Review: Pokémon Ruby / Sapphire (GBA)

Pokémon has been a very popular franchise to say the very least. From the extremely innovative original Gameboy games came the TV series, followed by western releases and merchandise galore, and to anyone unfamiliar with the Pokémon games, it is easy to see why they would be instantly dismissed as childish or money-grabbing soulless cash-ins. However, nothing could be further from the truth.

Pokémon Red and Blue versions started with an awesome vision and an original idea, and although Ruby and Sapphire don't expand a great deal on that, the system is so utterly compelling and addictive anyway, its hard to complain.

For those unfamiliar with the gameplay involved, a quick history lesson is in order.

The game world is inhabited by creatures called Pokémon. These can be found, battled with and captured in the wild by weakening them and catching them inside PokéBalls (small capsules that turn Pokémon into energy for storage purposes). You can carry a maximum of six Pokémon with you at a time (which will be all of the time, as there is no need to carry less once you have more than six), and battle with other trainers as you find them.

Battles consist of a rock/paper/scissors type affair where different types of moves (or elements) have different effects on different types of Pokémon. For example, Grass will be effective against Water but not Fire. And Fire will be strong against Grass but weak against Water. But it's not all down to the elements to win. Simply being stronger or having better moves can lead to victory. As you dispatch foes in a turn-based manner, you receive experience, which levels-up your used Pokémon, making them gradually more and more powerful.

You collect Gym Badges as proof of your skills by defeating the eight Gym Leaders throughout the world, and you will also learn specific moves to help you navigate to previously unreachable areas, with the ultimate goal of reaching the Pokémon League and defeating the Champion.

Sounds simple enough, and on the surface it is that simple. But the thing about Pokémon is that it is so addictive! Every new Pokémon that you come across is like discovering something new that you have to own. You have to have it and add it to your PokéDex log, even if you are never going to use it, you've got to "catch 'em all".

And then there's the satisfaction of becoming stronger. Like with any good RPG a certain thrill can be found in increasing abilities of your own accord, so you can imagine what it is like when you have a couple of hundred Pokémon all waiting to be trained up. The fact that many of them "evolve" into new Pokémon at certain levels adds even more necessity to train them up, as this is the only way you will have owned every one of them.

And so, hours fly by, which turn to days, and weeks, then months of relentless, addictive Pokémon catching and battling. But how does Ruby/Sapphire, the GBA's first version, match up to the glory days passed? Gamestyle soon found out.

It's difficult to say when you first switch the power on and start playing about with it. Whilst it seems comfortably familiar, there seems to be a little too much familiarity. The graphics, whilst quite nice, are mere functional upgrades rather than total overhauls. Pokémon animations don't go further than a few sprite scaling and squashing effects, however most of the special effects are done quite well.

The same familiarity occurs when you start your quest and realise the structure is very similar to how it always was. Pick one Pokémon of three to start with, then go off to a few towns and find the first Gym Leaders, etc.

The strange thing is, at first there is a sense of disappointment. If you've played Pokémon Gold/Silver before, then you will know how much of a technical feat the game really was. And so at first, it appears as though Ruby/Sapphire has actually been stripped down a little.

There is still a built-in clock and battery to keep the time, but the in-game day/night cycle is no longer present, there is no record of what day of the week it is, you can't ever check the time anyway, except when you look at the main clock in your room, and more shocking that all of that is when you discover the apparent decrease in available catchable Pokémon. Apparently, over 100 have been added, but what we weren't told is that about 150 have been taken out... or more accurately, "aren't catchable".

Not only that but there aren't any extra worlds to go back and visit (like Kanto was in Gold/Silver), you are limited to exploring just the one (again) apparently due to the others being "too far away"! Bah!

This initial disappointment is understandable. A far advanced hardware playing host to a technically inferior sequel just isn't on. Or so it seems at first, however this in many ways isn't the case.

You see it's all about refinement, and looking deeper than just the surface. The game is huge. Quite simply. And bearing in mind that this is a "new beginning", it is really everything you could hope for. Whereas Gold/Silver had to carry on the world into a new "merged" game, Ruby and Sapphire don't suffer this burden. The majority of the features from G/S have been kept, removing anything that perhaps proved irritating with some players daily life conflicts, but some of the same brilliantly clever ideas have been kept (Pokémon genders, breeding, hold items, etc) New features include Pokémon's inherent abilities that each one has. Certain built-in effects that can help you or hinder you opponent make the matches even less pre-defined. The actual abilities themselves are also rather clever (Immune - for poison protection, Guts - for higher strength when damaged, Static - for opponent paralysis when touched, Shed Skin - for protection against all statuses, Levitate - for ground protection, are just some of hundreds of different ones included).

There are also the occasional double-Pokémon battles, where your first two are picked to fight another two opponents. It doesn't happen often, but certain twin trainers will occasionally challenge you to such fights, showing that Ruby/Sapphire takes more of a strategic approach to its fights than the button bashing of the past.

The refinement to all of the existing features is sublime. Anyone remember the monster ordeal of simply changing storage boxes in the past games? Well due to sufficient on-board memory, all of the boxes are instantly accessible through a simple left/right selection. Not only that but each box can be customised, given a name and wallpaper colour, with all of the Pokémon as visible icons in perfect view on the much larger screen space. Each and every Pokémon will now have its own smaller sprite as well, so you can tell from the picture what each one is without the need to select it first. The profiles screen now shows more info on each Pokémon including a detailed map view of where it can be found and a size comparison chart showing a silhouette of your Pokémon next to your character avatar.

There is also far more to take into consideration when training. Ruby/Sapphire has a Pokémon Beauty Contest where you can show off your moves to judges against other trainers. The moves you do vary in effectiveness in different ways to how they develop in battle. A powerful battle move may not be a particularly good crowd-pleaser at a contest, but you may need it for stronger battles. Whilst the majority will mainly ignore the need for contest moves, others will seriously take into consideration what should be learned and how their Pokémon should be raised. Luckily the move-learning screen gives you the information you need before you actually learn it, making it far easier to see if you really want to forfeit one of your other four moves to make room for the new one. Refinement is definitely the key word here, and it is more welcome than you could imagine.

The music in the game has had a nice upgrade, with some familiar tunes returning amongst some brand new ones. In fact, every theme in the game is instantly memorable and will have you whistling it to yourself for hours after you stop playing, (The battle theme and Gym battles in particular are very good).

One thing Gamestyle noticed however, which may be just us, but the names of the new Pokémon aren't as memorable as they once were. We constantly found ourselves having to check each one's name as we'd forgotten it. Perhaps the burden of having too many Pokémon has resulted in less original names for them, or less memorable ones at least. But there still remains the need to pick favourites, as there always is, and grow attached to them for the extent of the whole game.

In terms of lastability, nothing can really touch this. There are now even more secret "Legendary Pokémon" hidden in various corners of the world, which will require huge ordeals just to access them. Gathering "berries" for various effects can also eat up your playing time. Every berry you pick needs to be planted again for more to grow, and these can be used as either "hold items" or "PokéBlock" ingredients, needed for winning Contests. You can also find various types of PokéBalls, even more so than ever before, as well as the usual standard ones there are far more specific uses for some of them.

Then there are the multi-player link-up battles and trading. Again, some of the Pokémon can only be caught in certain versions, so trading with friends is a nice bonus if you want to catch the lot (which may as well be impossible). There are also improved battle modes including multiplayer with more than two trainers, and multi-Pokémon fights too. Also it is possible to trade "records" with each other, which has various effects on your own game world, such as making a new trendy saying in one of the small impressionable towns, or changing your reply to interviews that appear on TV. The depth here goes beyond any of previous games, and whilst it doesn't seem like it at first, it becomes ever more apparent as you progress and work at just how much is actually going on at all times. Even the graphical niceness becomes clearer as you play on. Reflections appear in calm water, footprints and bike tracks are left behind you in the sand, "Hidden Machine" moves show the Pokémon performing them in the field when used, and the animations are all far smoother and more varied.

Its value to you, the player, is really dependant on whether you have played a Pokémon title before. Whilst its apparent lack of any revolutionary gameplay is a worthy of criticism, it doesn't stop the fact that this is still by far one of the most addictive and long-lasting games you could hope for on your Gameboy Advance. As a "new beginning" for newbies, nothing could be better, and for those of us who have seen it all done before, there are still many things to be seen and make this worthy of purchase, as its depth becomes more clear as you progress.

Whilst not yet clear at present how the remaining Pokémon will be integrated into this game, it seems as though the upcoming E-reader could be playing a big part. Whether this will prove to be a money-grabbing gimmick or not, Gamestyle remains open-minded and will inform in due course. But it certainly in no way hinders what is already a superb title that will last for hours.

Gotta Catch'em All!!

Rating: 8 / 10

Words by Daniel James