Pokemon Radical Red (GBA): Full In-Depth Review (2025)

Pokemon Radical Red (GBA): Full In-Depth Review (1)

Contents

  • 1 What Is Pokémon Radical Red?
  • 2 How Is Radical Red Similar to FireRed?
  • 3 How Is This ROM Hack Different from FireRed?
    • 3.1 Difficulty Hack of FireRed
    • 3.2 Built-in Randomizer
    • 3.3 Gym Leader Rematches
    • 3.4 Pokémon Radical Red Hacks
    • 3.5 Available Pokémon and Encounter Locations
  • 4 How Do You Install Pokémon Radical Red?
  • 5 That VideoGame Blog: The Number One Resource for Pokémon News and ROM Hacks

This post was last updated on May 1, 2024

If you keep up with the ever-expanding and changing Pokémon community, you’ve probably heard of the incredibly popular ROM hack called Pokémon Radical Red. The original Pokémon games provide hours of endless entertainment—but fan-made ROM hacks take them to a whole new level. So, how does Radical Red compare to Pokémon FireRed, and what should you know before jumping into it?

What Is Pokémon Radical Red?

Pokémon Radical Red is a game that the Pokémon fanbase created to build on Pokémon FireRed. Most players can beat the original games without paying too close attention to their stats, techniques, and skill. However, this difficulty hack offers the ultimate challenge for only the most daring trainers, with every Pokémon character from the first eight generations in the Kanto region.

Many avid gamers will play and replay FireRed until they can beat it with their eyes closed. Pokémon Radical Red brings the game back to life and gives it a fresh feel. The fun doesn’t have to end!

Radical Red is by no means the only available Pokémon game hack. If you’re interested in others, check out our list of the best Pokémon fan games.

How Is Radical Red Similar to FireRed?

If you’re new to Pokémon Radical Red, you may wonder, “Is it anything like FireRed?” The answer is both yes and no. Although it strays from the mainline game in many ways, the game draws several parallels with its predecessor.

The main thing to know is that Pokémon Radical Red doesn’t create a new storyline. If you’ve played Pokémon FireRed, you’ll recognize the story immediately and won’t have to spend hours sifting through walkthroughs and tutorials. It might help to think of the ROM hack as FireRed with more level caps rather than an entirely new game.

As you move through the story, you’ll have plenty of thrilling adventures, dangerous encounters, and opportunities to collect and upgrade Pokémon. The gameplay includes:

  • Meeting your good friend Professor Oak to get the first Pokémon
  • Battling gym leaders to earn badges
  • Fighting Team Rocket members
  • Challenging the top trainers in Kanto

How Is This ROM Hack Different from FireRed?

If we stopped at the storyline, then yes—Pokémon Radical Red is just a cheap copy of a long-outdated original game. The story is pretty much the only similarity between this difficulty hack and Pokémon FireRed. After that, the community-made game offers an entirely new experience with an advanced map and EV training areas to make it more absorbing.

Difficulty Hack of FireRed

Shortly after installing Radical Red, you’ll notice it’s significantly more challenging than its predecessor. That’s not a knock against FireRed—it had its challenges for first-time players. However, this ROM game takes the difficulty level up a notch.

Pokémon Radical Red can be tough for gamers who have never branched out from the regular games. If you have no experience with a Nuzlocke or permadeath run, you may also feel a little out of your element. Nuzlockes aren’t mandatory, but we recommend steering clear of them until you get accustomed to the gameplay mechanics.

For this Pokémon extension game, concentrate on teamwork and the individual characters in your inventory. You’ll want to collect Pokémon with complementary skills to avoid catastrophe when facing specific opponents. Remember: everything is a little harder, and you may pay a steep price for adding relevant buffs.

Built-in Randomizer

One reason behind Pokémon Radical Red’s popularity is that it includes a built-in randomizer. A randomizer does just what it sounds like—randomizing almost every aspect of gameplay. Randomizers allow you to experience the game like never before.

Randomizers are not exclusive to this popular ROM hack. Many other fan-made games include them, and Pokémon players have used them throughout the years. Radical Red’s built-in randomizer option is unique in that many players don’t use it because the game is hard enough in default mode.

How might the randomizer affect your gaming experience? Here are some specific examples:

  • Starter Pokémon may be different than normal
  • NPC teams will have randomly generated characters
  • Pokémon may have random colored natures on the summary screen
  • You’ll find random objects in random places

Gym Leader Rematches

Wouldn’t it be awesome to have rematches after your trainer battles gym leaders? Maybe it could help you boost your Pokémon stats, test your abilities striker, and claim other rewards. With Pokémon Radical Red, you can do just that!

Long-time players and budding Pokémon enthusiasts have flocked to this ROM hack because it allows you to re-challenge gym leaders. You don’t need to only rely on EV training areas, raid battles, and side quests to boost your stats. This is especially beneficial as you grow accustomed to the higher difficulty level cap.

As a quick aside, the eighth gym leader is different in Pokémon Radical Red. In FireRed, it’s the infamous Team Rocket leader named Giovanni. In the fan-made game, the eighth gym leader is actually the dragon-type leader called (spoiler alert!) Clair.

Pokémon Radical Red Hacks

You might think initially that Pokémon Radical Red wouldn’t have any hacks. After all, isn’t it a hack in and of itself? Although this game is indeed a ROM hack, it includes many new and traditional Fire Red enhancement hacks that can unlock additional features like the following:

  • Mega Stones cheats
  • Dream Ball cheats
  • Upgraded EV training gear
  • Mega evolution
  • Ability swapper
  • Pokémon Clover cheats

Hacks and cheat codes for Pokémon Radical Red are available online through various websites. However, you should consider checking the Pokémon Center to find reputable sites.

Available Pokémon and Encounter Locations

A key difference between Pokémon Radical Red and Pokémon FireRed has to do with the number of available Pokémon. FireRed has a fair number of characters you can add to your Pokédex from multiple regions. However, Radical Red expands the availability and can provide access to 775 different Pokémon.

Here’s a rundown of all the Pokémon you can collect:

  • 17 dragon types
  • 27 steel types
  • 28 ice types
  • 28 fairy types
  • 31 fighting types
  • 31 ghost types
  • 35 electric types
  • 36 fire types
  • 36 rock types
  • 37 dark types
  • 44 ground types
  • 47 poison types
  • 49 psychic types
  • 51 bug types
  • 54 flying types
  • 55 grass types
  • 73 normal types
  • 96 water types

Pokémon Radical Red includes 46 trained and wild Pokémon locations where you can find characters. These encounter locations include:

  • Celadon City
  • Seafoam Islands
  • Diglett’s Cave
  • Pewter City
  • Safari Zone
  • Cerulean Cave
  • Victory Road

Legendary Pokémon, Ultra Beasts, and Mythicals have been the subject of much debate among dedicated Pokémon fans. Fire Red does not use Legendary Pokémon for the primary storyline, making it a little unusual for the series. Pokémon Radical Red redeems this with additional legendaries and characters, including:

  • Celebi
  • Mewtwo
  • Moltres
  • Pheromosa
  • Terrakion

How Do You Install Pokémon Radical Red?

The Pokémon Radical Red download process is not complicated. The most important thing is to find a secure website with a safe link to download the game. The second most important thing is to ensure your Radical Red download is the most recent version of the game.

Once you’re ready, follow these steps to complete the installation process with an emulator:

  • Download a 1.0 ROM version of Pokémon FireRed
  • Select the developer or co-creator patcher
  • Install the most up-to-date patch
  • Plug the ROM and patch file into the application

Are you having issues with the Radical Red download? You can download the RR patching game itself from a secure website. Most players don’t face any Radical Red download hang-ups with this save type.

That VideoGame Blog: The Number One Resource for Pokémon News and ROM Hacks

Pokémon Radical Red has so many neat features that will resurrect your love for Pokémon FireRed. At That VideoGame Blog, our resources will tell you everything you need to know about cheat sheets, gameplay tips, ROM hacks, and much more! We’ll help you stay in the know with things like the most recent Xbox One updates.

Pokemon Radical Red (GBA): Full In-Depth Review (2025)

FAQs

How do you cheat in Pokémon Radical Red? ›

How to use cheats in Pokémon Radical Red. Whether you're using Action Replay or Gameshark, there should be a cheats option at the top of the window. Click this to bring up a cheat window, where you can add the codes and your own description of the cheat.

Is radical red hard? ›

Be prepared for a real challenge in Radical Red! Bosses have max IVs with proper EV spreads and optimized movesets/hold items, and you'll face tough team compositions and unfair obstacles. The battle style is forced to Set, and you won't be able to access your bag against Gym Leaders and other select bosses.

What is the best way to play radical red? ›

While still being more difficult than FireRed, Easy Mode is the most accessible way to play Radical Red.

How long does it take to get 100% in Pokemon Red? ›

Read More. How long is Pokémon Red and Blue? When focusing on the main objectives, Pokémon Red and Blue is about 26½ Hours in length. If you're a gamer that strives to see all aspects of the game, you are likely to spend around 101 Hours to obtain 100% completion.

Does radical red change the story? ›

The Same Great Story...But Better! One of the best things about Pokémon Radical Red is that it features the same great story as the original FireRed game...but with some added twists and turns.

How to mega evolve Rayquaza radical red? ›

To Mega Evolve Rayquaza, you not only need enough Mega Energy, but the Pokémon also needs to learn a specific move — Dragon Ascent. Teaching Dragon Ascent to Rayquaza requires the Meteorite item.

How to evolve cyclizar radical red? ›

Cyclizar does not evolve.

How to evolve gligar into gliscor in radical red? ›

To evolve Gligar into Gliscor, you'll need to give your Gligar a Razor Fang to hold. Once it's holding it, you'll just need to level it up at night. You can check the time of day in-game by opening the map — the in-game time does not correlated to real-life time.

Does Pokemon Radical Red have mega evolution? ›

in the 30 version of pokemon radical red, these pokemon take the appearance of gigantamax forms. but in radical red. they use a mega stone to mega evolve instead. most of them have new typings and abilities.

How to evolve toxel in radical red? ›

Toxel evolves into Toxtricity at level 30, but the form differs depending on the Nature: Low Key Form is obtained with a Nature of Lonely, Bold, Relaxed, Timid, Serious, Modest, Mild, Quiet, Bashful, Calm, Gentle, or Careful.

What is the color code for radical red? ›

#ff355e color RGB value is (255,53,94). #ff355e color name is Radical Red color.

How to evolve riolu radical red? ›

Get Riolu's Friendship (or, Happiness) level up to 220 or higher. This will level up Riolu into Lucario. Raise Friendship/Happiness by having Riolu hold a soothe bell, walking steps, getting a massage, or taking vitamins and EV berries.

How to get aerodactyl radical red? ›

Locations: Aerodactyl is extinct, so the only way to get one is to have it cloned. Get the Old Amber from the Pewter City Museum and bring it to the Cinnabar Island Pokemon Lab. Tips: There's only one Aerodactyl in the Game Boy Pokemon games -- but it's really easy to get (although it takes a while).

How long does it take to fully complete Red Dead? ›

As mentioned, the number of hours it takes to complete the original Red Dead Redemption depends on how you spend your time playing, so here are some rough time indicators: Story-focused: 20-25 hours. Story + side activities: 25-35 hours. Slow and thorough/100% completionist: 35+ hours.

How long does radical dreamers take? ›

Radical Dreamers is the obscure sequel to Chrono Trigger. It was later used as the basis for Chrono Cross and was referenced therein as an alternate reality version of the events of Chrono Cross. How long is Radical Dreamers? When focusing on the main objectives, Radical Dreamers is about 3 Hours in length.

Is there speed up in radical red? ›

In the official post for Radical Red, it says one of the features of CFRU (which Radical Red uses) is a 'turbo speed' option which quickens the game by 10x.

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