Gotta catch them all again

Ok I made a mistake when I bought this game I wanted to wait a few months after it’s release last year for the GBA player to come out so I could play it on the TV screen, mainly because the classic GBA gives you a headache after playing it for more then an hour. But when I saw it at wal-mart on sale with a game guide for 20 dollars the weekend after it was released I couldn’t help but pick it up. It set collecting dust in till I got Pokemon Collesuem and then I decided to actually try it out.

Story.
The story in the Pokemon game fall way short of being epics, but that’s ok you want to concentrate more on battling critters then the person who is flinging the balls in the first place. Well this one takes place entirely in the Hoen region, a region bigger then the Kanto and Jhoto regions of the previous versions combined. In this one you have just moved to this new region and while going to introduce yourself to the town professor you notice him under attack. You notice three Pokeballs under your feet so you choose and throw one (Your starter Pokemon will be whichever one you pick) and frighten off the Poochyana. Before you can say Pikachu the professor sends you off on an errand to collect more of the little critters so he an do research on them, but he’s also sending his kid to be your rival. Before you start thinking that this is another Ash vs. Gary type thing it isn’t, the rival actually a nice person in the game. And while friendly rivals are good and all wiping the smile off of Gary’s face was one of the great things about the original game.

You also find out that your father is a gym leader later on in the game and will have to battle him for a badge.

Graphics.
The graphics in Pokemon Sapphire have been of course greatly improved over the originals. For one thing the sprites and the characters for the movie have been greatly improved and now show a lot more detail. Has well has the Pokemon you meet down the road, now one sprite doesn’t cover at least 15 types of Pokemon, but rather you see each Pokemon’s look individually.

Has for in the battle the graphics have been improved greatly hear. The old Pokemon battle sprites have finally been smoothed over and you can see details and a lot more color in them. The new Pokemon in the game are also shown in has good a detail that you can recognize them on the anime series. But they still have the problem of two sprites that aren’t really animated battling each other, and while you see beams and flame throwers being traded with each other, things like punches and stuff just appear has explosions on your Pokemon.

Sound. The sound is very Pokemonish and a lot of the sound tracks seem to have been carried over from previous games. But the newer tunes don’t seem to sound quite has good has the classic Pokemon games where.

Gameplay
Ok for those of you who have never played a Pokemon RPG before there are 3 goals in the game.

1. Beat all 8 gym leaders and earn there badges, these badges grant you abilities that will help you get to other parts in the region.
2.Beat the elite 4, 4 of the best trainers has well has the league champion await your challenge at the end of the main quest.
3.The hardest, most time consuming, and completely optional quest in the game is to collect all the little critters in the region. But that isn’t going to be easy since you won’t be able to it with one version of the game, or just one time around the main game.

In order to all these tasks though your going to have to catch Pokemon. You start off with one the professor gives you and then you can acquire Pokeballs along the way. When you find a wild Pokemon you do battle with it and try to wail the power down to it has much has possible without knocking it out. Then you throw a Pokeball and hope you get lucky. If it stays in the ball then the Pokemon is yours to do has pleased.

Once caught you can then raise there level and teach them new moves, has your Pokemon grows up there might be a chance that it evolves. Evolving means it becomes stronger but there are some moves that they can’t learn in less they stay in there smaller forms. You also have to worry about types some types are stronger against one type of Pokemon (water vs. fire) and weaker against another type (water vs. electricity), in the end now type is stronger then the other so choosing what types your carrying is also important. And that’s pretty much the basics of the game.

First thing I should warn you for better or worst they took out the clock system in the game. With the exception of the berry growing system in the game, the whole day and night and time of the week is gone. Good and bad, bad because it was an unique system to the game having some events happening at certain times and places, but it also got annoying at some times.

The first thing they did add is the fact that there are now double Pokemon fights. Two Pokemon at a time can be sent out in some trainer battles. This means you have two targets to hit and so do they, and while a lot of moves still work the same you have to be careful. Moves like earthquake effect every character in the field, including the ones on your side.

Now the next thing they added to the mix in the battles is now each Pokemon has a special ability that can become automatically activate. For instance Gyaradoses Intimate lowers the attack of any Pokemon that goes against it, and Pikachu’s static technique can paralyze any Pokemon who does a physical attack against it.

Now if leveling up and breeding Pokemon battling isn’t your style there are now Pokemon beauty consists that you can compete in. Now you get to choose what type you want like strength, cool, cute, beauty and a few other consists. Then you can feed them berries to strengthen them up for each completion has well has teach them different techniques that have special advantages, has well has a beauty stage marks (that would be a cool, cute, or beautiful moves for example). So you have to choose the right type of moves just for the stage, it’s generally better to go out with Pokemon your just raising to win beauty contests, and keep the ones your using for all out battle in another category so you don’t screw something up in either category.

The amount of Pokemon.
People are going to be a bit disappointed when they find out that you can only catch 200 of the different kinds of Pokemon in these 2 versions of the game. There is a whole crop of old favorites that are going to be left behind on the floor, at least in till know that there is. With just these two versions of the game you can’t catch Charizard, Mewtwo, or Luguia to name a few of the big ones. But that has changed with Coliseum you can now catch all the gold and silver that are missing, and with the two remakes now out on stores there is your original 150 to catch. But if your trying to catch all 350 you might want to ask the question of why you have all that free time on your hands.

Has for the new ones they don’t seem to be able to compete with the 150 but I don’t think that will change with any Pokemon game that comes out for the DS or the next generation of the GBA. However there are a few good ones like Kaygore, Blazekin, and Swellow that seem to make pretty good Pokemon to have around.

Final Recommendation.
With the new remakes I wouldn’t be to surprise if a few places start putting Ruby and Sapphire on clearance so now is a good time to get these two versions before the remakes of the classic take over.