Too Much Water and Trumpets

So it happened at last-this past Friday was a HUGE day for media. Not only did The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1drop in theaters (Great movie by the way you should all check it out) but Super Smash Bros for the WiiU dropped and so did the highly anticipated reboot of one of Pokemon’s most beloved generations of games: Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire or in their newest incarnations: Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. I have been saving money all semester to spurge on this nostalgia trip and let me tell you, it was SO. WORTH IT.

Isn’t every Pokemon game the same? What’s so special about this one?
Oh dear reader, for a lot of people who are my age-in their early 20s-this was the first Pokemon game that we really got into. I had played Pokemon Crystal and enjoyed it-but there was something magical about Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire. Maybe it was the full color graphics? The brassy soundtrack? The bright new Pokemon? Contests? Whatever it was-it had me hooked in like a sucker. There will never be another Pokemon game like Ruby and Sapphire to me. My friend Steven let me borrow his copy of Ruby to try out and I was hooked. Playing both versions of that game and then the expanded Emerald version were some of the best moments of my youth and I’ll never get over loosing my copy of Sapphire as a kid.

But the third generation was the start of so many things! It was the first GBA game in the series and so for a lot of people, the first one they every payed any attention to. So the reboot of that game has everyone who was a kid then freaking out, myself included. A chance to experience the Hoenn Region again in glorious 3D and fully orchestrated was something that I could only dream of. And yet-here we are. So yeah, it’s a bit of a big deal for me and my fellow Pokemon fans.

So…did it live up to your expectations?
DID IT??? Oh you betcha. I’ve been having to stop myself from playing all through the night to expand my time enjoying the storyline all over again. It’s great. Like-super great. The plot is just as I remembered and the pokemon and the music and it’s a huge nostalgia trip in the best possible way. Plus in 3D it really hits home that in this version you, your partner, and your rival are all actually 10 year olds instead of 18 year olds like in the last version.

May please don’t flirt with me we are 10 and I am actually a 20 year old girl in her dorm room wearing batman boxers. Don’t do this.

You are a grown ass man and you are being harassed by a puppy. A PUPPY YOU WEAK MAN.

Though because he’s a weak man-you get to start your pokemon journey!

Your rival Wally is actually the most adorable little thing in 3D. Wally pls that blush.

The whole beginning of the game runs so smoothly. The tutorials you get are all actually useful ones that make a whole lot more sense than some of the previous one. And the new features are a blast too.

New Features?
Well of course! They couldn’t well just render the game into 3D and call it a day! They implemented some great changes to the PokeNAV that make it even MORE useful than it was back in the day. The PokeNAV was a crazy new feature back in the original game-where you could call trainers and characters you’d met and track where pokemon showed up and check the map all in one handy dandy place. Now with the eve of duel screens it’s EVEN BETTER. The PokeNAV is spilt up into four different sections for you to enjoy and use. You have the BuzzNav, DexNav, AreaNav, and PlayNav.

The graphics for this are adorable and really fun to see every once and a while

BuzzNav replaces you having to go look at TVs for news in the region. Instead you can flip to this and it will tell you about all the different things going on in the region-like pokemon outbreaks, contest news, and it keeps playing stories about you and your friends that you StreetPass in the game so you stay updated with them too!

This feature is such a godsend. God bless. 

Who’s that Pokemon? (It’s Poochyena)

DexNav is possibly the thing in the new expansions. It tells you which Pokemon you’re likely to encounter in the area and will even help you find them and help you figure out if they’re decent to catch. It’s really great for finding Pokemon with strong Hidden Abilities and Egg moves which are very rare. I used the feature to find a level 15 Taillow with Roost among a bunch of level 5 Taillows. Talk about awesome. It also helps you figure out how many of the Pokemon in the route you’ve caught since once you’ve caught them they show up in their sprite from from the original game on the map (which was also taken from the original game! It’s a nice touch). It makes breeding and finding good competitive Pokemon a lot easier, let me tell you.

It’s like Map 2.0!

AreaNav is the basic function of the PokeNAV. This was all we had back in the original. It gives you the map-tells you which trainers want to have a rematch, whether you’ve planted berries there, and what Pokemon you’ll find there. It’s handy for when you’re lost on the sea and cannot remember where you’re supposed to go. It’s the one I use the least, but it’s good to have around for every day uses.

This is all the fun stuff from Kalos! (X+Y)

Finally we have the PlayNav! These are all the fun features that we got in Pokemon X and Y that they ported over because we loved them so much. You’ve got the  P.layer S.earch S.ystem (PSS) where you can trade with friends and all that like and access all the fun stuff on the internet like Wonder Trade where you just sort of toss a Pokemon out there and you get a random one from someone else. Which is a great way to get rid of excess Pokemon from breeding projects and to get foreign Pokemon with no strings attached! Then there’s Pokemon Amie where you get to pet end play with your Pokemon to make them love you more. It’s like Nintendogs but better because it’s your little murder beasts.

You can pet a Pikachu and I’m so glad I loved long enough to get to this day.

And finally, Super Training is the way to take a Pokemon who has very poor potential and give them something to work with! It allows you to train their Effort Value stats so when they level up the normal stats get more of a boost. (It’s done wonders with the crappy Defenses of all my Fire Types)

All around the PokeNAV updates was really awesome. And then there were the Contests-which have been changed so much since the original game that I was a little scared to enter one.

Contests?
One of the great things that Ruby and Sapphire introduced for people who aren’t the most battle competitive people was Contests. Instead of creating a move set that was meant to destroy your enemy-you could create a move set to dazzle an audience and get the others in the contest field to fear you. It’s a really fun strategy aspect to the game and a welcome distraction from the main storyline.

You even get a cool outfit to wear in contests now which is awesome.

And it’s all in 3D!

And I love contests a lot you have no idea.

I’m really happy with how contests are being run too-after Ruby and Sapphire, Nintendo tweaked the formula for contests so much and most of the players began to hate them and they were dropped from the games entirely by X and Y. Now though, they’ve gone back to the original formula where you feed your Pokemon PokeBlocks to make their condition better suited for which ever contest type they are (Cool, Tough, Clever, Beauty, and Cute) and tweak their movesets to be the most optimal for their type. Then the fans judge who they think is the most ‘—‘ looking of the bunch and then the judges judge the moves you use in appeals for their appropriateness and the scores are added up to see who wins. It’s generally a lot of fun. Plus in this version you are given a Pikachu with an excellent condition in all types who puts on costumes for contests and battles. It’s hella adorable.

Any other old features made new?
Yup! Secret Bases have come back!

I have a secret base and it’s hella fun and I think it’s cool and ONLY COOL KIDS ARE ALLOWED INSIDE.

Secret bases have always been really interesting. You find an interesting place in the world-like a tree or a large bush, or a rock wall and use a move to open up the space. then when you’re inside you can place furniture and fun things you’ve bought inside and hang out! It’s just a really fun little customization thing that I enjoy and have always had fun making my little secret base to hang out in.

Anything else?
Yup! Now you can fly over Hoenn for fun on Latios or Latias and find Pokemon in the air and just have a lot fun. And I’m looking forward to unlocking this feature once I get there.

I believe I can flyyyyyy

The story’s good though?
Oh yeah! Hoenn was great because it was the first time the evil teams, Magma and Aqua, were a real threat to the region. One wanted to cause a volcano to erupt to create more land mass and another wanted to flood the region. Like whoa! That’s a bit insane, wouldn’t you say? Throw in the fact that you’re lead around a lot of the time by a unnecessarily hot silver haired trainer and it’s really great.

Why are you so pretty for a character in a game for children? Why.

Then throw in some great mythology about the land the extended story about the region and the legendary Pokemon within in and it’s a total winner.

It’s like snakes on a plane but the snake IS the plane.

Plus all the Gym Leaders are so distinctive and wonderful that it’s just all around really great.

Are you sure you aren’t a gay man. Cause I’m pretty sure you are a gay man.

All around-and I know I’m slightly biased because I grew up with loving Ruby and Sapphire-this new installment is really awesome and all around just really great. I think it’s a great place to get into the series and it’s a really fun look back at 2003 and the game that it was to the game it is now. It’s pretty great. So I’m going to get off the internet now and go back to playing this game cause I have to be a champion, you know?