Pokémon Emerald Review

What is Pokémon Emerald?

Pokémon Emerald is a game from the third generation of the role-playing video game series, Pokémon. It was released internationally in 2005 for the Game Boy Advance and was developed by Game Freak. It takes place in the fictional region of Hoenn and introduces a few mechanics that have since become staples in the series. I played this game on the original cartridge on an Analogue Pocket and it took me a little over 30 hours to beat the main story.

Game Review:

Pokémon games often get eye rolls from other adults and teens as being silly little kid games. While it is true that they are games designed for children of any age to be able to play, and they don’t typically carry profound stories or messages, these games offer a lot more  mechanical depth than most people give them credit for. The layering of systems into these turn-based RPGs gives them an incredible level of complexity that I think can foster strategic planning and implementation.

Pokémon Emerald is from the third generation of Pokémon games. If you’re new to Pokémon they typically have 2-3 versions of the same game for each release, with the third often being the definitive version that combines the other two. Emerald is the third game of the third generation, taking that defining role. Emerald is a game that holds a special nostalgic spot in my memory because I played it when I was younger. I don’t think that detracts from its quality as a game but keep that in mind as you read this.  

Emerald introduced 135 new pokémon to the series, with some of my personal favorites being in this group. This was still early enough in the series that the designers and creators still had fresh ideas for how to make cool pokémon. Some newer generations really struggle to make compelling and interestingly designed pokémon in my opinion. The legendaries from this generation are probably my favorite from any game in the series as well; all of them are expertly designed and equally powerful.

Mechanically, Emerald introduced a bunch of changes that overhauled the game and how it functioned. I’m only going to go over what I view as the major changes but there are even more if you want to read up on it. Abilities and Natures are two of the major changes added that alters how the third generation played compared to the previous generations. Abilities are passive effects that can change battle or the overworld that each pokémon has. Some of them are unique to that species while some of them can be shared between species. These Abilities add another layer of utility that compounds upon their stats. Natures are another aspect to Pokémon introduced in the third generation that has had major ramifications on the series. Natures are traits carried by each pokémon that affect how their stats grow, often leaving them with advantage in a particular stat and a disadvantage in another. In later games this can be changed to strategically alter your pokémon's stats to fit your style of play but in Emerald the nature of a pokémon is constant once that pokémon is generated in game.

The final mechanic that I want to focus on as it was introduced was first introduced in Emerald and not the other generation 3 games. This is the Multi Battle where players can battle two trainers at a time and battle in a double battle. These were my favorite battles in the whole game so I always tried to trigger a Multi Battle whenever possible. Double battles are also the mainstay of competitive Pokémon play because it takes the strategy that much deeper as there are exponentially more options for a player to perform in each turn. Generation 3 is where this all started.

At its core though, it is a Pokémon game. The goal is to go throughout the world and catch all the different types of pokémon while defeating gym leaders to advance and become the best trainer in the whole region that the game takes place in. This core formula is unchanged in Emerald and except for a few Pokémon games, is still true in modern games. It’s not a profound idea but I think it is at its core a fun experience. 

Pokémon games are not known for their stories. They are made to be able to be enjoyed by small children so their stories are pretty surface level and don’t really dip their toes into heavy territories. Modern Pokémon games especially have really silly stories that are, in my opinion, not engaging at all. However, older Pokémon games at least tried to have climactic stories. Emerald’s story in particular has, at least to me, the most realistic and compelling villains in the whole series, Team Magma and Team Aqua. Team Magma wants to provide more land for people and pokémon to dwell so they want to use the legendary pokémon of land to increase the land on the earth, therefore decreasing the amount of water. Team Aqua acts as their antithesis and wants to increase the earth’s area of water to increase the aquamarine life on the earth. Obviously each team is flawed in their thinking and it’s not super deep because it’s designed for kids but I find these villains to at least be threatening in a way that new Pokémon games just don’t provide.

Art design is an important piece of any visual medium, whether it be video games, movies, tv, or visual art. Emerald and the rest of the third generation has my favorite art style of any of the Pokémon games. It is crisp and sharp 2D art with bright colors and while the graphics aren’t cutting edge by any means, even for the time, I think that this art style stands the test of time and still looks good today. I would always prefer a game to pick a less graphic-intensive art style and have it look good then try to make it cutting edge and then it looks old and drab 5 years later.

Family Friendliness:

Emerald is a game designed for kids so it is generally very family friendly. There is no blood or gore or any suggestive content. There is graphic violence in the sense that the pokémon are battling and when thought about at an ethical level, the idea of catching wildlife to make them fight is not a good thing. But the content is approached from a way that focuses on character and pokémon growth and treating it more like a sport than combat. 

Features for Parents:

Turn-based RPGs are generally the best games for parents who need to be able to pause things at the drop of a hat. Emerald doesn’t continue text or battles on a timer at all, you have to manually progress them so it can be great for pick-up and put-down. You can save or pause anytime outside of battle and text and it will pick up in the exact spot you left off so there is no issue if you need to leave. There aren’t many accessibility options because of when this game came out but it’s also not a game that requires complex physical input to play, most of the challenge comes in the mental variety.

Final Verdict:

Emerald is one of my favorite games from my childhood. It holds up today as a beautiful and engaging Pokémon game. And while the series has only gotten more mechanically complex, it introduced many of the core mechanics we still see today and has influenced many other games after it. If you have the ability to play Pokémon Emerald I would give it a shot and really dive into the strategy of it to get its full picture.