Pokemon Sapphire Version

"How Pokemon got its groove back."

Intro:
Pokemon's humble beginnings began in September of 1998. It started out as a Game Boy game, with two different versions - Red and Blue. There were 150 Pokemon total, and each game contained different Pokemon, and the goal was to collect as many Pokemon as you could to become a Pokemon Master, hence the catch phrase ''Gotta Catch 'em all''. But if you wanted to get every single Pokemon, you had to trade Pokemon between game packs via the game link cable. This was one of Nintendo's money-making strategies. The Pokemon TV show also started that month, which sparked the interest of many. It wasn't long before the monsters became a global hit. Soon, companies started producing Pikachu plushies, beanie babies, and backpacks. Pokemon merchandise flew off the shelves. Soon Pokemon cards hit the shelves, which also sold by the millions. Pokemon Yellow was released the following August, which sold even more units, but didn't contain any new Pokemon, unfortunately. There were several other Pokemon-inspired games over the next year, like Pokemon Snap, Pokemon Pinball, and Pokemon Stadium. But it wasn't until Pokemon Gold/Silver was released that Nintendo finally decided to bring new creatures into the fray. Pokemon Gold/Silver contained 100 new Pokemon and introduced Johto, a new region in the Pokemon world. About a year later, the hype died down quite a bit, but Nintendo was still pumping out more ideas. It wasn't until March of 2003 that Nintendo decided to unveil a third generation of Pokemon in Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire. Does it keep its original charm and innovation, or does it flop? Read more.

Gameplay:
The main Pokemon gaming formula keeps its originality in this game. When you start out, you'll meet Professor Birch, who's being attacked by a Poochyena. Acting quickly, you must choose a Pokemon out of Birch's bag to battle the Poochyena with. After you're done, Birch lets you keep the Pokemon you chose to battle with, and gives you your Pokedex and PokeNav. You are then ready to begin your Pokemon journey.

Hoenn, the region Pokemon RS takes place in, is quite spacious compared to Johto and Kanto. Though the number of gyms remain the same, there are many more towns and special events that take place. Wild Pokemon are found in tall grass. They appear at random, and once you run into one, you'll immediately go into battle. Whichever Pokemon is at the front of your team (this can be changed at any time outside of battle) will start the battle. Each Pokemon has certain attacks they can use. The attacks do more or less damage than normal if the opponent is a certain type of Pokemon. For example, a Torchic can use Ember, a fire attack which can burn enemies. This will do double the damage against a grass type like Treecko, but only half the damage to a water Pokemon like Corphish. Once you whittle down an enemy Pokemon's HP, they faint.

But if it's a wild Pokemon, you can throw a PokeBall at them to catch them. This works easier with the less HP that the Pokemon has. There are different types of PokeBalls in the game, some being better than others. For example, the regular PokeBall is the cheapest and most general type of ball, yet it is the weakest and only recommended for capturing low-leveled Pokemon. Generally, you're going to want to be using Great Balls and particularly Ultra Balls. Once you capture a Pokemon, you can put it on your team and battle with it. You can have up to 6 Pokemon on your team at a time. If you can fit any more Pokemon on your team, all captured Pokemon will be sent to your PC, where you can swap which Pokemon you want or don't want on your team.

Some attacks or moves that are performed have lasting status effects. This includes paralysis, poison, confusion, and sleep. Paralysis causes your Pokemon to always attack second, and 50% of the time when it tries to perform attack, it will be unable to. If your Pokemon is asleep, it will not be able to attack until it wakes up, which is around 2-5 turns. If your Pokemon is confused, 50% of the times you try to attack, your Pokemon will attack itself instead of your opponent! Poison works a little bit differently. Every five steps your character takes, the poison drains the poisoned Pokemon's HP a little bit until you either use an antidote, take it to a Pokemon Center, or it faints. All these status effects can be cured with a Full Heal or other select items.

A new feature in this game is the double battle. On occasions, a trainer will challenge you to a 2 vs. 2 battle. The first two Pokemon in order in your party will be the ones to battle, so plan ahead for these. Each Pokemon attacks during the same turn, and you can choose the Pokemon you attack. You cannot rotate Pokemon in double battles, so if both of your Pokemon are knocked out, you lose.

After a Pokemon gets a certain amount of experience points, they gain a level. If a Pokemon gains enough levels (depends on which Pokemon it is), it will evolve into a more powerful form! They also tend to be larger and more ferocious-looking. A fully-evolved Swampert is much larger and uglier than its first stage, Mudkip. Also, Pokemon don't just evolve from leveling up. If exposed to certain evolution stones or raised a certain way, they might also evolve! For example, a Feebas will only evolve into a Milotic if it has a high beauty trait. If you want to catch 'em all, you're going have to evolve different Pokemon in addition to catching them.

Pokemon can learn attacks in various ways. The most common way for your Pokemon to learn attacks is through gaining levels. Each Pokemon will learn a certain attack when they reach a certain level. That level changes depending on which stage of evolution they are in. The higher the stage, the higher the level needed to learn an attack. There is also the option of teaching your Pokemon attacks through use of TM's and HM's. These "technical and hidden machines" allow you to teach an attack to certain Pokemon that they work with. This may teach an attack that they may not ever learn otherwise, but it also may just teach them an attack that they will learn at a higher level. TMs may only be used once. HMs may be used as many times as you wish. Once a Pokemon learns an HM however, it knows it forever. It can never forget that particular move and learn another one. TMs can be forgotten if you only want to use on for a certain amount of time, but you should try to be conservative with them.

New to this game are the Pokemon Contests. You can enter your Pokemon in different contest across the Hoenn region in different categories. You'll have them perform certain attacks in front of a crowd to both awe the judges and distract the other Pokemon. To raise a Pokemon a certain way, you must feed them PokeBlocks, which will strengthen one of the key areas. Prizes from Contests are simply ribbons, nothing else.

There are 386 Pokemon total, but only 200 can be obtained in Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire! And no, you cannot trade from the previous versions! Instead, you'll have to transfer Pokemon from Pokemon Colosseum and Pokemon Leaf Green/Fire Red. This means if you're interested in obtaining all the Pokemon the legitimate way, you're going to have to spend lots of money and lots of time! But that definitely adds to the game's replay value, which I'll discuss more about later.

Graphics:
While the graphics have definitely improved from the days of Red/Blue/Yellow/Gold/Silver/Crystal, the Game Boy Advance is certainly capable of much more. Still, it isn't too poor-quality, so it really works out for the most part. The Pokemon themselves are probably drawn better than anything else in the game. When you're viewing an opposing Pokemon, you'll notice a fair share of detail. When you're sending out your Pokemon, however, you'll only see the back of its head, which looks nothing like the head should. I just wish they animated the battle scenes a little bit more.

Sound:
Pokemon cries return in this game, a sound they make when they enter a battle. They're either really cool or really annoying. As for tunes, they're nothing special, but fairly catchy. There's one track that stands out, though, and that's the bicycle theme. Other sounds include typical RPG jingles and Pokemon groans when they faint.

Verdict:
When you have a Pokemon RPG, you know it's going to be one adventure that will be hard to put down. But how hard, exactly? Well, let's just say this game's going to keep you up for quite a few nights. With 200 Pokemon to capture in both versions, and 186 more to obtain from connecting with Colosseum and Fire Red and Leaf Green, you're bound to be kept occupied for quite a while.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 08/08/06