Pokémon Saga: DarkViolet is one of those fan-made GBA hacks that actually feels polished—like stumbling onto a lost official release. You start in a reworked Kanto with new story hooks, and right away there are tweaks: different starter choices, NPCs dropping hints about some shady stuff going down, and wild Pokémon you wouldn’t normally see this early. The sprites are crisp, and the dialogue doesn’t feel like placeholder text (which, let’s be honest, is rare in beta hacks).

First ten minutes? You’ll get pulled into a weird encounter with Team Rocket—except they’re acting off, almost like they’re scared of something bigger. And yeah, the difficulty’s bumped up just enough to make you think twice about spamming Tackle. I went with a Totodile (because who doesn’t?), but the rival’s team actually adapts based on your pick, which threw me off. Little details like that make it stand out.

It’s still a beta, so there are rough edges—some areas are locked, and the post-game’s a work in progress. But for a fan project, it’s shockingly playable. If you’ve burned through the official games and want something familiar but fresh, this is worth a slot on your emulator.