THE GOOD: -More New Pokemon since Crystal/Gold/Silver -Secret Bases -Mix Records to Battle Friends in their Secret Base -Good Music -New Items -Keeps you Busy for quite a while -Good Replay Value -More New Moves -New Feature; Pokemon have Abilities -Cell Phone; Call People you've beat and Challenge them to another battle (Including Gym Leaders) -Pokemon Contests -2 Types of Bikes; Speed and Trick -Puzzle House; Solve Puzzles for each Badge you have and get items -Lots of awesome Decoration for Secret Base -TV Announces special Sales -Better Graphics than ever -Easy to Play, but enjoyable -Pokenav; Your Tool for Pokedex, Contest Records and more -Trading Compatibility with Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald/Fire Red/Leaf Green -Battle Tower -Double Battles -New Region
THE BAD: -Only One Save File -Some of the older Pokemon are left out; obtain them by trading with Fire Red/Leaf Green -Same Old Story
SUMMARY: The Pokemon Franchise has been around for quite a while now. Since the late 90's. We've been blessed with Pokemon Red and Blue. Pokemon Yellow. Pokemon Crystal/Gold/Silver added a whole new generation of Pokemon, better graphics, and really enhanced the franchise and gave it a big boost on popularity. Now that that's over, we're back with Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire. A whole new generation of Pokemon awaits. New items, new moves, the use of abilities, new Pokemon of course, and a whole new region to explore. Pokemon Sapphire is setting the next biggest standard for Pokemon and is boosting the popularity once again. Let's get started shall we?
Gameplay10 / 10
More Great Gameplay from another Pokemon Game. You'll Start out being asked a few questions about your name, rival's name, and gender. Then you'll soon get to pick your first Pokemon. Trecko, Mudkip, or Torchic. Grass, Water, or Fire respectively. Pokemon have different types and each type is weak or strong against another type. Some types are just normally effective, but if you hit a Pokemon with an attack that has the type of it's weakness, you'll do extra damage for a Super-Effective Attack. Grass is Weak to Fire. Fire is Weak to Water. And Water is Weak to Grass. There are many other types out there too, such as Bug, Steel, Physic, Ghost, and many more. You'll have to experiment to see which type is weak against what. Each Pokemon can learn many moves as they level up, or by TM's (Technical Machines) that automatically teach a Pokemon a Move. Pokemon can only learn 4 Moves at a Time, so you'll have to erase moves to learn new ones. If you later want to re-learn a move you used to know, you can go to a Certain Person in the game and trade them a Heart Scale to re-teach the Pokemon the move. Heart Scales are rare so be careful. Anyways, so let's say your Mudkip knows Water Gun and uses it on Torchic. Torchic is going to take a lot of Damage. Some Pokemon like Starmie can learn moves like Thunderbolt even if they are a Water Type. This is useful when battling other Water Types, as Water Types are also Weak to Electric Attacks. Some Pokemon have multiple types, such as Torchic when it evolves into Combuskion, will then be a Fire/Fighting Type. This makes it weak to Flying as Fighting Types are Weak to Flying Types. Make sure to be wary of your Pokemon type and consider the possibilities of what moves your enemy has.
Shroomish uses Mega-Drain; It's Super Effective!
There are also now Double Battles. In Double Battles, each trainer sends out their first 2 Pokemon. Turns take place as Normal, with you picking which move for each Pokemon you want to use, and then choosing a target. The thing about Double Battles is that you can gang up on One Enemy Pokemon. Some moves like Surf effect both enemies, and moves like Earthquake will effect all but the user (including your other Pokemon - But wont effect Flying Types). Moves will then take place in order of Agility Stat, so you may die before you get to use your move. Plan it out well.
Double Battle against the 7th Gym
Pokemon can also hold items from anywhere to Power Enhancers like Charcoal (Which increases the Damage of Fire Moves) to TM's (Which won't do anything in battle) to Pokeballs (which also won't be automatically used) or even Berries. Berries are very useful for getting out of tight spots. You can find berries on many plants throughout the game, and several people in the game give you 1-2 berries a day. You can also replant berries after picking them to let them grow again. Do this to increase your numbers. Some berries can be very good in battle. There's a berry that restores your Confusion Status as soon as you might get Confused. This is especially helpful in Battle Tower. Different Berries have Different Triggers.
When He Looks at his Pokemon, the Red/Yellow Rectangle underneath indicates an item.
Pokemon can also get Status Conditions. These conditions range anywhere from Poison, to Sleep, to Paralysis. Each Status effects you differently. Poison will damage you each turn, and depending on how much, may double each turn. Damage in Poison will increase as turns go by. Paralysis will cause your Pokemon to become slower, and to likely not move at all. Sleep will also render your Pokemon useless of attacking until it wakes up. You can use items to fix your status, or go to a Pokemon Center. Pokemon Centers are Free and restore all your Pokemon to full health. Your status will remain after battle so make sure to take care of them. You can't use items during a match in Battle Tower, or in a Link Battle with your friends, though. This is when it is useful to be holding a berry, just in case something were to happen. Each Pokemon can only hold one item at a time.
Status Condition; Paralysis
The Battle Tower is a place where Trainers go to test themselves. You can battle on level 50 or 100. You chose 3 Pokemon, and you have to defeat 3 Trainers in a row before moving to the next level. There are 7 levels. Your Pokemon get healed between battles, but they get harder and harder. To someone who completes the level(s) of Battle Tower, they receive a valuable prize. Test your Skill Here.
Battle Tower
Pokemon also have Abilities. These Abilities range from things like Intimidate (Which cuts your opponent's Attack by half) to Sunny Day (Which makes Fire Moves Stronger). There are few Pokemon with the same ability. Most Pokemon have their own individual Ability. Usually each Pokemon has 2 abilities, and one will be chosen. Slugma has Sunny Day and Flame Body but you don't know which until you've caught it. Have fun using different abilities to tie your team together nicely.
Slugma Uses Sunny Day
Next are Pokemon Contests. This is a nice diversion from the game every once in a while. You enter in one of 5 Categories; Smart, Cool, Tough, Beauty, and Cute. Each Move actually has one of these types. So make sure to enter a Pokemon with the proper move. Using a Cool move in a Tough Contest won't score as well. Each move also has a certain amount of stars and this is how many points you gain for that move. Some moves also damage your opponents stars and make them lose points for that Round. Some moves damage any Pokemon after you, some moves damage any pokemon that happened to move before you. You'll be facing against 3 other Pokemon and the order of who goes when usually changes between each of the 5 rounds. This is usually determined by the move you used previously. For Example, using Quick Attack would make sure you were first in line next round. Plan your moves carefully. You may even want to make a Pokemon just used for contests. You can use Berries in a special mixer in the Pokemon Contest buildings and then feed them to your Pokemon. This can boost that individual Pokemon's stats to a certain type, like Cool, Tough, etc. Pokemon can only eat so many berries, so be careful which ones you feed! If your Pokemon wins, you receive a ribbon. If you are lucky, the artist will draw you. If you win the Master contest (The hardest difficulty) yes there are difficulties to each contest, the artist may make a Sculpture of your Pokemon which you can use as a Decoration for your Secret Base! How Cool.
Pokemon Contest; Tough
Next is Secret Bases. There is a Move Called Secret Power, which is a decent move as well. It is not an HM, but you can buy copies if for some reason you needed to use it more than once. You use Secret Power on cliffs with indents, or in Trees with Vines. Bushes. There are many places you can make your Secret Base. And the best part is? It's a Secret. You can decorate your Secret Base with all sorts of wacky items that you buy. There are spin mats, mats that make music when you step on them, posters, dolls, tables, chairs, even rugs. Actually, you'll want to be watching the TV for the big Blowout Sale that happens every so often. When it says 3 Days, it means 3 real days. But when the sale finally comes, you can buy all sorts of awesome stuff. Breakable Doors that break when you walk through them, jump mats, Slides, a Big Tire, and water balloons and mudballs that break when stepped on. Create your secret base to be wild and crazy. You can even get a Tent if you do the Puzzle House after beating the 8th Gym. Make sure to find a huge Secret Base to fit all your stuff in. There's a limit to the number of items you can have, but it's usually not a problem. There are so many places to make your secret base in the giant world of Hoenn. If you come across one with holes in the floor, you'll have to wait until the Blow Out Sale to buy some boards to cover those up so you can get to the other side. The best part about Secret Bases are that you can Mix Records with your Friends. When you do this, you get your friend's secret base on your game. Then you can try to find each other's. If you find it, you can go in, see what they're Secret Base is decorated like, and challenge them to a battle with whatever Pokemon they had in their party at that time. You can challenge them about once a day, but it's great practice, especially when your friends aren't around. You can only use one Secret Base at a time, so making a new one will delete your old one (with all the items returned to the PC of course). Have fun creating a Secret Base and battling your friends!
Secret Base
Graphics10 / 10
For this Generation of Gaming, the graphics do what they're supposed to. They aren't particularly bad in any way, and they definitely do the job. They're actually quite good, really. A Nice step up from Pokemon Crystal/Gold/Silver. You've seen the Graphics of Pokemon Sapphire by watching the videos above. Now watch this video of Pokemon Crystal and compare the differences.
Oh No. Red Vs. Red - Who will win?
Music10 / 10
The Music in this game is pretty nice. You'll hear plenty of it throughout your journey (Unless you have the volume shut off, killjoy). The opening theme when you turn on your game is pretty good, and as the music changes during the course of your location, you can even hear the sound of the Rain. Sapphire doesn't have Day and Night, but certain Areas have Rainy weather. Here is the video for the opening.
Opening Theme - Enjoy
Story10 / 10
Ok, I'll admit it's a bit cliche' since we've been playing Pokemon since Blue. That includes Yellow, and Crystal. At least most of you have. You all know the story by now. Team Rocket (only this time it's Team Magma or Aqua depending on which game you got) is trying to control the Legendary Pokemon. In Sapphire, Team Aqua is trying to control Kyogre and bring more water to the world, while Team Magma wants more land. Here you are, stuck in the middle once again, and have to bring an end to Team Aqua's plans. Like I said, we've been here, done this, but whether you have played the old games or not, you'll enjoy the story and have a lot of fun playing the game. It lasts you a good 30 Hours and that's just if you do the bare essentials. If you want to have fun and mess around, there's lots of things you can do after/during the game to keep you busy for far longer than that.
Yay, your first Gym Battle!
Overall40 / 40
Overall - Wow, just wow. This game really is a gem. (Literally and figuratively) and is one of the best games in the Franchise. There's so much that's been added since Crystal/Gold/Silver. And just so much to do in general. Like the Contests, Secret Bases, Mixing Records, Battle Tower. Hey, don't forget about the actual story. Collecting all 8 Gym badges and defeating the Elite Four. You'll be so caught up in this game, don't lose track of the main goal. Pokemon Sapphire will keep you entertained for hours and hours, and is a great travel companion. You won't put it down quickly once you pick it up. Pokemon Sapphire gets a 5/5 for it's great gameplay, nicely done graphics, good music, and good storyline. Anyone, whether you're just starting to play Pokemon, or if you're already a fan of the franchise, you won't want to miss it. Grab a copy of Pokemon Sapphire Soon!
THE GOOD: New Generation of Pokemon New Pokemon Contests New Moves Pokemon have abilities 2 different kinds of bicycles You can build your own secret fort Mixing records with friends allows you to battle them at their own fort! The graphics have improved greatly! Very catchy soundtrack Great story line that keeps you entertained for a long time. Easy to beat, but takes a long time and is, no matter, very fun! Each Pokemon makes their own individual sound and has a description about it self. You can now have a cell phone and call people, such as your mom and the Professor who gave you your first Pokemon. There are new items to equip onto or use on your Pokemon.
THE BAD: The battling of Pokemon is very repetitive. You can only save one file at a time which means only 1 game cartridge to one person.
SUMMARY: Like the other Pokemon games you are a Pokemon trainer in which sets out on a quest once arriving to a new town. Your quest is to become the greatest Pokemon trainer ever! You catch and train Pokemon to defeat other Pokemon trainers and Pokemon gyms.
The game is quite simple and very fun to play. You level your Pokemon by defeating trainers Pokemon and wild Pokemon in which you can kill or catch in the grass. Sometimes when a Pokemon levels up they will learn new moves. A Pokemon can learn up to 4 moves. Then you must start deleting some.
I must say, for how simple the game is, it is very fun and really keeps you busy for many hours at a time. If you played the early Gameboy Color games and thought those were addicting, wait until you play Pokemon Sapphire on the Gameboy Advance. Nintendo made a great leap improving the graphics, sound quality, and storyline in which is very entertaining.
There are many different types of Pokemon in which you mostly choose out of personal preference. I love how many different Pokemon there are in this game, it really offers a variety of selection.
Many of the Pokemon have evolutions which give you something to look forward too when you level your Pokemon a lot.
Getting this game or even borrowing one from a friend to try it out is a smart move, it will draw you in immediately and you will have fun for months, even years to come.
THE GOOD: -200 New Pokemon! -A Long, Detailed Story to keep you playing for Hours -Awesome Graphics -Tons of Legendary pokemon to Catch -Trading Compatibility With Pokemon FR/LG/R/S/E -Extremely Addictive Gameplay -The Game Pak is Blue!
THE BAD: I have no complaints about this game, it's that great.
SUMMARY: This is about the greatest game you will ever play on any handheld. It has you traveling through the magnificent Hoenn region on a quest to become a pokemon master. On your journey, you will encounter eight gym leaders as well as many other trainers itching to battle. After you beat all eight gym leaders, you battle the Elite Four. All throughout the game, you faced with many other challenges besides battles. There are pokemon contests that you must master, mysteries that you must solve, and many other awesome features that will keep you playing for hours. And after the Elite Four, the game's still not done. You still need to master the contests and unravel the mysteries surrounding the game's many legendary pokemon. You must complete the pokedex by trading with FireRed/LeafGreen. And that's not all, you still have Battle Tower to conquer. Apart from those main features, there are also many small features that add greatly to gameplay value. There's a pokemon casino and lottery. There's the decorating of your Secret Base. There are also very rare pokemon called shinies that don't actually offer anything but bragging rights (those are important though aren't they). Really, the gameplay is endless as you will train your pokemon and battle with your friends. To sum it all up, this game is an absolute must-have for any pokemon fan.
THE GOOD: Man, what isn't good about this game??? The improvement when compared to Gold and Silver is awesome. There are brand new Pokemon, areas to explore, moves, trainers, type combinations, items and ways to complete the game. Pokemon Contests are great, the Battle Tower is great and unlocking the legendaries is great. Plus, there are even new ways to evolve your Pokemon!!! It is fantastic!!!
THE BAD: The only criticism I have is that it cuts out many of the Pokemon from the older games and the only way to get these is to buy Fire Red or Leaf Green. Other then that, it is a great game.
SUMMARY: Let's explain the positives:
New Pokemon: That's easy enough to understand.
Areas to explore: You are in a whole new world, the Hoenn region, with many intricate maze-like areas such as caves, under the ocean or even aboard an abandoned ship.
New Moves: There are so many of them, ranging from new weather conditions to moves with new effects and even moves with a variable damage factor depending on something else. The whirlpool HM is gone, but has been replaced with Dive (let's you go underwater) and Rock Smash. A new move Secret Power lets you make secret Bases anywhere to put all of your special itmes in.
New Trainers: Also easy to understand, but in this game when you battle a trainer, sometimes it will be recorded. If the battle is recorded then you can come and battle that trainer again and again whenever they want to. Also, there are double battles, two versus two, which is very fun. Finally, the TV interviewers Gabby and TY, constantlygoing around and giving you a double battle every encounter.
New Type Combinations: Bug/Ghost, Psychic/Steel, Water/Bug, Dark/Ghost, Dragon/Ground the list is endless.
New Items: From the Pokeblock cases to the glass flutes, the list is agian endless.
New Ways To Complete The Game: You now have to not only get every Pokemon and beat the Pokemon League but win the Battle Tower challenge (three Pokemon, seven trainers, no items) 100 times in a row and win all five contest types (more about this later) in the highest rank by a big enough margin.
Contests: You give a Pokemon Pokeblocks to boost one of five areas (Beauty, Tough, Smart, Cool and Cute) then make sure it knows some good moves for this contest and enter. If you win you go to the next level. There ae four levels, Normal, Super, Hyper and Master. If you speak to the curator of the Art Museum and then win the Master Contest by a big enough margin a painting of your Pokemon will be added to the museum gallery for all to see!!! That's contests in a nutshell.
Unlocking Legendaries: From beating the Elite Four, climbing a tower, Random Chance and an intricate design of Surfing, Diving, Braille reading, Searching, more Braille reading, and then some other random thing, the ways of getting the legendaries are great. The main one (Kyogre in Sapphire, Groudon in Ruby) is unlocked after first being awakened by the bad guys then being hunted down and caught by you. Rayquaza is at the top of a difficult to climb, very tall tower. Latias (Sapphire) and Latios (Ruby) are found randomnly in the wild (save the Master Ball for them). The Regitrio involve braving the rapids of Route 131 to find the Secret cavern, using Dig with the correct Pokemon in your party and then fnding the ancient ruins to uncover more Braille to translate and more things to do before finally battling these great beasts.
In my opinion, the best game in the Pokemon series by a long shot!!!
THE GOOD: Featuring over 200 new pokemon with the previous 251 Pokemon Sapphire Version is a blast. The graphics are way better than that of the previous Pokemon games (Red, Blue, Yellow etc.)all of which were rather pixely. The new pokemon in Sapphire Version are more detailed, look better, and have a whole bunch of new moves to shake and rattle your opponents. Besides battling, you can also enter into contests where pokemon are judged based on their looks and moves.
THE BAD: Even with all the good stuff there is a little bad. First of all, the graphics aren't all that, and the music is a little cheesy. The people in the game aren't all too detailed in the way that they look, and there isn't tha much diversity in the people you battle. For example, a male hiker always looks hte same.
SUMMARY: Otherwise, Pokemon Sapphire is a great game, with a good long amount of story line. I myself have spent hours sitting in front of the screen, just chugging along through the game. I hope this review has given you a good fell for the game play in Pokemon Sapphire, and I hope you enjoy playing it!
THE GOOD: +Lots of pokemon to capture
+Long adventure
+Large world to explore
THE BAD: -Random battling can get repetetive
-Most trainer battles seem a tad bit too easy
-Not much strategy to battling (but still fun)
SUMMARY: Pokemon Red was the first video game I ever really got attached to, and playing Pokemon Sapphire years later is a bit nostalgic. A lot has changed, but even more has stayed the same. Not exactly the same, characters and towns are almost the same as old ones, but slightly remixed.
The three Pokemon you can choose from are different looking from the Pokemon Red ones, but still are kind of the same - a fire, a water and a plant monster. There are a lot of new Pokemon and several old, classic monsters return with a slightly new appearence and a new move set. Although there are some new activities and features, such as berry mixing and 2-vs-2 battling, the game is pretty much the same with new Pokemon - which is a good thing.
But, even though the old games were good, they did have some minor flaws that didn't really affect the fun factor, such as random battles. Random battles are only triggered when you walk around in grass or certain buildings/caves, and when you are in a cave or a building, a monster battle every 15 or so steps gets extremely repetetive and tiresome, especially when there is no need to level up your monsters in a wild battle. Trainer battles usually give you all the experience you need and you rarely need to level up for hours like you did in older RPG's, like Dragon Warrior. Another issue with battling is the lack of strategy. Your monster can only have 4 moves and while replacing old ones with new ones can have a little strategy, most battles lack strategy entirely. But other than a few flaws with battling, Sapphire ranks pretty high up with handheld RPGs. 4 out of 5.
THE GOOD: - More pokemon - Longer story than the others - 2 on 2 battles - Cool moves - Nice Graphics compared to the previous pkmn games - You can continue after the game itself is over - You cant easily breeze through it - You can capture Kyogre
THE BAD: The game is still too traditional and it lacks being unique in its own way. Limit to catchable pokemon as usual.
SUMMARY: Overall, Sapphire is a solid game. Just like the other past pokemon games, the entire goal of the game is to defeat the Elite 4 and become a ultimate pokemon master. Can it get any more traditional than that? No, it cant. Thats one bad thing that happens with this game because its mostly the same thing, which definitely brings down the overall quality of the game.
But look past that and you'll see a beautiful game with lots of things to do, and a lot of fun attached to it. The goal of the game, as stated before, is to become a pokemon master, and now its also to defeat the rivals, who are Team Magma. Its really fun to play because of the storyline and the new pokemon in it, so I would say get it because its worth it.
THE GOOD: 2 on 2 battles. More Poke'mon thingies. Longer.
THE BAD: After beating the Elite 4, there's barely anything to do. It's quite repetitive. Not all the Poke'mons are there. Uhhh, the move they use does the same damage all the time.
SUMMARY: Lastability: 7/10. God, you should see how hard the Elite 4 are. Also catching the Legendaries can be hard dagnammit. Graphics: 7/10. Hmmm, that's kinda the only other thing I liked about the game, but it's stillll boring. Sound: 3/10. If I ever hear one more Poke'mon entry sound, I'm gonna bust my SP apart. Seriously, they try to pop your ears out. Gameplay: 5/10. Well, it's simple. You walk around, catch Poke'mons and battle trainers and Gym Leaders, which I consider dull and repetitive. Overall: 2.7/5.0 Doing the same thing for like the 7th/8th installment is just plain rude.
THE GOOD: great game new 2 on 2 battles can trade with ruby, fire red, leaf green and emerald
THE BAD: too many battles
SUMMARY: great game, for little kiddies. lots of new events and items. plot a bit short though. yu can berry blend, find berries, battle with three of your friends and go into contests. new generation game and now, they're making a emerald, a simillar game with different pokemon.
you can fight trainers over and over and there pokemon will grow.
lots of stuff
THE BAD: Trying to get a pokemon to level 100
they took out about 100 of the old pokemon
The game ends to soon
SUMMARY: Okay so I got this game about a year and a half ago, And I am still raising pokemon! isnt the weird? no its perfectly normal, the art of pokemon is all in the training. Can you fill 14 diffrent boxes with 30 spaces for pokemon each with level 100 pokemon? see what I mean . When I said before that the game ends to soon i ment the gym leaders and trainers. Im atleast glad that you can fight trainers over and over, if there names have i flashing thing next to them, you can fight them again, just go on the route and talk to them. And there pokemon go stronger to so its more of a challenge, also this can get you lots of money for poke balls!
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. When I said before that the game ends to soon i ment the gym leaders and trainers. Im atleast glad that you can fight trainers over and over, if there names have i flashing thing next to them, you can fight them again, just go on the route and talk to them. And there pokemon go stronger to so its more of a challenge, also this can get you lots of money for poke balls!
