Pokémon Shiny Gold is a fan-made GBA romhack that remakes Gold/Silver with a bunch of extra stuff crammed in—new areas, updated sprites, and yeah, obviously all the Johto nostalgia. You start off in New Bark Town like usual, but pretty quick you’ll notice little tweaks, like some trainers having different teams or wild Pokémon you don’t remember being in the original.

It’s still classic Pokémon at its core, but with enough surprises to keep even veterans guessing. I got wrecked by a gym leader’s unexpected lineup because I assumed it’d be the same as the old games. Lesson learned. The shiny rates are boosted too, so if you’ve ever wanted a full team of sparkly monsters without grinding forever, this is your shot.

Runs smooth on emulators, though some text glitches pop up here and there—nothing game-breaking, just the usual romhack quirks.