History YMMV / PokemonDarkRising

** If you manage to get past the Elite 4, the final boss is infamous for being completely ridiculous; not only does he have a team full of legendaries, he also has a [[VideoGame/PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness Shadow Lugia]] with inflated base stats (170 HP, 150 Attack, 170 Defense, 160 Special Attack, 210 Special Defense, and 150 Speed) carrying a 200 Power move to make it the ultimate LightningBruiser. To put this in context, it has a base stat total of '''1010''', which is 230 higher than Mega Mewtwo X and Y, who have the highest base stats of any Pokémon. Beating him without a team full of legends yourself or at least without a team tailor-made to counter him is nearly impossible.

* SoBadItsGood: The game has so many issues, from its numerous bugs, poor mapping, cliché plot and bad dialogue riddled with typos, etc that it's often unintentionally hilarious.

* SoBadItsGood: It's quite the cliche storm, and has some pretty broken gameplay, but it has its unintentionally funny moments.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: The hack got a lot of attention as one of the best or at least most notable romhacks when it originally came out. However, it doesn't compare favorably to to newer hacks like Glazed, Liquid Crystal, Reborn and Zeta/Omicron (the latter two being even more ambitious due to being RPG Maker games); they are more polished, have fewer bugs, better original/custom sprites, more content, and features from future games like the Physical/Special split, generation 6 Pokémon, and music from newer/other games.

* CompleteMonster: [[Anime/PokemonHoopaAndTheClashOfAges Hoopa]] is an ancient Pokémon who [[GreaterScopeVillain manipulated the events of the first two games]] to get rid of Arceus and Darugis and gain control of the universe. [[AdaptationalVillainy Hoopa]] turned the world into a wasteland and inflicted the "Trainer's Curse" on anyone who owns a Pokemon, which will cause them to die and eventually become a zombie should they lose a battle. He has the zombies hunt down any trainers, seeking to remove anyone he deems unworthy of existing in his "perfect" world, with no mercy given to [[WouldHurtAChild children]]. Hoopa also commits personal crimes, such as taunting Kaz that he's becoming a remorseless killer thanks to the Trainer's Curse and having Joel turned into a zombie, causing Kaz grief. At the end of the game, Hoopa tries to have the heroes killed, but he only manages to kill Kaz. A childish fiend that views his world as his playground, Hoopa proved to be crueler and more dangerous than [[BigBad Darugis]].

* CompleteMonster: [[Anime/PokemonHoopaAndTheClashOfAges Hoopa]] is an ancient Pokémon who [[GreaterScopeVillain manipulated the events of the first two games]] to get rid of Arceus and Darugis and gain control of the universe. [[AdaptationalVillainy Hoopa]] turned the world into a wasteland and inflicted the "Trainer's Curse" on anyone who owns a Pokemon, which will cause them to die and eventually become a zombie should they lose a battle. He has the zombies hunt down any trainers, seeking to remove anyone he deems unworthy of existing in his "perfect" world, with no mercy given to [[WouldHurtAChild children]]. Hoopa also commits personal crimes, such as taunting Kaz that he's becoming a remorseless killer thanks to the Trainer's Curse and having Joel turned into a zombie, causing Kaz grief. At the end of the game, Hoopa tries to have the heroes killed, but he only manages to kill Kaz. A childish fiend that views his world as his playground, Hoopa proved to be more cruel and dangerous than [[BigBad Darugis]].

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: V. After he sold his soul to Darugius, and lost to the protagonist, he is sent to the underworld. The protagonist sheds a tear for his death... Of course the reason why V worked for Darugis is so that he can torture the protagonist and his father's soul forever. Doesn't help that he's a murderous leader who wants to sink a ship filled with innocent people. [[spoiler: After he is reborn, his reaction to the death of his children is conceit and contempt.]] He is still this in dark rising 2; [[spoiler: The brief moment he shows up, he dies again, and the player grieves for him and his kids.]]

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: The hack got a lot of attention as one of the best or at least most notable romhacks when it originally came out. However, it doesn't compare favorably to to newer hacks like Glazed, Liquid Crystal, Reborn and Zeta/Omicron (the latter two being even more ambitious due to being RPG Maker games); they are more polished, have fewer bugs, better original/custom sprites, more content, and features from future games like the Physical/Special split, generation 6 Pokémon, and music from newer/other games.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: Comparing it to newer hacks like Glazed, Liquid Crystal, Reborn and Zeta/Omicron (the latter two being even more ambitious due to being RPG Maker games). Dark Rising doesn't age very well as these games are more polished, have fewer bugs, better original/custom sprites, more content, and features from future games like the Physical/Special split, generation 6 Pokémon, and music from newer/other games.

** The hack's story. Posts by the romhack creator indicate that it was her primary concern when creating Dark Rising, to have a stronger and more ambitious storyline. Some people did enjoy the more serious plot and found the original characters interesting. Many other people consider the story an incredibly dull ClicheStorm with weak and forgettable characters, and that it has strong elements of bad fanfiction given the presence of characters from the anime (including Brock, Misty, and an Ash who has become champion) and a special guest appearance by Yami Yugi from {{Anime/YuGiOh}} as a gym leader.

** In Dark Rising 2, [[spoiler:Arceus]]is an intentional one. He's supposed to be the ultimate trump card of the game and the god of Pokemon, and it shows; his already impressive 720 base stat total has been buffed even further, and Judgment is changed to be a 200 Power move that boosts all your stats by one stage. As soon as you get Arceus, it's basically game over and nothing from that point on will pose any challenge, not even the final boss.
* MoralEventHorizon: V tried to kill the protagonist when they first met, made a pact with Darugis to torture his hated enemies' souls forever, and tried to sink a ship with innocent people. [[spoiler: When he is reborn, he mocks his children's' death or worse.]]

** Some of the spritework is less than appealing. Especially [[spoiler: Atem]].
*** The fact that [[spoiler: Atem]] cameos in this game at all is silly enough.

*** His Darugis-S and Darugis-X pokemon sprites (yes, [[MindScrew Darugis sends out a Mega Evoution of himself]], pretty narmy of its own) may be either sprite garbage or a somewhat creepy abomination though.

* [[SeinfeldisUnfunny Seinfeld Is Unfunny]]: The hack has begun to show its age. Newer hacks like Glazed, Liquid Crystal, Reborn and Zeta/Omicron (the latter two being even more ambitious due to being RPG Maker games) are much more polished, have fewer bugs, better original/custom sprites, more content, and features from future games like the Physical/Special split, generation 6 Pokémon, and music from newer/other games.

** Brandon in dark rising 2 has all of the legendary golems. Including a beastly Pure Power Regigiggas that is only ''slightly'' less broken than Wrath's. Oh and you fight him twice, the second time is a double battle.

* SurprisinglyImprovedSequel: Dark Rising 2 is generally a bit more polished compared to the first game, with the physical/special split implemented, the Zen Headbutt glitch fixed, better mapping, etc. The story is more self-aware about how anime and over-the-top it is, and even has one or two unexpected twists, one of them being [[spoiler: TheReveal that your father actually failed in his role as a savior and refused to end the threat of Darugis, because he was too selfish and cowardly to give up his own life.]]

** In Dark Rising 2, [[spoiler:Arceus]]is an intentional one. He's supposed to be the ultimate trump card of the game and the god of Pokemon, and it shows; his already impressive 720 base stat total has been buffed even further, and Judgment is changed to be a 200 base power move that boosts all your stats by one stage. As soon as you get Arceus, it's basically game over and nothing from that point on will pose any challenge, not even the final boss.

* ThatOneAttack: Dark Chaos. What we have here is a 200 base power dark type attack, with 25 power points unlike most powerful attacks, that has a 100% chance of poisoning a pokemon, and the poison will take out some HP from the same turn, often ensuring a pokemon will faint. What's worse is that this move is the main villain's signature move that gets STAB, so it is going to hit 300 base power, which is very close to explosion. The only pokemon that can even withstand that are Umbreon, Tyranitar and Arceus, with their high HP and special defense. Everything else just dies in at least two hits, and the very few ones that have a double resitance will be hit by a coverage move. You will probably be heal spamming endlessly until it eventually runs out, or give up in frustration.

** If you manage to get past the Elite 4, the final boss is infamous for being completely ridiculous; not only does he have a team full of legendaries, he also has a [[VideoGame/PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness Shadow Lugia]] with inflated base stats (170 HP, 150 Attack, 170 Defense, 160 Special Attack, 210 Special Defense, and 150 Speed) carrying a 200 Base Power move to make it the ultimate LightningBruiser. To put this in context, it has a base stat total of '''1010''', which is 230 higher than Mega Mewtwo X and Y, who have the highest base stats of any Pokémon. Beating him without a team full of legends yourself or at least without a team tailor-made to counter him is nearly impossible.

** The game's "Elite 4" (The 4 Knights of Ebony's Round Table) as a whole is exceptionally difficult. You are warned that they will have Pokémon with moves and abilities they aren't supposed to have. This proves to be true; among the threats are a Regigigas without Slow Start (meaning its Attack and Speed stat aren't halved for the first five turns), several Pokémon (Scrafty, Ferrothorn, Dusknoir, etc) with Cosmic Power and Recover, an Eelketross with Ice Beam, a a ton of legendary and pseudo-legendary Pokémon, etc.
*** Wrath in particular gets a mention because his team is more physical attacking based, while boosting his defenses as well, but his signature Regigigas not only lacks Slow Start (Regigigas' signature ability, which halves its stats for the first five turns of a battle), but has '''HUGE POWER.''' (which doubles the pokemon's Attack stat) He is right to boast that he has the most power, as this thing is the second most broken enemy mon in the game. Oh, and it has a focus band.

* UnintentionallyUnsympathetic: V. After he sold his soul to Darugius, and lost to the protagonist, he is sent to the underworld. The protagonist sheds a tear for his death... Of course the reason why V worked for Darugis is so that he can torture the protagonist and his father's soul forever. Doesn't help that he's a murderous leader who wants to sink a ship filled with innocent people. [[spoiler: After he is reborn, his reaction to the death of his children is conceit and contempt.]] He is still this in dark rising 2; [[spoiler: The brief moment he shows up, he dies again, and the player grieves for him and his kids.]]
* VillainSue: Darugis, who can possess anyone he wants, anytime he pleases. Taking over the region champion, he has all of the signature pokemon of the 4 Knights of the Round table, which are gen 4 legendary pokemon with much higher base stats than Arceus. In addition, he also has a Mewtwo with base stats over 900, and worst of all, a Lugia (with shadow lugia's sprite), that has not only has a higher base stat total above 1000, but also has dark/ghost typing (with no weakness), recover, and a 200 base power 100% accurate dark move that always poisons, which has alot of PP. In addition to that, it has flamethrower for coverage, and aeroblast. After all the player has to go through, after finally confronting and defeating the Big Bad, after you defeat the singular most broken boss pokemon you could possibly face with everything you got, (even if you have to use destiny bond /revive or leech seed spam), it turns out the bad guy wins anyway; the protagonist still hasn't found his father, and [[KarmaHoudini Darugis]] has absorbed enough energy around the land, and leaves the protagonist (and players) depressed.

*** Wrath in particular gets a mention because his team is more physical attacking based, while boosting his defenses as well, but his signature Regiggigas not only lacks slow start, but has '''HUGE POWER.''' He is right to boast that he has the most power, as this thing is the second most broken enemy mon in the game. Oh, and it has a focus band.

* GameBreaker: Zen Headbutt will always cause an opponent to flinch due to the hacker setting Zen Headbutt's flinch rate to 100%. The only caveat is that the move only has 90% accuracy, but using an X Accuracy remedies that just fine.

* SurprisinglyImprovedSequel: Dark Rising 2 is generally a bit more polished compared to the first game, with the physical/special split implemented, the Zen Headbutt glitch fixed, better mapping, etc.

* ThatOneAttack: Dark Chaos. What we have here is a 200 base power dark type attack, with 25 power points unlike most powerful attacks, that has a 100% chance of poisoning a pokemon, and the poison will take out some HP from the same turn, often ensuring a pokemon will faint. What's worse is that this move is the main villain's signature move that gets STAB, so it is going to hit 300 base power, which is very close to explosion. The only pokemon that can even withstand that are Umbreon and Tyranitar, with their high HP and special defense. Everything else just dies in at least two hits, and the very few ones that have a double resitance will be hit by a coverage move. You will probably be heal spamming endlessly until it eventually runs out, or give up in frustration.

** Dark Rising 2 Darugis, being the BigBad of the anime-like game, would qualify. He'll give you a taste of what is to come with a very rare example of using only one Pokemon. One '''OBSCENELY POWERFUL''' Pokemon, himself. Said Pokemon has base stats that are well above Arceus normally, with the utterly overpowered '''Dark Chaos''' STAB move of 300 power with no drawbacks, and perfect poison chance. He has recover, and perfect coverage, and he comes immediately before you can level up [[spoiler: Arceus]], and will probably massacre you if you aren't ready. He's essentially Adrian on steroids in the champion battle as well.

* SoBadItsGood: It's quite the cliche storm, and some pretty broken gameplay, but it has its unintentionally funny moments.

** Brandon in dark rising 2 has all of the legendary golems. Including a beastly Pure Power Regigiggas that is only ''slightly'' weaker than Wrath's. Oh and you fight him twice, the second time is a double battle.

** Dark Rising 2 Darugis, being the BigBad of the anime-like game, would qualify. He'll give you a taste of what is to come with a very rare example of using only one Pokemon. One '''OBSCENELY POWERFUL''' Pokemon, himself. Said Pokemon has base stats that are well above Arceus normally, with the utterly overpowered '''DarK Chaos''' STAB move of 300 power with no drawbacks, and perfect poison chance. He has recover, and perfect coverage, and he comes immediately before you can level up [[spoiler: Arceus]], and will probably massacre you if you aren't ready. He's essentially Adrian on steroids in the champion battle as well.

* [[SeinfeldisUnfunny Seinfeld Is Unfunny: The hack has begun to show its age. Newer hacks like Glazed, Liquid Crystal, Reborn and Zeta/Omicron (the latter two being even more ambitious due to being RPG Maker games) are much more polished, have fewer bugs, better original/custom sprites, more content, and features from future games like the Physical/Special split, generation 6 Pokémon, and music from newer/other games.

* SeinfeldisUnfunny: The hack has begun to show its age. Newer hacks like Glazed, Liquid Crystal, Reborn and Zeta/Omicron (the latter two being even more ambitious due to being RPG Maker games) are much more polished, have fewer bugs, better original/custom sprites, more content, and features from future games like the Physical/Special split, generation 6 Pokémon, and music from newer/other games.