The Pokemon series has been running for a long time and in that time we’ve seen six full generations of games, including the fifth that saw a mainline sequel for the first time in the series. Following the third generation of games, we saw our first remakes already with Pokemon FireRed & LeafGreen back in 2004. This was followed by Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver on the DS back in 2010, 2009 in Japan. Ever since the release of these two games, fans have been wondering when we may see the inevitable remake for Pokemon Ruby & Sapphire, and Nintendo answered that question yesterday with a completely out of the blue game announcement for Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.
In a way, Pokemon remakes have come full circle, as Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen were built from the Pokemon Ruby & Sapphire engine, and now those very games are being remade. Nintendo has seemed to stick with one set of remakes per Nintendo handheld, with each releasing not too long before the unveiling or release of the next Nintendo handheld, so perhaps that gives a bit more credence to the rumors of Nintendo unveiling a new handheld soon, but really that isn’t what we are going to discuss.
Pokemon Ruby & Sapphire were really the first Pokemon games to provide a strong story to follow revolving around the legendary Pokemon, which was further strengthened by Pokemon Emerald coming later. Compared to past third games like Pokemon Yellow and Pokemon Crystal, Pokemon Emerald truly expanded on the original game in both features and story. As a result, I’m really hoping we see a third game released as a remake for the first time with Pokemon Emerald.
I personally loved the first two groups of remakes, but this one is the one I have been waiting for the longest. The first Pokemon game I ever played was Pokemon Yellow, which was followed by me picking up Pokemon Red & Blue. I then got Pokemon Silver, Gold, and Crystal as soon as they were released a few years later. However, I fell off with the series sometime between the release of Pokemon Crystal and Pokemon Ruby & Sapphire. Perhaps it was the whole thinking I was too old for Pokemon now stigma or something, but I missed out on the entire third generation, including the FireRed and LeafGreen remakes. However, near the end of my freshman year of college my love for the series was reinvigorated when I caught the preview of the upcoming Diamond & Pearl anime. This came right before the release of Pokemon Diamond & Pearl for the Nintendo DS, which prompted me to go buy Pokemon Diamond at launch, along with finding Pokemon FireRed and Pokemon Emerald.
It was just like the old days again by getting to play the series for the first time in years, including two completely new journeys through Hoenn and Sinnoh. The fact that it had been awhile since I last played, it made the games all the more special by being able to relive those days of playing Pokemon for the first time all over again. At the time, I moved on and played Pokemon Pearl and Pokemon Platinum, but only played Pokemon Emerald once, so it is the one generation in the series I’ve had the least amount of time with overall. Unlike Pokemon Red & Blue and Gold & Silver that I played through a million times each before the remakes, this one will be almost a fresh take with being only my second time playing.
In the opposite way, I know this game may be plenty of people’s Pokemon Red or Blue, with it being their first Pokemon game. Seeing the games remade now gives them a chance to relive their childhood all over again like a lot of us got to do with the Gen 1 and Gen 2 remakes. I know this had a lot or rambling on, but Pokemon has a special place in my heart and I have a feeling I’ll be playing the series until I’m old. What does the announcement of Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire mean to you? Will this be your first time playing the third generation or will this be your 10th adventure back to Hoenn? Feel free to share your stories in the comments below if you wish.