>What is this?
I missed out on a lot of the Pokemon craze had the opportunity to trade/battle a person only once in my life, so I thought it would be fun to revisit and see if anyone else would also be interested. These are the only multiplayer components of the game, so this isn't a sort of gamenight. Just something to do offhand or in-between.
>What do I need?
You'll need the emulator melonDS, a copy of a game of your choice (sticking with 4th gen for now), and probably DS firmware. All the default network settings should be perfectly fine and you should be able to connect right off the bat, though I have not personally verified that everything works yet. Currently, I have just started HeartGold since it's my understanding it's the best one, easiest to set up, and I don't think many people here were young enough to have played past 3rd gen.
melonDS (get latest release): https://melonds.kuribo64.net/downloads.php
or
https://github.com/melonDS-emu/melonDS
ROMs (pick one): HG - uggcf://ivzz.arg/inhyg/19594
SS - uggcf://ivzz.arg/inhyg/19598
PLAT - uggcf://ivzz.arg/inhyg/19596
Firmware (pick one): US - uggcf://nepuvir.bet/qrgnvyf/qfv-anaq-svezjner-cjp
EU - uggcf://nepuvir.bet/qrgnvyf/qf-svezjner-rhebcrna-qfv-anaq-naq-svezjner
Links have been ciphered with ROT13 to screw with web crawlers. Wifi configurations can be modified either in DSi settings, if you have the firmware, or at the start menu of the game. There is a port to Android so you may be able to play this mobile, but it looks like a slightly older version of the emulator.
>When is wifi unlocked?
In HG/SS, it should be unlocked after returning the Egg to Professor Elm. This took approximately 25 minutes to do.
>How do I know when people will be on?
I think the best way to get around this lack of communication would be to just have a set time at which people can check in several hours beforehand. I'm going to propose around 7pm EST on weekdays for those in the Americas and around 2pm EST for global (you're not a filthy Aussie are you anon?) on weekends as regular times to meet.
>What about romhacks?
I would actually love to play a romhack that modifies the difficulty of the game, I just don't know anything about them or if they have any networking.