Pokemon Heart & Soul v2.0 FAQ

Pokemon Heart & Soul is a GBA-style take on the Johto adventure, drawing from Gold, Silver, Crystal, HeartGold and SoulSilver. Johto never received an official Game Boy Advance game, so Heart & Soul explores what that region can feel like through the visual language and pace of a Gen 3 Pokemon adventure.

The heart of the project is familiar Johto in a GBA style, with room to shape the adventure around the way you like to play. v2.0 leans further into both sides of that idea with a fuller Pokégear, more flexible challenge settings, refreshed areas and more to do across Johto and Kanto.

v2.0 is a major update with Pokégear trainer rematches and radio, adjustable challenge settings, a Gen 7 movepool option, overhauled Kanto maps, new postgame content, all 92 HGSS TMs, the GB Player and redesigned ice puzzles. It also moves the project to pokeemerald-expansion.

Save files from versions before v2.0 are not compatible with v2.0. Start a new adventure for this version, and keep a backup if you want to return to an older save later.

Yes. Heart & Soul remains open source. The v2.0 codebase is also intended to be useful to people who want to build their own ideas on top of a Gen 2-style GBA project.

No. heartsoulgame.com provides the Heart & Soul patch only. You supply your own legally obtained compatible Pokemon Emerald ROM, and the browser patcher works with that file locally on your device.

Check the Download page for the current Pokemon Emerald requirement before patching. We keep the base-ROM details next to the current patch so you do not have to guess which file to use.

No. The browser patcher reads the ROM locally on your device. Your base ROM is not uploaded to heartsoulgame.com.

Yes. Register trainers in the Pokégear and they can call when they are ready to battle again or have an item for you. If you prefer to explore without incoming trainer calls, you can turn them off.

Yes. v2.0 adds a full Pokégear radio with Crystal channels and new additions, including updated Oak & Mary content and Buena's Password. Radio music can also continue into the overworld.

Yes. You can revisit challenge settings after the run begins. Where a change could make the challenge harder, the game may only let you move in the easier direction after starting.

Those options are part of the post-start challenge system, with limits where a change would make the run harder. The in-game menu shows exactly which settings can be relaxed after you begin.