The Best Pokemon 3DS ROM Hacks in 2024

If you’re looking for the best Pokemon 3DS ROM hacks, you’ve found the right article. We’ll be covering hacks for all of your favorite Pokemon games from Omega Ruby, Alpha Sapphire, X and Y, Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon!

The ROM hacks take the classic games and help give them new life, allowing players to experience them in ways that never were before possible. You’ll find everything from more Pokemon, more engaging battles, and new features that didn’t exist in the originals.

Some of these Pokemon ROM hacks are likely to have also been featured on our list of the best Pokemon ROM hacks of all time.

That’s enough of an explanation, let’s get into the list so you can get to playing.

What Are The Best Pokemon 3DS ROM Hacks?

1. Pokemon Rising Sun and Waning Moon

First up on our list is Pokemon Rising Sun and Waning Moon. Not only do these hacks take the classic Sun and Moon games and crank up the difficulty, but they add some quality of life improvements that are much welcomed.

PK3DS is a ROM editor and randomizer for the 3DS that allows players to edit 3DS ROMs. The original creator of this ROM hack used the pk3DS tool to edit trainers and move sets of Pokemon in Pokemon Sun and Moon and created a challenge mode similar to that in Blaze Black and Volt White.

In this ROM hack you’ll find the Trial Captains and Kahunas now have teams of 6 Pokemon each, the level curve has increased and teams are in the high 70s and low 80s once you reach the end of the Elite 4, andtrainers now have Pokemon not typically found in the Alola region.

Along with the above changes, wild encounters up until the post-game are completed, custom music has been created for the post-game returning trainers, and almost every Pokemon now has access to hidden abilities.

For a full breakdown of changes and instructions on how to set up the mod, check out this post on GBATemp.

2. Pokemon Supernova Sun and Penumbra Moon

As you probably already have guessed from the name of this rom hack, Pokemon Supernova Sun and Penumbra Moon are hacks of the original Sun and Moon games.

The creator of these hacks is the same behind the Rutile Ruby and Star Sapphire and Nova Sun and Umbra Moon hacks. The main purpose of these games is to provide players with a more challenging game experience all while ultimately not artificially limiting the player in the process.

Supernova Sun and Penumbra Moon are a complete redesign of Pokemon Trainers in the game’s world to make for more challenging Trainer battles. Every single trainer in the game has been edited and the level curve expects use of the Experience Share feature, ultimately leveling players up rather quickly.

Even the Elite 4 and Champion are Level 100! Supernova Sun and Penumbra Moon’s other main focus was inspired by the Super Smash Bros. Melee 20XX Hack Pack which was designed to improve competitive players’ ability to grind and practice. In these hacks, everything obtainable is 100% legal and legitimate for real online battles and trades.

The mods in this hack are very expansive and include the following:

• Wild Pokémon availability (in three different ways!)
• Wild Pokémon hold items
• Item availability in Poké Marts and from special vendors
• Evolution methods for Trade Evolutions and “Level up in a specific area/version” Evolutions
• Level-Up movesets to handle the increased level curve and add access to TM and Tutor moves
• And much more!

You can check out the full details and download the ROM hack on this website here.

3. Pokemon Eternal X and Wilting Y

Next up we’ve got Pokemon Eternal X and Wilting Y. These hacks include all 721 Pokemon in the games, making all of them obtainable throughout including trade evolutions.

Eternal X and Wilting Y ramp up the difficulty level and are significantly harder than the original X and Y games.

Both Pokemon Eternal X and Wilting Y come in four separate versions:

• Legal Version – this version makes useful Hidden Abilities more easily available, adds many egg and tutor moves to almost every Pokémon’s level up moves and also includes all of which are legal in the official games.
• Rebalanced Version – The Rebalanced Version includes all of the changes from the Legal Version, but also includes many base stats and type and move-pool changes intended to make weaker Pokémon more fun to use.
• Insanity Mode – Insanity Mode basically includes everything from the Rebalanced Version along with more challenging Trainer battles.
• Online Version – The Online Version of the hack removes a few features to ensure that every Pokemon you catch is legal and can be safely used during online play.

If you’re looking for a challenging experience that also offers tons of variety and playthrough modes, Pokemon Eternal X and Wilting Y are must on the list of rom hacks to check out.

You can see more details and find out how to download this hack on this forum thread.

4. Pokemon Rising Ruby and Sinking Sapphire

Pokemon Rising Ruby and Sinking Sapphire take the original masterpiece games Ruby and Sapphire and add a whole bunch of quality of life improvements.

Not only can you catch all 721 different Pokemon in these hacks, but the difficulty level has been turned up significantly. You can imagine that grinding your way through the Pokemon League will take some seriously work.

With the sheer number of Pokemon in Rising Ruby and Sinking Sapphire, you’ll ultimately need to change up your strategy and be able to think on your feet as tactics from the original games won’t fly here.

These ROM hacks make significant changes to Trainers, items, Pokemon, evolutions, encounters, and attacks. For a full breakdown of all the changes and to download the hacks, you can visit this Google Drive folder.

5. Pokemon Rutile Ruby and Star Sapphire

Last up on our list is Pokemon Rutile Ruby and Star Sapphire. These are obviously hacks of the original Ruby and Sapphire games for the 3DS.

Rutile Ruby and Star Sapphire are much harder than the original titles and will provide players with a significantly challenging experience. That being said, Pokemon will inevitably level up much quicker here due to the sheer difficult of the hacks.

As you may have noticed from other hacks on this list, when taking on the Elite 4, you’ll want to ensure that your entire team has been leveled to the max and that you’ve done the necessary amount of grinding to stand a chance.

The developers were mindful to make sure that all of the changes included in these ROM hacks are legal and can be used in competitive online play.

So while these hacks are quite challenging and tough to play through, for those able to complete the challenge, you’ll have a well oiled machine ready to use when preparing competitive teams.

Read all the details and see where to download these hacks on this website.

Summary

That about does it for our list of the best Pokemon 3DS ROM hacks. We’ve done our best to include all of the top ROM hacks available, but feel free to let us know in the comments down below if you would like us to include any others to this list.

Also be sure to check out our list of the best Pokemon DS Rom hacks.

If you’re a big GBA fan, be sure to also take a look at our list of the best Pokemon GBA ROM hacks.