An ambitious project by PacoScarso_, Pokémon Odyssey is a Pokémon FireRed ROM hack that combines the classic Pokémon game experience with story-driven dungeon crawling mechanics. The creator himself has described the game as “a crossover between Pokémon, Made in Abyss and Etrian Odyssey”.
Pokémon Odyssey boasts of new lore, new characters, a focus on double battles, and interestingly enough, no Gym Leaders, Elite 4 or even a villainous team. Players are instead encouraged to explore the Yggdrasil labyrinth. Here is how you can download and play Pokémon Odyssey.
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What you need to download and play Pokémon Odyssey
In order to run Pokémon Odyssey, you will need NUPS and a clean 1636 – Pokémon Fire Red (U)(Squirrels) ROM. The developers have also recommended that players use mGBA 0.9.2 or mGBA 0.10.0. As a note of caution, downloading and installing emulator software and ROMs does come with its own risks, so ensure that you have done some prior research before downloading any third party software.
Once you have the required software safely installed on your system, head over to the ROM’s official page on PokéCommunity and download the latest version of the game under the Downloads section.
ROM hacks are usually distributed in .ips or .ups file formats. NUPS allows players to patch .ups ROM hacks by using the “Apply an UPS patch to a file” option upon running the software. You will then have to select the Pokémon Odyssey and apply it to the clean 1636 – Pokémon Fire Red (U)(Squirrels) ROM. Once you have done so, you will be able to run and play Pokémon Odyssey. It is advisable to make a copy of the clean ROM that you are patching Pokémon Odyssey onto as the original copy will be replaced with Pokémon Odyssey.
As of now, the game is currently in Beta v1.5, ending at he beginning of the Third Stratum. For players who are still on the fence, you can also check out the game’s trailer to see what the hype is about.
