Pokemon Box: Ruby and Sapphire

"A medicore software tool."

Introduction:
Pokemon Box is a software tool for organising and sorting Pokemon which you have collected in Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald/FireRed/LeafGreen. The game's features are similar to those of Prof. Oak's Lab and Game Boy Tower in Pokemon Stadium for the Nintendo 64, but some have been omitted in favour of new additions. You can play Ruby/Sapphire on your television and transfer Pokemon without having to trade them. Unfortunately, Emerald/FireRed/LeafGreen players can't play their games on the television, but they can still transfer Pokemon. You can also change the order of your Pokemon and check each of their stats. You can also create your own stage to place your Pokemon on and then view them on the screen.

Gameplay:
In addition to organising Boxes in the GBA games along with your Party Pokemon (referred to as Advance Boxes), you can organise Boxes in Pokemon Box (referred to as Memory Boxes). Each of the 25 Memory Boxes store up to 60 Pokemon. A total of 1500 Pokemon can be stored on a Memory Card.

You can create a stage and place Pokemon in your Memory Boxes on the stage in the form of pieces. You can play Ruby/Sapphire on the television (similar to the Game Boy Player). When you are playing Ruby/Sapphire with Box, you can take pictures of frames. The pictures you took can be used for the wallpaper in the Memory Boxes. You also take pictures of the Arrange Boxes and Showcase screens.

The game, however, omits several features demonstrated in Stadium. You can't store Items or Mail. Also, Ruby/Sapphire can't be played in the 2x-4x speed modes which allowed the player to progress through the Game Boy games quicker. You can't trade Pokemon between two Game Paks; you can only transfer them to a single cartridge. Pokemon, such as Kadabra and Haunter, will not evolve when stored in Box, as this is considered a transfer and not a trade. There is no interactive Pokedex, so you can only use the Pokedex in your GBA game. I'd rather the disk space used up to include creating stages and taking pictures had been used to add the above features.

Final Recommendation:
I recommend purchasing this game if you want to give Pokemon to friends without having to trade. This is useful for completing a Pokedex more quickly and easily. Also, you can play Ruby/Sapphire on the television without having to buy a Game Boy Player. If you've filled all the Advance Boxes, you can transfer Pokemon to get around your storage problem. If you liked the advanced features of Stadium, such as storing Items and playing the GB games in the 2x-4x speed modes, you'll be disappointed with this game.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/10/04, Updated 10/05/09

Game Release: Pokemon Box: Ruby and Sapphire (EU, 2004)