Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire
Posted: Mon Apr 14, 2003 11:54 am
By now, you've probably read the "What is an RPG" article at VGF. It's a well-done article, don't get me wrong, but RPGs are actually fit into different genres by themselves. Most go well into the requirements stated in that article. Others don't. I can think of 3 different RPG genres off the top of my head. Story Based RPGs are what the article covered. 8-bit RPGs don't rely on the story, and are typically nonlinear advenures. Basically, any RPG on an 8-bit system (with the exepyion of Game Boy) falls into that category. Finally, there's Pokemon and Pokemon Clones. Hey! I've said something relevant to the review! Let's get on with it!
Basically, Pokemon is where you send out little cute things to beat up other people's little cute things. You run around, Beat up Gym Leaderss little cute things, and use Metronome a lot. Metronome pulls a random attack out of nowhere, which mean that any Pokemon with Metronome can use Horn Attack, even if he/she doesn't have horns.
Sapphire replaces Metronome with Assist, which is a little less flexible (you can only use attacks that another Pokemon in your party knows), but you can use it 20 times instead of 10, so it's not that bad a trade.
Okay, time to cover the new stuff. First, let's go over the new evil team. No more Team Rocket. They've been replaced by Team Magma (Ruby) and Team Aqua (Sapphire). Team Magma aims to expand the land for more people to live. Team Aqua focusses on water. Both teams appear in both versions, but your main enemies are the ones that I mentioned. They're better than Team Rocket because they have actual motivation for their evil.
Next up: 2-On-2 battles. This time around, more than one Pokemon can fight at a time. These battles are quite interesting, andallow for 4 people to play at a time. Too bad I can't find for people with this game and 3 Link Cables.
Oh yeah, and Berry Blending rules. Basically, you get some people to help you, and you go through a minigame. The better you do, the better your prize will be. The minigame is a bit like the Hypno game from Pokemon Stadium, but it doesn't go so fast that the game becomes a button masher. Brilliant.
Your prizes are used to help you do better in Pokemon contests. In Pokemon Contests, your Pokemon compete for Cuteness, Smartness(...), Beautyness (......), toughness, and coolness. The higher your stats are in those areas (they're hitghtened by Pokeblocks, which are the prizes you get from berry blending), the better your chances of winning. And you also use your Pokemon's attacks to highten you chances further. Contests are fun, but tricky.
Graphics surprised me. They aren't great, but aren't horrible. They do look MUCH better than they do in screenshots. THe lack of animation can be excused due to the number of Pokemon, as well as some Pokemon that are given multiple forms to make an attempt at indivualality, and another one that changes shape according to weather. Now, they could have put beter backgrounds in. The ones shown here are pathetic. Little circles with tectures in them, and maybe a green space that covers places the circles aren't at (my description sucks, but bear with me) make up most of them.
I love Pokemon music. That's all I have to say about that.
As far as replay goes, I'm passing it a perfect 10. Between catching Pokemon, raising Pokemon, beating up other peoples Pokemon, Berry Blending, Contests, Berry growing, Pokemon Breeding, Secret Base Decorating, using the Assist attack endlessly, and riding your 2 bicycles (Yes, 2. One for going fast, and one for doing tricks), there's a lot of replay value.
Gameplay: 9/10
Graphics: 7/10
Sound/Music: 8/10
Replay Value: 10/10
Overall: 8.6/10
-A Genius (Assist! Assist! Assist! Assist! Assist!)
[ April 14, 2003, 10:56 AM: Message edited by: A Genius is stupid ]
Basically, Pokemon is where you send out little cute things to beat up other people's little cute things. You run around, Beat up Gym Leaderss little cute things, and use Metronome a lot. Metronome pulls a random attack out of nowhere, which mean that any Pokemon with Metronome can use Horn Attack, even if he/she doesn't have horns.
Sapphire replaces Metronome with Assist, which is a little less flexible (you can only use attacks that another Pokemon in your party knows), but you can use it 20 times instead of 10, so it's not that bad a trade.
Okay, time to cover the new stuff. First, let's go over the new evil team. No more Team Rocket. They've been replaced by Team Magma (Ruby) and Team Aqua (Sapphire). Team Magma aims to expand the land for more people to live. Team Aqua focusses on water. Both teams appear in both versions, but your main enemies are the ones that I mentioned. They're better than Team Rocket because they have actual motivation for their evil.
Next up: 2-On-2 battles. This time around, more than one Pokemon can fight at a time. These battles are quite interesting, andallow for 4 people to play at a time. Too bad I can't find for people with this game and 3 Link Cables.
Oh yeah, and Berry Blending rules. Basically, you get some people to help you, and you go through a minigame. The better you do, the better your prize will be. The minigame is a bit like the Hypno game from Pokemon Stadium, but it doesn't go so fast that the game becomes a button masher. Brilliant.
Your prizes are used to help you do better in Pokemon contests. In Pokemon Contests, your Pokemon compete for Cuteness, Smartness(...), Beautyness (......), toughness, and coolness. The higher your stats are in those areas (they're hitghtened by Pokeblocks, which are the prizes you get from berry blending), the better your chances of winning. And you also use your Pokemon's attacks to highten you chances further. Contests are fun, but tricky.
Graphics surprised me. They aren't great, but aren't horrible. They do look MUCH better than they do in screenshots. THe lack of animation can be excused due to the number of Pokemon, as well as some Pokemon that are given multiple forms to make an attempt at indivualality, and another one that changes shape according to weather. Now, they could have put beter backgrounds in. The ones shown here are pathetic. Little circles with tectures in them, and maybe a green space that covers places the circles aren't at (my description sucks, but bear with me) make up most of them.
I love Pokemon music. That's all I have to say about that.
As far as replay goes, I'm passing it a perfect 10. Between catching Pokemon, raising Pokemon, beating up other peoples Pokemon, Berry Blending, Contests, Berry growing, Pokemon Breeding, Secret Base Decorating, using the Assist attack endlessly, and riding your 2 bicycles (Yes, 2. One for going fast, and one for doing tricks), there's a lot of replay value.
Gameplay: 9/10
Graphics: 7/10
Sound/Music: 8/10
Replay Value: 10/10
Overall: 8.6/10
-A Genius (Assist! Assist! Assist! Assist! Assist!)
[ April 14, 2003, 10:56 AM: Message edited by: A Genius is stupid ]