Pokemon Emerald Version is to the Ruby and Sapphire games what Pokemon Yellow was to the Red and Blue titles, and what Pokemon Crystal was to the Gold and Silver releases. By that, I mean that it's basically a slightly enhanced version of what we may or may not have already played. As such, this review is a bit complicated. Basically, you will fit into one of the following groups.
1. You've never played a Pokemon game before.
2. You've played or own Red/Blue/Yellow, Gold/Silver/Crystal and/or perhaps
Fire Red/Leaf Green, but you didn't get around to playing or owning Ruby or
Sapphire.
3. You've already purchased Ruby and/or Sapphire.
First, let me explain the premise of this former powerhouse franchise to the uninitiated. Humans live in a vast world and they coexist not with animals, but with these little monsters called Pokemon (however, there are Pokemon that are little animals, such as dogs, cats, fish, and birds). Some people keep Pokemon as pets, some research the creatures, some breed them, and others collect them. There is another group of Pokemon users, though, and those are Trainers. They catch Pokemon and raise them up so they can battle them against the Pokemon of other trainers. Some Pokemon even evolve into different and more powerful kinds under certain conditions. Trainers go around to various cities and towns to fight Gym Leaders. When the beat them, they are given one of eight official badges of the Pokemon League, the place where they will fight the best trainers in the region, putting the trainer's skills to the ultimate test.
This game starts with your male or female avatar moving to the Hoenn region. Your mother is driving the moving truck and you've been thrown in the back with the furniture (says something about the kid's family life, eh?). Anyway, you eventually arrive in Littleroot Town, which is in close proximity of Petalburg, the city where your father, Norman, works as the Gym Leader. As you meet your new neighbors, you find a local Pokemon professor named Birch doing some fieldwork. A wild Pokemon attacks him and you fight it off with one of the three Pokemon Birch was carrying. As thanks, Birch gives you the Pokemon, thus allowing you to start your adventure.
Along the way, you'll meet many different characters including May, Birch's daughter (if you play as a male), Birch's son, Max (if you play as a female), and of course, you'll see your father. You'll also get to know various trainers on the road and of course, the other gym leaders.
For most of the game, you make your character wander around the vast world on the hunt for new Pokemon to catch. You can hold up to six in your party at once, and you'll use them to battle the trainers and Gym Leaders you'll run into as you work your way towards the Pokemon League challenge. Oftentimes, you'll need to perform a certain task in order to progress. For example, you may need to help out a random citizen with a problem by getting a certain item for them, delivering something to someone else, driving away the evil trainers nearby, and so on. There are also many additional side-quests in the game that you can complete to earn rare items and sometimes, even Pokemon.
The meat of this game is in the battle system. When you encounter Pokemon, either in the wild or owned by a trainer, you'll use your Pokemon to fight them. Each Pokemon can learn four different moves; some by leveling up, others through the use of TMs or HMs (Technical and Hidden Machines), and even some people will offer to teach your Pokemon special moves. Each Pokemon is of a different type and each attack is of a certain kind, as well. The strength of the attacks will depend on the user's (and victim's) stats. These include such things as Attack, Defense, and Speed.
Some attacks are stronger or weaker depending on the type of Pokemon that takes the blow and part of the strategy comes from figuring out what the type of each monster is (yours included). When you figure that out, you can choose which type to use and what attack methods will work best. For example, Fire Pokemon use Fire attacks that are very effective when used against Grass, Ice, Bug or Steel types. However, those moves will not work well against Rock, Water, or other Fire types.
At the same time, you must be wary of the attack types that will severely hurt your Pokemon. Using the same Fire example from above, Water, Rock and Ground attacks will put the smack down on your flaming buddy. Should your Pokemon have dual types (like Fire and Flying) and they are attacked with a move that adversely affects both types, it will take even more damage (Rock attacks are strong against both Fire and Flying). Of course, that works both ways, and sometimes, dual types can help protect the one type against a certain attack that they are weak against. For example, Rock hurts Fire badly, but it doesn't work so well against Fighting types. So, when a Fire/Fighting is hit with a Rock attack, the damage will even itself out (it won't be weak or strong, just normal).
Good Pokemon trainers will want to use any means necessary to teach their monster friends a variety of different moves so they'll be prepared if they have to fight a type that they are weak against and also, to keep the fight unpredictable for the opponent. They may also want to use moves that aren't attacks, but may make the fight easier for the trainer. For instance, you could teach your Pokemon moves that will increase its stats or decrease the opponent's and you could also use moves that will cause adverse effects on the opponent (and sometimes yourself), including sleeping, paralysis, confusion, or poisoning. There's quite a bit of depth to the fighting here and you'll want to study up on the various facets of battle to go far in the Pokemon World.
That was the part of the review for those new to the franchise and for those people, I'd recommend they check out Pokemon Emerald. Even if they think that Pokemon is a stupid and childish fad, these games stand alone as well-made RPGs that anyone can enjoy and/or be addicted to.
For the people who played the past GB Pokemon games, but haven't checked out Ruby or Sapphire yet, this is one for you to pick up. You may see the two other versions for a slightly cheaper price, but the extra $5 you put towards this one will be worth it for the extra material. New to Emerald is the ability to use the GBA Wireless Adapter to trade, chat and battle with friends (friends who own the Fire Red, Leaf Green or Emerald versions). This is a nice addition because it was always a pain to hook you and your friends' system together with that Link Cable. However, if you don't have the Wireless Adapter (which doesn't come bundled with Emerald like it did with Fire Red and Leaf Green) and can only use the Cables, that still works fine (and it's the only way to play with Ruby and Sapphire owners). There are also some special things you can do with your friends, like compete in Pokemon Contests, blend Pokeblocks, and play minigames. Just be warned that some of these are only accessible to players of a certain version (some are even only available to Emerald players); Emerald's 77 page instruction manual will give better info on this.
There are a couple of small changes to the storyline this time, with new and different events. Certain locations (like Pokemon Contest places) have been moved around to make room for new attractions, like the Battle Tent, where you fight against trainers under special conditions. You can also try your hand at the multiple Battle Frontier events after you conquer the Pokemon League. As if that wasn't enough, Emerald has new items for you to collect and you can have various people teach your Pokemon new and special moves. An in-game communication system much like the phone usage in the Gold and Silver games returns in Emerald with many helpful additions, such as unlimited storage for phone numbers and an icon that flashes when a character wants to battle you (as well as their location).
Of course, like the other companion Pokemon games, the Pokemon that can be caught in Emerald are slightly different than the Ruby or Sapphire versions, so if you want to catch them all, you'll need to trade with your Ruby and/or Sapphire owning pals. You can also use Pokemon Emerald with the Gamecube Pokemon titles (Pokemon Coliseum and Pokemon XD) to upload the fighters you trained so hard on the GBA and battle them there.
If you found yourself in the second scenario of the ones list above, then go out right now and buy this. It'll have you hooked for quite a while, it's the best of the three versions and you'll definitely get your money's worth.
Now, we come to the final possibility; the one where you already own Ruby and/or Sapphire. This is where it becomes a little tricky. Whether Emerald is worth the 35 bucks depends on how hardcore a Pokemon fan you are. If you're an avid player of these games and are dying to give your characters the new items and/or moves, then rent this one first to see if the additions are enough to justify another purchase in your mind. Another idea for owners of two GBAs is this; rent Emerald, catch the Pokemon that you can't get in your Ruby or Sapphire version there, trade them back to your cart, and do anything else that you want to do with Emerald and send it back to your Ruby or Sapphire game before you return the rental copy to Gamefly, Blockbuster or wherever it was you borrowed this from. If you are not a hardcore fan of Pokemon and you already own Ruby or Sapphire, you don't need to buy this one because it's the same game at its core and the fundamental presentation and gameplay hasn't changed. I'm not saying that Emerald is bad, but it's basically a rehash of the game you bought 2 years ago.
Because this is a somewhat complicated review, let'
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