Introducing Pokémon Prism

Welcome back to another week of informative joy (not to be confused with Nurse Joy) from The Victory Road. In between searching for edible fungi here in the caverns of Floor 2, I’ve created one of them there Threads accounts. You can read my journal entries and other shenanigans here: @victoryroadnews.

Here’s this week’s rundown (estimated read time 4 minutes):

• The latest and greatest Pokémon game… now on Game Boy Color?

• Ash gets his anime sendoff.

• The “Open” competition at Pokémon Worlds is cancelled last minute.

• Introducing a new Victory Road section: Card of the Week!

Have you met Pokémon Prism?

If you’re an 8-bit trainer living in a Nintendo Switch world, good news! One of the most comprehensive Pokémon rom hacks for Game Boy Color just got a major update after 3 years of work.

Now, before we talk about the cool stuff, I’ve got to drop a legal disclaimer upfront: you shouldn’t steal (download on the internet) copies of Pokémon roms in order to play rom hacks. That’s why developers of Pokémon rom hacks/mods for Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, etc. don’t offer the “base game” for download on their sites. They don’t want Gamefreak to drop Tinkaton’s banhammer.

As far as emulators for Android go, I’m a big fan of John GBA or John GBC, which I just discovered have been combined in John GBAC. They’re not paying me to say this, they’re just the best I’ve found. If you’re new to the world of rom hacks and modded Pokémon games, the Prism devs have created a handy tutorial to get you started.

Okay, now let’s talk about Pokémon Prism!

So what is it? Straight out of the mouth of the creators, Rainbow Devs, Pokémon Prism is a super customized Pokémon Crystal mod that takes place in a previously unexplored region. It contains new mechanics unseen in its inspired franchise, while refining existing gameplay.

I’ve played a number of Pokémon rom hacks over the years and consider myself a bit of a connoisseur. As far as they go, Prism is shaping up to be one of the best. While it’s still technically in beta, version .95 released this month and the game’s main story is done, start to finish. This includes:

• 6 regions (yes, you read that right)

• 20 badges (you also read that right)

• Elite Four

• Postgame content

The developer (Rainbow Devs) will continue to add “side-quest stuff,” fix bugs, add music, and enhance graphics. I’m only about two hours in to the game so far and love the changes they’ve made to freshen up the Pokémon experience on Game Boy Color.

If you want extra credit, I also recommend another Rainbow Dev mod: Pokémon Anniversary Crystal.

Ash rides off into the sunset

Now the English audience has been treated to Ash’s championship-winning episodes on Netflix, there’s only one thing left to do: call it a career.

Ash and Pikachu go out in style in the final episodes of Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series, coming September 8 to Netflix.

Join [Ash and Pikachu] after their World Coronation series win as they reunite with old friends in Pokémon: To Be a Pokémon Master, a collection of special episodes that concludes Pokémon Ultimate Journeys: The Series.

This 12 episode collection is called “To Be a Pokemon Master” and brings back old pals like Misty and Brock, and “provides a hint of what the future may hold for Ash and Pikachu.”

If you’re looking for all the feels, check out the trailer.

Come on back to Victory Road, Floor 2 in Kanto, Ashy boy. I’m ready for a rematch.

The Yokohama Open gets K.O.ed

Last week, Play Pokémon caused a stir in the competitive Pokémon community when they announced that the Yokohama Open would be cancelled at this year’s World Championships, less than a month before the event.

Why is this a big deal? Players can attend the “Open” without an invite to Worlds (hence the reason they call it an open) to earn Championship Points for the next season of play in 2024.

Basically, a bunch of people booked flights and hotels to attend the Open at Worlds this year and found out kinda sorta last minute that it would be cancelled, making their trip a bust. It also hurts players looking to get a start on next season.

As you can imagine last minute cancellation + loss of thousands of $$$ + no chance to earn Championship Points = a bunch of upset TCG and VGC players.

At this point, The Pokémon Company International has not announced a makeup event. The only bright side is they never opened registration to charge players to attend the Open.

Card of the Week

Check out this Secret Rare Ninetales from the upcoming Ruler of the Black Flame set released today in Japan!

Random encounters around the internet

• Don’t forget: Rillaboom raids in Scarlet/Violet start today! Check out my brief guide.

• ICYMI: Zygarde and Routes arrive in Pokémon GO.

• Pokémon GO announced a new series of events called City Safari, coming first to Seoul, Barcelona, and Mexico City this fall.

• Pokémon Cards are coming back to McDonalds.

• If you hadn’t heard, the first 10 minutes of the Pokémon Horizons English dub were shown at Comic Con. Check it out!

• Don’t miss more Scarlet & Violet Mystery Gift distributions:
  DARKTERA0006 for a Dark-Tera Type Charizard
  THA12022CHAMP for Shiny Grimmsnarl
  TERATYPECHANGE for 50 Fighting Tera Shards

Obscure Pokémon Fact of the Day (from u/Mx_Toniy_4869)

Until next time,
Cooltrainer “Playing Prism” Ace