In October of 2011 TDIwriter started a Pokemon Nuzlocke Wiki and invited everyone on our FF wiki to join by offering their names. It was very popular, and I decided I wanted to play my first game of Pokemon. I had difficulty setting it up once I'd downloaded it, but eventually I played a FireRed game all the way through. Since this was nearly a year ago, I've forgotten the minutia, but here is how I did it to the best of my recollection.
Free Pokemon Games
1. Go to http://www.coolrom.com/ and click on the game you'd like to download.
2. I clicked on FireRed for this example. At the top of the screen is "ROMs >> Gameboy Advance >> P >> Pokemon - Fire Red". Below that is: "NOTE: You will need a compatible emulator to play this ROM file. Recommended Emulator: Visual Boy Advance (Windows) | Visual Boy Advance (Mac)".
3. Choose the Mac or PC download for your game, unless you already have an emulator installed. Check it, just as a precaution, for viruses, once it reaches your computer, but before you open it. (Scan it with your computer's virus detector program). It's always been safe for me, so then load it onto your computer.
4. Go to the bottom of the Coolrom preview screen, (the Pokemon video), and press the "Download Now" button. (Check it for viruses). Load it onto your computer.
5. Remember or copy the download’s name, and go to <start>, <My Recent Documents>. It should be there. Then you can unzip the files, and save them under a name you'll remember.
6. Route your Pokemon game to link to your VBA, (the emulator file), then place a shortcut so you can play from the main screen. (I had to play with the programs for a day to get it to work right, but it was just a matter of making the game search for the program that would play it - e.g., the VBA. At first it searched the document folder and tried to use the first available program – Adobe Reader, so the redirect should fix this.)
7. When you open the game, you should get the short intro, which is on a loop. To start the game, press <Z>. Just the key of Z. Nothing else. The game starts.
8. Use your mouse to save your game. I saved using <F1> and <shift> <F1> to load and save, and used the wrong one to load once. Lost part of my game, and basically had to start over.
9. Add any extra tips for this in the comments. I might add them to this blog. Thank you!
10. Have fun! :D
Coolrom has Pokemon Ruby, Emerald, Sapphire, Fire Red, Pearl, Diamond, Crystal, Yellow, Silver, Red, Gold, Blue, Stadium, Stadium 2, Snap, and Dash.
There are many non-Pokemon games too, including Mario Kart, Yu-Gi-Oh, Zelda and Donkey Kong.