Pokemon is the reason for many of our fondest memories growing up. Recently, I was hit with a hard dose of nostalgia and decided to seek out ROMs for the old Pokemon games to play them again on my emulator. As I was going down the rabbit hole of Pokemon games, I discovered a fan-made Pokemon MMO(Massively Multiplayer Online) game that takes the ROMs and transforms them into an online version of these games. Here’s how it works.
Choose Your Starter Pokemon…Game
If you’re a nerd like me, you know how ROMs and emulators work. Suppose you’re not into them yet. It’s a simple concept. “ROM” stands for Read-Only Memory, a type of computer memory that stores permanent data and instructions. In this case, think of it as your game cartridge. Now, you need your handheld gaming device to play your game cartridge. This is what an emulator provides. There are a plethora of emulators out there, but you won’t need any of them this time.
This game, PokeMMO, is the emulator. It emulates the game file and then turns it into an online version of that game so you can play with friends and other players around the world. Everything is just as you remember it. The storylines are the same. You go through this game as if it’s a single-player experience, except you see other players in this world with you. It’s so cool. I’ll give you a step-by-step process for getting into the game.
1. Register an account. First, you need to make your way to this site and click the Register Now! button. You will create an account.
2. Download PokeMMO. The game can be downloaded on various platforms, including Android, iOS, Windows, Linux, Mac, and Portable Zip. Click on the platform you’ll be playing on and hit download. The game file will download.
3. Download a ROM. To play PokeMMO, you’ll need one of the following Pokemon ROMs: Black/White, FireRed, Emerald, Platinum, or Heart Gold/SoulSilver. You can find any of these here.
4. Start the Game. Once you select the ROM you downloaded by clicking on ‘Select file,’ the game will close because it needs to be restarted for the file to be loaded. Open the game back up, and you’ll see a login screen. Remember that account you created in step one? Put in that information. That’s it! You’re ready to play! It’s that simple!
Creating Your Pokemon Trainer
The first thing you will do is create and customize the Pokemon trainer with which you’ll be going through your adventure. The customization isn’t bad for a 2-D pixel-based game, but it’s about what you’d expect. Give yourself a name that will identify you to other players, and you’re off. You can choose what region you want to start in. The version of Pokemon you loaded determines whether certain starting regions are applicable. For example, if FireRed is your game of choice, you can only choose the Kanto region since this is where the game takes place.
As mentioned before, everything is essentially the same. The only difference is that you’ll see many real-life trainers running around on your screen. All of the NPCs are there. The story still works out to what you’re familiar with. You can click on the burger menu at the top left to get into PvP battles, change your trainer’s appearance, view your Pokedex, and look for nearby players. Once you click on nearby players, a list of actions will come up. You can add them as a friend, spectate their battles, trade with them, or use the whisper feature, which is just used to get their attention.
Gotta Catch ‘Em All
If you get the urge to catch all the Pokemon and return to your former glory of being the best Pokemon trainer, then this game is for you. The aspect of getting to battle with other players without the need for a link cable is an amazing addition. This is just a fan-made game. Maybe one day, Nintendo and the Pokemon Company will team up to give us something like this on a larger scale. Until then, my Charmander and I will be training to beat you on the battlefield.
