Pokemon Dark Rising 2 (beta 2)

Introduction: Pokemon Dark Rising 2 (Beta 2) is a fan-made ROM hack of Pokemon FireRed for the Game Boy Advance. It is the direct sequel to the original Dark Rising hack, continuing the story in the custom Core Region. The visual style uses FireRed's base assets with custom sprites for new characters and some Pokemon, maintaining the GBA's top-down perspective.

Gameplay & Mechanics: The hack retains the starter trio from the first game: Darvish (Grass), Korogani (Fire), and Shallot (Water). It is known for a high difficulty curve, with opponents using fully-evolved Pokemon early on and competitive movesets, making it less Nuzlocke-friendly without significant planning. It uses the pre-Physical/Special split battle mechanics of FireRed and does not include the Fairy type or Mega Evolution. A day and night cycle is not implemented.

Key Features:

• A direct narrative sequel, picking up immediately after the events of the first Dark Rising game with returning characters and a new world-ending threat.
• An expansive roster featuring Pokemon from Generations I through V, allowing for teams not possible in the official GBA games.
• Increased difficulty through higher-level opponents, strategic AI, and mandatory double battles against significant story bosses.

As a beta release, the game contains numerous bugs, including progression-halting glitches and occasional crashes. The final version of Dark Rising 2 was released after this beta and addressed many of these issues.