Pokémon Yellow Legacy
Pokémon Yellow, rebalanced from its own source code: a stronger Pikachu that can learn all five HMs, gym leaders with fuller teams and three badge-scaled middle gyms, level-up evolutions in place of trades, and an optional Hard Mode with level caps.
More about the game
Pokémon Yellow Legacy is TheSmithPlays' rebalance of Pokémon Yellow, built with Craig Livingstone (cRz Shadows) from the game's own disassembled source code, and the prequel to the same team's Crystal Legacy. The gym leaders, the Rival, Team Rocket and the Elite Four have fuller teams with chosen movesets, and three of the middle gyms (Erika, Koga and Sabrina) bring a stronger team if you arrive with more badges. Kadabra, Haunter, Graveler and Machoke evolve by levelling up instead of trading, Poliwag evolves at level 18 instead of 25, and Pikachu has higher stats and can learn all five HM moves. TM04 teaches Flamethrower instead of Whirlwind, and a fisherman in the Viridian City Mart gives you the Old Rod at the start. An optional Hard Mode forces Set battle style, bans items in battle and caps your team's level badge by badge; normal play has no cap. This guide is read from the creator's own source code for version 1.0.10.
What's different, point by point
- Gym Leaders, the Rival, Team Rocket and the Elite Four rebalanced, with fuller teams and chosen movesets
- Erika, Koga and Sabrina can be beaten in more than one order, and each brings a stronger team if you have more badges
- The Rival's Eevee becomes Jolteon, Flareon or Vaporeon depending on your first two battles with him, as in the original game, and his later teams change with it
- Kadabra, Haunter, Graveler and Machoke evolve by levelling up instead of trading, and Poliwag evolves at level 18
- Pikachu has higher stats, a bigger boost from badges, and can learn all five HM moves
- TM04 teaches Flamethrower in place of Whirlwind, and the Old Rod is given to you in the Viridian City Mart at the start
- Rematches with the Gym Leaders and the Elite Four after you become Champion, plus new battles with Professor Oak, Nurse Joy, Officer Jenny and three of the game's own makers
- An optional Hard Mode, chosen at New Game, with a level cap on your own team that rises with each badge
TheSmithPlays
This guide is built from TheSmithPlays's own documentation. The game, the ideas and the work are theirs — the site just makes the numbers searchable. Play it from the official page, and send them the feedback and the thanks.
What this guide covers
Every guide here is built from the game's own documentation. Where a ROM hack changed something but never published the numbers, this says so rather than quietly filling the gap with the original game's — which would be worse than leaving it out.
| Section | Source | |
|---|---|---|
| Wild Pokémon by area | From the game itself | Every wild grass and surfing table in the game's own data, plus the Old Rod, Good Rod and Super Rod, for all of Kanto's areas; a dungeon's floors and the Safari Zone's areas share a page, with each table labelled. Gift, static and trade Pokémon were written out by hand from the creator's own document and checked against the game's code. |
| Encounter rates | From the game itself | From the game's own encounter-slot and fishing probability tables. |
| Wild levels | From the game itself | Every level is the game's own. |
| Stats, abilities and movesets | From the game itself | Base stats, types, learnsets and evolutions for all 151 species, with what changed from the original Yellow on each Pokémon's page. There is no ability system in Generation 1, so the ability line is intentionally blank. |
| TM and HM compatibility | From the game itself | All 50 TMs and 5 HMs, with per-species compatibility read from the game's own tables. |
| Where TMs are found | From the game itself | Read from the map script, item ball or prize list that hands each TM, HM or rod over: all 55 are placed. Many TMs can also be bought again in the game's shops, which this guide doesn't list. |
| Trainer and boss teams | From the game itself | Every roster the game's own map scripts and scripted fights start, each Pokémon's moves worked out the way the game does it with each boss's chosen moves on top, the badge-scaled teams for Erika, Koga and Sabrina, and every rematch and post-game battle. |
Credits
- Pokémon Yellow Legacy: TheSmithPlays (Patrick Smith)
- Programmer and co-developer; source code this guide is generated from: cRz Shadows (Craig Livingstone)
- Video editor: Weebra
- Sprite art: back sprites, overworld and party sprites, and new battle sprites: ZuperZACH, Isona, Karlos, Reader Dragon, Alakadoof, Chamber, Soloo993, Blue Emerald, Lake, Neslug, Tom Wang, Madame Frog/Hatun and Zeta_Null
- The Pokémon Yellow disassembly the game is built on: the pret team
- Sprites via PokéAPI; base move and TM data from PokéAPI and Bulbapedia.
Reading the tables
SourceEvery table in this guide is read from the creator's own source code for version 1.0.10: base stats, types, learnsets, evolutions, move data, wild tables with their rates and levels, TM and HM compatibility and locations, every trainer's team, each boss's chosen moves, and the Hard Mode level caps. The gift, static and in-game trade Pokémon on the area pages were written out by hand from the creator's own feature document (linked from the project's page) and each level checked against the game's code. Where that document and the code disagree (a few boss moves, some move PP), this guide follows the code, which is what you play.
DifficultyHard Mode is optional, chosen once at New Game. It forces Set battle style, bans items in battle, and stops your Pokémon from levelling past a cap that rises with your badges. Wild Pokémon and trainer teams are the same in every mode.
Hard Mode CapsHard Mode's level caps, read from the game's own code: Lv 12 with no badges, 21 with one badge, 24 with two (Lt. Surge's Raichu is Lv 29, but the cap is set a little below it), 35 with three, 43 with four, 50 with five, 53 with six, 55 with seven, and 65 with all eight, for the whole of the Elite Four and the Champion. The cap is lifted once you are Champion. The creator's document lists the Elite Four as 57, 58, 59, 62 and 65, which are the levels of each member's strongest Pokémon; the game itself uses 65 for all of them. The level caps page in this guide lists the strongest Pokémon of every boss fight, which is a different number for Lt. Surge (29) and the Elite Four; normal play has no cap at all.
Gym ScalingAfter Lt. Surge, Erika, Koga and Sabrina can be taken in more than one order. Each checks how many badges you have when you talk to them and brings the team for that point: Erika has a team for being your 4th, 5th or 6th badge, and Koga and Sabrina (both past Pokémon Tower) for your 5th or 6th. Each team is its own fight in this guide, named for the badge it is, and listed at the checkpoint where that badge is won.
EvolutionsKadabra, Haunter, Graveler and Machoke evolve into Alakazam, Gengar, Golem and Machamp by levelling up (Kadabra and Haunter at 42, Graveler and Machoke at 38) instead of by trading, and Poliwag evolves into Poliwhirl at level 18 instead of 25.
CategoriesWhether a move is physical or special still depends on its type, as in the original Yellow, except that Ghost moves are special. Many status moves have no type at all here (shown as ???), so they work the same against every type.
RatesSlot percentages are worked out from the game's own probability tables, the same for every wild table in the game.
FishingThe Old Rod and Good Rod always find the same two Pokémon wherever you fish (Goldeen or Poliwag, then Horsea or Krabby), instead of a different pair in each place; the Super Rod still has its own catches in each place.
AbilitiesThere is no ability system in this generation, so every Pokémon page has an empty ability line.
RematchesA feature Generation 1 never had: once you are Champion, most Gym Leaders and every Elite Four member offer a stronger rematch, and Professor Oak, Nurse Joy and Officer Jenny battle you too. Each rematch is its own fight, tagged "(rematch)".
StatsGeneration 1 has one Special stat for both attacking and defending, so the Sp. Attack and Sp. Defense on every page are the same number. Each Pokémon's comparison is with the original Yellow's own numbers, and its page also says what changed in Generation 1's own terms.
Extra BattlesThree of the game's own makers wait as optional trainers in out-of-the-way places: Craig in the Power Plant, Weebra at the bottom of the Seafoam Islands and Smith in Cerulean Cave. Being optional, they are listed with the ordinary trainers rather than as bosses. Professor Oak has a second, hidden battle in the Pokémon Mansion after the game is finished.