I’m all for Pokémonstepping into the future and embracing change. I love the open-world approach of Scarlet/Violet, and I was pleasantly surprised by the overhauled battle systems of Pokémon Legends: Z-A.
With that said, there’s always going to be a soft-spot in my heart for the Pokémon games of my childhood. It’s why the fan-made Pokémon Lazarus is one of my favourite games of 2025, and it’s why Pokémon Gamma Emeraldis on my radar in a big way.
Pokémon Gamma Emerald Looks Outstanding
Another high-quality fan project in development now
As the name suggests, Pokémon Gamma Emerald is a fan-made remake/re-imagining of the GBA classic that swaps 3D for the kind of 2.5D aesthetic seen in games like Octopath Traveller. It’s the kind of thing I’m amazed we haven’t seen in an official Pokémon release, especially when the results are this gorgeous.
This project is the work of YouTuber and developer UndreamedPanic, who has been working on and off on Pokémon Gamma Emerald for quite some time now. They share little snippets of the project over on Twitter occasionally, and there’s even a demo you can try out.
“In Pokémon Gamma Emerald, on your way to your new home your trip takes an unexpected turn when a sudden storm appears and your boat crashes on a mysterious, uncharted island situated between the Hoenn and Sinnoh region. With no way to call for help or outside contact, you are forced to explore — but you are not alone.
In addition to completely revamped graphics and new music, Gamma Emerald boasts a gorgeous UI, completely new animations, and a new island to explore.
When Will Pokémon Gamma Emerald Release?
Here comes the tricky part
Unfortunately, there’s absolutely no word on when – or if – a full release of Pokémon Gamma Emerald. Fan games are tricky for a number of reasons, the main one being the IP owner could come in and shut it down at any time. And we all know how Nintendo views fan projects. There’s also the fact UndreamedPanic is working on this on their own, in their spare time.
For now, you have the demo to play around with. It offers around 80 minutes of gameplay, and has roughly 52 Pokémon to meet. Not a bad effort at all, and something to keep us all going until Nintendo and The Pokémon Company finally realise an official 2.5D HD game is what we all crave.
- Release Date
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1997 – 2023
- Network
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TV Tokyo, TV Osaka, TV Aichi, TVh, TVQ, TSC
- Directors
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Shigeru Omachi, Koji Ogawa, Fumihiro Ueno, Hideki Hiroshima, Maki Kodaira, Makoto Ooga, Ayumi Moriyama, Keitaro Motonaga, Shigeru Ueda, Fumihiro Yoshimura, Minoru Ohara, Yoshitaka Makino, Kiyoshi Egami, Makoto Sokuza, Bjarne Heuser, Naoki Murata, Kenichi Nishida, Tomoe Makino, Masahiko Watanabe, Hiroaki Takagi, Tazumi Mukaiyama, Ryohei Horiuchi, Yoshihiro Oda, Hiromichi Matano
- Writers
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Junki Takegami, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Hideki Sonoda, Yukiyoshi Ôhashi, Yuka Miyata, Takeshi Shudo, Shouji Yonemura, Shinzo Fujita, Michihiro Tsuchiya, Deko Akao, Reiko Yoshida, Aya Matsui, Junichi Fujisaku
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Rica Matsumoto
Satoshi (voice)
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Ikue Otani
Pikachu (voice)
