Pokémon Emerald Version (2004)

One of the best Pokemon Games out there! What can't be said about pokemon Emerald? Plenty of new pokemon, an awesome region, amazing music(Trumpet Goes CRAZY) and much more. This game was so ahead of its time for a GBA Game, iconic pokemon that are still holding up well to this day! One of the first pokemon games to have a solid post game with the addition of the battle tower, enough can't be said about this game, also did i mention the shell is Green(I love the color Green) I'd say go play it, but c'mon everyone here has 100% played this game already haha

Now attempting my first Professor Oak Challenge. RSE and GSC were the two pokemon generations that were during my most nostalgic times, even if I may have played more Gen 5 (maybe?) The deciding factor was the box system being better in Gen 3, even if I might have preferred the soundtrack in Gen 2 just slightly. Either way, looking forward to some mindless leveling while watching shows and hanging with the wife.

Game #22/200 Pokémon Emerald may be the essential Pokémon game. I say this as a generation 1-2 purist who grew up with the original cartridges. All of the graphical and quality of life improvements that were established in the jump from the Gameboy Advance with Ruby/Sapphire and FireRed/LeafGreen are present in Emerald and there are a ton of fun little features (many of which may have been present in Ru/Sa, not really sure). But as I played this mainline title, after being massively disappointed by Shield years prior, I noticed all of the things I love about Pokémon. It’s really a borderline perfect gaming experience. You develop an affinity with your party members simply by using them. Swapping them in or out and watching them succeed or fail in battle. It’s crazy how the player develops a closeness with their digital monsters just from battling. My Lotad from the first 30 minutes of the game won me the final fight in the last 30 minutes of the game in its final evolutionary form. How can you beat that? I will say that none of the extra features that try to “enhance the relationship” (like the beauty contest for example) ever actually do that, but the organic gameplay experience is more than effective on its own at cultivating that sort of affinity. Not to mention there’s just so much dopamine - level ups, learning new moves, super effective moves in battle, catching a new Pokémon, encountering a rare Pokémon, beating a tough trainer/rival/gym leader, etc. everything is just so satisfying. Double battles are a BLAST. The artwork of the Pokémon is some of the most colorful and attractive spritework in any game I’ve played. And underpinning the whole experience is a beautiful sprite-based world that’s PACKED with role playing elements. There are countless quirky NPCs and you’re often rewarded for chatting with them. Clicking “A” on random spots gives you some fun items in the world which encourages exploration. You’ve got the technical machine items which make you decide where to spend this limited resource that can boost a Pokémon’s power with a brand new move. And just so much more. My only slight complaint is that the encounter rate is a tad bit high, but battles are so fun that I don’t really mind. The escape rate is also quite high. But there are some Pokémon that seem so heavily favored. Way too many Wingull, Poochyena, and Tentacool encounters. I’m so impressed by the depth of the game’s battle system (even though special attack and special defense are weird in this game!). Traits add a fun twist on monster selection and can turn the tides unexpectedly, as can held items. Emerald has a perfect mix of old school simplicity and depth/added convenience in its feature selection. I’ve craved and missed the challenging experience that Pokémon used to offer. The 2nd gym leader took me multiple attempts, a little grinding, and some strategizing for example. The Elite Four was tough too, but a little bit of grinding or catching any legendary Pokémon (if that’s even possible pre-post game) would have trivialized it The Pokémon designs are fantastic as well (no machine cogs or ice cream cone Pokémon!) and the Pokédex descriptions put a cool picture in your mind of what those monsters would act like outside of battle. I didn’t go for the post-game content or catch any legendaries, which may seem shameful, but I was honestly excited to boot up LeafGreen and choose Charmander for another adventure.

Maybe I am biased but I truly believe this game shaped an era of video games in the early 2000s. It came out in 2004 right at the cusp of the DS era began. I remember every kid in school was playing this excessively. I thought this game had much replay value and the Pokemon's from this generation were amazing and some of the all-time best. I loved the region and found the environments to be so different and diverse. I have played this game all the way through quite a lot and still found such joy in it. Even the legendaries were cool and became such pop culture icons even outside of the fandom. Overall I absolutely love this game, I hope I get to one day revisit this world again.

Finally! I'm done grinding! I thought this day would never come, and what made it worse is that I lost the first 25 hours because my GBA decided to turn off while saving...that was harsh. Nevertheless, I did enjoy the first 2/3 of the game, a lot I must say. The animations were super cute, especially the reflection on the water and splashing on puddles. The music also got a special spot in my heart. The story is way better than Pokemon crystal, a game I despised because it was so empty and meaningless. Sorry if I just offended someone. Emerald was a big improvement in that department, more engaging. Some things I didn't like...well the extreme grinding I had to do for the last 2 gyms and the Elite Four plus champion. It was ridiculous. I think I spent over 20 hours easily, just on that. It was gruesome, and I don't want to go through that ever again. Another thing that didn't make sense is that I didn't get to catch any legendaries before the end credits. What's the point then? I guess to catch them and fight with them in the Battle frontier? Maybe. In the end, I saw the credits roll, I checked out the extras at the end, but I was exhausted, so I decided it is time to end this Emerald journey. No legendaries, but seriously I don't care. It's done for me, finally!

Replaying this gem, I hate that you only have one save file for the game. I really wanted to replay it and finally ended up deleting my old save file, ROXXI (loved that name in middle school for some reason) with 168 hours logged on to it! Just booted it up again and found my self getting the same starter as before (mud kip) and named it the old nickname I had for it (mudder) lol. I forgot how much grinding it takes to level up your team as well.