What Pokémon Crystal Inheritance changes

Two Johtos, and the travel between them

The game runs in two versions of the same region. Modern Johto is in a severe drought; Silph has put water plants across it, from clearing Ilex Forest to a distillation plant in Olivine to a project at the Lake of Rage, and the gym leaders have mostly given up on fixing it. Historic Johto is the same map roughly a century and a half earlier, under an emperor, Vesper, who is using the arrival of outsiders at the western port to make himself the single thing Johto unites around.

You move between them, and puzzles in one are solved with what you did in the other. Historic Johto has its own towns, its own leaders and its own wild Pokémon, which is why this guide lists places like Anarres Holt and the Stadium Grounds next to Route 32 and Ilex Forest.

The eastern half of modern Johto is closed: the Dragon Tamers guard it so Silph cannot reach the water in the Dragon's Den. The creator's FAQ says plainly that eastern Johto is not in the game.

Two endings

The story can finish two ways. The creator does not publish what decides it, so this guide does not say — the feature list simply names two possible endings, and the changelog mentions text changes to the “bad ending”.

After the credits the legendary Pokémon, Spiritomb and Rotom all reset, so they can be caught again on a later run through the final gauntlet.

Ancestor forms

Seven Johto Pokémon have an Ancestor form: Noctowl, Xatu, Magcargo, Meganium, Feraligatr, Ledian and Alakazam. They are separate entries with their own types, stats, abilities and learnsets, and they are on this site's Pokémon list with the form in brackets.

Each one is woken by a puzzle rather than found in grass. The creator's FAQ names the place and the condition for all seven — a tile puzzle in the Violet Catacombs for Noctowl, a Pokémon that knows AncientPower at the southern Timeless Tapestry for Xatu, one that knows Dig at the Serene Springs cliff for Magcargo, Sunny Day or Drought on the Stadium Grounds island for Meganium, the Adamant Orb and a Pokémon that knows Splash at Tranquil Tarn for Feraligatr, False Swipe at Anarres Holt for Ledian, and Cianwood Cave for Alakazam.

The art for all seven comes from the game's own source, drawn by PeanutellaX and Accad501.

Three difficulty modes

Easy gives trainers no EVs and takes held items off bosses and rivals. Normal is the intended game: EVs, held items and some coverage moves, with bosses a few levels above your team. Expert gives bosses and mini-bosses full teams of six with twice Normal's EVs, and puts a few regional forms on enemy teams.

You can change it at any time from the title screen, so a run can start easy and get harder. Every boss page here carries all three teams; pick a mode to show one.

The Stadium

The Stadium is the postgame facility added in v1.1. You enter with one level 100 Pokémon. Each round you are offered three level 100 Pokémon to catch — two you can see and one you cannot — then healed, given a move relearner and a shop, and put through four trainers with a party the same size as yours but at a lower level, with one heal allowed. The last of the four is harder. Repeat until your party is six.

Each round has its own pool, and the trainers can only use Pokémon from the pool you have reached, minus the one you brought in. On Expert the Stadium's trainers gain EVs round by round, from none up to 50. A fifteen-win streak earns a gift from your patron, and 25 wins earns the Gold Trophy on the completionist list.

Apricorn balls and Hidden Palettes

Five new Poké Balls are crafted at Eerie Hamlet from materials found on the overworld, and each is better against certain types: the Jeze Ball from Radiant Opals for Dark, Psychic and Fairy; the Bub Ball from Shore Foam for Ice and Water; the Deci Ball from a Fixed Charge for Electric; the Herb Ball from Tough Leaves for Poison, Bug and Grass; and the Geode from a Hollow Rock for Steel, Ground and Rock. A Red Apricorn makes a Love Ball that also raises friendship, and a White Apricorn makes a Fast Ball.

A Pokémon with the highest possible DVs for one hidden-power type takes that type's own colours. Six people in the game can set one of your Pokémon's DVs that way, and a seventh after the credits; in the wild the odds are about 128 times worse than a Gen 2 shiny. Most boss teams have at least one Pokémon with a palette like this.

Carried from Polished Crystal 3.0.0

The base game brings the Fairy type, the physical/special split, abilities, natures, reusable TMs, running shoes, continuous repel, a Nuzlocke option and a money cap of 9,999,999. Those are the base project's work, not this game's, and the creator's feature list marks them as such.

Natures, abilities, the physical/special split, experience scaling, perfect stats and Nuzlocke mode are all switches at the start of a new game, and can be changed later from the title screen.