Pokémon is currently thriving in 2026. It’s hitting its 30th anniversary in stride, a new, enticing generation is coming next year, and the community is still making a ton of hits.
Over on X, fans are celebrating the release of Pokémon Null. Described as the “evolution of difficulty,” this game doesn’t play around.
Pokémon Null Is The Dark Souls Of Pokémon
It’ll Challenge Veterans
Developed through a modified ROM hack of Pokémon Emerald, Pokémon Null is a Nuzlocke experience “built from the ground up.” Null includes Pokémon from the first nine generations, and even adds in extra fan-created Mega Evolutions.
Here’s a good description of the game, and what you’re in for: “Experience the evolution of difficulty in this enhanced Pokémon adventure. Pokémon Null features Pokémon from Generations 1-9, including the newest Mega Evolutions. It focuses on a Nuzlocke experience, consisting of 275+ hand-crafted, thoughtful and challenging fights.”
275 trainer battles is quite a huge number, especially when you add in the fact that Null has a custom AI that adjusts to your strategy, and all held items and movesets for enemy Pokémon are competitive-based. Gym leaders also have full teams at all times, and are built on synergy, rather than a one-trick boss fight. To add even more challenge to the mix, you can rematch those bosses, and they’ll be even tougher.
The quality of life changes are enticing, too:
- Porta-PC and Infinite Repel
- Candy Bag to quickly level to cap
- Pre-damage and Pre-status from Party Menu
- Use HMs from overworld without learning them
- No Poison damage on the overworld
We could use a few of these in the mainline Game Freak games in the future, but several of them have already been implemented as-is.
You Can Try It Out Now, If You Dare
Bring Your A Game
What most entices me about Pokémon Null is that it’s designed for a Nuzlocke experience. These are baked into the game so you don’t need to manage them yourself, with encounter tables and resource management tuned for Nuzlocke runners. It also boasts “meticulous balance” to prevent specific Pokémon from overpowering one another, for better build variety.
Amazingly, it also includes Pokémon as recent as Z-A, including official Mega Evolutions that are only a few months old at this point. Plus, “50+ generational lines” have been given “simplified evolution methods” to help you focus more on building your team and battling.
If you’re a hardcore Pokémon fan, this seems like a dream come true. Many things that other fan projects ask players to do manually are hard-coded into Pokémon Null, offering a tailored experience for long-time fans. It’s one of the more unique fan projects to come across my desk in a while.
- Created by
-
Satoshi Taijiri, Ken Sugimori, Junichi Masuda
- Latest Film
-
Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle
- First Episode Air Date
-
April 1, 1997
- Current Series
-
Pokémon