The Top 5 Best Pokemon Platinum ROM Hacks of 2023

Pokémon Platinum version is one of the most beloved Pokemon games of the entire franchise. Still, all these years later it has such a strong cult following that fans are still making ROM hacks of it.

Last time we wrote about the best Pokemon Emerald ROM hacks, but in this article we’ll be breaking down the best ROM hacks available that you need to play for Platinum!

These fan-made modifications to the original Platinum Pokemon game offer unique individual takes on the classic format and can help keeps things fresh and feeling new.

Without further ado, let’s jump into the games!

What Are The Top 5 Pokemon Platinum ROM Hacks?

Grab your gear and get ready. It’s time to dive into the 5 best Pokemon ROM hacks for Platinum version.

Pokémon Platinum: Enhanced Edition

Pokémon Platinum: Enhanced Edition is in our opinion one of the best Pokemon ROM hacks of Platinum! This ROM hack keeps about 95% of Platinum’s original story in tact, but mainly focuses on some changes to the core formula.

Finally, you’re able to get all 493 Pokemon to complete the National Dex through either catching or breeding your mons. There’s no need to trade with other friends or do random events to get items. Most of the wild encounters are reworked. One nice addition is that those annoying cave Pokemon will appear less frequently when trying to get from point A to point B.

Legendary Pokemon are still usually found as wild encounters, but you can get hints from characters in the game about where to find them. Do keep in mind though that Legendaries like Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, Cresselia, and others can still be found in their original locations.

Safari Pokemon have been reworked and the special Trophy Garden Pokemon have as well. You’ll also find most baby Pokemon in the game as well.

The difficulty level here is increased from the original Platinum game:

• Trainers are now stronger and they will use different Pokemon teams than you’re used to
• The Top Four are much stronger on the first run through and signficantly more difficult on subsequent runs
• Your rival will use a different team of Pokemon and they are much stronger than usual
• Gym leaders all have 6 Pokemon on their teams
• Unique in-game trainers all have stronger and different Pokemon on their teams

The extensive changes and refinements around difficulty levels and challenges are a welcome change that help give a new take on a beloved classic game. This Pokemon Platinum hack helps to create a more diverse Sinnoh with loads of replay value that will keep you coming back time and again to take on the challenge.

Pokémon Platinum Redux

Pokemon Platinum Redux is a Nintendo DS ROM hack of Platinum created primarily to increase the difficulty of the base game. This Platinum hack provides a much more challenging experience and focused heavily on team building and battles. The ROM has a total of 493 Pokemon included.

While the difficulty in this hack is turned up a few notches, this doesn’t mean this it is unfair. For example, the game has no EVs available and while this does increase the difficulty cap, it also reduces the need for endless grinding. Every trainer in the game has champion level AI, better movesets, items, and more trainers are nearly impossible to avoid having to battle.

All trainer Pokemon have 16 IVs in all of their stats so on average they’ll typically be just as strong as your team of Pokemon. There are some helpful additions that will allow you to survive. For example, there are unlimited TMs and you can get early access to powerful battle items.

While Platinum Redux is definitely challenging, it is ultimately a more fair ROM hack and isn’t going to be on par with some of the more painful difficulty level ones you’ll come across.

It’s also great that you can catch every single Pokemon by hunting for them in tall grass.

Some notable quality of life improvements to the game are the custom damage calculator, you receive the National Pokedex early on, traded Pokemon always obey commands, the shiny rate has been increased to 1/257, wild encounter rates are reduced, every Pokemon evolves at specific levels, you’ll encounter no Pokemon while surfing around, and HMs are reduced in terms of how often you’ll need to use them.

This hack increases the difficulty but does so in a way that feels relatively fair and not overwhelming. It’s a fun challenge that we recommend giving a shot.

Pokémon Altered Platinum

Pokemon Altered Platinum is another hack of Pokemon Platinum that offers a unique spin on the game. When we say unique, we really mean it! The game even has 30 new Sinnoah forms, each with their own unique designs, type, stats, and more.

Old Pokemon have been changed pretty heavily, making them feel almost entirely new. Ice type Pokemon are no longer weak to Rock type and have new resistances to Water, Ground, and Dragon type Pokemon.

The game itself isn’t quite up to the Kaizo difficulty, but it does ramp of the challenge level quite a bit from the base Platinum version. Effort values have been removed, which means you’re essentially limited to the same level of power as Trainers who also are unable to use EVs. A nice addition is the removal of grinding EVs endlessly.

Gym Leaders don’t have specific types of Pokemon anymore, but instead are focused around gimmicks. Some shiny Pokemon have new color variants – you can find and catch the autumn color inspired Leafeon and even a cherry blossom Torterra! On top of that, the shiny rate has been increased to 1/512.

Some of the less intriguing story dialogue from NPCs has also been done away with and replaced with new jokes and references.

Pokémon Renegade Platinum

Pokémon Renegade Platinum is primarily an enhancement of the original game, similar to Drayano’s other hacks such as Sacred Gold & Storm Silver and Blaze Black & Volt White. This hack keeps the story the same as the original version, but changes up the actual gameplay a bit.

All 493 Pokémon can be captures, Trainers are more difficult and there are tougher boss fights, previously weaker Pokémon are now easier to use, trade only evolutions have been removed, and much more.

Fairy type Pokemon have also been added, the shiny rate has been increased from 1/8192 to 1/512, teh gameplay speed has been increased, there are new special events and NPCs, in-game trades have been changed, some TMs have been changed, Pokemon base stats have been updated to Sun and Moon, there are no more trade evolutions (Pokemon now must evolve only by leveling up), and all wild and Trainer Pokemon have been revamped.

Pokémon Refined Platinum

Pokemon Refined Platinum is a standalone 493 patch that is meant to enhance and improve the original base game while keeping the original look and feel. Instead of completely reworking the game, this fixes up some issues like RNG, version exclusives, trade evolutions, lack of renewable berries and stones, postgame rematches, etc.

All Pokemon can be captures in the wild, you can get every Pokemon without needing to trade, wild Pokemon now have held items like berries, and while the core plot of the game is nearly identical to the original game’s, the dialog of some NPCs has been reworked and changed.

This hack stays very true to the original change and only slightly changes some things up. If you’re looking for a hack that’s very in line with the base Platinum game but has some small quality of life improvements, give Refined Platinum a shot.

Summary

We’ve covered the five best Pokemon Platinum hacks that we think you should definitely check out. You might notice that many of the hacks have some similar base features, but when playing through them you’ll really be able to feel and sense the actual core gameplay shifts. The difficulty levels can vary greatly depending on the version you choose as well, so depending on the playstyle you’re after, be sure you choose the right ROM hack for the difficulty you’d like.

Be sure to also check out our list of the best Pokemon Ruby ROM hacks.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the odds of getting a shiny in renegade platinum?

The odds of getting a shiny Pokémon in Renegade Platinum is 1/512 instead of the usual game’s 1/8192! This means that your odds of catching a shiny are vastly increased in this ROM hack. You can also try soft resetting your ROM to increase your chances at some shiny mon with static encounters, but save states won’t reroll the RNG, so you’ll encounter the same Pokémon each time.

What are Pokémon Platinum ROM hacks?

Platinum ROM hacks are made by fans who want to shift the original core game and alter certain features of it, essentially producing new versions of the core game. This may include increasing the difficulty level through removing certain items or abilities, changing Gym Trainers teams of Pokemon, altering the dialog in the game, etc. Some Platinum ROM hacks focus more on creating more difficult versions of the game while others might focus on introducing more Pokemon. They vary depending on the creator and what direction they decided to go when creating it.

Can I catch all Pokémon in Pokémon Refined Platinum?

Pokemon Refind Platinum allows you to catch every single Pokemon without the need to trade with friends. This means that you can simply explore the tall grass and various areas and you’ll encounter all Pokemon available in the game.

What unique features does Pokémon Altered Platinum offer?

Pokemon Altered Platinum is a very unique ROM hack. The creator went so far as to introduce 30 new Sinnoh forms of Pokemon, each with their own unique designs, type, stats, and more. Check out our full breakdown of the game above to see all of the awesome features this ROM hack has.