Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire Review - GBA

Gameplay

Many gamers may disregard Pokemon as 'kiddy', and I can see why, with all the cards and the anime series. However, if you ignore all that, you'll see that Nintendo has hit upon a formula that works, and people will enjoy it as what it is: an RPG.

Basically, if you haven't encountered Pokemon before (where have you been?), the premise is simple. You, a Pokemon Trainer, travel through a huge land capturing creatures called Pokemon (Pocket Monsters) to battle against other trainers. The Pokemon themselves are loosely based on real life creatures, and have different types, like Fire, Water or Flying. These types have certain strengths and weaknesses against others, so working out what the opponent's pokemon's type is and choosing one with an advantage against it is the key to success.

At the beginning of the game, the Professor in your home town presents you with a choice of three Pokemon, a Fire type (Torchic), a Water type (Mudkip), and a Grass type (Treecko). These three types form a scissor-paper-rock type loop, with fire effective against grass, grass effective against water, and water against fire. Once you choose one, your rival will pick the one with a type advantage. Then you set off on your quest through the land defeating 8 Gym Leaders for badges and finally making it to the Elite Four for a final showdown to become the Pokemon Champion.

Pokemon can only know 4 attacks. These attacks can either affect the opponent (eg. poison them), boost your own stats, or be used to attack or defend. If all of your HP (health points) is lost your Pokemon faints, and you'll have to bring out another. You can hold up to six Pokemon in your team at one time. Like a standard RPG, you can also assign items to your creatures that will increase stats or do various other jobs. As you battle wild Pokemon in the grass, you gain experience which in turn levels up your Pokemon, increases stats, and sometimes giving you new techniques or evolves your creature. Some Pokemon, upon reaching a certain level change into a more powerful form. They change in look, and occasionally change types and stats. A small amount of Pokemon evolve by trading to another game (with an item attached), by making it love you, or by using special stones on it.

This is all the same as the previous incarnations. Introduced this time around are characteristics, like Drought, which doubles fire type's moves, or Rain Dish, which (continued next page)