Wilds of Kanto

Wilds of Kanto makes Kanto feel alive in Gen1Recomp.

Wild Pokémon appear in the overworld, react to the player, and can be followed by party Pokémon — without replacing the classic Gen 1 feel.

It also includes experimental Pokémon Gold / Gen 2 support (beta). The mod targets Gen 1 + Gen 2 in Gen1Recomp's Mod Manager.

2.2.0 adds optional PMDCollab overworld sprites and independent dialogue portraits, derived from PMDCollab/SpriteCollab. Huge shoutout to that project and its contributors — see below.

Features

• Visible overworld Pokémon with idle, roam, chase, and hidden behaviours
• Optional overworld Poké Ball catching
• Built-in party followers (trainer or Pokémon control)
• Water Pokémon (swimming sprites, silhouettes, or classic encounters)
• Cave spawn filtering
• Town / ambient Pokémon
• Sprite styles: Poké Followers / GSC, HGSS / PokeMMO, Pokédex, PMDCollab
• Sprite size follows Sprite Style — GSC uses Classic (one-tile 16×16); HGSS uses True Size (larger relative species sizes) when the active renderer can consume variable SpriteDef geometry; PMDCollab keeps native imported sizes
• PMDCollab dialogue portraits for Wilds Pokémon talk (followers, town Pokémon, generic cries) — independent of the selected overworld Sprite Style
• Red / Blue / Yellow, plus experimental Pokémon Gold (beta)
• Safari compatibility
• Stable species-based sprite identity (reordered Pokédex / Fakemon mods keep the correct Wilds art, or the missing-sprite fallback)

Pokémon Gold / Gen 2 Support — Beta

Wilds includes experimental support for Pokémon Gold through Gen1Recomp's Gen 2 compatibility layer.

• Gen 1: Red / Blue / Yellow
• Gen 2: Pokémon Gold (beta)

Pokémon Gold support is currently in beta. The core systems are working, but Gen2 has only recently been integrated and there may still be map, follower, interaction, battle, sprite, or compatibility edge cases. Please report anything that behaves differently from Gen1.

Currently working: overworld wilds from Gold encounter data, roam / chase, random-encounter suppression, Wilds settings, HGSS, Poké Followers / GSC, and PMDCollab sprites (including True Size where supported), swimming / water presentation, town Pokémon on curated Johto towns, party followers, and overworld catching (same throw UX as Gen1). Safari and special engine catch sessions stay off.

If reporting a Gen2 issue, include Pokémon Gold, map / location, sprite style, follower count / control mode if relevant, Voxel mod if enabled, and reproduction steps.

PMDCollab Sprites

Wilds now ships a new optional Sprite Style: PMDCollab plus independent dialogue portraits. The art is derived from PMDCollab/SpriteCollab (CC BY-NC 4.0).

Shoutout to the SpriteCollab project and everyone listed in assets/pmdcollab/CREDITS.txt — Wilds would not have these Mystery Dungeon–style walkers and talk portraits without that repo.

• Enable the overworld look via Sprite Style → PMDCollab
• Portraits appear for Wilds Pokémon talk (followers, town Pokémon, generic cries) under every Sprite Style, not only PMDCollab
• Water Pokémon still use Wilds swimming / levitate / silhouette presentation (SpriteCollab has no generic Swim set for Gen 1–2)

Full license and attribution: THIRD_PARTY_ASSETS.md and THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.

Settings

Open from the pause menu:

START → OPTIONS → Poke Followers EX
START → OPTIONS → Wilds of Kanto

Both menus read and write the same mod.options keys as Mod Settings. There is no second settings store. Defaults match options.lua.

Test Spawn remains available from OPTIONS / Mod Settings as an OPEN row.

Followers

Setting	Values	Default	Description
Control Mode	Trainer / Pokémon	Trainer	Who you control in the overworld.
Trainer Trail	On / Off	Off	When controlling a Pokémon, the trainer follows behind.
Followers	0–6	1	Extra party Pokémon trailing the leader.
Leader	Party menu	—	Choose the lead follower from the party menu.

Wild Pokémon

Setting	Values	Default	Description
Show Wild Mons	On / Off	On	Spawn visible wild Pokémon in eligible areas.
Sprite Style	Poke Followers / GSC · HGSS / PokeMMO · Pokédex · PMDCollab	Poke Followers / GSC	Overworld sprite style for wilds and followers. GSC uses Classic (16×16); HGSS uses True Size; PMDCollab uses native imported geometry with directional walk and occasional idle animations. Dialogue portraits are separate (always PMDCollab for supported Wilds Pokémon talk).
Sprite Fade	Solid / Faded	Solid	Opacity of normal wild sprites (Solid = fully opaque). Does not affect followers, Town Pokémon, silhouettes, or UI.
Spawn Amount	Low / Normal / High / Very High	Normal	How many visible overworld Pokémon can appear (including water).
Random Enc	On / Off	On	Classic step-based random encounters. Visible overworld Pokémon stay active.
Water Mons	Swim Sprites / Hid Silhouette / Silhouettes / Classic Enc / Disabled	Swim Sprites	How water Pokémon appear.
Cave Spawns	Reachable Only / Mixed	Reachable Only	Cave spawn reachability filter. Mixed allows ~20% atmospheric scenery in inaccessible pockets.
Town Pokémon	On / Off	On	Peaceful ambient Pokémon in safe towns and interiors.
Grass View	Above / Immersed	Immersed	Draw wilds fully above tall grass, or partially hidden inside it.
Silhouette	Off / Undiscovered / All	Off	Off keeps normal colours. Undiscovered silhouettes species not yet caught / registered in the Pokédex. All silhouettes every encounter-zone wild.
Idle Mons	On / Off	On	Allow idle look behaviour.
Roam Mons	On / Off	On	Allow wander behaviour.
Chase Mons	On / Off	On	Allow aggressive chase behaviour.
Hidden Mons	On / Off	On	Allow hidden grass / cave markers.

Overworld Catching

Setting	Values	Default	Description
OW Catch	On / Off	On	Direct Poké Ball throws at visible wild Pokémon.
Catch Key	C / V / F / G / R / T	C	Desktop key that charges and throws.
Ball Switch	Q / E / R / F / G / T	Q	Desktop key that cycles Balls.
Catch Combo	B + A / Select + A / Disabled	B + A	Controller/touch charge-and-throw combo.
Switch Combo	B + Left/Right / Select + Left/Right / Disabled	B + Left/Right	Controller/touch Ball-switch combo.
Catch HUD Size	0–10	5	Size of the Ball HUD. 0 hides the HUD only; catching stays on.

Hold Catch Key (or Catch Combo) to charge 1–6 tiles, release to throw. Throws only hit battleable wilds directly ahead. A miss still consumes a Ball. Failed catches make the Pokémon aggressive through the normal ! → chase → battle flow. Safari sessions disable overworld throws.

Developer

Setting	Values	Default	Description
Dev Overlay	On / Off	Off	Show behaviour and facing labels above wild Pokémon.

Encounter Behaviors

Behavior	Description
Idle	Pokémon stands around and looks about.
Wander	Pokémon moves within its area.
Aggressive	Pokémon notices the trainer, reacts, and chases.
Hidden	Pokémon stays hidden or is shown only via its marker.
Safari Flee	Safari Zone only — Pokémon flees after being noticed.

Installation

1. Install the latest release from GitHub Releases. Use the packed wilds-of-kanto-v*.zip (manifest.json at the archive root). Do not import the GitHub "Source code" / overworld-spawn-mod-main ZIP.
2. Place the mod in your Gen1Recomp mods directory.
3. Enable Wilds of Kanto.
4. No separate Followers EX or PokéPC install is required.

Follower selection, control modes, and overworld sprites are built in. Legacy Followers EX / PokéPC installs are detected only for settings migration.

Compatibility

• Pokémon Red
• Pokémon Blue
• Pokémon Yellow
• Pokémon Gold (beta)
• Dramatic Shape Voxel Mod (True Size stays on when the active Voxel renderer can consume variable SpriteDef geometry: Battle Art Voxel, Potato Voxel, Dramaless Shape, and Stadium2 via public SpriteBillboards. Original Dramatic Shape stays Classic unless it ships native variable geometry.)

Collaborators

Active collaborators on this project:

• YoDrehDenSwagAuf — Wilds of Kanto / overworld systems / integration
• masterwebx (WEX) — Followers EX / follower systems
• TheRhysWyrill (TRW) — PokéPC / follower selection / integration / Poke Followers / GSC - Sprites
• ShockSlayer / Crystal Clear team — for the GSC-style Pokémon sprite work that the Poké Followers / GSC presentation is based on
• gamecorner-033 — Original PokéPC / Overworld Catching inspiration / overworld follower concepts and related work
• PMDCollab / SpriteCollab — Mystery Dungeon–style overworld sprites and dialogue portraits (optional Sprite Style + talk portraits). Shoutout to that repo and its contributors.

Credits

Short credits only — full license, asset, and third-party notices live in THIRD_PARTY_NOTICES.md.

Release history: CHANGELOG.md.

Developer documentation:

• docs/DEVELOPER_GUIDE.md
• docs/ARCHITECTURE.md