Pokémon Ruby Version and Pokémon Sapphire Version are role-playing video games created by Game Freak and published by The Pokémon Company and Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. These games are the first in the third generation of the Pokémon video game series, also called the "advanced generation." For many years, Nintendo was the only publisher of the franchise in all regions. However, The Pokémon Company joined Nintendo as a co-publisher for the first time since the company was formed in 1998. The games were first released in Japan in late 2002 and internationally in 2003. A third version, Pokémon Emerald, was released two years later in each region. Remakes of Ruby and Sapphire, named Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, were released for the Nintendo 3DS worldwide in November 2014, exactly twelve years after the original games. In Europe, the release was one week later.
The gameplay is similar to previous games. Players control the main character from an overhead view, and the controls are mostly the same as earlier games. The main goals are to catch all the Pokémon in the games, defeat the Elite Four and the Pokémon League Champion, and stop a criminal group from taking over the region. New features include double battles, Pokémon abilities, Pokémon Contests, and 135 new Pokémon. Because of the Game Boy Advance’s improved technology, four players can connect and play together at once, instead of the previous limit of two players. The games can also be connected to an e-Reader or other third-generation Pokémon games.
Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire received mostly positive reviews. Critics praised the new features and Pokémon designs, but opinions were mixed about the gameplay and graphics. Many players noted that the gameplay did not change much compared to earlier games. The games sold over 16.22 million copies, making them the best-selling game for the Game Boy Advance. However, they sold fewer copies than previous generations, such as Red and Blue, which sold nearly 31 million units worldwide, and Gold and Silver, which sold over 23.10 million units.
Gameplay
The basic way to play Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire is similar to earlier games in the series. Like all Pokémon games for handheld consoles, the gameplay uses a top-down view from above and includes three main screens: a field map, where the player moves the main character; a battle screen, where Pokémon fight; and a menu, where the player can manage their team, items, or settings. Players start with one Pokémon and can catch more using Poké Balls. They can also use their Pokémon to battle other Pokémon. When a wild Pokémon appears or a trainer challenges the player to a battle, the screen changes to a turn-based battle screen. During a battle, the player can use a move, use an item, switch their active Pokémon, or run away. However, running away is not allowed in battles against trainers. All Pokémon have hit points (HP); when a Pokémon’s HP drops to zero, it faints and cannot battle until it is revived. If the player’s Pokémon defeats an opponent (causes it to faint), it gains experience points. After earning enough experience points, the Pokémon levels up. Most Pokémon evolve into a new species when they reach a certain level.
Capturing Pokémon is a key part of the game. During a battle with a wild Pokémon, the player can use a Poké Ball to try to catch it. If successful, the Pokémon joins the player’s team or is stored if the team already has six Pokémon. The chance of catching a Pokémon depends on factors like the target’s HP, status effects such as Paralysis or Sleep, and the strength of the Poké Ball used. Lower HP and stronger Poké Balls increase the chance of success. Trainers’ Pokémon cannot be captured.
A major change in battle mechanics is the introduction of double battles, where both sides use two Pokémon at the same time. Some moves can affect multiple Pokémon in these battles. Multi battles are similar to double battles, but each side has two trainers controlling one Pokémon each. New features include innate abilities and natures. Innate abilities are shared by all Pokémon of a certain species and give special powers in battle, such as immunity to certain moves or boosting specific types of moves. Natures affect a Pokémon’s stats in battle, but not directly the power of moves. A new stat called Condition was added, which is important in Pokémon Contests. Both Pokémon and their moves have a Condition that increases when using Pokéblocks, which are candies made from berries. Secret bases are a one-time feature where players can dig a hole and customize the area with items found in the game. Players who connect with others who created secret bases can battle an NPC version of that trainer inside their secret base.
Like Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal, Ruby and Sapphire track real-life time, affecting events such as tides and berry plant growth. However, unlike earlier games, Ruby and Sapphire do not have separate day and night times. Also, because of differences in link cables, Ruby and Sapphire cannot connect with older Pokémon games. Players cannot battle or trade with previous generations.
Ruby and Sapphire have limited support for e-Reader cards. Nintendo released Battle-e Cards, which include trainer battles featuring previously hidden Pokémon. A special e-Reader card called the Eon Ticket allows players to access Southern Island, where they can battle either Latios or Latias, depending on the game version.
Ruby and Sapphire can connect to GameCube games like Pokémon Colosseum, Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, and Pokémon Box: Ruby and Sapphire. In Colosseum and XD, players can transfer Pokémon between those games and Ruby/Sapphire once they reach a certain point. Pre-ordering Colosseum gave players access to Pokémon Jirachi and a preview of the movie Pokémon: Jirachi Wish Maker. Pokémon Box lets players store and organize their Pokémon on the GameCube. In the European version of Pokémon Channel, players could receive Jirachi and transfer it to Ruby or Sapphire.
Plot
Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire take place in the Hoenn Region, which is far from the Kanto and Johto Regions in earlier games. The Hoenn Region was inspired by the real-life Japanese island of Kyushu, but it is turned 90 degrees to help with game balance, as decided by the game designer, Junichi Masuda. Like Kyushu, Hoenn has many small islands, and much of the region is covered by sea routes. Some of these routes allow players to dive underwater.
In Ruby and Sapphire, the gameplay follows a set order. The main characters are Brendan and May, who recently moved to a town called Littleroot Town. At the start of the game, players choose between three starter Pokémon—Treecko, Torchic, or Mudkip—to help Professor Birch, a local expert, defend against Poochyena. After protecting Birch, players go to his lab and receive their chosen starter Pokémon. Later, they meet May or Brendan, who is Professor Birch’s child. The player’s rival, who is also Professor Birch’s child, is a Pokémon Trainer and sometimes battles the player.
The main goals of the game are to defeat eight Gym Leaders, prove oneself strong enough to challenge the Elite Four and the Hoenn League Champion, and complete the Pokédex by catching, evolving, and trading to collect all 202 Pokémon available in Ruby and Sapphire. Players can also collect all 386 Pokémon, but this requires trading with Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen or Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness and Pokémon Colosseum.
Besides the main story, players can help non-player characters by completing tasks, often by finding items. A major subplot involves two groups, Team Aqua and Team Magma, who want to use Pokémon to change Hoenn’s climate. In Ruby, Team Magma tries to use the legendary Pokémon Groudon to dry up the oceans and expand land. In Sapphire, Team Aqua uses Groudon’s counterpart, Kyogre, to flood the land and expand the sea. Before facing the eighth Gym Leader, players battle Team Magma or Team Aqua. The group’s leader uses a special orb to awaken a sleeping Pokémon, believing it can control the environment. However, the Pokémon becomes angry and causes major climate changes—a drought in Ruby or heavy rain in Sapphire—until it is defeated or captured.
Additionally, the player’s father, Norman, introduces them to Wally, a boy who is sick and needs help finding a Pokémon companion as he moves away from the city. Wally eventually recovers, becomes a successful Pokémon Trainer, and later challenges the player before the Elite Four.
Development
Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire were made by Game Freak and Nintendo with Junichi Masuda leading the project. Ken Sugimori was the art director, but this was the first time he did not create all the art alone. When asked how the design team came up with ideas for new Pokémon, Sugimori said they used things they saw or did when they were kids, like nature, animals, and things they watched on TV. They often based their designs on insects and added features like hard shapes to make them look like steel. Sugimori explained that looking at the world differently sometimes gave them ideas for new creatures.
Because the Game Boy Advance could show better pictures, Ruby and Sapphire were the first games in the series that allowed up to four people to share information at the same time, instead of the previous limit of two. However, the team used a simpler graphics system to make the game easier to understand. They wanted the games to be fun for younger players but also added new features to attract older players.
Masuda said the main idea of all Pokémon games is communication, which happens when players trade and battle with others. When asked about double battles, the developers said they focused on one-on-one battles as the main competition and added double battles as a new challenge. They mentioned that if players liked the double battles, the feature might appear more in future games.
These games were the first in the series that did not include all the Pokémon from earlier games. Sugimori said the team tried to include all the new Pokémon and some from previous generations. Masuda noted that technical limits prevented them from adding features like three different cries for each Pokémon based on its mood.
The audio in Ruby and Sapphire includes only music and sound effects; all dialogue is shown on the screen. The music was composed by Junichi Masuda, Go Ichinose, and Morikazu Aoki. It is all instrumental except for two songs with singing: "Trick Master" and "Slateport City." The game's soundtrack was released in Japan on April 26, 2003, under the Mediafactory label. It reached #297 on the Oricon charts and stayed there for one week. Masuda composed the battle music, Ichinose wrote most of the town, route, and fanfare tunes, and Aoki composed the rest.
The soundtrack is known for using a lot of trumpets, as well as French horns, string groups, and pianos.
Release
Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire were released in Japan on November 21, 2002, in North America on March 19, 2003, in Australia on April 3, 2003, and in Europe on July 25, 2003. Nintendo did not promote Ruby and Sapphire at E3 2002; however, it ran a $7 million marketing campaign from March to May 2003. In July and August 2002, the games were promoted during a tour in Japan at Pokémon Festa 2002. Nintendo rewarded pre-orders of the games with merchandise and held a contest where participants submitted videos of themselves singing the Pokémon theme song with rewritten lyrics. The grand prize for that contest was a Lugia PT Cruiser. Later that year, Nintendo launched the EON Ticket Summer Tour, during which 125 Toys "R" Us stores in the United States sold the Eon Ticket e-Card from July 19 to September 1. Nintendo aired two television advertisements, "Faces" and "Names," on prime-time network, cable, and syndication channels. "Faces" showed Pokémon next to human look-alikes, while "Names" featured people shouting the names of Pokémon and highlighted that the games introduced 100 new Pokémon. Additionally, Nintendo partnered with the United Kingdom beverage brand Vimto to promote the games.
Pokémon Emerald Version is a third version of the game, developed by Game Freak, published by The Pokémon Company and Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. It was first released in Japan in 2004 and later released internationally in 2005. Emerald received generally positive reviews, and by the fiscal year 2007, sales reached 6.32 million units.
Reception
The games received mostly positive reviews from critics. IGN gave them a 9.5 out of 10 rating and named them Editor’s Choice. In 2007, IGN listed the games as the tenth best Game Boy Advance game of all time. GameZone also gave them a 9.5 out of 10 and awarded them an Outstanding Award. GamePro rated them 5 out of 5 stars and named them Editor’s Choices. ComputerAndVideoGames.com gave them a 9 out of 10, and GameSpot gave them an 8.1 out of 10, calling them the best Game Boy Advance game of March 2003. Eurogamer and 1UP.com were less positive; Eurogamer gave them a 7 out of 10, and 1UP.com gave them a B−.
Reviewers had mixed opinions about the gameplay and graphics. IGN praised the "deep design" and highlighted the addition of double battles, which made the games more strategic. GamePro also said double battles "added challenge" and made battles "more strategic than before." ComputerAndVideoGames.com called the gameplay "incredibly compelling and addictive," and GameZone said the gameplay was more refined and challenging than earlier games. However, GameSpot said the games were "a cakewalk" and claimed Ruby and Sapphire "don’t offer much of a challenge." Eurogamer said the mechanics "get very tired, very fast," and 1UP.com said the games were formulaic and that double battles were not used enough.
ComputerAndVideoGames.com praised the graphics, calling them "gorgeous." Other reviewers were less impressed. GamePro said the graphics were "only a fair bit prettier" than earlier Game Boy Color games. GameZone said the games still used "simple animations and basic character designs" from the original Game Boy. IGN and 1UP.com said the graphics had only minor improvements, and Eurogamer said the graphics were upgraded to a "functional level at best." The audio was generally well-received. GameZone and GameSpot said the music was catchy, and GameZone gave the audio an 8 out of 10. Other complaints included the removal of the time system from earlier games and the inability to import Pokémon from previous games.
Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire were highly anticipated. In Japan, they sold 1.25 million copies in the first four days and were the best-selling games of the 2002 holiday season. Sales reached about 4.4 million within six weeks. They were the first Game Boy Advance games to sell 2 million copies in Japan since 2001’s Final Fantasy X and the first handheld games to do so since 2000’s Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters 4.
In North America, Nintendo sold 2.2 million copies by April 2003, less than a month after the games’ release. In the United States, Ruby and Sapphire were the second- and third-best-selling games of 2003. The games were also successful in Europe. Before release, European retailers imported copies from the United States to meet demand. After release, 500,000 copies sold in the first weekend, and 1.5 million sold within eight weeks. They were the second-best-selling games of the 2002 holiday season in Europe. The games were highlighted at E3 2003 by Satoru Iwata as a sign of the Game Boy Advance’s popularity.
As of 2023, the games sold 16.22 million copies worldwide, making them the best-selling Game Boy Advance games. However, analysts noted that Pokémon’s popularity was declining at the time, with young fans showing more interest in Yu-Gi-Oh! compared to earlier Pokémon games. This decline was reflected in sales: Red and Blue sold nearly 31 million copies worldwide, and Gold and Silver sold over 23 million copies.
Legacy
Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire are improved versions of the original Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire games. These games were created by Game Freak and released by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. They were made available worldwide on November 21, 2014, which was exactly twelve years after the original Ruby and Sapphire games were first released. In Europe, the game was released the following week.
Pokémon Box: Ruby and Sapphire, also known as Pokémon Box, is a different type of Pokémon game designed for the GameCube. It was sold with a GameCube–Game Boy Advance link cable and a Memory Card 59. The game was first released in Japan on May 30, 2003, and later in North America on July 12, 2004. However, it was only available in North America through the New York Pokémon Center and its online store, and it is no longer sold there. In some parts of Europe, the game was called Pokémon Memory Magic due to translation issues. European players could only obtain the game by earning points through Nintendo of Europe’s loyalty program or by purchasing the Pokémon Colosseum Mega Pack.
The game allows players to store and trade Pokémon from the Game Boy Advance versions of Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, FireRed, and LeafGreen onto a GameCube memory card. Players can organize and interact with their Pokémon on the GameCube, such as allowing them to breed. Unique Pokémon can also be collected. Another feature lets players play the original Ruby and Sapphire games on a television using the GameCube–Game Boy Advance link cable. This mode also includes options like taking screenshots of the game. An additional feature called "Showcase" allows players to create and display game pieces of Pokémon.
Nintendo described the game as "the most exclusive Pokémon software ever offered to North American Pokémon fans." However, many people found it unnecessary. The game received a score of 50% on GameRankings based on one review. Craig Harris of IGN gave the game a rating of 5.0 out of 10, calling it "Meh." He praised the game’s interface, which made organizing Pokémon easier compared to the Game Boy Advance version, and the emulator that allowed players to run Ruby and Sapphire on the GameCube. Harris also noted that the inclusion of a memory card and link cable made the game a good purchase. However, he criticized the "Showcase" feature as "entirely unnecessary and completely out of place" and said the game lacked enough activities to keep players engaged. He wrote that the game was intended for very dedicated Pokémon fans but required many specific items to be useful. Allgame gave the game three and a half out of five stars.