What Pokémon R.O.W.E changes
How the game plays differently from Pokémon Emerald, then what it does to the Pokémon.
How the game plays
R.O.W.E (Rest of the World Edition) is rioluwott's open-world rebuild of Emerald on the pokeemerald-expansion engine, maintained as source by BelialClover. All eight Hoenn gyms and the Sevii Islands are unlocked from the start rather than gated behind a fixed route, and the game scales around whatever order you actually play them in: wild Pokémon, ordinary trainers and gym leaders alike are built at a level read off your current badge count (with a random amount added on top every time), rather than a level written next to each encounter. The Pokédex runs through Legends: Arceus' additions — the source this guide is built from does not contain Generation 9 species, despite the hack's own promotional thread claiming them for a '2.0' release (see the notes below). Gym leaders, the Elite Four and other named trainers carry real held items, abilities, natures, IV/EV spreads and even the occasional shiny — richer trainer data than most guides on this site can offer.
The main changes
- Open world: all 8 Hoenn gyms and the Sevii Islands are unlocked from the start
- Wild and trainer levels scale to your own badge count on Easy, Normal or Hard
- Gym leaders and other named trainers carry natures, per-stat IVs, EVs, held items and the occasional shiny
- Optional Randomized, Full Randomized and No-Evolution game modes, chosen at the start of the game
- Pokédex through Legends: Arceus' additions, including its Hisuian forms
- Day/night grass encounters, DexNav-style hidden encounters and a headbutt table
- 200 TMs plus the 8 HMs
How the Pokémon change
The game leaves the official base stats, types and abilities alone. What it changes is elsewhere: movesets, encounters and trainer teams.