeing a
worst-case size). It's unlikely that it would fit after adding additional
state to every enemy trainer and species in the game. (see:
[http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_data_str...](http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Pok%C3%A9mon_data_structure_in_Generation_I)
)

~~~
derefr
Well, just to turn around and play Devil's Advocate, they could always have
nuked some feature of the game engine that was left unmentioned in the
account. Dropping the PC storage system altogether would allow for quite a bit
more save-game space, without really lessening the emotional impact of the
hack. In other words, it's probably what I'd do :)

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w1ntermute
Coincidentally, the next generation of (official) Pokémon games are called
Black and White: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pokémon_Black_and_White>

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benbeltran
This reads like 4chan creepypasta. Probably not true, but definitely creepy
and well done.

~~~
GFischer
I did not know about the "creepypasta" meme, thanks.

<http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/creepypasta>

Definitely sounds fake, a poster above mentions several points that make it
unlikely.

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Rhapso
There was and are a couple of dead Pokemon Chaos Black torrents out there.
Something at least similar to this existed as a ROM but I doubt it was ever
ported to a playable cartridge.

~~~
chc
Chaos Black is different and unrelated AFAIK. It's from the era when Pokemon
games were named "[noun] [color]" rather than just "[color]" like this Black
is supposed to be, and it is nothing like the game described in the post.

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KirinDave
If ever there was a time when Hacker News needed image macros, this is it.
“Cool story, bro.”

~~~
mortenjorck
You and I both know that would be a truly _facepalm.gif_ choice for HN.

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maushu
Someone should make a PC version of this.

Oh wait, Nintendo wouldn't like that, would it?

