"You may be thinking, Pokemon AGAIN? But mind you, this game is amazing."

Pokemon has officially returned. Now with more monsters, better graphics, and new places, who wouldn't like it? This has to be the best version of Pokemon that I have ever played, and one of the best RPGs I have seen all my life.

Graphics: 10/10
Pokemon has never really been about graphics. But, things are quite better than before. Better attack graphics also. A really cool thing is that when you are walking near water, you can see your reflection, and when you walk in sand, your footprints are left for a few seconds. If you compare the Pokemon pictures in this version to Pokemon in some of the earlier version, you can see anywhere from a HUGE to a slight difference.

Gameplay: 10/10
Still the old 1 on 1 battling, plus a new 2 vs 2 battle system. You still start out with one of three starters, Treecko, the grass type lizard, Tochic, the fire type chicken, and Mudkip, the water starter. Now there are beauty contests and other fun stuff to compete in. Even getting from town to town is fun in this game. A better challenge is provided from no backwards trading from the old pokemon games. You now have to get ALL 351 Pokemon by trading from Ruby->Sapphire and vise-versa.
You will run into new badguys named Team Magma and Team Aqua in this game. Team Aqua is more popular in the Sapphire version, and Team Magma is more popular in the Ruby version.

Sound: 9/10
This game has some of the best music out of all the Pokemon games. Battles are fun to listen to, and the Pokemon's cries are all unique, except, they mostly are just a bunch of blips and bleeps all merged together. SOME of the music becomes repetitive after a while.

Story: 10/10
This Pokemon game is mostly like the others, Become a Pokemon Master by collecting all the badges and catching all Pokemon!!! But, there is a bit more thrown in this time around. As I said, you must now face Team Magma and Team Aqua also. This story can be fun for anyone from 5 to 50 years old.

Rent or Buy?
BUY!!! The American versions of these games are coming out in March. If you can't wait, just buy the Japanese version, or use some other methods if you have to. =P
I reccomend this game to everyone, even if you disliked the other versions. This is a BIG step for Pokemon.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10 | Originally Posted: 11/24/02, Updated 11/24/02

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