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I absolutely love this hack. My only complaint is that the GB Sounds music is way too loud and drowns out the other sound effects. Luckily that's optional so it's not a big deal.

RichterSnipes, thank you very much for delivering this wonderful hack for the community to enjoy. It's so beautiful in many aspects, GB Sounds, quality of life upgrades, catch 'em all possibility, including the genius solution to simulate a trade through Bill teleporter. Incredible work, the game looks like a definitive edition, an official release. There is only one thing I miss, the physical/special split option that you implemented in your Pokémon Revelation latest upload, if you do this here it would be a dream coming true. Anyway, thank you again for your work.

I honestly would probably put this above Ultra Violet because of features like the GB sounds, and the fact that some features in Ultra Violet potentially made the game easier than it already is, like choosing alternate starters and whatnot. However, one thing that sticks out to me is how version exclusive Pokemon are implemented. I wanted to catch a mid-Lv20s Staryu halfway through the game like I would in LeafGreen, but here it's not available until Cinnibar, a bit too late for my liking. I think Ultra Violet did this better by simply having version exclusives available in the same locations as the base games.

EDIT: 40 hours in, I finished the game and Sevii Islands. I absolutely will call this definitive "Classic" FRLG. It is the counterpart to Radical Red, what many consider the best "Modern" FRLG. The entire game was a treat to play through and nothing felt "off" about it.

I'll keep it short and I am only just after Cerulean City Gym.

But my god, it is perfect!! It has the best parts of other QoL hacks without the cringey stuff other FR rom hacks have(400-600+ Pokémon stuffed into the Kanto region, trolling, etc). The GB Sounds was an AMAZING choice: I am playing this with the same excitement as I played Pokémon Red back in 1998. It feels very faithful and it's obvious the author really wanted to make a hack that isn't just "fire red +" but instead a, well, THROWBACK to the old games (but without the annoying stuff...glad I can run on command!)

I recommend it and can't wait to get further in the game. I'll update this review later on with more thoughts as I play further.

EDIT: Recent versions have fixed most, if not all aforementioned problems listed. This review is written for an outdated version.

While I can wholeheartedly recommend Pokémon Throwback in general, some decisions were made in the recent patches that I consider to be incredibly backwards and contrary to the intent of this hack: Make all Pokémon from Kanto and Johto obtainable in-game.

Version 161104 completely removed the best possible reward you could get for catching all of the 150 Kanto Pokémon: a small new area (lifted from Pokémon Emerald) containing the elusive 151th Pokémon Mew. Instead of being able to obtain Mew in the game, you now have a knockoff of the all-time favourite Event giveaway. All you have to do now, is to use a save file designed for the vanilla Fire Red and Leaf Green, connect the vanilla game and this hack through emulated Link Cable, and trade over a free, not hard-earned Mew. No longer does getting Mew feel like part of the game, let alone as a reward for obtaining all 150 Pokémon. You can trade the Mew into your ROM whenever you want. This could be a neat little extra, an Event giveaway mockup, but in this case, it replaces a feature that made this game a 'Catch 'Em All' hack.

Therefore, I recommend people to look up an earlier version of this patch instead, lower than v16110. There, Faraway Island is reachable once you catch all 150 Kanto Pokémon. Mew awaits...

EDIT: On another note, I noticed the two Johto "Eeveelutions", Espeon and Umbreon, are no longer available in Throwback, as the creator removed the Real Time Clock necessary to make this possible. Why he did this is completely beyond me, but this means the latest versions of this hack no longer hold true to the "Catch 'em all" phrase.

This is without of doubt the best mod for FireRed that pertains to just plain making the game better. It is indeed refreshing to see hacks like this that don't seek to improve the game any further than this, and instead let the game itself shine on it's own. Even better is that similar to projects like Sonic 3 Complete there is a set of individual patches for those who don't want every single thing this hack provides.

The player who just wants to play Pokemon on an emulator cannot ask anything more, this is pretty perfect.

With the new update(s) you have some of the best player sprite recreations I've encountered as of yet, and a boatload of sound improvements.

The title says it all. The only thing that could be improved in this hack is the way trade evolved pokemon are acquired. Its much better than a trade stone or something noncanonical, but I feel that if the author took a note from the creator of Thunder Yellow it could have been better, by adding in additional (or modifying existing ones) NPC trades to get trade evolve pokemon. Something like an NPC who says they want a Graveler then when you trade they say "This is a Golem!" and demand a trade back would have fit the canon better imo.

Other than that though, the game is FLAWLESS. For sure the definitive Gen1 journey.