Note: obviously this review is my personal opinion so it will be subjective to some extent, but I will tie in aspects of game design that we have learned and discussed in class such as the tetrad of elements (mechanics, aesthetics, story, and technology), balance, flow, etc. Also this review ended up being longer than I thought, so I will split it up into two parts: part one (this post) will cover the things I liked about the game, and the second part will cover what I did not like about it and a quick wrap up.
Pokémon Light Platinum (not to be confused with Pokémon Platinum) is a rom hack of Pokémon Ruby and it seems to be one of the most popular and recommended Pokémon rom hacks from what I’ve seen, so it was high on my list of rom hacks to check out. I eventually got around to playing it last semester, so I will share my thoughts on it.
I am generally more interested in rom hacks with custom-created regions and graphics because they are more distinct from the official Pokémon games and the hacks that redo them, and Light Platinum definitely did not disappoint in this aspect. The game takes place in brand new, custom regions called Zhery and Lauren complete with new gym leaders, Elite Four, and rivals. A lot of the tiles and sprites in Light Platinum are custom-made and they are very well done – even better than the ones in Ruby in my opinion as they look smoother, more colorful, and catch my attention more. It’s basically like the graphics of the Pokémon NDS games Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum but on a GBA rom, which is probably what the creators were going for.
Dardusk City in Light Platinum: It kind of reminds me of Ecruteak City in Johto, which is one of my favorite cities in the Pokemon games. I love the look of the arches, purple trees, and tower here.
Another cool part about the game is that it includes a mix of Pokémon from the first five generations. This is pretty impressive for a GBA hack since the fourth and fifth gens weren’t added until the NDS Pokémon games, so the creators had to manually add the sprites and other info for Pokémon from those gens. It also has the physical/special split from gen IV and onward, which is important to me because it makes move sets and typing way more flexible and sensible.
A third thing I liked about Light Platinum is that the first place you go to after the starting town is a large city with a safari zone in it with marsh, field, desert, and ice zones. I was really psyched about the safari zone because it gives players access to a large variety of Pokémon types right from the get-go, whereas in the official Pokémon games you mainly see crappy normal, bug, and grass types in the beginning.
Continue to part two of this review to read what I did not like about Light Platinum.