Pokémon Radical Red

A difficulty hack of FireRed with modern mechanics and Pokémon up to Gen 9.

Radical Red is built for players who want FireRed to fight back. Trainers are far tougher, and you get modern tools to match: later-generation mechanics, a much bigger Pokémon pool, and optional modes that raise or lower the challenge.

By

soupercell

Built on

Pokémon FireRed (GBA), on the Custom FireRed Upgrade (CFRU) engine

Version

4.1 (March 2024)

What the game adds

• Pokémon, moves and abilities from later generations, up to Gen 9, with updated sprites
• Mega Evolutions and Z-Moves, and Dynamax in Wish Piece raid battles
• Physical/special split and the Fairy type
• Reusable TMs and an expanded TM list
• DexNav, which lets you search for Pokémon with hidden abilities
• A built-in randomizer, and optional difficulty modes (see the official thread for the current list)

With Tallgrass

• Live party: species, level, HP, nature, IVs, EVs and moves, read from the running game
• Route encounters for the map you're on, by time of day (day, and evening & night), with what you've seen and caught marked
• The Journey: catches, faints and new routes logged automatically, with an optional Nuzlocke view
• All 25 PC boxes, live and from save files
• Every save backed up as a new version, so a bad save can be rolled back
• Every trainer, plus a Bosses page with each gym leader, Elite Four member, rival and villain boss and their teams, documented on this site

Good to know:

• Hidden abilities show the regular ability, because the game's hidden-ability flag isn't decoded yet.
• Encounters changed by a story script aren't shown.

Getting started

1. Get the patch from the official thread. Tallgrass doesn't download or share ROMs: apply the patch to your own copy of FireRed. The patcher asks for a specific FireRed (USA) dump; the thread says which.
2. Put the patched ROM in your RetroPie gba folder.
3. Open Tallgrass → Setup, choose Radical Red, and follow the checks. Tallgrass recognises the ROM by its checksum; if the Library page says "not supported yet", you have a different version.
4. Play. Your party shows up on the dashboard, and your saves are backed up as you go.

Full install and setup steps are in the guide.

Official and useful links

• Radical Red on PokéCommunity: The official thread: releases and updates. The hack also has an official online patcher, documentation of every change, and a Discord server.
• OpenHome: A save editor and Pokémon bank that supports Radical Red saves. See the guide's editing section.

Written from the hack's public information and Tallgrass's own testing, for the version above. Features change between releases, so the official thread is the authority.