Pokémon: Frigo Returns is one of those weird, offbeat ROM hacks that somehow works. You start off in a familiar-but-tweaked Kanto where everything’s just a little… off. The trainers have bizarre teams, the dialogue’s been rewritten with this dry humor, and yeah, Frigo (from that old meme) shows up way more than he should. At first I thought it’d just be a joke mod, but the balancing’s actually solid—gym leaders hit harder, wild Pokémon spawns are smarter, and you’ll actually need to think about type matchups again.

Weirdest part? It’s got this oddly addictive quality. Like, I went in expecting a five-minute laugh and ended up grinding for a Gengar before the third badge. The sprite edits are janky in that charming early-2000s way, and someone clearly had too much fun renaming moves ("Hyper Beam" becomes "Fridge Beam," obviously). If you’ve played a million FireRed hacks and want something that doesn’t take itself seriously but still plays well, this is the one. Just don’t question why there’s a level 50 Snorlax blocking Route 3.