Emerald Legacy is the finale of the three planned projects in the Legacy Trilogy by the creator TheSmithPlays. It is made using the Pokémon Emerald disassembly made by the Pret team. This game is focused on refining a game considered a classic while using 20+ years of hindsight to improve the experience. Emerald is a great game with a ton of flaws when you look at the game critically; poor Pokémon availability, odd team-building choices, a great story executed poorly, baffling rival decisions, and an Elite Four in dire need of improvement. Despite these flaws, Pokémon Emerald has maintained a positive reputation with memorable Pokédex additions, fantastic gym leader ace Pokémon, abilities, the Battle Frontier, and overall being a large step forward for the series. The Legacy Project aims to improve what makes this game great while improving its flaws.
Keeping that nostalgic feeling is a key part of the project and thus requires us to temper our changes into things that improve the experience but don’t take you out of that original Generation 3 mindset. Things like the Physical/Special Split, adding moves, adding new evolutions, or adding the fairy typing are not things you will find in this game. Instead look for improvements to the Rival storyline, Team Magma & Aqua storyline, Tons of Pokemon balancing using the tools given to us in this generation, a robust post-game, improved boss fights throughout the game, adjusted level curve, and so much more. The creator is not trying to create a new game, nor trying to create a “Kaizo” game that is insanely difficult. TheSmithPlays wanted to create a modern but nostalgic version of Pokémon Emerald.
