Pokémon Run & Bun (2023)

Developer: dekzeh
Platforms: Game Boy Advance
Genres: Role-playing (RPG), Adventure
Main story: about 53 hours
Completionist: about 42 hours

How it feels

A grueling difficulty-hack RPG with custom, synergistic trainer battles designed to test mastery rather than grind.

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About

Pokémon Run & Bun is at it's core a difficulty hack of Emerald, slightly inspired by games such as Emerald Kaizo and Radical Red, but offering a lot of new takes on ways to make battles interesting. Plenty of quality of life features will make sure you spend your time on the fun side of it instead of worrying about gruesome, tedious tasks. The game features almost 500 battles, and all of them were designed with custom movesets and synergistic parties, making each trainer feel unique in it's own way within the world. You will not be stomping your way through battles here, you will simply be another trainer in the world, making your journey feel like an actual journey and not a slog. Gym Leaders and Teams Aqua and Magma have been given extra attention and boss fights were added to complement the game. Each victory should feel rewarding.

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