Entertainment · Gaming · 3 hrs ago
Pokémon Heart & Soul fan remake revisits Johto and Kanto
Pokémon Heart & Soul is a fan-made remake, known as a ROM hack, of the early Pokémon games.
It takes players to Johto and Kanto, two regions from the series’ second generation.
The game includes Pokémon from the first three generations and adds features such as reusable TMs, updated visuals and Fairy-type Pokémon.
It also brings in some mechanics from the third generation and modern quality-of-life improvements.
The project was mostly completed by one person who had no programming experience, after a year of full-time work.
Its developer made it open-source and encourages other fans to build on it.
Another fan-made game, Pokémon SoulGold, uses Heart & Soul as a starting point but focuses on an expanded Johto region instead of including Kanto.
Pokémon Heart & Soul is a fan-made ROM hack set in the Johto and Kanto regions.
It draws its Pokémon from Generations 1–3 and adds modern quality-of-life features and mechanics from Generation 3.
The game also includes updated visuals, reusable TMs and Fairy-type Pokémon.
Its development was mostly completed by one person with no programming experience and took a year of full-time work.
The project is open-source, and its developer encourages others to build on it.
- Who
- A fan developer, whose name is not stated, mostly completed the game.
- What
- Pokémon Heart & Soul is a fan-made ROM hack revisiting Johto and Kanto.
- When
- It took a year of full-time work to complete. The article was published on October 11, 2026.
- Where
- The game takes place in the Johto and Kanto regions.
- Why
- It was made as a fan-made version of the early Pokémon games, with added features and improvements.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
a love letter to Gen 2
The project took a year of full-time work to complete, mostly by one person with no programming experience.
Another ROM hack, Pokémon SoulGold, followed, removing Kanto while expanding Johto and adding other features.
- Regions
- Johto and Kanto
- Pokémon pool
- Generations 1–3
- Development time
- One year of full-time work
- Development
- Mostly completed by one person with no programming experience
- Related ROM hack
- Pokémon SoulGold
Sources
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