Cookbook

Find the change you want, then read that recipe's prerequisites before copying code. First change recipes need only the two-file mod setup. Basic Lua assumes the tables and functions in Modding Basics. Callbacks, hooks, rendering, and platform integrations add further concepts; an outline deliberately leaves part of the feature for you to implement.

New here? Complete Your First Change first. Use the tutorials when you want a whole working project. Every recipe below links directly to its section and names a fuller walkthrough.

Recipes are written against Red. A Gen 2 / Gen 3 line under a recipe says what carries over to Gold, Silver and Crystal and to FireRed, LeafGreen, Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald, and what does not. For one source that runs on every game, see Portable Mods across Gen 1, 2 and 3; for Gold-specific routing, Preparing Your Mod for Gen 2.

#	Recipe	Level	Primary API	Page
R01	Recolor a battle sprite	Basic Lua	asset transform	Tweaks
R02	Rewrite one dialogue line	First change	text:override	Tweaks
R03	Buff a move's power	Basic Lua	moves:patch	Tweaks
R04	Rebalance a species' stats	Basic Lua	pokemon:patch(baseStats)	Tweaks
R05	Change a wild encounter table	Basic Lua	encounters:patch	Tweaks
R18	Change a trainer's party	Basic Lua	trainers:patch(parties)	Tweaks
R08	Add a Mart item	Basic Lua	items:register + text_pointers	Items and Balls
R09	Define an item use effect	Basic Lua	item_effects:register	Items and Balls
R10	Add a new Poke Ball	Basic Lua	balls:register	Items and Balls
R11	Add a new move (existing effect)	Basic Lua	moves:register	Species and Moves
R12	Add a custom move effect	Callbacks	move_effects:register	Species and Moves
R13	Add a new species	Basic Lua + assets	pokemon:register	Species and Moves
R14	Give a species a party icon	Basic Lua + assets	icons:register	Species and Moves
R15	Give a species a cry	Basic Lua + audio	cries:register	Species and Moves
R16	Add a growth curve	Functions	growth_rates:register	Species and Moves
R17	Add an evolution method	Advanced outline	evolution_methods:register	Species and Moves
R06	Retarget a map's music	First change	map_songs:override	Audio
R07	Replace one SFX with a file	Basic Lua	sfx:override({file=})	Audio
R26	Author a chiptune (ChipAsm)	Advanced audio	ChipAsm + music:register	Audio
R20	Add a script command	Scripting	mod.commands:register	World and Scripting
R21	Add a text token	Functions + text	tokens:register	World and Scripting
R22	Add a talk script to an NPC	Scripting	map_scripts:register(talk)	World and Scripting
R23	Spawn a new NPC on a map	Events	mod.world:spawnNpc	World and Scripting
R24	Add an onStep trigger	Callbacks	map_scripts compose	World and Scripting
R25	Add a new map + connection	Map authoring	maps:register	World and Scripting
R19	Add a custom AI brain	Advanced callbacks	trainers:patch(brain)	Battle and Mechanics
R27	React to a battle event	Events	events:on("battle.move_used")	Battle and Mechanics
R28	Wrap the damage hook	Hooks	hooks:wrap("battle.damage")	Battle and Mechanics
R29	Add a status condition	Advanced mechanics	statuses:register	Battle and Mechanics
R30	Add a type + chart row	Basic Lua + mechanics	type_chart:register	Battle and Mechanics
R31	Add a Start-menu entry	UI hooks	hooks:wrap("ui.start_menu.items")	UI and Infrastructure
R32	Register a custom screen	UI callbacks	screens:register + push_screen	UI and Infrastructure
R33	Persist mod state	Events + saves	mod.save:get/set	UI and Infrastructure
R34	Define a mod option	Basic Lua	mod.options:define	UI and Infrastructure
R35	Export an inter-mod API	Advanced multi-mod example	mod.exports + mod.find	UI and Infrastructure
R36	Scale a battle sprite	Basic Lua + art	battle_sprite_scales:register / pokemon:patch	Battle and Mechanics
R37	Reshape Oak's intro speech	UI hooks + saves	hooks:wrap("intro.oak_speech.build")	UI and Infrastructure
R38	Gen-2-like ruleset toggles	Advanced mechanics	rulesets + hyperBeamSkipRechargeOnKO	Battle and Mechanics
R39	Shiny indicator overlay	Advanced rendering	battle.overlay + Stats.isShiny	Battle and Mechanics
R49	Pick Pokémon sprites on the fly	Advanced outline	pokemon.sprite / pokemon.icon	Battle and Mechanics
R50	Swap the player's trainer art	Art or advanced hooks	field.playerPics / player.sprite	Battle and Mechanics
R40	Running shoes	Hooks	movement.speed	World and Scripting
R41	Day / night palette	Hooks + palettes	world.tod + map.palette	World and Scripting
R42	Slower / faster warp fades	Basic Lua	transitions:patch("warp_fade")	World and Scripting
R51	Make an ordinary NPC battleable	Advanced scripting	trainers:register + maps/map_scripts	World and Scripting
R43	CD-quality map soundtrack	Basic Lua + audio	music:override({file=})	Audio
R44	Distance / indoor music volume	Hooks	music.volume	Audio
R45	Bag wrap / page-jump / hold-scroll	UI hooks	ui.list_menu	UI and Infrastructure
R46	Digits on the naming screen	UI hooks	ui.naming.grid	UI and Infrastructure
R47	Wider survey zoom	Hooks	zoom.range	UI and Infrastructure
R48	Super Game Boy border	Advanced rendering + art	render.letterbox	UI and Infrastructure
R52	One-button field actions	Hooks + world API	mod.world:availableFieldActions	World and Scripting
R53	Gen-2-style battle QoL toggles	UI hooks	battle.caught_marker_visible + grid navigation	Battle and Mechanics
R54	React to real-world steps	Platform integration	mod.steps (steps permission)	UI and Infrastructure
R55	Species / trainer battle theme	Basic Lua + audio	pokemon:patch + trainers:patch(battleTheme)	Audio
R56	Trainer palette and per-party names	Basic Lua + art	trainers:patch(palette, partyNames)	Battle and Mechanics

No recipe reaches the total-conversion tier; that is a guided rung (Tutorial 12), not a copy-paste snippet, because it coordinates every subsystem at once.