Might just be because I'm coming straight off the GB/GBC games but the new sprite art in this game is sooooo pleasing and comfy, damn. A+ 16-bit look, real good stuff. The farty GBA music, on the other hand, felt like icepicks in my ears.

Liked the worldmap and the pacing a bit more than Gen 2 and the attempt at diversifying the supporting character types (a tiny bit), but the endgame was oddly easy (maybe tougher in Ruby as you couldn't just Ice Beam the Elite Four with Kyogre?) and of course nothing's gonna top the last game's ending. Also, unlike in Gold, I was kind of frustrated with the shortcomings of my squad for most of the game, never really found a groove I was comfortable with, more just bruteforced through. But that could be on me not engaging with the new types/mechanics as much as I could have.

Technically speaking, I think this is the first ‘real’ video game I ever played as a kid. I must’ve been 4 or 5 years old, I played it a bunch until losing the cartridge several years later and by then I had mostly moved to playing Emerald and the new Gen 4 games anyhow. Recently my childhood nostalgia and how much it holds up has been a subject I’ve been interested with, so I decided to replay this game 2 decades later and see how it held up compared to my memories of it.

I had a lot of fun doing a specialized Water-type only run of the game, however the age of this game really shows in certain ways. Especially because I’ve played Emerald at least a couple dozen times by this point and the improvements it made on the original Gen 3 games are really apparent coming back to this one. You probably are playing this over Emerald either because of certain version exclusives or for nostalgia reasons like I was, otherwise Emerald is strictly better. But I’m happy I went back to this for a little while.

My first Gen 3 game from back in 02, haven't played since due to Pokemon Emerald being superior in almost every way.

Decided to play this for the hell of it. Being the first game I played this year, I had a blast despite the games shortcomings. It's a great game with wonderful music, a superb region and charming graphics. Was disappointed there was no 'superboss' at the end and if you want to use a unique team (like I did) then you have limited options until you have 4 badges.

If you haven't played a gen 3 game, just play Emerald instead, but you can't go wrong with Ruby, Sapphire or their 3d re-makes.

The credits for the original release of Pokemon Red lists just 23 names, for Silver this was bumped up slightly to 28. By contrast Pokemon Sapphire features more than 60 developers in its credits. The transition from the Gameboy Color to GBA was apparently a difficult one for Game Freak as recounted in interviews, with this also being the first title in which Masuda took over as full time Director.

Despite the apparent internal difficulties I would say it doesn't show much in the final product, as Sapphire comes across as an extremely polished and good-looking GBA game. The spritework both on the overworld and in battle has taken a considerable leap in detail. The use of negative space is pared back as all battles and tiles on the overworld now feature full-colored backgrounds.

This all works to give the game a vibrant, colorful feeling that suits the tone of adventure and exploring a completely new place that's set up by the intro of our character moving to a new town. There's none of the melancholy of Gen 2 here, with Hoenn portrayed as a distinctly lively and energetic place full of adventure.

This game also marks the point at which more overt fantasy elements started to become introduced into the world. Obviously the Pokemon themselves were always fantastical creatures, but outside of this the world of Red/Blue felt more like an analogue to our own modern day world with the presence of Pokemon being the key distinguishing factor. Even the most powerful legendary Pokemon was a product of science rather than divine intervention. Silver/Gold took us to a more rural setting and introduced more elements of mythology to the world, but largely left the veracity of these elements as mysteries for the player to speculate on.

Sapphire (and its sister game Ruby) are the first time we see Pokemon displaying god-like, world changing powers outside of random Pokedex entries that have no bearing on the actual gameplay. It's also the first time in which legendary Pokemon feature prominently in the plot (as despite their presence on the box art the legendaries remained optional sidequests in Gold/Silver). Now they both define the plot as well as dictate progress through the game more so than the traditional league championship story does. The environments we travel also end up feeling more fantastical and divorced from our own world than those in Gold and Silver were, with Sootopolis and Fortree being notable examples.

Technically some of these elements were first introduced in Crystal, which leaves that particular title as a sort of bridge between the storytelling of the first two generations and this one. While attempting to do something new isn't a bad thing, the overall plot is very sparse and a little bit nonsensical even for a lighthearted adventure. I ultimately preferred the more proactive storylines of Red and Silver, but a better execution of what Sapphire goes for wouldn't necessarily be bad.

Some big mechanical shakeups are introduced in this generation with the addition of Natures and Abilities for Pokemon. Abilities add a nice bit of battle flavor to each Pokemon beyond just their stats and learnsets, and while they do increase the burden of knowledge on the player I think it's ultimately well worth it. I was impressed with how conservative the abilities in this game are as well, with very few absurdly powerful ones (though some like intimidate are clearly a cut above the rest).

I'm slightly more mixed on the inclusion of Natures, which determine which of a Pokemon's core stats will be increased and decreased. While nice for adding variety on paper, there's no doubt that some Natures simply mesh better with certain Pokemon. As such it can be disappointing to catch something you wanted and realize it has a Nature that is almost entirely detrimental to it. Most Pokemon will have around 4-8 of the 25 Natures that benefit their playstyle. This means they're far more likely to have a suboptimal one, and while they may still be perfectly usable for completing the game that fact will always nag at the back of your mind once you understand the system.

On another gameplay front Game Freak did make efforts to improve Pokemon learnsets in this game. While they're still fairly conservative most Pokemon continue to gain better moves as they level up now, with very few 'garbage' moves at higher levels as they once had. Access to coverage moves (particularly by TMs) has increased somewhat too, and while still restrictive enough to keep teambuilding interesting it does somewhat move Pokemon further away from the rock-paper-scissors dynamic that defined Red/Blue and mostly remained true in Silver/Gold. Switching to make better use of type advantage is ultimately less effective when many Pokemon will have sneaky moves unrelated to their type in their arsenal.

This especially hurts Pokemon with lots of weaknesses and specific defensive roles like Aggron. We're not quite at the point where it's easy to have an individual Pokemon that can cover all its own weaknesses, but we do inch ever closer to that potential future. There's at least little/no power creep visible in this game and if anything many of the Hoenn Pokemon aside from some obvious contenders feel a bit weak compared to their Kanto/Johto counterparts.

While Sapphire is still a comfortably easy game to play through it does contain more advanced enemy trainer AI and better team composition than any of the Gameboy games. Trainers are more likely to have evolved Pokemon later into the game and to make more effective use of their moves, some even employing niche strategies. A random Milotic-carrying NPC toward the mid-late game even managed to surprise me with their defensive strategy that nearly managed to take my team out.

Sapphire notably cuts back on the more immersive elements introduced in Gold/Silver. There's no more day/night cycle or phone and while the real-time clock still exists its only major use is for growing berries. Events based upon days of the week are a thing of the past and ultimately the game returns to the more focused, adventure-based structure of Red and Blue. It is also even more linear than both previous games with few points in which the player can get badges out of order (and virtually no reason to when they can). This isn't necessarily a bad thing as it leads to a more focused gameplay experience and Ruby/Sapphire come with their own additional gameplay elements in the form of secret bases, and more notably contests.

Contests provide a method of progression and gameplay for raising Pokemon that doesn't involve battle, which makes them a fantastic introduction to the overall gameplay structure. I do wish there was slightly more to them, as it'd be great if contests had their own alternate 'endgame' like the battling side of the equation, but even without that they're still a nice feature. Secret bases are more limited in scope and basically expand on the room decorating element of Gold and Silver, but with far more decoration options as well as the ability for the player to choose where in the overworld they want their base. There's not ultimately much you can really do with them, but it is a fun little side feature for those that want to keep on playing.

It's very difficult for me to find faults with Sapphire as it's a polished game with lots of fun features and content. It's admirable how well Game Freak were able to make their transition to the GBA seem effortless despite the apparent internal struggles with this title. This easily ranks up there among the better games on a platform with a whole lot of good titles.

Alright, let's talk about the 3rd generation of Pokemon! In my opinion, Pokemon Ruby & Sapphire represent the biggest leap in the Pokemon franchise. I personally believe these games took the series the most amount of steps forward compared to any other generation. I don't believe these are incredible and ground-breaking video games by any means, but, for Pokemon's standards, they are pretty darn good.

The most noteworthy aspect about these games is how much harder the battles are compared to the previous generations, and that's primarily due to the improved AI, the slow level-up curve of the Pokemon used by the player, and the introduction of abilities. There's much more critical thinking involved with battles compared to the first 2 generations, so players will be spending more time in battles. Furthermore, the introduction of EV's and natures means that the Pokemon in these games have far more personality than their predecessors. Not every Pokemon of the same species the player captures is going to be practically identical anymore. Their stats will change in different ways, and they may have different abilities that cause them to gain certain advantages or disadvantages compared to other members of their species.

Let's talk about the new plot. This is the first time in the franchise when Team Rocket isn't the primary crime organization, and it just feels so refreshing. Despite how retarded Team Aqua and Team Magma's plans are, at least they don't involve just making money. Furthermore, the region the teams operate in isn't Kanto or connected to Kanto; it's an entirely new location with completely new NPC's, many new Pokemon, and an almost entirely different style of music. Whereas Gold & Silver were pretty much just a continuation of Red & Blue with a very lackluster set of new things in them, Ruby & Sapphire felt like a completely new slate for Pokemon. In my opinion, there is only 1 other generation of Pokemon games that felt like this, and I'll talk about it when I get to it.

Hoenn is, in my opinion, easily the best Pokemon region of this franchise so far. It just feels so much more alive than Kanto & Johto. Some reasons for why that is include the fact that everything is in full color as opposed to being monochromatic (Gen. 1) or having a very basic color scheme and execution (Gen. 2), detailed visuals, overworld weather conditions, etc. The world is just so much more interesting to explore. In Gen. 1 and (ESPECIALLY) Gen. 2, I never got that sense of wonder from going through the region city by city and route by route; it always felt like more of the same. Here, however, the world is just so much more unpredictable and exciting. Take the underwater areas, the chambers of the regis, the ENTIRE section between Mauville City and Fortree City, Seafloor Cavern, Sky Pillar, Meteor Falls, the routes before and after Fallarbor Town, Pacifidlog Town, Team Aqua and Team Magma's hideouts (in Ruby, Sapphire, & Emerald), and Mt. Pyre. So many interesting and exciting locations filled with natural wonders just waiting to be explored. It's genuinely a breath of fresh air compared to the absolute SLOG that was the journey through Johto.

It's not just the region that has this sense of newness to it; it's also the music. Now, I'm not a music expert; in fact, I know next to NOTHING about music theory. So, unfortunately, I'll be quite brief here. All I'll say is that, if you compare the soundtrack of Gen. 3 to those of Gen. 1 and Gen. 2, it feels almost entirely different. I don't know if it's the trumpets or the fact that the system is not 8-bit anymore, but, either way, I just love the novelty in it. Again, it goes back to what I said earlier about how these games felt like a completely blank state for Pokemon. Some of my favorite themes include the Gym theme, the Gym Leader theme, Cave of Origin's theme, Petalburg Woods's theme, the crime boss's theme, Steven's theme, Groudon, Kyogre, & Rayquaza's theme, and the rival's battle theme.

While I do think these are great Pokemon games, I don't think they are incredible games in general. There will almost always be a glass ceiling when it comes to my ratings of Pokemon games, and that's because, while these games are fun to play, they're nothing special, in my opinion. There's nothing about them that ever really blows me away. The characters & storylines are practically never well-developed and nuanced, even in the games that are much better in these aspects, like Black & White. The character motivations seem very superficial and questionable most of the time, and the plots never really proceed in a way that make sense. In fact, a lot of things never make sense in these games. For instance, why do the adults always give up their evil plans after losing Pokemon battles to kids? Are they not able to carry out their malicious schemes without their Pokemon? Also, why in the living fuck do Maxie & Archie want to expand the world's landmass and seamass, respectively? They don't even seem like scientists with real, practical applications behind these goals; they just seem like schizos who got high one too many times and thought it would be a cool idea to raise these primordial deities of nature because of how much it would fuck the world up.

In the end, though, I still appreciate how much effort went into the design of these games. I honestly feel that, without them, people would've gotten burnt out of the Pokemon franchise LONG ago.

Now this... this is prime childhood Pokémon right here! I maintain that the series has never topped the feeling of exploration that Hoenn provided, though Sinnoh did come close. I had sunk about a hundred hours into this game before finding Sky Pillar, the Regis, or Shoal Cave. Spelunking in the Sunken Ship for the sleekest Pokéball in the series, ascending Mt. Pyre into the clouds, carving out a secret base near a waterfall in a route perpetually covered by thunderstorms - all top tier atmosphere.

I don't wanna be that guy yelling "the old stuff from MY childhood is better!!!!" but the series really did lose something in the transition to 3D. Here's hoping Legends Arceus recaptures some of that magic that made me fall in love with this series.

All of this applies to Ruby as well.

Gen 3 is a classic, and one of my favorite Gens. I still love these games quite a bit, and they're fun to play... but there's no reason to play them over Emerald nowadays. They were great for the time, and have great nostalgia value regardless though. If you're playing Gen 3 for the first time, however, play Emerald instead.

Score: 84

Pokémon approda su Gameboy Advance e lo fa con un nuova grafica completamente rivisitata, colorata e molto più caratteristica di com'era precedentemente. Questa volta, con Pokémon Sapphire, non si tratta più di un sequel diretto, bensì di una nuova storia in una nuova regione lontana da Kanto e Jotho, con 135 nuovi Pokémon più diverse apparizioni di alcuni presenti negli scorsi giochi.
I vantaggi principali di questo titolo rispetto a Crystal, per quanto mi riguarda, risiedono principalmente in due aspetti: i miglioramenti del battling e la caratterizzazione estetica possibile grazie alla nuova console. Circa il primo punto, Pokémon viene reso molto più elaborato con una grossissima introduzione e una sicuramente minore ma comunque con un certo peso: le abilità, che stravolgono completamente il gioco dal punto di vista strategico, aggiungendo una caratteristica in più da tenere in considerazione nei combattimenti; e le nature, che rendono variabile ogni pokémon trovato rispetto ad altri uguali della stessa specie. Per quanto riguarda il secondo aspetto, invece, grazie alla nuova console Pokémon realizza alcune delle più belle città della storia della saga, come ad esempio Ceneride (mia città Pokémon preferita). Anche gli sprite ne giovano, grazie a più colori e una griglia più ampia che permette una maggior precisione nei disegni.
Pokémon Sapphire però, nonostante tutte queste migliore, risente davvero molto di una trama non al livello dei predecessori. Colpa principalmente di un Team rivale caratterizzato molto male, con un fine incredibilmente ridicolo che è difficile prendere sul serio, nonostante le loro ambizioni siano chiaramente maggiori del precedente Team Rocket, in quanto puntano a stravolgere l'intera topografia del mondo. Persino il capo del team, Ivan, non riesce minimamente a raggiungere l'iconicità di Giovanni, è anzi molto dimenticabile.
Complessivamente Pokemon Sapphire è però un buon sequel che arricchisce la saga di molti elementi, oltre a ciò che ho citato ci sono altre aggiunte importanti come ad esempio le lotte in doppio (che sono diventate poi il formato ufficiale del competitivo online nella saga) e altre minori come le gare di bellezza. I nuovi Pokémon introdotti qualitativamente sono in linea con quelli dei precedenti titoli, più centrali e coerenti con la trama invece i Pokémon leggendari principali.