What Yu-Gi-Oh POKeDUEL changes
How the game plays differently from Pokémon FireRed, then what it does to the Pokémon.
How the game plays
Yu-Gi-Oh POKeDUEL rebuilds FireRed on the Complete FireRed Upgrade (CFRU) engine with every one of Kanto's Pokémon replaced by a Yu-Gi-Oh Duel Monster — around 410 in total — and every Gym Leader, Elite Four member and the Champion swapped for a character from the anime and card game. The world, route order and badges are Kanto's own; what changes is the cast, the movepool (200+ custom moves alongside a mechanics update through Generation 9, including the Fairy type) and the numbers behind nearly every fight. A difficulty choice made at the start of a new game — Standard, Hard or Brutal — changes AI natures, abilities and held items, and introduces dynamic level scaling on some late-game battles; several trainers can also be fought again after the story for a stronger "Rematch" team.
The main changes
- Every species is a Duel Monster fakemon — no original Pokémon remain
- Three selectable difficulties (Standard / Hard / Brutal), chosen once at the start
- A post-game Rematch team on many named trainers
- 200+ custom moves plus balance changes to a number of vanilla moves and abilities
- Mechanics through Generation 9 (the Fairy type, modern move pool) on a FireRed base
- Gym Leaders, the Elite Four, the Champion, and a whole GX League of postgame bosses
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.