First and foremost, it needs to be said that this isn’t an official Pokemon game. Rather it’s a fan-made project built by the duo “~JV~” and “Involuntary Twitch”, who spent over nine years making their Pokemon Uranium game. The former of whom made the game’s programming and code work, while the latter handled telling the story and making the art for the game. They launched an official trailer back at the beginning of July that shows you what their experience is about.
Finally on August 6th, it looks like they released it.
Pokémon Uranium FULL GAME v1.0 – Now Available!
Download for PC: https://t.co/HkrrbUQmcC pic.twitter.com/zQWbPXO6Ev— Pokémon Uranium (@PokemonUranium) August 6, 2016
What’s interesting about this Pokemon game is that it doesn’t exactly fall into any specific Generation category. Not only does it introduce dozens of new Pokemon, but it also has a variety of features taken from newer games. Aspects such as the Global Trade Station and Wonder Trade have some place of their own here. But the main core of it is the introduction of Nuclear-type Pokemon. It’s described as being something like you see in the shadow creatures from Pokemon Colosseum and XD. There are some new Pokemon that have a Pure Nuclear-type as their base, but also a mix of old and new Pokemon that have Nuclear as a secondary typing.
Regardless of the unique differences, the heart of Pokemon Uranium advertises itself to be much of the same Pokemon brand of experience you’ve come to expect from the series. The trainer goes from route to route, catching new Pokemon to add to their roster and collection. They stop in towns throughout the Tandor region in order to battle the eight gyms and take on the Elite Four. They’ve gone as far as to add Mega Evolutions, unlocking after you defeat the 7th gym, which you gain alongside the protagonist’s rival Theo – culminating in a Mega showdown battle on top of a mountain.
But what’s the story to the land of Tandor? The protagonist (with choices of Male, Female, or Ambiguous) is the child of a Pokemon Ranger (Kellyn) and a Nuclear Technician (Lucille). Ten years before the events of the game, an explosion at the Nuclear Power Plant killed Lucille and left Kellyn in disarray. The protagonist’s Great Aunt was left to raise them for the past decade, but at the age of 13 she kicks them out of the house and tells them to get a job. Luckily for them, Professor Bamb’o needs a research assistant, which leads the protagonist on their own Pokemon journey. Both the emotional and physical impact from this nuclear event are explored. The player has to resolve their father’s dwelling on the past with the death of their mother, alongside figuring out why radioactive Pokemon are attacking innocent people.
Unfortunately, we cannot directly advertise where to download the game directly. This is due to the fact that Nintendo is apparently very strict about their IP, and see Pokemon Uranium as a step over the line.
According to the developers, in an August 13th tweet.
They took the time to clarify specifically they acted on their own accord.
We have NOT received a Cease & Desist or been contacted by Nintendo or the Pokemon Company. We chose to remove the links ourselves.
— Pokémon Uranium (@PokemonUranium) August 13, 2016
If the game is polished enough to attract the attention of Nintendo, the team behind it must have done something right in development.
All I can suggest is checking out their website and Twitter in order to see more of the game. Whatever download links you find floating around there should be clicked at your own risk. You don’t need a Nintendo DS to play, it only requires a PC.
