
Crystal Clear built upon 2000’s Pokémon Crystal so as to prioritize player freedom by implementing a variety of latest mechanics that drastically improved upon the vanilla game. While these changes are drastic for a slow-moving franchise like Pokémon, they’re almost as ambitious as those of Crystal Clear, a ROM hack designed by a modder who goes by the name ShockSlayer. There’s a replacement Wild Area kitted out with a rotational camera and online support, the National Dex is not any more, and rather than mechanics like Z-moves and Mega Evolutions, pokémon can now be Dynamaxed in stadiums, causing them to grow in size and combat brand-new forms. That’s why it’s so exciting that the series’s newest games, Pokemon Sword and Shield, are set to vary up Pokémon’s formula during a big way. Despite this, the games tend to evolve at a glacial pace, rarely making major shifts from one entry to subsequent.



Pokemon is that the highest-grossing media franchise of all time, having amassed $90 billion in revenue since its creation in 1995.
