Pokemon Gen 1 Recompilation Project

A native LÖVE2D recreation of Pokemon Red. The engine and map behavior are hand-written Lua; game data and graphics are decoded from a ROM supplied by the player.

SUPPORT AND ANNOUNCEMENTS: Discord

This project does not include a ROM, emulate the Game Boy, transpile assembly, or download a disassembly. A canonical US Pokemon Red ROM is the only game content input.

The ROM is verified, used during import, and then released from memory. It is not copied into the cache. Later launches load the private generated cache and do not ask for the ROM again.

Quick Start

Open the desktop app. On first boot, choose your legally obtained .gb file or drop it onto the window. Import takes a few seconds and the game starts automatically.

Only the canonical 1 MiB US Red ROM is accepted. The importer verifies SHA-1 ea9bcae617fdf159b045185467ae58b2e4a48b9a before creating any game data. The packaged app contains neither a ROM nor pre-extracted game data. Music, sound effects, and cries are synthesized while the game runs from compact audio channel programs copied out of the verified ROM.

Controls

arrow keys or WASD move; Z, Enter, or Space is A; X or Backspace is B; Escape opens START. F1 saves and F2 loads. Controllers are supported.

Running From Source

Requires LÖVE 11.x. Place the ROM in the project folder and double-click Play-Mac.command or Play-Windows.bat, or run:

scripts/setup.sh --rom "/path/to/Pokemon Red.gb"
scripts/run.sh

then love . for later launches. Windows PowerShell scripts, the optional developer data build, test suites, and cache management are covered in Developer Setup.

Modding

The game ships a native mod platform: content registries, events and hooks, per-mod saves and options, and an in-game manager. The full modding book — getting started, a twelve-rung tutorial ladder, a cookbook, and the generated reference — lives on the project wiki.

Shipped example mods, one per kind of author, live in mods/.

Bugs and Ideas

Found a bug? A warp dropping you somewhere it shouldn't, a battle doing math that looks wrong, text in the wrong box, anything that does not match the original game. Open a bug report. Attach a screenshot if you can. It saves a lot of back and forth, and if you can't get one, the form asks you to describe what you saw instead.

Thought of a feature that could be good, or a way to improve one that already exists? Open a feature request. Say what you want, why it is worth doing, and how you picture it working. A request with real detail is one that can actually get built.

More

• Link play — START > LINK connects two copies directly over UDP.
• Save editor — edit party, boxes, items, events, and Pokédex flags outside the game.
• docs/architecture.md — runtime details; docs/behavior-porting-notes.md — formula provenance.

Special Thanks

This project would not be possible without pret > the pret band of decompiling maniacs > and their pokered disassembly.