Pokemon Palimpsest is a Completed GBA Rom Hack made by KittyPBoxx. Outsmart divine odds using prayer-based battle puzzles—one unleveling Pokemon, cursed luck, and zero margin for error.
Pokemon Palimpsest Completed GBA Rom Hack
- Author: KittyPBoxx
- Hack Off: Emerald
- Language: English
- Latest Version: v1.2
- Last Updated: October 21,2025
- Status: Completed
Story
In a world where god launch startups, headline movies and make presidential bids, hopeful trainers must compete for power, glory and most importantly minimum wage internships.
Unfortunately, on morning of the ascendancy exam, you overslept. Now your only chance to impress the gods is a pokemon that cannot level and has no moves.
To make matters worse your punishment for being late is to experience the worst possible luck in every battle you do.
With all the odds stacked against you the only thing you can do is pray.
Gameplay:
This is a short hack focused on battle puzzles.
Expected playtime is 1-4 hours depending on your knowledge of battle mechanics.
However, these battles have a slight twist:
- You will only ever have one pokemon.
- It will never gain experience.
- You will receive terrible luck in every battle. There is no RNG outside wild battles.
- You can always see your opponents moves, abilities and items in battle.
- Each turn, instead of moving, you can perform one of four prayer moves.
These allow you to:
- Permanently copy an opponents move
- Permanently copy an opponents species
- Permanently switch abilities with an opponent
- Permanently switch items with an opponent
The effect of all prayers continue after the battle (on your pokemon).
Features:
- Unique Maps and Puzzle battles
- Battle prayer system
- QOL: Speedup, Inst text, Hold2Mash, Inst Save, Autosave, Multiple Save Slots
Notes
- (START) in the fight menu can be used to terastallize in battle.
- (SELECT) in the fight menu can be used to change the order of moves.
- Hold (R) to speedup the game while keeping original music speed. (Speedup amount will vary depending on how many object are currently on screen)
- Auto saves happen at the end of every battle and whenever a new area is unlocked.
- Battle mechanics are Gen 9.
- (L + R + B + START) opens the debug menu, with the BATTLES section giving the intended setup for each battle. A full cheatsheet is available for those who need a little more divine inspiration.
- Puzzle solutions, Game Info and Debug Settings can be found at the following link (all hidden by default so you won’t spoil yourself)
https://github.com/KittyPBoxx/tarc2/blob/main/README.md
NOTE: Some effects use frame-blending. If you’re on emulator or have a screen mod then enabling the frame blend mode (aka interframe blending, ghosting, lcd blur) is recommended to avoid flicker.
Changelog
Version 1.2
- Puzzle battles have been updated
- Warp menu now shows your current mons info
- Some bug fixes in the bad luck system
- R now speeds up the game
- All battle music now loops properly
- Examiner mugshot updated and various overworld sprite tweaks.
- New tiles and animation effects in most areas
Screenshots

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