Pokémon Lazarus is a popular, recently released fan-made Pokémon Emerald ROM hack that features a completely new region, story, characters, and numerous modern gameplay features.
Key Features
New Region: The game takes place in the original Ilios Region, which is inspired by the geography and history of Greece and its surrounding islands.
Original Story: Players take on the role of a new research assistant with a brand new storyline, characters, and an evil organization to defeat called Team Chimera.
GBC-style Graphics: The game uses charming GBC-style graphics for menus, Pokémon, and the overworld, giving it a unique visual style within the GBA framework.
Modern Gameplay Mechanics: It includes many quality-of-life improvements and modern features not present in the original Pokémon Emerald, such as:
Overworld Pokémon encounters (including visible shinies)
A dynamic Day/Night system with accelerated time
Character and ship cabin customization
Various minigames (Pinball, Stardew Valley-like Fishing, Underground Mining)
Altered shiny odds (1/2048)
Physical/Special attack split implementation
Development and Release: The game was created by a developer known as Nemo 622, who also made the popular Pokémon Emerald Seaglass hack. A demo was released in March 2025, and the full game was officially released on November 14, 2025.