Pokémon Emerald Plus Plus is basically Emerald on steroids—same Hoenn region you remember, but with way more to do. The starters are different (good luck picking between Treecko, Torchic, and Mudkip all over again), and there are extra legendaries lurking in places you wouldn’t expect. First time I booted it up, I got wrecked by a random trainer with a full team of six near Rustboro—turns out the difficulty’s been cranked up too.

Wild Pokémon encounters are shuffled, so you might run into something weird early, like a Ralts before the first gym. And if you’ve ever wanted to catch Deoxys without an event, this romhack finally lets you. It’s still Emerald at heart, just… messier in the best way. You’ll probably reset a few times when your rival’s starter suddenly has perfect IVs.