If you’ve been on the internet at all over the last few months, you may have seen a cute image floating around that describes a game knowing as Pokemon Generation 0. Often dismissed as a really good idea for a game made by a fan, Pokemon Generation 0 is actually going to happen.

The original concept for the game has made the rounds on image sharing websites such as Reddit, 4chan and Tumblr, and details a Pokemon game set before the Pokedex was filled, and players could play as either a young Prof. Oak or a young Agatha.

The game would feature only 100 Pokemon, and players would have to make their own primitive forms of Pokeballs from Apricorns. There wouldn’t be any Pokemon ‘catching’ per se, but rather you could choose to befriend them – that’s if you choose to not fight them. After catching new Pokemon, you’d get to draw them using the DS touch screen to add them to your developing Pokedex.

Sounds pretty neat, huh? Well, a group of developers inspired by the concept image have taken it on themselves to make the game a reality. “That was actually the picture from a 4chan post from way back and the inspiration for the ROM hack.” Said head developer, Jake Lupton in an interview with PikiGeek. “We’ve taken parts of that and want to implement it into the game, such as playing as Oak or Agatha.”

The group of about 15 developers are currently working on a ROM hack, with v0.01 set to be available soon for those who want to give the game a test drive. But will the game contain everything mentioned in the concept? “Certainly we are restricted with some things,” Lupton explained, “like the drawing aspect and old style Pokéballs.”

It’s not all bad news though, with attention to canonical detail being taken very seriously. “Well, there will be certain exceptions,” Lupton explained when asked about what Pokemon would appear in the game. “Like Mewtwo, for example, as he wouldn’t exist yet. We’re currently working through it, checking for timeline things such as evolution stones and the origin of Pokémon like Voltorb.”

“…Certain pokemon didn’t exist in the timeframe. We were actually thinking of the idea of adding Pokémon that are on the brink of extinction, ones that did exist but don’t anymore.”

Promising, indeed. This looks like one ROM hack that might be worth giving a shot. It’s amazing what fandom can do when it sets it’s mind to it.

[PikiGeek]