Pokemon Heart & Soul (v1.2.1) GBA Download

Pokemon Heart & Soul is a Completed GBA Rom Hack made by Lil Dill. Play a modern GBA remake of Johto combining Gen 2, 3, and 4 elements with enhanced gameplay features.

Pokemon Heart & Soul Completed GBA Rom Hack

Author: Lil Dill
Hack Off: Emerald
Language: English
Released on: September 26, 2025
Latest Version: v1.2.1
Last updated: December 01, 2025
Status: Completed

What is Pokemon Heart & Soul?

Pokemon Heart & Soul brings the classic Johto Region and its iconic story to the world of modern GBA decomp hacking. Built on the Modern Emerald decomp, this project offers a fresh take on the GSC/HGSS experience, blending key aspects of the Gen 2 and Gen 4 games, while incorporating many modern QoL features, as well as some familiar Gen 3 mechanics. Not only is Heart & Soul (HnS) a first-of-its-kind, fully completed, playtested, and largely faithful GSC remake / HGSS demake, it’s also completely open source, and is intended to be a base for a new generation of Johto rom hacks.

Features

Generation 1-3 Pokémon, plus their later gen evolutions (excluding the Regis and Jirachi)
Full Johto story and Kanto postgame from HGSS, including the Kimono Girls and Eusine
Following Pokémon
Overworld background Pokémon allow you to easily see the notable encounters on each route
Day/Night System with variable encounters
Dynamic overworld palettes
HGSS Music
Highly varied trainer teams and encounters, based on Crystal Legacy
HMs do not need to be taught to a Pokémon in order for it to be used
Apricons replaced with berries, Kurt will use them to make unique Pokéballs
Timekeeping does not track days of the week, Everything is progression based
16 Gym leader rematches
Two Safari Zones
Unique surfing Pokémon sprites
Customizable shiny rate
Physical/special split is toggleable
Fairy type is toggleable
AutoRun and FastSurf are toggleable
Quick run from wild battles using button combination
Ball prompts for quick catching
… and much more!

Setting Expectations

Heart & Soul was designed as a traditional Pokémon experience, akin to the main-series games. It is not a difficulty hack, and does not have built-in features for non-traditional playstyles. Do not expect to see features like infinite rare candies, or built-in randomization or nuzlocking rules.
Heart & Soul stands on the shoulders of giants. I am not an artist, so much of the art and some of the code for this project was drawn from open source assets. I did my best to credit all sources below and in the game credits, but if you find any that I missed, please let me know in the Heart & Soul Discord.
Heart & Soul has been rigorously playtested, (shoutout to the playtesters) but there still may be some small bugs. If you find any, please report them to the Heart & Soul Discord.
There are a few GSC/HGSS features that were too complex or time consuming for me to implement in this project. See differences section below.

Differences from GSC/HGSS

Radio is a standalone Key Item with limited functionality instead of a menu in the Pokégear
Trainers will not offer their phone numbers, no way to rematch them
Greatly improved level curve
Apricorns replaced with berries, berry ball catch boost is based on Type
Strength boulder-in-hole puzzles replaced with Emerald Mach Bike puzzles
No itemfinder and no hidden items – Only 50 TMs (The ones from emerald)
Swarms are replaced with a 5% Hoenn encounter on each route in Kanto
Mom does not take your money
Ruins of alph back room requirements are slightly altered
No pokéathalon dome
Battle Tower from Emerald is in the game. Battle Frontier is not.
No trades in Kanto

Recommended Emulators

For PC/Mac: mGBA
For Android: pizzaboy, Lemuroid, Retroarch w/ mGBA core.
For IOS: Delta, Retroarch w/ mGBA core, Ignited.
For Linux Handheld Devices: Retroarch w/ mGBA core.

Changelog

V1.2.1

Developers: Lil Dill, DaniRainbow, Restes

Bug Fixes:

Rival name should no longer be reset if you save for the first time after naming him. If you were affected by this bug, you can now change your rival’s name at the TV in the name rater’s house in goldenrod.
Updating will no longer revert your shiny colors setting to vanilla. If you were affected by this bug, you can now toggle the setting at the bookshelf in the name rater’s house in goldenrod.
A variety of nuzlocke, randomizer, and mono type fixes
Random items won’t begin until after receiving balls from Elm’s aide
No EVs challenge will now end after Red
Synchronize now works on fishing (removed a little known chain fishing mechanic)
Text, grammer, spelling fixes
Fixed partner battle text
Fixed very rare Totodile of Terror bug that caused crashing on the first wild battle
Fixed the reception gate door animation on the route 28 side
Replaced some location music for parity with HGSS
Rocket hideout statues should turn off after getting the HM from Lance
Pond battle background fixed
Violet city poliwag is no longer omnipotent
Removed Togepi from starter pool on randomizer or mono type challenge to prevent softlocks
Fixed secret swinub cutscene game crash in ice path
Updated some trainer overworld sprites to match their battle pics
Added wall clock to lake of rage house to prevent temporary softlock
Synced time based evolution time ranges to the 1.2 time of day ranges

v1.2.0

Challenge Menu:

Added Nuzlocke settings page
Added Randomzier settings page
Added Special Challenges page
Added a Challenge Menu Viewer to the PC so that you can see your selected challenges after game start
Updated much of the text for parity with Modern Emerald 3.2

Gameplay:

Added the Battle Frontier from Emerald. This includes the improvements made in Modern Emerald. Access it from either port after returning the Machine Part in Kanto. You can also fly there on subsequent visits.
Moved Battle Tower from Route 41 to Battle Frontier
Added Trainer Hill and Battle Tents to Route 41
Added Contest Hall to Viridian City
Redesigned Whirl Islands to make Lugia’s home feel as special and unique as Ho-oh’s. This includes new encounters.
Redesigned Mt. Moon cave for parity with FireRed
Added Jirachi
Added Kanto wild, trainer, and gym leader battle music from HGSS
Name your rival (new saves only)
Overworld pokemon are now more animated
Added glow effects to many overworld objects, especially at night
Standardized the Day/Night cycle. Day:6am-6pm Night:6pm-6am. Sunrise/Sunset:5-7am/pm. Overworld pokemon, wild encounters, and battle backgrounds, and new lighting should reflect these changes.
Added a unique battle background palette for Sunrise/Sunset
Added new original sprites for Gold and Kris in the overworld
Added new battle front pic for Gold and Sage trainer
Changed Saffron Dojo Raichu to a Pidgeot
New sprites for Johto Badges

Options Menu:

Added Gen 4 ‘Battle UI’ option
Added Gen 1 ‘Recharge Move’ option

Bug Fixes:

Many dialogue fixes
Many tile/collision fixes
Many overworld sprite fixes
Type chart is now 1:1 with Gen 6+ type chart (Read the Docs)
Losing at the league will now respawn you at the league
Surfing pokémon now match their walking counterparts more closely
Rewinding the clock will no longer trap you in the past
Maxing out your clock will now result in rollover to 001:00 to prevent the 999:59 time freeze
Rage candy bar sell price nerfed. Y’all could not keep quiet.
Fixed an issue that prevented Raikou from respawning after league clears if he had been caught
Vermilion city Suicune event fixes
Sabrina now gives marsh badge, Janine gives soul badge (purely cosmetic fix)
Starter Pokemon Follower now appears in Elm’s lab immediately after choosing
A lot more that I don’t remember

Misc:

Added Dennis
Added headbutt encounters to route 13
Updated Credits to reflect new devs, artists, and playtesters

Learnsets:

Buffed the learnsets of over 100 pokemon to elevate under-performers and fill in some of the notorious gaps in the gen 3 learnests. See the github patchnotes for specifics.

v1.1.6 – Hotfix

Fixed extremely rare Sprout Tower softlock (thank you Bullis!)
Fixed an exploit that allowed you to skip the chosen box legendary kimono scene
Special dratini from 100%ing the Elder’s quiz should always be shiny now
Fixed seafoam islands nighttime encounters

v1.1.5

Fixed Safari Zone Gate Fly flag (If you were between Olivine and SZG when updating, please enter and exit SZG from the south entrance, making sure to fully cross the bridge a few times. This will give you the fly flag for SZG.)
Added flash to title screen version number
Updated version number to 1.1.5

v1.1.4

Fixed Blue’s overworld palette

v1.1.3

Fixes:

Followers remain in PokeBall at Birth Island
Mew keeps its body if floating above grass when discovered
Various dialogue scrolls when it wouldn’t before
Mitigated a potential softlock with the Route 19 Kinglers
Various shiny overworld sprites adjusted (credit: Restes)
Vanilla music bug with Deoxys encounter (credit: Restes)
Togekiss can actually learn Moonblast, but can’t relearn Growl, Chram, or Sweet Kiss in exchange (see learnset limitation below)
Various collision corrections
Various dialogue, spelling, and grammar corrections
Munchlax looks correct in Party Screen after animation and sprite adjustment (credit: Restes)
Gold and Kris can use the stairs again in Route 10
Made Faraway Island Interior sign visible and interactable
Fuchsia City Sign has something on it now
Route 4 Pokemon Center clock actually works now
Snorlax has background music instead of sound effects
Route 35 Bird Keeper Bryan mentions Aspear Berries instead of White Apricorns
Safari Zone no longer locks players out of East and West zones if the player doesn’t visit before Saffron City
Escape Ropes actually help you escape Mt. Silver

Changes:

Link Cable NPC swapped with a Book Worm NPC in Violet City Pokemon Center
Route 26 will now give a Sitrus berry
New sprites for many story line trainers!!! (credit: Cesare_CBass)
Added version number to the title screen

Moves:

Crunch move description is now accurate, for sure this time
Calm Mind is now a TM Typhlosion can learn

Engine/ Dev:

Better map group tracking for developers
Sound setting maintains code instead of disabling it if turned off
Reduced build warnings
Warning to limit learnset moves to 20 or fewer
Added a line to explain where the version number is
Saves will automatically grant Safari Zone East and West access if the player didn’t get them and has gym badge 16