Kanto Gear 4.0 — Your adventure. Reconnected.

4.0 rebuilds Kanto Gear around a consistent DS-style companion interface, adds Ruby and Sapphire, and brings a large round of map, completion, control and performance improvements to all 11 supported games.

Choose Pokégear or C-Gear, each in Light, Dark or Auto. Keep the original game above, or move battle menus and even HP bars into Gear when you prefer.

Install: Update to the latest official Gen1Recomp, then update Kanto Gear through the Mod Index or import kanto_gear-4.0.0.zip below. Existing game saves and playthrough notes are retained. Check Options after updating to choose your theme, battle view and discovery level.

Gen 3 still needs broader playthrough testing. Ruby, Sapphire, FireRed, LeafGreen and Emerald have automated data and menu coverage, but every story branch and mod combination has not been tested. Feedback is very welcome: include the edition, device, versions, battle/display modes and other active mods.

These notes cover changes since stable 3.4.0, including the work developed throughout the 4.0 beta.

A fresh interface throughout

• Two complete theme families: Pokégear and C-Gear, each with Light, Dark and time-of-day Auto variants. Theme choices are grouped by family.
• Redesigned Home, app and widget layouts, with a shared family of hand-shaded pixel icons, clearer type/status labels, fitted message panels and more consistent touch targets.
• Reworked Party cards, Bag and item details, Pokédex research pages, Explorer tabs and lists, Stamps, Notes, Field Kit, Silph Connect, PC screens and battle menus.
• A refreshed Silph Link boot screen, loading emblem, app catalogue, Store, widget previews, Home editing, empty layouts and help pages.
• Home's Explorer widget gives the map its full available height and places the current encounter preview in a small corner window.
• More readable small labels and descriptions, centered Party detail arrows, unclipped C-Gear emblems and clearer page keys.
• Contextual transitions keep static information in place. Explorer encounter paging and scope changes affect the relevant lower content instead of sliding the whole map away.
• Inactive controls stay still: disabled actions, already-selected options, static information, and controls behind a modal do not trigger touch feedback or animate a parent.

Ruby and Sapphire

• Native support for Ruby and Sapphire, alongside the existing nine editions. Use Recomp 0.3.74 or newer; native checks used US/Europe Rev 2 imports.
• Edition-specific Hoenn maps and encounters, regional Pokédex order, badge flags, Trainer Card records and completion objectives.
• All five Bag pockets, four native summary pages, naming, move replacement, field actions, shops, PC storage, Safari and Pokéblock flows.
• Native item gifts, Pokémon gifts and trades, starter/fossil choices and durable progress receipts.
• Correct handling of the unused opposite-edition hideout when the imported game scripts prove its entrance is blocked. Custom scripts that reopen it retain their objectives.
• Ruby/Sapphire retain generic item symbols because these games do not supply the native item icons used by later Gen 3 editions.

Consistent companion controls

• Outside battles, the original game UI stays intact. Companion pages can be browsed by touch independently of the game's D-pad cursor.
• Shared six-slot team cards replace inconsistent party layouts, including when the team contains only one Pokémon.
• Matching touch pages for native bags, item details, shops, quantities, PC Pokémon storage, item storage and partner actions across generations.
• Dialogue choices preserve native order while allowing independent touch paging. Confirmations still follow the game's actual rules.
• Shared naming controls honor the selected QWERTY or QWERTZ layout, with centered key glyphs and correct page, Back and OK actions.
• Unified move learning, move relearning, PP recovery selection, level-up totals/gains, save confirmations and game options.
• Gen 2 save text can be advanced by touching the dimmed lower screen, including paragraphs between confirmation questions.
• Touch controls for the Gen 2 Pokégear pages and Gen 3 PokéNav menu; specialized unsupported screens continue on the original display.
• Quiet dimming replaces redundant “follow the top screen” prompts during unsupported menus, scripts and transitions.

Four battle views

• Companion: the original battle stays above, with touch controls below. D-pad ownership remains with the game.
• Info: the original battle stays above; Gear shows opponent research. Both opponents can be selected in double battles.
• Gear: battle menus, moves, party, Bag and text are below, while the battle scene and HP bars remain above.
• Full Gear: battle controls and HP bars move below, including all four battlers in double battles.
• Reworked controller ownership and command mapping across generations, including Gen 3 left/right command order, battle party selection and summary navigation. Only one party card shows selection focus.
• Friendly and opposing double-battle targets have explicit side labels.
• Empty PP and other native move restrictions are visibly marked; unavailable attacks cannot be submitted as ordinary moves.
• Restored Gen 3 matchup hints, estimated catch odds and trainer team indicators. Move details no longer show a meaningless Matchup -- when no opponent is available.
• Companion avoids duplicating battle text and HP panels unnecessarily. Gear modes retain their dedicated lower-screen layouts.
• Battle transitions use the actual rendered companion pages, including returns from party and Bag. Touch transition guards prevent rapid text-skipping taps from selecting a newly appeared action.
• Emerald move replacement works from the contest tab and preserves the native HM warning.
• Tutorial, demo and native link flows retain safe native ownership when the companion cannot take over.

Maps, Explorer and travel

• Detailed Gen 1/2 minimaps share native terrain resources, alongside Gen 3's native metatile renderer. Map widgets, Explorer and larger map views reuse prepared geometry.
• Three revised zoom levels: a space-filling overview, a broader useful nearby view and a close detail view.
• Explorer holds NPC/trainer positions still for inspection until reopening or changing location; your marker and camera continue following movement.
• Native Gen 3 trainer markers and tappable trainer details, clearer outlined hidden-item markers and whole-number step distances.
• Refined encounter cards, progress tabs, method/tool badges, caught markers and time-of-day presentation. Immediate hunting and broader route planning remain separate.
• Explorer and Stamps now cover the same whole location, including associated buildings. Required item totals and bonus counts use the same rules.
• For indoor finds, location previews mark the outdoor entrance first. Show Inside / Show Entrance switches to the precise interior tile and back, including paths through multiple floors.
• Stamps can open known trainer positions and Pokémon habitats as well as item locations.
• Native field contexts fix Fly, Teleport, rods and other contextual actions. Usable Field Kit tools appear first; its Item Radar card opens the radar directly.
• The region map offers larger touch targets, a movable destination cursor and an explicit Fly confirmation instead of difficult double-tapping. The native game still validates the destination and field-action requirements.

Pokédex and partner details

• Shared native and app research navigation, complete description text with proper word boundaries and paging, and corrected Gen 3 internal-species lookups.
• Edition-specific evolution targets and conditions, including levels, items and other native requirements.
• Habitat maps across generations, with visited-area and encounter-method requirements for planning.
• Adapted Gen 3 search/sort, cry and calibrated size-comparison pages; caught Unown forms in Gen 2.
• Expanded summaries show the native nature, ability and description, OT, ID and experience where available.
• Spoilers unlocks additional partner Details: friendship, genes, training, Hidden Power and egg progress as supported by the edition.
• Sharp small Pokémon portraits without blurry scaling; individual shiny palettes are preserved.
• Restored egg portraits and native selected-partner animation. Fainted and resting partners keep appropriate presentation.
• Compatible battle sprite replacements are respected in fight/team portraits. G9 Battle Sprites' in-memory front art is also used by companion portraits when available.
• Correct Gen 1/2 battle-party experience bars and native Trainer Card stars, colors and regional records.

Completion you can actually finish

• Native NPC item gifts are included in Explorer and Stamps across all generations when their scripts provide reliable receipt evidence.
• Pokémon gifts, eggs, in-game trades, Shuckle's loan, the Odd Egg, casino prizes, starters and fossil revivals are represented with their appropriate availability and completion rules.
• Emerald's Johto starter gifts use permanent native state. FRLG and Emerald fossil handling distinguishes ready pickup from durable acquisition evidence rather than inventing unique receipt flags.
• Wild encounters remain independent of NPC gifts in the same location.
• Caught-species goals use the save's global Pokédex evidence, so catching or evolving the species elsewhere can count.
• Missable encounters and event-only rewards are bonuses, not permanent Gold blockers. The Eon Ticket no longer leaves every applicable Pokémon Center location stuck below Gold.
• Exclusive choices do not require obtaining all mutually exclusive rewards. Repeatable and proven untrackable objectives stay outside permanent completion totals.
• Visited empty/completed areas can earn Gold. Unvisited locations clearly show Not Visited instead of looking inexplicably unfinished.
• Unknown objectives still prevent false completion when the imported scripts do not establish their rules.
• Unnamed Gen 3 locations have safe labels without merging unrelated areas.
• Completed Stamps catalogues stay cached across location changes and refresh when actual progress changes.
• Resolves #38 and #39. The separate Pocket DS scaling report #13 remains open pending hardware confirmation.

Bag, settings, Notes and online presence

• Recent item quick access while stock remains, contextual Use/Give/Toss actions, shared native confirmations and quantities, and native item icons where supplied by Gen 3.
• Give/take held items directly from Party in supported games, with mail protection and handling for delayed native menus.
• Bag pocket, quantity and action changes refresh promptly instead of waiting for the clock or an unrelated redraw.
• Six settings categories with inline controls and explanations: Appearance, Display, Battle, Exploration, Controls and System. Irrelevant options are hidden in their context.
• Shared Vanilla / Enhanced / Spoilers rules across Explorer, habitats, Stamps and hidden partner details. Battle assistance has independent settings.
• Performance/Quality and interface-motion controls explain their effect. Resetting Home or Gear options preserves Notes and game saves.
• Redesigned memo-pad Notes, preserved typing during theme refreshes, checklists and colored drawing with the shared keyboard preference.
• Updated Silph Connect cards, reported status reasons and widget presentation; removed its stale “new” badge.
• Silph Connect remains a presence browser / proof of concept. The connection and status updates persist when leaving the app. Friends, chat and live battle/trade invitations are not enabled in this release. A guarded interaction layer is prepared, but supported UI-mod access is still required from Recomp; host restrictions are respected.
• English, German, Spanish, French and Japanese remain available. New untranslated labels fall back to English, including explicit false placeholders; the Japanese completion file now lists the outstanding 4.0 keys.

Performance and reliability

• Live map refreshes retain static companion UI rather than redrawing unrelated panels.
• Shared, cached map geometry and terrain resources avoid rebuilding or re-uploading unchanged maps.
• Home map widgets skip unused encounter processing. Field-tool state is polled only while a tool surface needs it.
• Secondary-display setup no longer repeats on every frame.
• Theme shapes are batched through a shared atlas, common drawing data is cached, and startup prewarms UI resources during the title screen.
• Performance mode keeps map motion and detail, while disabling UI animations. Quality permits optional transitions. Maps can update at up to 30 times per second in either mode.
• Completion caches survive location changes instead of repeatedly rebuilding the album.
• Expanded automated regression checks cover all 11 editions, native progress receipts, menus, battle ownership, map snapshots, building previews, discovery rules, translation fallbacks and resource lifetime. UI previews were checked in both theme families and Light/Dark variants.
• The README has been replaced with a current feature guide and new interface images; update history stays here in the release notes.

Credits and feedback

Thank you to everyone who tested the beta and reported problems, and to Theeohn, Desierto La Espada and Blastheaven2 for translation contributions. Font credits and complete license notices remain included in the ZIP and are linked from the README.

Please report issues with enough context to reproduce them. Gen 3 playthrough reports and cross-mod compatibility checks are especially useful.

Full source comparison: v3.4.0...v4.0.0