Play Pokemon Super Rising Thunder (alpha 2) Online

Pokémon Super Rising Thunder (Alpha 2) is one of those fan-made GBA games that actually gets it right—it feels like stumbling onto a lost official release, but with way more spark. The battles are snappier than the old-school Pokémon games, and there’s this weirdly satisfying crackle to the animations that makes every Thunderbolt or Quick Attack hit harder. I wasn’t expecting much at first, but then I ran into a wild Pokémon I’d never seen before, and suddenly I was hooked.

The overworld’s packed with little secrets, too—hidden items tucked behind trees, NPCs who actually say interesting things, and a story that doesn’t just rehash the same old "eight badges and a villain team" routine. It’s still in alpha, so some rough edges pop up (good luck figuring out where to go next without talking to every single person in town), but even unfinished, it’s more fun than half the official games I’ve played lately. If you’ve got a GBA emulator buried in your downloads folder, dust it off for this one.