Were you the kid who was always drawing original Pokémon designs? Always wondering why there were no poison or ice types? What happened to awesome ghost-type Eeveelutions? Pokémon Infinite Fusion is a ROM hack that will let you create over 250,000 unique Pokémon to fill those missed opportunities.
What Is a ROM Hack?
As far as older video games are concerned, a ROM is a digital copy of a video game stored on a cartridge or disc. Basically, it’s a digital facsimile of a physical game cart.
A ROM hack is a modified copy of the original ROM. Someone goes into the original ROM and alters, adds, or removes code to make different things happen. A very simple example would be if someone ‘hacked’ an original copy of Pokémon Yellow, and made it so the player starts with any Pokémon besides Pikachu, like the original intended. ROM hacks can be as simple as that, or as complex as someone making an entirely new game from the building blocks of the original.
In short, a ROM hack isn’t much different from the idea of mods. An original game is modified and packaged as a single file. You just can’t turn the mods off, because they are part of the total package at that point. ROM hacks, like the topic of video game ROMs in general, exist in a legally gray area.
The fan game I’m talking about today is a very complicated ROM hack built off the back of Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen that completely changes a ton of the gameplay and experience.
What is Infinite Fusion?
The basic premise of this ROM hack is simple: what if you could fuse ANY two Pokémon together? What if Bulbasaur and Charmander could combine? Mewtwo and Rattata? Groudon and Kyogre? I’m not exaggerating when I say that this ROM hack lets you fuse any two Pokémon you want, even two of the same Pokémon.
The ROM hack revolves around this mechanic and the hundreds of thousands of potential combinations it opens up. Fusing two Pokémon together results in an entirely new, unique beast that blends the strengths and weaknesses of its two initial components. This not only includes the stats and move sets of the two Pokémon, but also new dual-typing and brand-new sprites as well. You can basically take genetics to a never-before-seen level and create the perfect Pokémon like some mad scientist.
The lack of restriction on fusion options gives you a ton of freedom that no other official game or ROM hack does. You can create dual-type Pokémon that have never existed in official games, creating both total flops that are 8x weak against another type or near-invincible god-like Pokémon with almost no weaknesses at all. If you have a favorite Pokémon that you always wanted to see awesome variants of, fusion can let you create the rock-type Eevee or volcanic Lapras you never had.
The ability to fuse every Pokémon currently in the ROM hack genuinely means there are over 250,000 possible combinations to come across while playing, and while that sounds overwhelming, there are a ton of reasons that this huge number makes Infinite Fusion such an incredibly replayable ROM hack.
The Sprites Are Awesome
One of the biggest charms of Pokémon is the amazing designs of these mythical fictional creatures, and that remains the biggest selling point of Infinite Fusion if you ask me. There is a huge, dedicated community that is responsible for this ROM hack, with tons of artists creating meticulously crafted sprites for different Pokémon fusions.
Some of these designs are utterly incredible, so good they could easily fit into an official title. Others are horrifying. Some are just interesting ideas.
Admittedly, popular Pokémon get a lot more unique sprites than the others. You can bet there are way more hand-drawn sprites for Gardevoir than there are for something like Trubbish. There are automatic AI fusions available for every Pokémon too, though their quality is hit-and-miss. However, considering the hundreds of thousands of combinations and some fusions that have multiple sprites you can choose from, one of the best things about this game is just seeing how crazy things can get.
The most fun I’ve ever had with Pokémon in my 25 years with this franchise is coming across a new, absurd-looking fusion and calling my wife over to look at it so we could laugh our butts off. Sheer visual variety adds a ton of life and fun to this game, and that’s before you even get to triple fusions.
The Challenge of Randomness
Replaying the same Pokémon game over and over again can get pretty boring, because you always know what to expect, which lowers replay value. Technically, there is a fixed version of Infinite Fusion where everyone has the same Pokémon every time. But there’s also a randomized mode that gives every single opponent random Pokémon, and even has the Pokémon that appear in the wild for you to catch randomized as well.
This adds a layer of challenge and unpredictability that no other ROM hack can match. You never know what chimera you are going to see next. Half the time, I can’t tell what they are a fusion of even after I see them. I usually just have to guess based on their sometimes hilarious name. In regular Pokémon, it’s always easy to know the perfect counter to every opponent. In Infinite Fusion, you don’t have that assurance, and that alone makes the game way more fun if you want less predictable, easy fights.
A Genuinely Robust Amount of Content
Honestly, Infinite Fusion could have just added the fusion mechanic to baseline FireRed or LeafGreen and still had an incredible ROM hack. But it goes much further than that, with a wealth of post-game content after you do your typical business of beating gym leaders and the Elite Four in Kanto. You can also go to the Johto region, the Sevii Islands from FireRed and LeafGreen, and a ton of optional locations to hunt down amazing legendary Pokémon.
There are optional side quests in this ROM hack that give you special rewards, rematches against opponents, and even a special endgame fighting arena where you can rematch the game’s gym leaders at much higher levels. Oh, and did I mention that this ROM hack even lets you customize your age, appearance, and clothes, with more fashion options than even the later official Pokémon games?
On top of all of that, there are a ton of settings to give you reasons to replay this game over and over again, including difficulty modes, what types of Pokémon get fused and who gets them, and much more. It’s not an exaggeration to say that Infinite Fusion has hundreds of hours of gameplay packed into it, and it’s not solely thanks to the fusing mechanic, even though you will definitely spend dozens of hours catching everything in sight just to see what a new fusion looks like.
At any rate, while it’s easy to play the classic Pokémon games on any device these days, they’ll never give you as much replay value as this fan-made alternative.
Ultimately, I’m not trying to put down other Pokémon ROM hacks. There are a ton of amazing fan-made games out there well worth playing. But for many of them, you beat them once, and then there’s nothing new. I genuinely believe that Infinite Fusion one of the deepest, most complex, most replayable ROM hacks out there.
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