Archipelago vs Universal Pokémon Randomizer ZX

Archipelago randomizes supported games and connects them in a shared multiplayer experience. An item found in one player's game can be assigned to another player and sent over the internet. Sessions may be synchronous, with everyone playing at once, or asynchronous, with players connecting at their own pace. Supported games can also be generated as single-player experiences through the website or installed generator software. Website generation uses an uploaded YAML configuration or ZIP of configuration files and the current Archipelago release. To host a game, users can upload a locally generated ZIP or multidata file, then provide a tracker and patch files to players. Race games are made without spoiler logs and use protections that vary by game, such as ROM encryption or cheat-mode removal. The project lists included games and provides guides, including instructions for macOS clients; it directs players and developers to Discord for questions. Archipelago is free and open source, with Linux, macOS, web, and Windows support. Its supported-games page also points to guides for custom worlds and other games.

Universal Pokémon Randomizer ZX is a desktop tool for randomizing Pokémon game files. It is a fork of the Universal Pokemon Randomizer with added features and support for more games, including 3DS titles. Settings can change Pokémon base statistics, evolutions, wild Pokémon, moves, and movesets. The tool supports Windows, macOS, and Linux/Unix, and the release page provides a ZIP package to extract and launch with platform-specific scripts. It requires 64-bit Java 8 or higher; documentation says it needs at least 4 GB of memory when Java's memory setting would otherwise limit it below that. For 3DS games, it accepts decrypted CCI, CIA, and CXI formats. Randomized 3DS output can be a CXI file or a LayeredFS directory, usable with an emulator or a 3DS with custom firmware. A command-line mode accepts input ROM, output ROM, and settings-file arguments, with optional LayeredFS output and log generation. The software is free, with source available under GPL-3.0. Maintainers direct bug reports and help requests to GitHub issues and do not accept feature requests.