Pokemon Emerald is a game that shows exactly how useful a third edition can be, taking everything good from R/S and expanding it in all the right ways, like adding more content to the story and creating one of the most beloved post games in all of Pokemon history.

Is amazing how replayable the Battle Frontier is, and even more amazing the fact that the concept just kinda... faded away after Platinum, specially with how beloved it was.

While I am someone with mixed feeling of the third editions, I do think that Emerald is not only extremely important for the third generation history, but to all Pokemon as a whole.

So a cool little detail is that Team Rocket were called The Rocket Gang in Japanese. They were styled after the mafia, after all, so the name was fitting. This might seem like a random piece of information, but it ties together exactly how I feel about this game.

I loved RSE as a kid. I liked it growing up. As an adult, I'm very mixed on it and a lot of that boils down to what it did to Pokemon. This was the game that hammered down exactly what the formula for the games would be.

The "evil team" originated from here, as GSC didn't actually have one. This was the first game (of many) to have 8 gyms. Legendaries as a catalyst and solution to the plot? Check. 1 region? Correct! Friend rival? This was the starting zone.

Going back to the Rocket Gang thing, this game has two...groups, which certainly aren't the mafia. Both are a lot closer to like, cultists, honestly, and I've gotta be honest, making the story change based on which version you bought was pretty messed up because it was a solid incentive to get kids to ask their parents buy both copies for them and then the third version.

the music in this is good, yes, the fact that movement feels good rocks, but I have a lot of problems with what this game did to the series. Still pretty good though, used to be rly into hacking it (well, Ruby, but you get the picture).

"Pokémon Emerald Version" holds a special place as my first Pokémon game, and it remains a standout title in the series. Compared to older titles, Emerald is undoubtedly a step up, offering just the right level of difficulty for players new to the franchise.

The game's simplicity makes it addictive for first-time players, drawing them into the world of Pokémon with its engaging gameplay and charming creatures. Additionally, the vast amount of content available from hacks using this version, alongside Fire Red, speaks to its enduring popularity and influence in the Pokémon community.

Even in 2024, "Pokémon Emerald Version" stands as a worthy addition to the Pokémon series. Its timeless appeal and enjoyable gameplay make it a must-play for both newcomers and seasoned Pokémon trainers alike.

ok so i played this when i was 12 and at the time i was in my then incessant and never ending pokémon craze. with that i mean i like pokémon for as long as i can remember and i can remember a lot.

i first played fire red in a browser emulator, didn't beat it. i got real far in emerald, but didn't beat the elite four. the reason why i'm writing this and highlighting this game is that i, much like fourty year olds, also feel nostalgia, furthermore i am also blinded by it.
i am endeared, charmed and emotionally attached to pokémon emerald, forever. while not being the best pokémon game i've played, not even taking place in a particularly interesting region, it has a few advantages. the soundtrack for instance. and uuh... i think that's it.
i just cherished my time with it and find it cozy, that's all!

guys wouldn't it be really fun if we made you grind really early and lock an exp share behind a gym that you need to beat in order to get access to the exp share?
Which leaves your starter and every other pokemon you catch at a massiv power gap?

i think that'd pretty fun ngl

PSA: Everybody is completely allowed to like this game. I just didnt vibe with it in the beginning. I'll prolly come back one day to actually progress lmao. I'm just being stubborn :p

Revisiting this classic from my childhood was a treat!

While as a whole I think I prefer the Gen 3 remakes (I know it’s a bit of a hot take) for their more modern battle mechanics and better graphics. Emerald still has a lot of charm! Also random note but man this game has a lot of opportunities for double battles, like way more then I remembered.

With my team I tried to use a few Pokemon I’d never used before mixed in with some of my favourites!

Swampert: My favourite starter line and honestly Mudkip is probably my favourite pokemon overall!

Breloom: Another classic pick for me! Always liked the typing

Swallot: Never used it in Emerald but I have used it in Pokemon XD. Wasn’t the most helpful at the elite four but still liked having him around!

Skarmory: As a kid I never used single stage Pokemon cause I thought they were weak but Skarmory held her own pretty well!

Wobbuffet: A really wild pick to throw on the team. Never thought I’d use one but said why not! She even managed to take out the champions final Pokémon!

Banette: A bit of a late addition but proved pretty helpful against Phoebe once he was a high enough level to out speed her team!

it is frankly impossible for me to review this game. to give a review of pokemon emerald would be to give a review of my childhood. to give a review of snow and ice; walking through empty woods; long car rides through fields; laying on the floor with my gameboy under a kitchen light; the million other memories that pass through my mind when i think of this game.

what does it really mean to review a game, or to review any piece of art. there is a reason everyone hates IGN. a game is not a collection of parts. it is not a combat system, environment art, character designs, dialogue and story. it is not a show dog to hold up in front of an audience. there is a reason why art consciousness has died among the american public. art has taken a sick turn in our day. art lies in it's hospital bed. even to appreciate art today feels false. art is derided and hated even by those who enjoy art, because enjoying art today demands a performance.

think what this means. we are forced to choose: 1) put on a performance of hating "serious" pieces of art, in order to not come off as cheesy, and instead produce artworks based on (I am quoting here from recent calls for artists): "goop, slime, spills" "ungovernable behavior" etc. 2) force art critique into "technique" critique, especially in the context of commodity art pieces like video games. so shinji mikami says in a lifetime career of producing video games he was able to produce a single game the way he wanted to (god hand). so someone walks through this world in disgust at the disgraceful state of artistic sentiment in our times; literally - to wade through slime, goop, and spills.

why did art ever mean anything to us. art can ONLY be accomplished by the culture hero. art must save us. to even say a phrase like that today sounds ridiculous. go back and look at landscape with the fall of icarus. look at the painting of caesar and vercingetorix. even woman with a parasol. to give an account of these paintings as a collection of applied techniques - only a modern could come up with something like that. these paintings are important because of the personal impact that they have on YOU, or the personal impact that they had on others. and that is all. trying to give an account of them as anything else is what has led us into this demented situation where every artist and art fan MUST put on a performance, and show to their friends that "anything can be art" and "we don't want to lock art away behind the walls of the museum". this is all posturing.

i have spent thousands of hours in this video game over two decades of my life. i could not care less about what it looks like, how well the story was executed, how good the mechanics are. when i first played this game i couldn't even imagine the criteria on which i would judge it today.

i love this game in the same way that I love walking down the dirt roads of my hometown. i have been there. i grew up there. i passed a portion of my life in this game, a much larger portion than I spent in many "real" locations. i know every route. i know every song. sometimes I hear the music in my sleep, and I wake up and play it on youtube, and my heart feels so heavy.

the world of this game will never pass away. video games represent the logic of computers applied to men and women, towns and places. it never ages. it is endlessly reproduced. it is just a creative illusion. it is a mirror image of life in which every aspect of reality is inverted. in that way it is nearly like what we imagine heaven to be. and it hurts to play in these worlds because we erode. every time that I talk to may, she is the same as she ever was. and I am dying more every day.

this is what the format of video games mean to mankind. this game is a frozen hope, a frozen dream which can be played back endlessly. I think man has no greater desire than to replace life entirely with this world. look at mark zuckerberg and the "metaverse" hypetrain. when you say out loud: "life is so unfair, why can't I live and stay in the world of pokemon foreverr :( " you sound like a child. when you pitch to investors: "business ready, web enabled virtual locales suitable for both business and lesiure, just as real as the "real" but with none of the upkeep" you sound like a businessman. and there is no line that distinguishes these two sentiments. it is what human beings want. they want to live in heaven on earth. and the tragedy is that they can't. we can make a perfect world, we rub salt in the gaping wound of our fallen humanity by playing and having fun in it, and then in the end are left with the reality that we can never truly be there.

enjoying this game is tied to my deepest core memories: childhood, town, grandparents, lakes, snow, fields, horses, forests, empty spaces. that is what it means to me. that is what a game can mean. what else is it besides pixels flashing on a screen.

Grovyle has the signature move Leaf Blade. It's a 70 power Grass move. It's arguably worse than Giga Drain, which while that has 60 power it heals half the damage inflicted. There's two ways to get Giga Drain of Grovyle. One is to use TM19, a one time use item. The other way is to level Treecko to 46. Don't worry, that still gives you time to evolve into Sceptile and gets its final level up move at level 59, False Swipe, which has 40 power and cannot kill.

Sharpedo, a Water and Dark type, doesn't learn any Water type attacks from level up. It also has 25 more points in Attack than Special Attack. At the time, Water and Dark type moves were were special attacks. If you think it's dumb to make a Water/Dark physical attacker in Gen 3, don't worry, they did the same thing with Crawdaunt, who has 30 more points in Attack than Special Attack.

The only Grass type move the Shiftry line learns via level up is Synthesis, a non-damaging move. However, you only get this if you don't let Seedot evolve at 14 and instead train it to 21. Its only Grass attack options are the TMs for Bullet Seed, Giga Drain, and Solar Beam. Also again, Grass and Dark are special attacking types, and Shiftry has better Attack than Special Attack.

These aren't nitpicks, there's tons of Pokemon like this. This is mostly a great game, but has some very odd design choices.

This was my first Pokémon game I played when I was 5 and I stole my cousins copy (sorry Paddy), so it was fun to revisit it.

I guess with the benefit of hindsight and seeing how much the franchise evolved, even during only its next generation, it was hard to not find myself missing QoL improvements I was so used to. Some moments felt very standard series stuff and a few times I was a bit stuck on how to continue but overall I had a good time. Think it was a combination of nostalgia and using cheats (thanks Delta!) that made my experience a solid thumbs up.