Pokemon Emerald

This hub is a review of Pokémon Emerald, part of what is known as the third generation of Pokémon games, all released for the Game Boy Advance. This member of the most successful monster collecting videogame series to date is an improved version of Ruby and Sapphire which is worth your time. It adds several features not present in the earlier iterations of the third generation that make it worth purchasing even if you've already gotten Ruby or Sapphire.

So, please do read on as I review Pokémon Emerald!

You start out as you do in all Pokémon games; in your room (which has state of the art gaming consoles created by Nintendo; always thought that was a neat touch. :) ). However, it isn't long until the game's events have you acquiring your first Pokémon. In this game you have a choice of:

• Torchic: Fire-type Pokémon. You may have a bit of trouble in the early game, but this is the Pokémon to use if you want an easy endgame.
• Treecko: Grass-type Pokémon. The most well rounded of the three, as is usually the case for the Grass-type starter Pokémon. However it has weaknesses to Fire and Poison, two types that become horribly common later on.
• Mudkip: Water-type Pokémon. I love Water-types, so I invariably choose this one on all playthroughs. Things get sticky against Electric and Grass types though.

So, having gotten your first Pokémon, you must now complete the Pokémon League Challenge, which consists in travelling around the region (in this case the region of Hoenn), capturing more Pokémon, and defeating the Gym Leaders to get their badges (most towns have a gym; there are 8 gyms; you must get all 8 badges).

The gameplay is pretty interesting. First of all, you encounter Pokémon inside of grass (as well as in caves and while navigating on water as well). When you encounter them, and if you want to capture them to add them to your team, you must weaken them (the battles are turn-based). Once adequately weakened, you can throw Poké Balls at them. If you're successful, you'll get a brief fanfare and the game will announce your capture. Then, you will get the full Pokédex (a device that logs all of the unique Pokémon you've captured and/or discovered) entry for that Pokémon.

Like in all other Pokémon games (at least those for the portables), there is an organization that conspires to bring the region down to its knees. In this particular case, there are two (Team Magma and Team Aqua). You will face both of them (a change from Ruby/Sapphire where you only face one and are allied with the other) in order to restore peace to the region. The plot itself is somewhat cliché, but then again very few games are truly original (in terms of plot) nowadays.

The music is either appealing or annoying, depending on how you like the largely kid-friendly tunes. I don't mind them myself, but I've heard of people who play with the sound off because of it.

The graphics are awesome, and I consider them a nice usage of the 32-bit capability that the Game Boy Advance has. It is played from a tile-based perspective (essentially 2D).

You can also do miscellaneous things during your quest, like plant Berries (to later pick the Berries from the fully mature plant) and try to capture rare Pokémon in the Safari Zone (some of which can't be found anywhere else in the region.

All in all, Pokémon Emerald is a very nice and addicting game that, unfortunately, seems to have a stigma surrounding it since it's so kid-friendly. Some would say you fail at life if you're over a certain age and still play this game. I say, do what you find fun. If you enjoy this game, play it and ignore the haters! ;)

So, if you want to talk about this game or any Pokémon game in general, feel free to post in the comments section!

Until the next time, take care and have fun! ;)

-Winterfate