A few years ago, I would have claimed that Pokemon Omega Ruby was my favorite Pokemon game of all time. That might not be true anymore, but it’s still a damn good one. I racked up 260 or so hours in this game when it came out in middle school, and astonishingly I managed to beat that record with my newest playthrough, courtesy of my first National Dex completion and an (ongoing) Ralts shiny hunt. Omega Ruby does a fantastic job of “remixing” the original Ruby, updating its story, mechanics, and character designs to Generation VI standards.
That statement might sound a bit too “sterile” but honestly, I’ve always been unsure of how to review a Pokemon game. Almost all of them follow the same broad strokes, and thus praises and criticisms can be seen as systemic issues rather than specific to one particular game, for example the trend of decreasing difficulty, or discussion on the intricacy of battle mechanics. I could say a lot on that subject, but I don’t really feel like it, so I’m going to stick to the basics for my Omega Ruby review—cool Pokemon and character designs make brain produce nice chemicals.
NOTE: I won’t be talking about mechanics that are new to the Generation VI games in general, as I feel that would be better mentioned in an X and Y review, but if they relate enough to the differences between Ruby and Omega Ruby, I will. So I’ll mention 3D graphics, but not Pokemon-Amie, for example.
Pros:
- Let’s start with the story. Villainous Team Magma gets a slightly more complex goal, in that they want to create more land not just because “why not?” but because they want to create more land for human civilization and progress. Now, obviously anyone who thinks about this for more than two seconds realizes that trying to evaporate all the water on the planet is a stupid idea. But that’s why it’s so fun to watch these uber-nerds slowly turn into eco-terrorists.
- And of course, Team Magma’s leader and admins get much more personality, and dare I say a little depth to boot. The once optional opportunity for Maxie to realize the error of his ways and apologize is now part of the main story, and it’s really interesting to see Maxie slowly realize his plan was ill-fated as the weather over Sootopolis goes haywire, and eventually accept Archie’s offer of redemption after him and Tabitha convince Maxie it is worth trying. And as for “totally-not-a-robot” Courtney…well she’s certainly got something interesting going on, what with her weird manner of speaking and die-hard commitment to Maxie’s original goals. It’s really fun to listen to her speak.
- Team Magma aren’t the only characters worth paying attention to. Wally gets a much more substantive role as a rival—and now that I’m thinking about it, so does rival Brendan/May, albeit in a less competitive manner. We also get to see a lot more of Steven, mostly in the Delta Episode, where his friendship with equally-badass Wallace is shown (more on that in a second). Norman gets a cool moment after you beat his Gym Battle where he shows pride in his child, and several of the Gym Leaders and Elite Four members get additional appearances after the main story is complete, like Wattson and the New Mauville storyline. And of course, there are new characters like Lisia (we stan a Contest idol) and Zinnia (manic dragon woman) that are welcome additions to the Pokemon canon.
- Okay, NOW we talk about the Delta Episode. I know there are a lot of people upset we got Ruby and Sapphire remakes as opposed to an Emerald remake, but you have got to admit that the Delta Episode is just objectively awesome. Sure, catching Rayquaza at the Sky Pillar in Ruby is cool. But having Zinnia steal Key Stones to summon Rayquaza, upon which we get to ride that motherfucker into the sky, obliterate an incoming meteor, and fight DEOXYS (first non-event appearance!) all in goddamn SPACE??? If you aren’t impressed, you just have to hate fun. That is SICK. Plus we get to see more Steven, Maxie, Courtney, and Wallace, some of the best characters in Omega Ruby. I could gush about the Delta Episode all day. “Lorekeeper” Zinnia talking about “the final duty of the Draconid people” and mentioning “a Hoenn without Mega Evolution” (which is Ruby!!!) is just so cool.
- Moving past the story, Omega Ruby redesigns a lot of the region and characters from the ground up, which is a lot more than the recent Pokemon remakes have done. All of the Trainer redesigns are amazing, and thanks to the change from sprites to key art portraits during battles, we get to see the great art in a lot of detail. Maxie and Archie turn from “nerd” and “punk” to “cold-ass scientist” and “fucking pirate”, for example.
- The cities also look great updated in 3D, especially Mauville, which turns from a normal outdoor city to a completely indoor technological marvel, which is probably the most striking difference between cities of Ruby and Omega Ruby. Greater graphical fidelity and 3D models also let us get neat details like crystal clear water in Meteor Falls, camera angles panning up Mt. Pyre to show its scale, and stars reflected in the lakes on Route 120. The Abandoned Ship also turns into Sea Mauville, whose half-sunken ship platform lying diagonally out of the water is a much cooler image than the original in Ruby.
- Now let’s move onto gameplay, whether it's new in Omega Ruby, updated from Ruby, or still just as good as in 2002. Contests are my personal favorite “mechanic Game Freak refuses to make permanent” (there are a lot of those). I just love the idea of having a competition based not on battling, but STYLE, and how each move can do something completely different in Contests. Playing around excitement and jamming is genuinely really engaging, if lacking a bit of the depth of normal Pokemon battles. Brendan and May’s contest outfits also rule, and they match the cool and cute outfits of the new Cosplay Pikachu, which is just plain adorable and a nifty addition. The side-quest of Lisia and Chaz competing against you as you rise through the Contest ranks is also really neat, and it just leaves me wishing that we could have a Pokemon game that expands on the Contest world even more.
- Secret Bases are now Super Secret Bases, and receive a minor facelift in that you can recruit other players from their bases to serve as NPC Trainers in yours. I wish I spent more time on this mechanic as a kid, because it’s at least vaguely interesting, but I get the sense no one today really cares about it since Nintendo is shutting down 3DS servers in April 2024. At least I can capture flags and farm Berries and evolutionary stones in the meantime!
- The PokeNav is MASSIVELY expanded, as instead of serving solely as a way to rematch trainers, it now does that PLUS allow you to hunt for specific Pokemon in the wild once you catch them at least once (with DexNav). I love having this kind of control over encountering Pokemon, and I think it’s the best middle ground between preserving the excitement of rare spawns and letting you focus on catching the Pokemon you want. Plus, you can “chain” Pokemon with it when you encounter them several times in a row, which grants you access to hidden abilities, non-standard moves, and even increases the Shiny chance. Just amazing features all around. AreaNav also lets you rematch Trainers much sooner than in Ruby, now letting you face rematch teams right after getting your first Gym badge. I cannot tell you how much I’d rather battle trainers to level my team instead of wild Pokemon. This should be a standard in the series, but I guess Game Freak can’t let a good thing last.
- Diving spots have been reduced, which is a bummer, but in exchange, we get underwater Trainer battles and much nicer visuals. I’ll take it. I really like the ocean, and I wish we had this kind of underwater gameplay in newer games with better Pokemon spawns. Omega Ruby also introduces Soaring on the back of Mega Latias or Latios, which in turn lets you encounter Pokemon in midair (which is only occasionally annoying), and Mirage Spots, which allow you to encounter Pokemon not normally available in Omega Ruby. I have problems with the Mirage Spot mechanic, but overall, Soaring is a great feature and would have blown Ruby players’ socks off back then.
- Two more things, and then we’ll get into the cons. Omega Ruby’s soundtrack, like every Pokemon soundtrack, is consistently amazing, whether it’s New Mauville, the Lake trio encounters, the Sky Pillar theme, Slateport’s theme, or the Delta Episode’s credits. Maxie’s battle theme is undeniably my favorite; those trumpets (?) go INSANELY hard. The new Mega Evolutions are also great, both design-wise (just look at Rayquaza and Altaria) and gameplay-wise (Beedrill is finally viable!)
Cons:
- There aren’t that many criticisms I have of Omega Ruby specifically, as many of the problems with this game are shared by other Pokemon games. Generation VI was the beginning of the reduction of difficulty across the Pokemon series, with features such as the EXP Share as a key item (as opposed to only giving experience to one Pokemon) and catching experience that allowed one’s team to grow overleveled if left unchecked. I’ve mellowed out a bit on these changes as I got older, as I recognize that they make leveling MUCH less annoying, but I’m still kind of stuck on if I think they were the best choice. For now, I’ll leave them as cons.
- Ruby and Omega Ruby are also very heavy on HMs for navigation—while Soaring does allow a player to forsake Fly, this is the most Surf-heavy game in the series because of ALL THE DAMN WATER ROUTES. I’m going to say it—IGNs much memed “7.8 out of 10—too much water” was actually right. I wouldn’t have minded it much if the routes felt different enough from each other, but they really don’t. They have practically the same Pokemon encounter tables and all look basically the exact same. It doesn’t help that the routes around Mossdeep and Sootopolis have some of the most easily-accessible high level Pokemon (relative to the average level after the eighth Gym badge) outside of Victory Road, meaning that any grinding against wild Pokemon is only going to yield the best results on a water Route. The amount of Tentacool I blew through as a kid is too high to count. I probably put those squids on the endangered species list. Makes me shudder to think about it.
- I mentioned that Mirage Spots weren’t my favorite mechanic earlier—let me go into more detail. I know that many Pokemon players like when you can catch legendaries from previous games, but I don’t think attaching them to random portals on random islands is the right way to go. Getting a legendary Pokemon should feel special—it should either be tied to a story event, or some sort of secret that must be solved, like Groudon or the Regi trio. Omega Ruby even had their own example of a good legendary quest, that being Ho-Oh on the decks of the Sea Mauville. But placing legendaries like the Lake trio or Swords of Justice on some islands that you can just fly to isn’t fun at all. It trivializes their capture and makes the experience less special. This was the beginning of a trend that would reach its nadir in Pokemon Sword with the Max Lair.
- I also noticed that save for the Delta Episode, Game Freak was very reluctant to take anything from Emerald. You can’t rematch Gym Leaders like you could in that game (which sucks) and the Battle Frontier is replaced with the inferior Battle Resort, which features a carbon copy of the Battle Maison from X and Y. Just…why? You even had the Battle Tower in Ruby, why couldn’t that be the battle facility in this game? Game Freak definitely went too hard on making Ruby and Sapphire remakes—I get it’s so they could have a new set of paired versions, but I thought the Battle Frontier would have been a no-brainer.
- One last Omega Ruby-specific con: why can’t we use the dowsing machine underwater? No chance I’m going to swim around mashing A to find each individual Arceus plate. Absolutely baffled by that decision.
Objective rating: 4.0 stars
Subjective rating: 4.5 stars
That statement might sound a bit too “sterile” but honestly, I’ve always been unsure of how to review a Pokemon game. Almost all of them follow the same broad strokes, and thus praises and criticisms can be seen as systemic issues rather than specific to one particular game, for example the trend of decreasing difficulty, or discussion on the intricacy of battle mechanics. I could say a lot on that subject, but I don’t really feel like it, so I’m going to stick to the basics for my Omega Ruby review—cool Pokemon and character designs make brain produce nice chemicals.
NOTE: I won’t be talking about mechanics that are new to the Generation VI games in general, as I feel that would be better mentioned in an X and Y review, but if they relate enough to the differences between Ruby and Omega Ruby, I will. So I’ll mention 3D graphics, but not Pokemon-Amie, for example.
Pros:
- Let’s start with the story. Villainous Team Magma gets a slightly more complex goal, in that they want to create more land not just because “why not?” but because they want to create more land for human civilization and progress. Now, obviously anyone who thinks about this for more than two seconds realizes that trying to evaporate all the water on the planet is a stupid idea. But that’s why it’s so fun to watch these uber-nerds slowly turn into eco-terrorists.
- And of course, Team Magma’s leader and admins get much more personality, and dare I say a little depth to boot. The once optional opportunity for Maxie to realize the error of his ways and apologize is now part of the main story, and it’s really interesting to see Maxie slowly realize his plan was ill-fated as the weather over Sootopolis goes haywire, and eventually accept Archie’s offer of redemption after him and Tabitha convince Maxie it is worth trying. And as for “totally-not-a-robot” Courtney…well she’s certainly got something interesting going on, what with her weird manner of speaking and die-hard commitment to Maxie’s original goals. It’s really fun to listen to her speak.
- Team Magma aren’t the only characters worth paying attention to. Wally gets a much more substantive role as a rival—and now that I’m thinking about it, so does rival Brendan/May, albeit in a less competitive manner. We also get to see a lot more of Steven, mostly in the Delta Episode, where his friendship with equally-badass Wallace is shown (more on that in a second). Norman gets a cool moment after you beat his Gym Battle where he shows pride in his child, and several of the Gym Leaders and Elite Four members get additional appearances after the main story is complete, like Wattson and the New Mauville storyline. And of course, there are new characters like Lisia (we stan a Contest idol) and Zinnia (manic dragon woman) that are welcome additions to the Pokemon canon.
- Okay, NOW we talk about the Delta Episode. I know there are a lot of people upset we got Ruby and Sapphire remakes as opposed to an Emerald remake, but you have got to admit that the Delta Episode is just objectively awesome. Sure, catching Rayquaza at the Sky Pillar in Ruby is cool. But having Zinnia steal Key Stones to summon Rayquaza, upon which we get to ride that motherfucker into the sky, obliterate an incoming meteor, and fight DEOXYS (first non-event appearance!) all in goddamn SPACE??? If you aren’t impressed, you just have to hate fun. That is SICK. Plus we get to see more Steven, Maxie, Courtney, and Wallace, some of the best characters in Omega Ruby. I could gush about the Delta Episode all day. “Lorekeeper” Zinnia talking about “the final duty of the Draconid people” and mentioning “a Hoenn without Mega Evolution” (which is Ruby!!!) is just so cool.
- Moving past the story, Omega Ruby redesigns a lot of the region and characters from the ground up, which is a lot more than the recent Pokemon remakes have done. All of the Trainer redesigns are amazing, and thanks to the change from sprites to key art portraits during battles, we get to see the great art in a lot of detail. Maxie and Archie turn from “nerd” and “punk” to “cold-ass scientist” and “fucking pirate”, for example.
- The cities also look great updated in 3D, especially Mauville, which turns from a normal outdoor city to a completely indoor technological marvel, which is probably the most striking difference between cities of Ruby and Omega Ruby. Greater graphical fidelity and 3D models also let us get neat details like crystal clear water in Meteor Falls, camera angles panning up Mt. Pyre to show its scale, and stars reflected in the lakes on Route 120. The Abandoned Ship also turns into Sea Mauville, whose half-sunken ship platform lying diagonally out of the water is a much cooler image than the original in Ruby.
- Now let’s move onto gameplay, whether it's new in Omega Ruby, updated from Ruby, or still just as good as in 2002. Contests are my personal favorite “mechanic Game Freak refuses to make permanent” (there are a lot of those). I just love the idea of having a competition based not on battling, but STYLE, and how each move can do something completely different in Contests. Playing around excitement and jamming is genuinely really engaging, if lacking a bit of the depth of normal Pokemon battles. Brendan and May’s contest outfits also rule, and they match the cool and cute outfits of the new Cosplay Pikachu, which is just plain adorable and a nifty addition. The side-quest of Lisia and Chaz competing against you as you rise through the Contest ranks is also really neat, and it just leaves me wishing that we could have a Pokemon game that expands on the Contest world even more.
- Secret Bases are now Super Secret Bases, and receive a minor facelift in that you can recruit other players from their bases to serve as NPC Trainers in yours. I wish I spent more time on this mechanic as a kid, because it’s at least vaguely interesting, but I get the sense no one today really cares about it since Nintendo is shutting down 3DS servers in April 2024. At least I can capture flags and farm Berries and evolutionary stones in the meantime!
- The PokeNav is MASSIVELY expanded, as instead of serving solely as a way to rematch trainers, it now does that PLUS allow you to hunt for specific Pokemon in the wild once you catch them at least once (with DexNav). I love having this kind of control over encountering Pokemon, and I think it’s the best middle ground between preserving the excitement of rare spawns and letting you focus on catching the Pokemon you want. Plus, you can “chain” Pokemon with it when you encounter them several times in a row, which grants you access to hidden abilities, non-standard moves, and even increases the Shiny chance. Just amazing features all around. AreaNav also lets you rematch Trainers much sooner than in Ruby, now letting you face rematch teams right after getting your first Gym badge. I cannot tell you how much I’d rather battle trainers to level my team instead of wild Pokemon. This should be a standard in the series, but I guess Game Freak can’t let a good thing last.
- Diving spots have been reduced, which is a bummer, but in exchange, we get underwater Trainer battles and much nicer visuals. I’ll take it. I really like the ocean, and I wish we had this kind of underwater gameplay in newer games with better Pokemon spawns. Omega Ruby also introduces Soaring on the back of Mega Latias or Latios, which in turn lets you encounter Pokemon in midair (which is only occasionally annoying), and Mirage Spots, which allow you to encounter Pokemon not normally available in Omega Ruby. I have problems with the Mirage Spot mechanic, but overall, Soaring is a great feature and would have blown Ruby players’ socks off back then.
- Two more things, and then we’ll get into the cons. Omega Ruby’s soundtrack, like every Pokemon soundtrack, is consistently amazing, whether it’s New Mauville, the Lake trio encounters, the Sky Pillar theme, Slateport’s theme, or the Delta Episode’s credits. Maxie’s battle theme is undeniably my favorite; those trumpets (?) go INSANELY hard. The new Mega Evolutions are also great, both design-wise (just look at Rayquaza and Altaria) and gameplay-wise (Beedrill is finally viable!)
Cons:
- There aren’t that many criticisms I have of Omega Ruby specifically, as many of the problems with this game are shared by other Pokemon games. Generation VI was the beginning of the reduction of difficulty across the Pokemon series, with features such as the EXP Share as a key item (as opposed to only giving experience to one Pokemon) and catching experience that allowed one’s team to grow overleveled if left unchecked. I’ve mellowed out a bit on these changes as I got older, as I recognize that they make leveling MUCH less annoying, but I’m still kind of stuck on if I think they were the best choice. For now, I’ll leave them as cons.
- Ruby and Omega Ruby are also very heavy on HMs for navigation—while Soaring does allow a player to forsake Fly, this is the most Surf-heavy game in the series because of ALL THE DAMN WATER ROUTES. I’m going to say it—IGNs much memed “7.8 out of 10—too much water” was actually right. I wouldn’t have minded it much if the routes felt different enough from each other, but they really don’t. They have practically the same Pokemon encounter tables and all look basically the exact same. It doesn’t help that the routes around Mossdeep and Sootopolis have some of the most easily-accessible high level Pokemon (relative to the average level after the eighth Gym badge) outside of Victory Road, meaning that any grinding against wild Pokemon is only going to yield the best results on a water Route. The amount of Tentacool I blew through as a kid is too high to count. I probably put those squids on the endangered species list. Makes me shudder to think about it.
- I mentioned that Mirage Spots weren’t my favorite mechanic earlier—let me go into more detail. I know that many Pokemon players like when you can catch legendaries from previous games, but I don’t think attaching them to random portals on random islands is the right way to go. Getting a legendary Pokemon should feel special—it should either be tied to a story event, or some sort of secret that must be solved, like Groudon or the Regi trio. Omega Ruby even had their own example of a good legendary quest, that being Ho-Oh on the decks of the Sea Mauville. But placing legendaries like the Lake trio or Swords of Justice on some islands that you can just fly to isn’t fun at all. It trivializes their capture and makes the experience less special. This was the beginning of a trend that would reach its nadir in Pokemon Sword with the Max Lair.
- I also noticed that save for the Delta Episode, Game Freak was very reluctant to take anything from Emerald. You can’t rematch Gym Leaders like you could in that game (which sucks) and the Battle Frontier is replaced with the inferior Battle Resort, which features a carbon copy of the Battle Maison from X and Y. Just…why? You even had the Battle Tower in Ruby, why couldn’t that be the battle facility in this game? Game Freak definitely went too hard on making Ruby and Sapphire remakes—I get it’s so they could have a new set of paired versions, but I thought the Battle Frontier would have been a no-brainer.
- One last Omega Ruby-specific con: why can’t we use the dowsing machine underwater? No chance I’m going to swim around mashing A to find each individual Arceus plate. Absolutely baffled by that decision.
Objective rating: 4.0 stars
Subjective rating: 4.5 stars