Pokemon Ruby Version

"How can two games that are the same be so friggin' different?"

Back in the year 2001, Nintendo created what was possibly the greatest version of Pokemon ever created: Pokemon Crystal. But after playing Crystal over and over for the next two years, Pokemon fans across the globe were getting bored playing with the perfect mechanics of the game and wanted something more. They got their wish in 2003 when Nintendo unleashed the next generation of Pokemon: Ruby and Sapphire.

Straying away from the ordinary path, Pokemon Ruby was created to change everything you loved about Pokemon in the past, and condense it into a fine burst of energy aimed right at your face to knock you back on your ass in your chair, and play the game. Sadly, by doing this, Ruby was knocked back a couple of notches while Sapphire managed to stay a head by a single step, which was quite odd since normally both Pokemon games are equal in game style and the like.

So why is Ruby now a point behind Sapphire? Simple. In creating two different groups of villains to battle throughout the game, Ruby got stuck with the crappier of the two halves, and it tends to show within the game, music-wise and plot-wise.

Story
Taking a slight turn from the last two series, Ruby starts you off as a boy or girl moving into a town close enough to your Dad's gym, yet far enough away for him to watch some movies without being bugged by some punk ass kids who want to be the very best or something. After unpacking your van, you decide to check out your new town, and find that there literally isn't anything there besides your house, and Professor Birch's house. You go and visit your neighbors kid, a boy named Brendan or a girl named May (depending on what sex you chose when you began the game), and you two become friends right off the bat for some reason. Getting horribly bored, you go home only to discover that the professor is in trouble. You run up to his bag and select one of three Pokemon: the grass type Treecko, the water type Mudkip, or the fire type Torchic, and the game finally begins. After saving the professor, he thinks you got what it takes to be better than your own dad, and as a test challenges you to challenge his kid. After you kick your rival's ass, you will begin your journey to become a Pokemon Master for no reason whatsoever!

On your journey, a bunch of tree hugging hippies known as Team Magma threatens to dry out the ocean and add more land to the earth. Big whoop. The pirates in Team Aqua had a better threat of flooding the planet in Pokemon Sapphire, and the plot around the end of the game seems to revolve more around the Team Aqua plotline than it does in Team Magma's case. Quite unfortunate too, seeing how the two sets of enemies was a good idea.

Gameplay
It's your same old Pokemon action right here. Explore the grassy areas throughout the game, get into a battle, kick the wild Pokemon's ass enough to be able to throw a Pokemon and catch it to join your team. And with over 200 Pokemon for you to go and capture, you better believe you're going to be doing this a bunch on your journey through the Hoenn region. Along the trail are other Pokemon trainers that think they're hot, but end up getting' shut down due to your awesome Pokemon training skills. This is a good way of leveling up your team and scoring some quick cash to stay in the game longer by buying items that can help you out in the long run, be it getting you more health in battle, reviving your fainted Pokemon, or even leveling them up a level or two. Good stuff is always to be found by trainer battles.

Added to this series is the ability to have a two on two battles with some trainers throughout the game. The ability to throw out two Pokemon at once against your opponents two Pokemon is a great idea in concept, but failed to really take off within the game due to the trainers only having a single set. Had the trainers had more than a single set of Pokemon, this idea could have been friggin' amazing. Despite the lack of effort put into these battles, the strategy that could be created to counter a two on two battle by using your two Pokemon's moves to help out each other (fly/earthquake, rain dance/surf, etc) to make the battles a real challenge for the enemy. Hopefully they fix this problem in Emerald.

Last but not least, all Pokemon now have their own natural abilities and natures that can raise the bar for how you raise them. By choosing the nature that is right for your way of training, your Pokemon can have a great stat in whatever category you want, be it defense, attack, special attacks, speed, whatever. However, by increasing one stat, you must have another stat grow at a slower level to balance it all out. A good example of this is a Machamp with an Adamant nature. With this nature intact, your Machamp will gain a faster attack rating than a Machamp with a different nature. However, your Machamp will have a much lower special attack to make up the difference. In Machamp's case though, this works out since you'll be using regular attack stats anyways, so it's a win win situation. Once you figure out all of the natures, you can build that perfect team. The abilities feature is a Pokemon's way of countering certain effects. Every Pokemon family in the game has a set ability that cannot be changed (although some have two different abilities, so you can get either one permanently). These abilities can range from giving you an attack boost in battle when near death, prevent certain statuses from connecting, or even paralyze the opponent for just attacking you! By figuring out which Pokemon that have the abilities you want you can create a dream team that can take down anyone!

Graphics
A lot can change within only two years worth of time and this game shows it. Gone are all of the 8bit sprites that used to be awesome in Pokemon Crystal, because now we get some friggin' 16 bit stuff and it really shows! Small details within the game like shoeprints in the beach sand, waves moving, your reflection in the water, clouds appearing over a still lake, doors opening, and more just really brighten up this game. The sprites that your character has while walking or running show that you are actually putting some effort in jogging to the other side of the screen. The little details on the main world just make the experience all the worthwhile. It's a shame that the Pokemon sprites weren't animated like they were in Crystal though, so that is a small step back right there on Nintendo's part. Other than that though, the sprites on the over world look crisp and move fluently, and the battle animations that your Pokemon perform in battle all look spectacular (try using a move like Powder Snow if you don't agree).

Music and Sound
The music for this game besides the natural disaster music (you'll know what I'm talking about) all sounds way better than anything created in the past...well maybe not the remixes of some of the Gold/Silver tunes, but still! The music for each town suits them well, be it the upbeat sea music for the town of Slateport City, the nice lulliby-ish tune in a small mountain village, or the music that plays in a volcanic ash field while ash falls to the earth slowly. The music sets the tone for each and every area that you set upon and gets the job done exceptionally well. The sound effects however are your typical Pokemon fair. Same old cries same old sound effects. Why fix what's not broken yeah?

Replay?
With the ability to trade between Sapphire/FireRed/LeafGreen/Colosseum, why the hell wouldn't you want to replay this? By trading with these versions, breeding eggs in them, trading the new eggs to a new game, hatching them, and then having an awesome team of level 5 Pokemon to start off with by your choice, you can easily have a great time exploring the region of Hoenn the way you want to! Now if only the bad guys were worth it...

Sounds nice. What's the price tag on this?
Despite the fact that this game has been around for nearly two years now, the hefty price of 30 bucks at my local Wal-Mart says that you'll be shellin' out normal GBA game cash for it. Oh well, the game's worth it at least if you already own Sapphire. If you don't have Sapphire, get that version first, since the plot seems to follow that version more so than the Ruby Version.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/01/05