Pokémon Alpha Sapphire - Nintendo 3DS

I havent played a Pokemon title since Pokemon Yellow so take my opinion with a grain of salt, but this game is AWESOME so far. Literally everything I wanted Pokemon to look like when I was a kid. I never played Sapphire, so the whole game is new to me. It has so many familiar kinks from generation 1, but has improved in so many ways. For people that played X and Y, you know what to expect. My only gripes with the series is that its hard to Catch Them All when your inventory is stuck at 6. I understand they only want you to have 6 available pokemon when out in battle, and once you can Fly it becomes much easier, but Id like to a see an on-the-fly inventory storing system thats NOT worse than Borderlands 2 so I can actually collect more at a time when Im out and about. Also, no difficulty settings. I like to slow-pace myself through games, and I have to keep myself from over-leveling too many of my pokemon. Overall, 9.5/10.

it arrived a little early and in perfect condition. My son says its a little harder to get started w the game, but hes a newer gamer and young. So take that w a grain of salt. He also got a new playing system (the 3ds vs the 2ds) at the same time.

First things first. If you get the reference in the review headline, kudos! :) Alright, down to business. Many people who are considering this game are long-time Pokemon fans who have played the original Ruby, Sapphire and/or Emerald. Many consider the Hoenn region to be the best of all of the regions to date. If this is how you feel, you wont be let down by this game. Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire rebuild the entirety of the Hoenn region in spectacular 3D. Every route is nearly identical. Some routes and areas have new paths or areas tacked on to give them a fresh, remastered feel. Nintendo left no stone unturned in this remastered Hoenn region. SUPER-SECRET BASES The secret bases of the original game make their return with WiFi features! Its great fun to decorate your base in a manner that makes it quite difficult (but NOT impossible) to take your flag. :) POKEMON Nothing new to see here! Thats probably a relief. Im sure many long-time fans of the original R/S/E wouldnt like to see new Pokemon from later generations added to the wild Pokemon roster. :) You can find wild Pokemon from other generations after defeating the Elite 4, but not during your normal pre-Elite 4 playthrough. POKENAV PLUS The PokeNav Plus is a great upgrade to the original PokeNav. You still receive the Player Search System (or PSS) for online functions, Super Training and Pokemon Amie. Other new features are added, such as the DexNav which allows you to search for and chain specific Pokemon similarly to the PokeRadar. The AreaNav is essentially the town map, but on the lower screen! It can show you where you have berries ready to harvest, the Trainers Eyes app is there, and you can locate Super-Secret Bases with it, as well! EXPLORING The Hoenn region was probably the first region to really include any in-depth exploration opportunities. All the same opportunities exist, with a few extra thrown in! Some routes have new areas or paths tacked on, and there are entirely new secret areas added for Super-Secret Bases! ;) EXPERIENCE Overall, I have more than 80 hours pumped into this game (I only play when my girlfriend does) and still have not gone to the Elite 4. There is just that much to do in the game. The DexNav has taken up the majority of my time, though. But be careful with the DexNav and Exp. Share! As a result of my abuse of the DexNav and always-on Exp. Share (you can turn it off), my entire team is over leveled by upwards of 25! My Sceptile is almost level 70 and I still dont have the Sootopolis badge. CONCLUSION If you like Pokemon, this should be a no-brainer. If you liked the original Ruby, Sapphire and/or Emerald, this should be a no-brainer. What are you waiting for? Grab yourself a copy today!

Absolutely amazing I expect to get a used version of the game in a smaller box but no brand new still sealed in the plastic absolutely 10 out of 10

Respectable game, but not as good as the original R/S/E.

It was a wonderful purchase

First note that you can acquire a few bonuses by completing the demo from the Nintendo e-shop. I recommend doing this so you can receive a mega Glalie or mega Steelix (I got Glalie). There are also additional Mossdeep villagers and heart scale sets, pokeballs, etc... 10 times playing through the demo will clear it. This is actually a remake (for the nine people who didnt know it) for Pokemon Sapphire (and Ruby) for the GBA over 10 years ago. The graphics and sound have been dramatically improved of course. There are also additional improvements and additions that were not present in the original games. Since I started my Pokemon playing with the DS game Pokemon Diamond, I have not played the original. Ive delved into the game a bit and I can address a few pros and cons for fans of the series: + This is a gorgeous game, graphics are on par with X and Y. + Music is catchy and high quality when listening through headphones. + Mega Evoultions! + Better online connectivity and online vs modes, Streetpass is great. + Lots of places to use HMs, so a nice need to balance your party. + Free range flying later in the game. + Decorating your own base! - Lots of water to traverse... - Mostly repetitive for those whove played the originals - Only partially 3D for those that like 3D modes (which I dont use anyway), mainly in battle. IGN gave this a pretty average rating (7.8 - the original was 9.5), but it IS a remake, so you cant expect too many advancements and improvements!

This is a pretty long review. I summed up the entire thing in the very final, short paragraph. If you want to get specific then read the whole thing. Otherwise, just go straight to the bottom, and read the last paragraph. Before I get started, I should say that this is my first Pokemon game. Ever. Everybody always told me that Pokemon is amazing and all that but I never really believed them. I heard it so much that I decided to buckle down and try it. This game is pretty awesome. There is a lot to cover, so Ill try to make it brief. It starts off with you moving to another town, from who-knows-where. If it was mentioned, I forgot. You are next door neighbors to the Pokemon Professor dude, and hes pretty cool. So basically, you go to meet him and hes gone. Asking around a bit, he was on some route studying Pokemon. When you find him he is being chased by a Pokemon, so you choose your starter and fend the aggressive Pokemon off. From there, what you do is simple: you travel around the region, collecting more Pokemon, strengthening them, while collecting enough gym badges to enter the Pokemon league. Those are the absolute basics, there is a LOT more plot and all, but I dont want to ruin it for anybody. If you dont know what a gym badge is, Ill tell ya: there are gyms with strong Pokemon trainers as the leader. 8 to be exact. You go to the gym, challenge the trainer, and if you win you get a specific badge. You can only get one once. Each of the badges has some special abilities that you can use once you get them. There is a tad more to it than that, but youll figure it out once you get playing. It isnt hard. There are different approaches to playing this game. Some people want to try and collect any and every Pokemon they ever come across. Even if they already have one of that kind. Some people want to get one of each. Some people want to get what ones they need and just ditch the rest. However you play is up to you. I personally dont ditch any, but I dont go for every single one either. If i dont have it, and I kinda want it, Ill try to get it. I have heard that in Pokemon X/Y, you customize your trainer. I havent played either, although I plan to. Point is that there is no character customization to be had here. There are more things to do with your Pokemon than catch them and force them to fight, like this is some sort of animal fighting ring. There is a place in the menus called Pokemon Amie. I have no clue what Amie means, but basically this is the place where you play with your Pokemon. You can pet them, certain areas of them make them angry. You can feed them, luckily you cant overfeed them. You can play mini games with them, like puzzle tiles for example. The more you do these things with them, the more affection they will have for you. Eventually, if they have enough affection, it can have some SERIOUS bonuses in battle. They can shake off negative status effects because they want to impress you or whatever. They can survive a hit that would normally would have made them faint, forcing you to throw out another Pokemon. Small things like that are more helpful than you would think. There is a super training place for your Pokemon next to the Pokemon Amie. I cant tell you much about it because I never use it. Then, there is online play.Online play allows you to do many things. You can battle people on your friends list. You can battle random people who are in the same area as you in the game (you dont see them). You can trade. The battle and trade things are pretty self explanatory, so I wont bother going into those, but there is one thing you should be aware of, which is Wonder Trade. Wonder Trade allows you to put up a Pokemon of your choosing. If you decide to trade it, THERE IS NO GOING BACK AT ALL FAIR WARNING. Once you choose the Pokemon you are going to trade, you are paired with another random person who is using Wonder Trade as well, and you trade Pokemon. You have no idea what it is going to be until you receive it. They keep whatever nickname the Original Trainer gave them, and there is no way to change them. Some of the names are obscene. I wont even name one because they get so bad, but honestly it is pretty rare that you get an obscene name. Ive only ever come across it twice. There are some problems with Wonder Trade though. It is 100% random. There isnt anything like Only Pokemon above lvl 50 will be counted nothing like that. As a result, out of every 10 Wonder Trades you do, 9 will be a level 1 Pokemon that usually sucks. I didnt even know it was possible to get these Pokemon at level one. I think there might be a way to breed Pokemon but I have no clue. Thats the only explanation I can come up with other than hacks. Consider yourself warned: Wonder Trade is not, in any way, wonderful. There is only really one other thing that I should mention before I end this review: trainers. They are everywhere. I mean everywhere. Its unbelievably annoying. Trainers are NPC characters that battle you. If you walk in front of them, or basically anywhere near them, a battle begins. It isnt like would you like to battle? Yes/No You walk in front of them and the battle begins. No joke. There is no way to tell if somebody is a trainer or not. Just assume that everybody is, because probably 90% of all other characters in the game are trainers you must battle. There is no way to escape the battle besides quitting the game. They like to stand next to doorways that you are required to get through to continue the game. There are very few that are avoidable. It gives you a lot of experience points, and aside from selling stuff it is the only way you can get money that I am aware of. But there are just SO MANY. You walk not even 10 steps, then BAM a trainer goes nice weather for a picnic, huh? and then a battle begins. They say the most random things for the start of a battle... To sum up, a nice game. Fun, lots of different styles of playing for different gamers. The only real downs to this game I can come up with are Wonder Trade and Trainer Battles. Wonder Trade is something that one can just ignore. The trainers are an annoyance, but the rest of the game is good enough that you are fine with having to battle them as long as you get to continue. They dont ruin the game, they just make it tedious. I would say 5 stars. It has its negatives, like every game ever, but is has enough goods to outweigh the negatives. Update: A few days after completing the game. I have a few things to add. There is only one save file in this game. You cant have multiple, you can only have one. I found out about this thing called the Nuzlocke challenge and I really want to do it, but that would mean deleting my current save. Not only is it my first Pokemon game save ever, it also has a couple Pokemon in it that you can only possibly ever get once. Other than trading, there isnt any way to get a Diance after the event ended...that I know of. Whats important is that if I deleted my save file, it would all be gone forever. The game saves onto the cartridge, not the SD card, so I couldnt copy the save to my computer. If there were two save files then that would be great. It would also allow you to try different methods of raising your Pokemon. There are many different ways to complete your goals in this game, but I cant try them without deleting precious mementos of extreme rarity. And one more thing: the rival of this game is the most annoying character ever. A lot of people love him, but I personally cannot stand him. My main problem is that he gets too sentimental whenever something happens. For instance, every time you battle him and win, this really dramatic music begins to play and he goes on a speech about how much youve helped him grow not only as a trainer, but as a person blablahblah its annoying. And it only gets worse and lasts longer as you get further into the game. And he always wears pajamas. I personally would like a rival who gave me a reason to want to beat them. A good reason. Doing something that got in the way of completing something important, like taking the starter that you had already chosen and forcing you to pick another. Stealing a key item or whatever while you were busy. I dont know, something! All I think when I run into this guy is Man, I just want to absolutely obliterate his Pokemon so he wont bother me anymore I know hell keep coming, but hes an annoyance. I want one that makes me think ugh! I need to show this guy whos boss! I hope he battles me! You know. And it wouldnt hurt to make the rival related to the story. Update: So it has been a while after I beat the Pokemon League for the first time. Decided I should add more things. I have owned this game for close to a month now, and I still havent gotten even close to 100% completion. I recently have started going around visiting secret bases of fellow players, and it is pretty fun. You can add the owner of the secret base to your own if you want to, and they are available for battle once a day. They only use 3 pokemon, but they can be pretty difficult. Its good experience points and money if you want to train some of your Pokemon. Theres those contest things, but I have no interest in them. Online battles are available, but I have heard about bad things happening to players who participate recently. I have been told that some people hack their cartridges or something, and make it so that if you online battle them, your save file is deleted. So, I am avoiding it like the plague. Then there is catching more Pokemon.The thing about the Pokemon catching part is that you really have to be into the catch em all! slogan. To me, catching them all seems like too much of a chore, especially since there isnt even enough room on the game cart to hold all pokemon available in the game. Besides the fact that I dont think you get any items for getting them all. Not enough incentive for me. However, that doesnt mean that you shouldnt do it. For all I know, there may be some special item at the end of the long road. Or maybe you just enjoy catching as much stuff as possible. The fun factor of the post-game content really depends on what kind of player you are. I am the kind that wont do a tedious and painstaking task if it doesnt have some sort of reward at the end of it. Some players really just like to entirely do every single thing in the game just because they can, or for bragging rights. Whatever it is, you can still enjoy yourself once the main and secondary story end, because there is still lots to do.

game is a 5 star the 3 star review is because the version I purchased was the US/Canada one but they sent me the U.A.E./Saudi Arabia/Malaysia/Singapore version this will work in the US/Canada but is not the same or worth the same amount.

Highly recommend