Pokemon Sapphire Version

"A New Phenomenon"

Pokemon successfully took the United States and Japan by storm, and has easily become one of the most popular trends in the history of fads. As of 2002, the trend had died down a lot in the United States, but a new game appeared on the Pokemon horizon, and it had the potential to bring back the millions of loyal Pokemon supporters.

GRAPHICS: 8/10
This has never been the strong point of the series, but the graphics have improved a lot over the previous versions, probably because of the increased power of the platform. The GBA presents some pretty good graphics. The interesting-looking Pokemon are the high point of the graphical bliss, some of them are very interesting. Plants, fish, and even weathermen have inspired the new look of the new Pokemon in this new classic adventure. Also, the terrain looks a lot better. The game features a smoldering volcano, underwater caverns, a botched attempt to end the world by a Pokemon extremist group, and much more that will captivate your eyes. The graphic artsists did a very good job developing the game, and have greatly improved upon the previous Game Boy/Game Boy Color games.

SOUND: 6/10
You really can't expect much from a game that is on the GBA, there is just not that much power to speak of in terms of the sound of a game. There are, however, many catchy tunes that play as your character runs around, and you may find yourself humming these for days to come. Also, there are many interesting cries for the Pokemon that let you know a lot about their personality.

CONTROL: 9/10
The control is almost flawless, much like every other GBA game. The controls to work with are very simple, so there is very little chance of hitting the wrong button. The only thing that brings this category down a point is that it fails to use two of the buttons of the GBA, the L and R buttons. I would have loved to see some new out-of-battle and in-battle controls featuring these two new buttons, but Hal Laboratories has failed to put them into use.

GAMEPLAY: 9/10
The gameplay of this game is unmistakably like the original games, but it still manages to be an incredibly fun and addictive game. The developers really tried to put hard challenges into getting to the gym leaders, and they worked very well. The contests add a new element of fun to partake in when your Pokemon have reached amazing levels or when you tire of training them and need a break. There are endless things to do in Pokemon Sapphire, so definitely pick up a copy if you don't already have one.

THE BOTTOM LINE
This is a solid follow-up to the GBC classics, and has established that the mankers of the game still have a lot of tricks up their sleeves for future games. I tip my hate to them and eagerly await a Pokemon sequel.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/11/04