Pokemon: Ruby & Sapphire Review

Pokemon: Ruby/Sapphire Version

Platform: Gameboy Advance
Publisher: Nintendo
Developer: Gamefreak
Genre: Simulation
Rating: E
Release Date: September 12, 2006
Players:1




Above is a screen shot of actualy in-game battle. As you can see not much has drastically changed from the previous installment of Pokemon other then the improved graphics, and animations of each indiviual attack.

How it Begins:

Well, Ruby/Sapphire Version begin like most Pokemon RPGs. You first appear at a black screen wear you are introduced to a Pokemon professor who ask you various questions on who you are. Things like: Are you a boy or girl? What is your name? Etc. You then arrive at your character's newly moved in house in the Hoenn Region. You are instructed to do a few simple task, but then the real fun begins when you go out into the "wild" for your first time and find that someone is being attacked by a wild Pokemon. Then you are commanded to search threw a backpack on the ground and choose from three starter Pokemon: Treeko, Mudkip, or Torchic. Each one with different attributes and abilities the choice is yours. After you choose the one you like you fend off the wild Pokemon and happen to save Professor Birch who then let's you keep the Pokemon you chose. From hear on out you are basically on your own to explore the huge, exciting world of the Hoenn Region.

There is approxiametly 200 Pokemon combined in the Ruby/Sapphire versions. There is several Pokemon that you won't be able to catch in each different version. Though you are able to trade with the opposite version in order to get that particular Pokemon that isn't catchable in your version. Of course like all the Pokemon RPGs wild Pokemon appear out of tall grass, mountains, caves, and water. Even fishing will have wild Pokemon threatening you! Though what Ruby/Sapphire version lacks more then anything is a really good challenge for older players. Though these games were intended your younger players, it still won't dissapoint the older ones.

Pic of main character in a official gym. There are a total of 8 gyms all over the Hoenn region that you must defeat. By defeat, I mean battle and beat the gym leader. The gym leaders are usually tough, and don't play around. You collect a badge from each gym. Once you collect all 8 badges you are elligible to challenge the Elite Four and see if you can become the Pokemon champion of all of Hoenn Region!

General Gameplay:

The gameplay of Ruby/Sapphire version is very similar to all the other Pokemon RPGs out there. You choose a starting Pokemon. Battle other Pokemon to gain experience and level up your Pokemon team, which can consist of only six Pokemon at a time. Though much more Pokemon can be stored in your PC, but while they are in the PC they can't gain experience points and you can't interact with them in there unless you take them out. These version where the first to introduce the Team battle, and Pokemon contest. Both of which add on nicely to the franchize. Though you really don't team battle in Ruby/Sapphire version as much as you should it still adds a lot of fun to the game. You would think that adding such a groundbreaking feature they would try and emphasize it more in the game. Though you really only have few chances where you get to actually Team up two different Pokemon in battle at the same team.

Pic of the "Team Battle". Two different Pokemon can battle at the same time against another team of two Pokemon. Creating a need for different strategy.

Pokemon Contest:

Something fresh and new added to the Pokemon series was the Pokemon Contest. The Pokemon contest is basically how popluar your Pokemon can be in a certain category. There are several different contest categories. Some of which include a cool contest, or a cute contest, etc. Every attack a Pokemon learns has a certain contest attribute to it. Like the ghost type attack "Shadow Ball" has a "Smart" attribute. So, if a certain Pokemon has many "Smart" attributed moves, then you should enter that particular Pokemon in a "Smart" contest. Each attack can be used to "appeal" in the contest and have certain effects that differ from using it in battle. There are different levels of difficulty in each category of the many contests. Winning a contest results in a prize ribbon and your Pokemons' love and affection of course! The competition gets extremely tough as you progress threw the different levels of contest. When the going gets rough it always helps to harvest berries and turn them into PokeBlocks to feed to your Pokemon. PokeBlocks not only make your Pokemon happier, but they raise your Pokemon's chance of being liked in a contest thus bettering your chances at winning first place.

A pic of main character standing next to a Berry garden. Various different types of berries can be grown and harvested. Each one can be fed to a Pokemon, or used in a special blender to create a famous Pokemon snack known as a PokeBlock which can also be fed to Pokemon. Most berrys have a certain effect when eaten by a Pokemon, some of which can help them out in the middle of a battle!

The Storyline:

The overall general storyline is the same as the previous Pokemon games. There is a group of "baddies" who go around trying to take over the world in a sense. The main antagonist are Team Magma/Auqa. These are a group of people who try and harnest the power of an ancient Pokemon to change the world for the better, or so they think. Team Magma wants to cover the whole world with land leaving no water, while Team Auqa wants to get rid of land altogether. Both concepts are not right in your characters' eyes, and your character has various run-ins with these baddies through out the game which cannot be avoided. While still trying to achieve your main objective, which is to collect all 8 gym badges and become the Pokemon Champion of Hoenn. You again have a Pokemon Trainer rival in this edition like you did in the previous. The gender of your rival depends on the gender you chose for your character in the beggining, so if you picked a boy your rival would be a girl. That rival will continually track you down for a friendly battle that usually won't be easy. This rival usually has Pokemon that are "Super Effective" against your own! So always stand your guard against him/her! Through all of this you must continue to train and build your army of six Pokemon. There is a very wide array of Pokemon to catch. Some of them from different generations which is creates a nice mix. I have no complaints as the choice of Pokemons you get to choose from. There are also several ancient and legendary Pokemon that you can choose to look for in the game. Some of which include Rayquaza and Metagross.

A screenshot of looking at one of your Pokemon's stats. As you can see some of these things include the level of happiness it has with you and its special ability. Wow how did whoever took this screenshot manage to catch that?!

Gaining Experience:

Again, similar to all previous RPGs in the like. Though this time around is a bit easier to level up. If you didn't know each Pokemon is a certain level, and they each have a number of experience points they need to get to the next chronological level. The higher level your Pokemon is, the more experience they need to level up. So as you progress threw the game your Pokemon will be much harder to level up. When Pokemon reach a certain level (Which differs in each one.) they will learn a new move. A Pokemon can ONLY know four different moves at one time, so if it already happens to know four moves and levels up and learns a new one you are given two options. One is to just not even to learn the move, or two is to forget a current move that Pokemon knows and swap it for the newly learned move. Choosing a good moveset for you Pokemon is crucial for successful and it is almost impossible to teach your Pokemon a forgotton move, and is only allowed a certain number of times in the game. Of course most Pokemon evolve when they reach a certain level. This highers all their stats and just altogether makes them look cooler.

Just a pic of the screen you see right before you battle an encountered enemy trainer. They usually are spread out all over Hoenn and when they spot you for a battle you can not refuse! How rude!

Let's Sum It Up!

A wonderful edition to the Pokemon franchize. Other then the fact of how easy it can be to beat for older players, it's well strung together, has a thought provoking storyline, MANY different Pokemon to catch and train and keep you entertained. With the new edition of Team battles and contest only adding to the great replay value of an already great franchize. If you enjoy Pokemon RPGs this one is guaranteed not to let you down, or if you are new and want to know why the Pokemon series has been so successful this is a great game to buy and find out why these games are so loved.

Some gameplay from Ruby version. In this video the main character is confronting Groudon, the legendary fire Pokemon. You know, the Pokemon pictured on the box for Ruby version? Though if you got Sapphire version then you would have to confront Kyogre instead of Groudon.


Value: 10/10
When it first came out, the game was well worth the money. With literally hours and hours of entertaining gameplay, and the whole Hoenn region to explore this game milks out everything that it's worth. Though now it can probably be bought dirt cheap.

Graphics: 8/10
For its time and system, the graphics were simply stunning. The battle animations were groundbreaking when this game came out, along with the extremely vivid color scheme throughout the whole game. Each Pokemon is detailed right down to the tip of the tail. While the only con is how undetailed the characters (Not Pokemon) are.

Sound: 7/10
Pretty much the same Pokemon themes you would hear in any other Pokemon game. The only thing is though, is that every single wild Pokemon battle has the same song. So if you are trying to train a Pokemon then you might as well turn the volume down unless you want to hear the same battle music restarted over and over.

Replay Value: 9/10
Excellent replay value. Not only does it have hours of gameplay, but even when you beat the game there is still much to do! Many legendary Pokemon to catch! Many trainers to pummle! Many Pokemon to catch! There isn't really a way a Pokemon lover could get bored easily of this addicting game.

Overall: 9/10
A definite solid edition to the Pokemon franchize. With bright new concepts introduced in Ruby/Sapphire version it makes it a classic to go down in Pokemon RPG history.

This great review was given by: c.Hood ^_^