I was going through a nuzlocke run of the game, and I've honestly lost all passion to actually finish it. I had a bit of fun with the heightened challenge, but I just came to a point where I just didn't care anymore. I still feel that Emerald is a good game, overall, but not necessarily great (a common theme for almost all Pokemon games I've played to be frank), and the nuzlocke challenge options are honestly cool, yet Pokemon's gameplay loop and the addition of insane grinding for a nuzlocke challenge just became more effort than I honestly felt was worth.

Nuzlocke in case you're not aware is a self-imposed challenge people can put on themselves when playing a Pokemon title where the following rules apply:

1. You can only catch a single Pokemon per route. The first Pokemon you encounter in said route is the one you have to catch, if that Pokemon faints, then you're SOL on that route. Exceptions can be made if you already have the first Pokemon in a new route, if you run into a legendary or shiny, or to gain a better type balance in your party (not catching another water-type if you already have multiples in your party). If the player runs into a double battle (2 wild Pokemon showing in a battle), the player can only choose one to keep.

2. If a Pokemon faints, it's considered dead. If a Pokemon faints then it must be released into the wild or stored in the PC for the rest of the run. If your entire party is K.O'd in a battle, then it's game over (exceptions can be placed for people who have Pokemon stored in a PC, if they want to continue the run with a backup party).

3. While not required, yet strongly implied you do so, you give nicknames to each of the Pokemon in your party to help build a stronger relationship with your party; that way, if a Pokemon "dies", the loss hits harder than it normally would.

There are additional modifiers people can place on a run, but those are the basic rules.

La tercera generación a pesar de poseer pequeños baches se mantiene como una apuesta fresca que introduce novedades sin desmerecer las de anteriores entregas. Hoenn posee encanto, y es extremadamente divertida explorar junto a tu equipo, desentrañando los diversos secretos que esta esconde.
Actualmente la experiencia definitiva de esta generación la encontramos en Pokemon Esmeralda, que entre diversas novedades, posee en su post game uno de los retos mas complicados (sino el que mas) y bien diseñados de la saga, el frente batalla, que ofrece al jugador horas de desafiante diversión que pondrá a prueba todos sus conocimientos de combate y crianza que lo harán sentir un verdadero maestro pokemon.

Despite my immense love for Pokémon throughout both my childhood and adulthood, I never got around to this one. And now that I finally have it under my belt, all I can think is "why the heck did it take me this long."

But as for the game itself...
It's good!

I don't really have much to say about it, aside from the fact that It's kind of just pokémon. But you know what? That's awesome!

It feels like it comes in between gen 2 and gen 4 in terms of quality (and conveniently enough, that's literally what it is). I also don't get the "too much water" thing, because you don't start surfing until after you have 6 badges, but I digress.

I plan on playing ORAS later this year, so I'm looking forward to seeing how I like that, but as someone who never played the original until now, I think it holds up pretty well.