What were some Pokemon puzzles you had trouble with as a kid? I remember getting stuck on Wallace's puzzle for an embarrassingly long time as a kid. (Like actual months. They made it so much easier for Juan in Emerald.)

On a lesser note, getting thru this Gym isn't overly hard, there have been times I have had trouble getting out of here, to the point of needing to look up a YouTube walkthru (I forget whether I accidentally stepped on a switch or if it had just been a long time since I had played Platinum):

Day 8: Pokemon (Omega) Ruby

              If you were a fan of any Pokémon game, you probably have one game in the series that really resonated with you and activates all the nostalgia in you. I was into Pokémon when Red/Blue and then Gold/Silver/Crystal were released, but I didn’t own those games myself and played them second hand. Because of that, I played the games from start to end without really investing time doing the side things because I knew I had to give the game back eventually. That changed with Pokémon Ruby for the GameBoy Advanced. For the first time, I was going to be able to fully invest in my own world and have a good shot at catching them all! For the rest of the review, I’ll be talking about all three games of that generation (Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald), but will refer only to Ruby as it’s the version that I owned and thoroughly played.

              Now, there are aspects of this game that a ton of people don’t like, and many players of the original Pokémon games did not jive with this. Some main reasons being the large amount of water/surfing in the game, the trumpets in the music and the designs of several Pokémon. In my opinion, there are other issues with the game, but all those things listed about did not bother me. It didn’t even occur to me until years later when I discussed the game with others and learned that there wasn’t much love for this entry in the series. So, I think if I’m going to defend this game, I should probably lay out what exactly appealed to me, with the understanding that there is a huge nostalgia factor going into this.

Plenty of Mystery

              I know I’m not alone when I say that the story part of Pokémon games is usually not the primary pull of the game. It’s a good way to slowly get you through the world, drip feeding you new Pokémon and mechanics as you work your way to the Elite Four. This doesn’t really change with Ruby/Sapphire (I’ll come back to Omega Ruby though), the story doesn’t have much going for it. You’re a kid trying to become the champion, and along the way you meet a bunch of friends and some villains and end up encountering whatever the legendary Pokémon is. Cool.

              Here’s the thing though, once you’ve reached the point where the world is entirely open to you, there are so many odd mysteries in the game. And these mysteries aren’t just handed to you either. The newer Pokémon games don’t really offer much in way of a puzzle or challenge to encounter legendary Pokémon. They might be hidden in a cave with annoying branching paths, or roam around the world requiring you to check your Pokedex for its location until you cross paths. Ruby has these, but it also other unique puzzles in the world.

             For example, there is a mysterious island that disappears and reappears randomly, based on some random number. It only contains a unique type of berry and the Wynaut Pokémon, so it’s not like you’re missing much from not ever seeing it. But I love the idea that somewhere in the world, a select few had happened to see the island. I used to wake up every morning for several months to talk to an old man who would let you know if the island has shown up in my game (spoiler: it never did). Another set of puzzles involve the use of Braille. Now, keep in mind, me at the age of 12, I wasn’t the brightest kid. It took me far too long to figure out what the braille symbols were, and even when I found the inscription that laid out the alphabet, I still didn’t understand what I was looking at! But once I put it all together, I felt like a smart cookie.

             Even before translating the Braille text, just walking into some of the Regi chambers, a single room with a single braille sign, it emitted a sense of mystery and wonder that I haven’t seen in a Pokémon game since. If you weren’t scouring the internet for answers, there was just a bunch of unexplained things in the world. Why was there a space station? What is the significance of Relicanth and Wailord (other than Wailord is the best Pokémon and I dare you to prove me wrong) in unlocking the Regi’s from their chambers? Why were the Regis sealed anyways?

             Some of these get answered in the 3DS remake, Omega Ruby. The Space station eventually lets you face off against Deoxys in space (no word of a lie, I used to draw this scenario as how I wanted Ruby to originally handle it, and they went ahead and made my imagination come to life). Speaking of Omega Ruby, the remake further adds to the story, eventually leading to the space battle, but also including Rayquaza into the story. In Ruby, Rayquaza was located at the top of a tower which required some skills in using the Mach Bike. I personally prefer Ruby’s take on it, but Omega Ruby handled it well with the inclusion of a few extra characters.

            I can safely say that Omega Ruby is my favourite Pokémon game, but it’s because it takes everything I loved about Ruby and adds on just enough to make it perfect. Once you gain the ability to Soar and fly around the overworld, there are more secrets to discover and places to see. Eventually, rifts appear that let you battle legendary Pokémon from the rest of the series. As someone who unashamedly loves the legendary Pokémon and using them in my team, this was like Christmas for me.

Pokémon Designs

              This is entirely subjective (of course it is), but the new Pokémon introduced in the third gen have some of my favourite Pokémon and Pokémon designs. Let me get it out of the way…Mudkip is terrible and you should all be ashamed for liking it. I’ve always been a grass starter person, and I will continue that trend with Sword & Shield. Sceptile, Treecko’s final evolution) looked the coolest to me. He looked extremely smug and his tail looked like it could smash anything, which me at age 12 though was cool. Don’t judge me.  

              Not every Pokémon was ‘cool’, but there were some charming designs. Ludicolo and Nosepass for example were quirky designs that kept things lighthearted. Meanwhile, the Beldum and Whismur evolution line led to some unexpected final forms, but still quite unique. As for the legendary line, I really liked how the three sets of legendary Pokémon kept a theme between each other. The Regis had their dot design and similar body shape. Latios/Latias were designed to look fast and I thought they conveyed that nicely. Finally, Groudon, Kyogre and Rayquaza have these distinct lines that run along their bodies and exude an ‘ancient’ feeling to them. They weren’t over the top god-like creatures unlike those in future games, and instead felt more like keepers of stability in the world we live in. In my opinion, the designs nailed this, and you could imagine the three being caught in battle millions of years ago.

Yes, the Music had Trumpets. Yes, the Music is Still Great

              I have a theme going. All the games I love have great music. Pokémon Ruby (and Omega Ruby by extension) are no exception to these rules. There is no doubt that nostalgia has a lot to do with my appreciation for the music, but I always felt the music was very appropriate for the world. Yes, there was that weird trumpet sound that was used in most of the songs, but it did not bother me at the time and still doesn’t bother me now that it’s pointed out. Take Slateport City’s theme for example, it’s a port city, with a beach and a museum and is the bustling town of the game. The music absolutely matches that with an upbeat tune that I still hum sporadically. Meanwhile, upon entering one of the mysterious Regi caves, you’re hit with this ominous tune that always made me feel uneasy but excited to figure out the puzzle as something powerful must be hidden in the cave. Then there’s the fight against the cover’s legendary Pokémon which really does make you feel like you’re facing off something that is very powerful and quite ancient.

              Omega Ruby takes a lot of songs and remixes them; I can’t decide which version I liked better. However, the way Omega Ruby takes the original legendary battle songs and mixes the older generation music with an updated soundfont really tugged at my nostalgia strings. And with the addition of new story content, they added a new theme for a character that may be one of my more favourite songs in the entire series, the Zinnia Battle theme. However, if you want me to stop dead in my tracks and do some real anime fighting moves, just go ahead and play the Deoxys battle song for me.

In Conclusion…

              Is Pokémon Ruby the best Pokémon game? No, that title goes to Omega Ruby. I’m half kidding. I think Ruby set Pokémon off in a weird direction, but not in the worst way. The battle mechanics alone couldn’t carry the series on for as long as it has. They needed to introduce new things. Ruby introduced odd side things like secret bases and Pokémon Contests, and while those didn’t really take off, I’m glad they were there. It was Gamefreak experimenting with new things and I will never be against that. But more than that, I think Ruby stands out as having the last Pokémon world that was full of mystery and rewarded taking the less travelled path with something that you might not understand without exploring more. If you haven’t tried either of the Gen 3 games, I highly recommend trying out Omega Ruby. It has very good quality of life changes and is by far the easiest Pokémon games to get into without holding your hand every step of the way. Its world wasn’t impressive because of aesthetics or story-dependent changes. It was just unassuming in its mystery and I think there is a value in having that sometimes. It’s okay to not see everything, but if you do, you will find something that others may not have.