Beyond Kanto

Guides for the Pokémon games Nintendo never made

Legendary locations, Pokédex checklists, Hard mode gym teams, and help picking which ROM hack to play next. Every guide is written after finishing the game.

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ROM Hacks Best of

Best GBA Pokémon ROM hacks in 2026 (FireRed and Emerald based)

The 14 GBA Pokémon ROM hacks worth playing in 2026, split by base game, with Pokémon counts, Mega support, difficulty, and which ones I actually finished.

Updated October 24, 2026

ROM Hacks Best of

The best Johto ROM hacks, from faithful remakes to full expansions

Which Johto ROM hack to play, picked by what you want: Polished Crystal, Crystal Clear, Heart & Soul, Sacred Gold, SoulGold and more, with the catch on each.

Updated October 24, 2026

ROM Hacks Best of

The best Pokémon ROM hacks in 2026, ranked by who they are for

Fifteen Pokémon ROM hacks ranked, with a pick-by-goal table up top. Base game, what each one does, who should play it, and the catch for every entry.

Updated October 24, 2026

ROM Hacks Best of

Pokémon ROM hacks with Mega Evolution: every one worth playing (2026)

Ten ROM hacks that really have Mega Evolution, how each one hands out Mega Stones and the Key Stone, which add custom Megas, and which popular hacks have none.

Updated October 24, 2026

ROM Hacks Guide

How to play a Pokémon ROM hack: patching explained in plain English

A ROM hack comes as a patch, not a game. How to patch one, why the base ROM revision matters, which patcher to use, and what the common errors mean.

Updated October 24, 2026

ROM Hacks Best of

Pokémon ROM hacks ranked by difficulty, from relaxed to Kaizo

Every major Pokémon ROM hack sorted into five difficulty tiers, from relaxed to Kaizo, with the level caps, item bans and AI that put each one there.

Updated October 24, 2026

How these guides are made

SoulGold and Unbound guides come from finished playthroughs, checked against each game's official documentation, and every page names the patch it was checked against. Games we have not finished appear only in rankings and comparisons, and those pages say so. We link to creators' official pages and never to game files.

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