Pokemon Origin HeartGold FAQ

Yes. The Options screen has a seventh row, TEXT SPEED, with NORMAL and FAST. NORMAL is the original hack's text speed. FAST prints up to three letters per frame when the frame has room, and is never slower than NORMAL. New games start on FAST. If you load a save made before this setting existed, it shows NORMAL; change it in Options and save. MUSIC SPEED is still a separate option.

Text also prints faster in towns and on routes, at both settings. In those places the hack runs at 30 fps and used to print one letter every two frames; it now prints one letter per frame, as the original game does on FAST. A side effect is that some short pauses in those scenes are about half as long as in the Chinese hack.

Phone calls now wait for you to press A or B on every page, including right after a battle. Some other text shown right after a battle may still advance by itself, as in the original hack.

If you will go back to the Chinese hack or an older English patch with a save from this version, set TEXT SPEED to NORMAL and save first. Text speed shares a field that older versions use for MUSIC SPEED, and a FAST setting can show up there as an odd value.

Not everything has been checked with the setting: cutscenes, the intro and credits, the radio and TV, mail and the naming screen were not covered by the translation team’s tests.

Until you first set foot in Vermilion City (any way in, which also unlocks it as a Fly destination), wild and Trainer battles in Kanto use the Johto themes. From then on they switch to the Kanto themes. Gym Leader, rival and other special battle themes don't change. The rule comes from HeartGold, where you first reach Kanto by ship at Vermilion; the hack starts you in Kanto but kept it. The original Chinese game does the same.

Pokémon HeartGold Version (USA), a clean, untrimmed copy (CRC32 C180A0E9). European, Japanese, Korean and already-patched files won't work. Follow the manual patching instructions. Extract ZIP files before selecting the clean source and patch.

Check the manual setup instructions. These errors usually mean one of the following:

• The two files are swapped. Your HeartGold .nds is the source (original) file, the .xdelta is the patch.
• A file is still zipped. Unzip both first.
• Wrong or modified HeartGold file. Get a clean USA copy, not a "Rev 1", European or already-patched file.
• The patching tool is too old. Some tools, including Rom Patcher JS and some phone apps, can't read this patch. Download the official RC8 patch first, then use Delta Patcher on desktop or xDelta Patcher in your browser. The Download page explains both.

No. This fansite links to the official GitHub patch and does not host a patch or ROM. The patch is all you need, plus your own HeartGold (USA) file.

1. Patch your original HeartGold (USA) file again with the new version. A patch can't be applied on top of an already-patched game.
2. Save in game before you switch. Emulator save states don't carry over between versions.
3. Give your save file the same name as the new game file (for example Origin_HeartGold_EN.nds and Origin_HeartGold_EN.sav), or import it in your emulator.

The documented English RC updates keep the save format. Do not assume this establishes compatibility with future original-game updates.

This site covers the translation project’s English RC8 patch for Chinese v4.0.3. It includes the documented RC7/RC8 fixes and optional ITEMS, SHARE and CAP settings. Other community modifications may behave differently. Apply the official patch to your own clean HeartGold USA source; patches cannot be stacked.

The story often moves on only after you talk to the right person, sometimes someone you've already talked to. If Blue or Green tells you to "ask around", talk to everyone in town again, inside buildings too. These are the places where most players get stuck:

Some story choices only come once, like the bomb on the S.S. Anne. Missable rewards are marked in the guide; Known issues lists the ones that can close for good.

Many events and some wild Pokémon depend on your starter (Charmander, Pikachu or Bulbasaur). Choose your starter at the top of a chapter to filter known quest restrictions. Other requirements remain in the written steps; the tracker does not read your save.

Yes, from rc7. The original hack has neither: your whole party shares EXP and EVs automatically (details). The English patch adds two optional settings on the second Options page: SHARE (turn it OFF so benched Pokémon get no EXP or EVs, except one holding an Exp. Share) and CAP (a level cap). They start at SHARE ON and CAP OFF, the original behaviour. A third setting, ITEMS (DEFAULT or ALL), controls which medicine you can use from the Bag in Trainer battles. Since rc8 the settings also apply in story battles you are allowed to lose, and SHARE OFF no longer switches off a held Exp. Share. The cap follows your Gym progress; see Difficulty settings for how to turn them on and when the cap goes up.

Open a Pokémon's summary, go to the stats page and press L. More controls are on Mechanics and controls.

Yes, the verified wild-encounter code adds a boosted shiny check even without a chain. That check starts at 1 in 4,096, or 1 in 2,048 with the Shiny Charm. The bonuses increase after 6, 10 and 20 completed catches of the same species and form, and apply when the next encounter is generated.

These are the extra check's odds, not exact overall encounter odds. The fractions count successful values out of the random number generator's 65,536 possible outputs. If that check fails, ordinary Pokémon generation can still produce a shiny; its interaction with the extra check has not been fully quantified. The source therefore does not establish one exact combined rate for each tier. The Chain Logger's fractions differ slightly because it displays a rounded divisor rather than accounting for every successful random value.

The in-game range labels are also inaccurate at 10 and 20: use the thresholds above. There is no further increase beyond 20 catches in this check. See capture chains for chain resets, IV and Hidden Ability bonuses, and the encounter types verified so far. These rates should not be assumed for starters, gifts or Eggs.

Yes, in shops:

• Mints (change the nature's stat effect): $9,000 each at the Celadon Department Store 4F and the Goldenrod Department Store 1F. For example the Adamant Mint.
• Ability Capsule ($25,000) and Ability Patch ($50,000): Celadon Department Store 4F.
• Hidden Abilities also come from catch chains with the Chain Logger.

Your first party Pokémon has the ability Synchronize. In this hack Synchronize always passes its nature to wild Pokémon (in HeartGold it works half the time), including shinies. It counts even if that Pokémon has fainted. Synchronize Pokémon include Abra, Kadabra, Alakazam, Natu, Xatu, Espeon, Umbreon, Baltoy, Claydol, Munna and Musharna, and Ralts and Kirlia with their Hidden Ability. Put a Pokémon without Synchronize first for random natures, or lead with a Synchronize Pokémon of the nature you want. It also works in scripted battles with a single Pokémon, such as legendaries; gift Pokémon aren't affected.

Wild catches don't ask for a nickname in this hack (gifts do). Visit the Name Rater in the north-east house of Viridian City.

No trading is needed for the old trade evolutions. They level up while holding an item, often only by day or by night (Haunter holding a Spell Tag at night, for example). Every Pokémon page shows how it evolves, and the rules are on Mechanics and controls. Some evolutions changed completely: Karrablast and Shelmet simply evolve at Lv. 25. Boldore and Gurdurr still needed a trade in the original hack; from rc6 the English patch evolves them at Lv. 35 (Gigalith) and Lv. 40 (Conkeldurr).

In the original hack, and in English patches up to rc5, a Pokémon that evolves never learns the moves it should get on evolution (Crobat's Cross Poison, Charizard's Air Slash, Gyarados's Bite and others); only the Move Reminder teaches them. From rc6 the game offers these moves when the Pokémon evolves, each once. For a Pokémon that evolved before you updated, use the Move Reminder.

No. Charizard is the only Pokémon that can Mega Evolve, holding the Charizardite: Mega Charizard Y with a Timid or Modest nature, Mega Charizard X with any other nature (held-item forms).

• Pikachu starters get one as a send-off gift in Pallet Town. Get it before you go to Viridian City.
• Lt. Surge gives one after your Gym battle in Vermilion City (Pikachu starters get a Thunder Stone instead). After the construction-site clash.
• Wild Pikachu can hold one.

The translation was tested in melonDS. The automated checks for rc8, including the text speed setting, ran in DeSmuME; the freeze and battle fixes in rc8 were also checked in melonDS 1.1. There has been no full second-emulator pass for this build. Players also use DraStic, Lemuroid and others, but those aren't tested. For a real DS, DSi or 3DS, see the next question.

RC8’s Victory Road arch fix was confirmed on melonDS and one DS Lite. That is a specific fix check, not a full hardware compatibility pass. The release README says other hardware and Delta remain untested. The anti-piracy correction introduced in RC6 remains included; do not stack another anti-piracy patch on top. Keep a battery-save backup and record your device, loader, settings and patch version if a problem occurs.

You're on an old version of the patch (before rc4). The crashes after double-size shouts like Misty's and on the Bag and summary screens are fixed in the current release. Update as described above and keep your save. A freeze at Mr. Psychic's move reminder in Saffron City has also been reported; it didn't happen in the translation team’s emulator tests of the current release. If it recurs, keep a screenshot and note the Pokemon and move involved.

The original Chinese hack runs the overworld at a higher speed (a "60 fps" feature). It's busier in towns with many characters on screen, so it feels slower there. It's part of the hack, not the translation. The released translation keeps this behavior. Make sure your emulator itself is set to normal (1×) speed.

RC8 restores faint cries and falling sounds on both sides, plus the hit sound when a move deals damage. One-hit KO moves and hits on a substitute are still silent. Some newer move animations and their own sound effects remain incomplete, including Terrain Pulse’s missing animation. This is not a claim that every sound issue was fixed. If an ordinary move is silent, check the emulator’s audio settings too.

The original hack leaves most medicine out of the battle Bag: status heals, Full Restore, Max and Hyper Potions, Revives, Ethers and Elixirs. This may be intended. Carry status-healing Berries (Lum, Pecha, Cheri and others) or the Blue, Yellow and Red Flutes, which do work in battle; for PP, the Leppa Berry is in the battle Bag. If you play with the optional difficulty settings, ITEMS: ALL (second Options page) adds twenty more medicines to the Trainer-battle Bag; see Difficulty settings. The full list is in Known issues.

Fixed in English RC7: choosing FIGHT uses Struggle when all known moves have zero PP. The old behavior—FIGHT opening an unusable move list—belongs to Chinese v4.0.3 and English RC6 or earlier. Update from a clean HeartGold USA source and load your normal battery save. For the Route 12 battle you must lose, bring a non-Ghost Pokémon so Rattata’s Normal-type moves can damage it; do not treat the old all-Ghost reset warning as a confirmed RC8 softlock. See Known Issues.

No. Entries that cannot be obtained are marked NOT AVAILABLE IN GAME. Entries with no known acquisition route are marked separately. Check the Pokémon or item page before planning your team. The source reference explains how the guide’s information was assembled.

The original hack has a built-in Pokémon generator: in the field, hold SELECT and press X. Choose the species, level, nature, IVs, held item and more (L and R switch pages), then press START to create it. It was made by the Chinese developers, not added by the translation. Whether you use it is up to you.

The English team reports all 67,078 translatable strings in English, including later story content. RC8 remains a release candidate; that coverage statistic is not a completed playthrough of every route.

No fakemon. The hack does change many Pokémon's stats, abilities, moves and evolutions. Each Pokémon page shows the hack's data.

This fan game contains strong language, sexual themes and innuendo, violence, death, and dark humour. It is intended for mature audiences and is not suitable for children.

The story draws on the Pokémon anime and Pokémon Adventures manga, with the hack's own scenes added. The English translation preserves the original hack's tone and content.