Pokemon Ruby Version

"Three-Hundred and Eighty-Six Pokémon!? O_O;"

Three-Hundred and Eighty-Six Pokemon!? How in Holy Hell are we supposed to catch THAT many Pokemon!? Thats what i thought when i found out there we're 386 Pokemon needed to complete the Pokedex! And it's NOT going to be easy! Lets-A start da Review! dun dun dun!

Graphics: The Graphics for Pokemon Ruby Version are AMAZING!!
They might not be Animated, but that sure doesn't stop-um from looking GREAT!! The colors are very nicely done. The looks of the Pokemon are Great. I gotta give this a:10!! Now lets head on over to...

Sound(s): Another Amazing thing about Pokemon Ruby Version are the Sounds! On every Route or in every City, the Music changes! The sounds that the Pokemon make in battle, however, aren't exactly what one would call... Good. They sound to much alike sometimes, and it's easy to hear the name of one Pokemon from a completely different Pokemon! The Pokemon That you find on special events make their own sound, that goes correctly with it. I give the Sounds a:9! Onward we go!!

Story: Now tell me, just WHAT would a game be with-out a Story? Boring as Hell! Lucky for us, their is a Story to Pokemon Ruby Version! And a not to bad Story at that! Not much changes in the Story if you choose either a Boy Trainer or a Girl Trainer at the beginning. Battle along side you're Pokemon in exciting Two Pokemon battles! Go around Leveling up to defeat more powerful Trainers and take out Team Aqua along the way! Of course, you will have to battle the Gym Leaders and finally take on the Elite four! But why not have a little fun on the way and enter in the Pokemon Contests! Pick or Plant a few Berry's, and make some PokeBlocks! The Story gets a:9! And so we continue!

Challenge: Egads! How this game can go from being Easy to Hard as heck is Amazing to me! In the beginning, you start off on about VERY Easy. But as you Progress through the game, it goes to Easy, than Medium, and by the time you reach the Elite Four, you best be trained good and strong or else you'll be in trouble! After beating the Elite Four enough times, it becomes easier to defeat them. And finally, we reach the one place where the Game can become Hard to VERY Hard... The Battle Tower!! If you take the Battle Tower challenge, be well prepared to get crushed you're first couple of times if you are not powerful enough! This gets a:10!! Oh yeah! Lets get Going.

Battles: Dun Dun Dun! The Battles! Rar! So you're still reading this far, eh? Well thanks for taking the time. The Battles are very fast and fun, but also make you have to think about what moves work against the foe, what you're foe's weakness's are, and how to blow the crap out of them before they PWN you.(This will only apply to Type Weakness. In this case, YOU having the Type weak to the Foe.) Depending on what Type of Pokemon you have with you when you enter a Battle, and the number of Pokemon you have with you, can change the outcome of a Battle. It also helps to have very Powerful moves like Fireblast, Thunder, Doomdesire, and Fissure. It can also be just as helpful to you, if you have moves that help make it easy for some moves to hit, or make the power of some moves go up. SunnyDay+Fireblast works great. So does Lock-On+Thunder/Fissure. I give the Battles a:10 Now onto...

Replayability: Ah yes, one of my more enjoyable things about Pokemon Ruby Version is that you can go back and ReBattle the normal trainers you encounter in the game. Sadly the Gym Leaders can't be fought again, you CAN go back to the Elite Four and battle them.. or you can just PWN them like i do, and still go back and fight some more :) You can always ReEnter you're Pokemon in a Contest its already Won, and get a type of PokeBall for winning! You can constantly Regrow Berry's as well, Although its boring as heck to wait for 'um to grow. I give the Replayability a:10!! Lets-a Go-a!

Training/Pokemon: Okay, so, lets move onwards to the Training and the Pokemon themselves! Training does indeed take a long time, but its well worth it to build up a VERY Powerful Pokemon that can Knock-Out any other Pokemon.(Depending on its Stats.) Their are THREE good ways to Train you're Pokemon. Number One is to Battle the Elite Four with the Pokemon You are trying to train as either the leader, or holding the item;'Exp.Share'. Number Two is to have the Pokemon you are Training as the Lead Pokemon and enter in The Battle Tower either lvl. 50 or lvl.100. You can also have it as just a spare Pokemon with the Item;'Exp.Share' in the Battle Tower. The Third and Final way to Train you're Pokemon is to Trade it to Pokemon Colosseum and enter it in the Mount Battle 100 Trainer Challenge. Then Trade it back to Pokemon Ruby Version when you are happy with its Level.
Pokemon stats are effected by the things you do. Say you used a Code device like the Gameshark, Action Replay, or CodeBreaker to get Unlimited 'Rare Candys', if you used nothing but 'Rare Candys' to level you're Pokemon up to Level One-Hundred, it would have worse Stats than it would, if you Trained it through Battle to Level One-Hundred. I give this a:10!! And so, i head us towards the FINAL piece of this Review....

Overall: Overall, this is one of the BEST Pokemon games for the Game Boy Advance gaming system. And i hope that more Pokemon games like this are continued to be made. The Final Score for Pokemon Ruby Version is 10/10!!!!

Rent or Buy: Buy! You shalt enjoy it more if ye Buy the Game.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 11/07/04