Pokémon Vega is a ROM Hack of Pokémon FireRed released in 2011 by an anonymous team of Japanese developers, with an English Fan Translation being released by Dr. Akimbo in 2016. Developed as a sequel to the duo of ROM hacks Pokémon Altair and Pokémon Sirius, it follows up on those games' stories, and as such one is bound to be spoiled on the events of said games if they play this, though this sequel usually sees more discussion than its predecessors thanks to having a wholly original region (whereas Altair and Sirius used a modified Hoenn region for its setting).
The story goes that sometime after the events of Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, a series of meteors struck the Hoenn region, causing massive damage to both the region's infrastructure and ecology, driving several species to extinction in the region. However, several new species began to appear as a result of the meteor, perplexing the region's researchers. This is compounded by the evil teams Black Hole and White Hole (or B.H. and W.H., respectively) causing problems throughout the game, though luckily a young prodigy trainer taking them down and becoming the region's new Champion.
After the events of the previous game, the player character (default name Gordon if male and April if female) moves back home to the frigid Tohoak region (based on the real-life Tōhoku region) to live with their father, Professor Holly. It's here where you learn that the meteoric Pokémon from Hoenn have started appearing en masse in Tohoak. Holly tasks his child with researching the newly-arrived Pokémon using their Pokédex and a new starter, leading to the former Champion having to start their team from scratch. Thus begins the journey to catalog the Tohoak region's unique Pokémon old and new, along with attempting to get through the Tohoak league and defeat a new evil team along the way.
Note, the article uses the English fan translation's names for most terms.
Pokémon Vega contains examples of...
- Adaptational Villainy: The villains of the previous games, Altair and Sirius, are Steven and Wallace. They were Brainwashed and Crazy and got better originally, so the versions you fight here are versions that hadn't become good again.
- Big Bad: The leader of Team Dark Hole (D.H.) is a man named Turner. He seldom appears, but it's his plan to Take Over the World that drives the plot.
- Call-Back: Numerous to the prequels, including several reoccurring characters and references to past events that might fly over a player's head if they never played them. A minor example is a man in Junopsis City who gives the player a Nugget as thanks for giving them some when they lived in Alto Mare.
- Canon Welding: Includes a few elements from the anime movie continuity: Alto Mare is a mentioned location (and also the primary location of the prequels' post-game), and the Pokémon Rangers as seen here are led by Jack Walker.
- Com Mons: Expect to see the same Pokémon over and over again, especially early, thanks to the limited dex. Taillow and Pineco reoccur on the early routes, later replaced by Nidoran and Mintch (a new Pokémon), while Buizel and Cuppa (another new Pokémon) serve as their water route equivalents.
- Crutch Character:
- Taillow will be able to evolve into Swellow before the second gym, and while the high amount of Rock-type moves in that gym won't make it especially helpful there, Swellow's very good Speed stat lets it outspeed everything for a long while. By the lategame however, you'll be relying on Guts if you want to keep up in terms of damage.
- Pineco can serve well throughout the game as a great physically defensive option (especially if one didn't take Peyero), though its physical attack is by far at its best early: Selfdestruct at level 6, new move Double Spin (a new move with an effective base power of 70, plus a small chance to boost Attack) at level 9 and Take Down at level 12 make it one of your best damage dealers for the first couple of gyms. Once the late-game shows up, it'll be forced to rely on strong STAB moves to compete physically, and will mostly be relegated to hazards and stalling otherwise.
- Darker and Edgier: Not to the same extent as its predecessors, which had light post-apocalyptic themes, but this still features and references many of said darker elements.
- First Town: Porcelia Town, home of the region's Pokémon Research Lab.
- Guide Dang It!: There's a few puzzles that are on the more obtuse end. Probably the most infamous is the first gym's puzzle featuring teleport pads. In order to access the gym leader, you need to interact with a random window in the back of the gym, which then changes the destination of one of the teleport pads.
- The Heavy: Despite not being the main antagonist, you see Admin Reginald be far more active in Team D.H.'s plans than his boss.
- Late Character Syndrome: The post-game Pokémon can be caught at or around level 50, which might seem high until you take into account that the Champion you just beat was level 80, and the gym rematches initially cap out at 83. Essentially, if you want to try any of the new Pokémon, you'll need to devote an incredible amount of time just to make them usable when you likely have a team of roughly level 80 Pokémon already invested in.
- Magikarp Power:
- Togepi is a rare encounter early, albeit with multiple options to get it mid or late-game. It will struggle to contribute early thanks to its weak stats and movepool, and evolving into Togetic won't improve it much. You'll need to use a Sun Stone to obtain its final form, Togekiss, and before becoming Champion said stone can only be obtained from Mt. Snowfall, a relatively late-game dungeon (meaning Togekiss is also one of a set of Mutually Exclusive Party Members with Yunesis until becoming Champion). That being said, Togekiss will be more than strong enough to hold its own in the endgame thanks to its excellent coverage, good bulk and great Special Attack.
- Post-End Game Content: After becoming the Tohoak region's Champion, new areas in previously explored dungeons pop up, allowing you to explore and catch new Pokémon and even rematch the region's Gym Leaders who are also investigating. This culminates in a final post-game story and a rematch against the Big Bad.
- Plucky Comic Relief: Mosmero is a quirky and eccentric character who reappears throughout the game for occasional comedy bits or even a battle. He's also a member of the Hoenn Elite Four, so it turns out he has the skill to back up his odd demeanor.
- Recurring Boss: Your rival (default name Nathan), of course.
- Sissy Villain: Reginald is a Downplayed example, as while his speech is certainly effeminate (he even uses the red font otherwise used exclusively by women), his overall appearance isn't indicative of this trope.
- Slippy-Slidey Ice World: Much of Tohoak's western half is this, though without the slipping and sliding; instead, the ground and trees are often covered in white snow.
- Starter Mon: The same as its prequels: The Glass Cannon Grass-type Nimbleaf, the Stone Wall Fire-type Peyero, and the Mighty Glacier Water-type Liquiput.
- Yuki Onna: The Glachild line are based on these, being female-only Ice-types, although final form Aurostice
