How to Play Pokémon Sacred Gold and Storm Silver

Reviewed by Ishrak

Last Updated: January 18, 2024 Fact Checked

Pokémon Sacred Gold and Storm Silver are fan-made Pokémon games that are hacks of Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver. Among other things, they include all 493 Pokémon available to catch in-game, harder trainers and gym leaders, and new trainers and game events. If you already know Pokémon front and back, get prepared for a whole new way to play.

Steps

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1
Download and install a Nintendo DS emulator. Since Sacred Gold and Storm Silver are fan-made mods of HeartGold and SoulSilver, they can only be played through a Nintendo DS emulator. You can install an emulator on your computer, or you can install it on your Android or jailbroken iOS device. There are several emulators available depending on the operating system and device you are using. Regardless of what you install your emulator on, you'll still need to use a Windows computer to build the game file. ^{[1]
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- Windows and Mac - The two most popular Nintendo DS emulators are DeSmuME (Windows and Mac) and NO$GBA (Windows only). You can download DeSmuME from desmume.org/download/ , and NO$GBA from problemkaputt.de/gba.htm .
- Android - There are several DS emulators available for Android, including DraStic, nds4droid, and Open NDS Emulator. All of these are available on the Google Play Store.
- iOS - You'll need a jailbroken device in order to download and install nds4ios, which is a port of DeSmuME. Jailbreaking your device will void your warranty and can cause problems with stability. If your device is jailbroken, you can get nds4ios from the cydia.myrepospace.com/Gamer6401/ repository in Cydia.
2
Download a HeartGold or SoulSilver ROM (game backup) on your Windows computer. You'll need the US version of HeartGold to play Sacred Gold or the US version of SoulSilver to play Storm Silver. You can find ROM files by searching "HeartGold/SoulSilver rom" using your favorite search engine. Make sure that you download the US "(U)" edition. The ROM file will download in RAR or ZIP format. ^{[2]
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- Both Sacred Gold and Storm Silver allow you to get all 493 Pokémon without trading. This means that there's no real difference between using HeartGold or SoulSilver, outside of a few small encounters.
- In many regions, it is illegal to download a ROM file for a game that you don't own.
- This process must be done on a Windows computer, as the patching tool was designed for Windows.
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You'll need to extract the NDS file out of the RAR or ZIP file that you downloaded. If it is a ZIP file, you can simply double-click it and then drag the NDS file out of the archive. If it is a RAR file, you'll need to install a program that can open RAR files, such as WinRAR or 7-Zip. Once you've installed one of these free programs, double-click the RAR file and extract the NDS file inside.
4
Download the Sacred Gold and Heart Silver files. These files are fan-made, and need to be downloaded from the forum thread that the creator made. You can find the thread here . Click the "Patches and Documentation" link at the bottom of the post. Select the "Mediafire" link.
- Follow the link to download the ZIP file. It should be named "2sg2ss4105.zip".
Double-click this downloaded file and select "Extract All". This will create a new folder will all of the 2sg2ss4105 files inside.
This folder contains the tools you need to create the modified ROM file.
Allow the program to run if your operating system warns you about unknown programs. If you are prompted to install the .NET Framework, follow the prompts to download and install it. ^{[3]
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8
Click . Select Patch . This will open a window allowing you to navigate to the patch you want to use. Open either the Classic Version folder or the Complete Version folder to find the patch file.
- The Classic Version contains the new adventure, but does not modify the stats, movesets, or other data for any of the Pokémon. Choose this if you want a new adventure with familiar Pokémon.
- The Complete Version makes many changes to various attributes of almost all of the Pokémon. Choose this if you want to be surprised as to how your Pokémon grow and evolve.
Select the patch for the version of the game you are modifying. Open it to return to the patcher window.
Select ROM . Browse for the NDS file that you extracted from the ROM you downloaded. Make sure it's the same version of the game (HeartGold or SoulSilver) as the patch you selected.
Apply patch . The change will be made instantly. A copy of the file will be made with "_patched" at the end of the name. The copy will be located in the same location as the original NDS file. ^{[4]
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If you're planning on playing the game on your smartphone or on a Mac, you'll need to transfer the file to that device. If you're moving it to a Mac, you can just put it on a USB drive and copy it that way. If you need to get it on your Android, you can connect it to the computer via USB and copy it directly onto the device. You can also load it into a cloud storage service like Google Drive or Dropbox. This is the best way to transfer it to a jailbroken iOS device.
Load up your emulator and open the ROM file. ^{[5]
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Research source} The process for opening a ROM file varies, but generally you can open one from the File menu or the main menu of the emulator app. You'll be able to tell that you're running the patched version when Professor Oak greets you at the start of the game. The opening text will inform you that you're playing a Sacred Gold or Storm Silver hack.
The creator of these hacks has upped the difficulty of the original games by a fair amount. All Gym Leaders and other big boss trainers use six Pokémon during battle, which means you'll need a large team from the start. Because all Pokémon through Generation IV can be found, you'll be battling a much wider range of Pokémon than you would in the originals as well. Take full advantage of the massive number of Pokémon available to create the ultimate team.

Community Q&A

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Question

What should I do if I am having troubles loading the correctly patched files to my emulator?

Community Answer

Follow the steps correctly using the proper zip, and make sure you're using the US version of Pokemon HG or SS.

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Question

Does this not work with a Mac? I've been trying on mine and it says that I can't open xxDelta GUI.exe. Is there a way to get it on Mac if this doesn't work?

Community Answer

The patch only works on Windows computers, so you'll need to run the already patched program downloaded on OpenEmu or something.

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Question

Is there any difference between Pokémon Sacred Gold and Storm Silver?

Community Answer

There is one small difference in both games and that is the wild Pokémon but you can get all 493 Pokémon.

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Tips

The games are much harder than HeartGold and SoulSilver, so be sure to spend time grinding your team and preparing them for battles. You'll want a balanced team with movesets that can cover many different types of Pokémon.

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This is a different game from HeartGold and SoulSilver, so don't follow a walkthrough of those games when playing this one. There are run throughs of the games available on YouTube if you get stuck.

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Try a Nuzlocke challenge if you want to make the games even harder.

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Warnings

Be careful when selecting a site to download the ROM and emulator from, since a bad download may give your computer a virus.

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