Pokémon Alpha Sapphire - Nintendo 3DS

Cartridge was not in good condition but worked fine

For the beginner, this is a fantastic step into the Pokemon franchise. It has all the characters, creatures, and plots that made me love this series. But for the girl whos played every Pokemon since Pokemon Blue on her grape purple Gameboy Color.. somethings lost. I love this series. I love Pokemon. (My favorite is Psyduck!) Pokemon X and Y got me amped up for this remake, to the point I was jittery waiting for my shipment to arrive at home. I tore this open, breezed through the beginning, and then for the first time, I actually grew so disenchanted that I put this down. Its not a bad game. Its just a remake and thats exactly what it feels like. In comparison to the remake of HeartGold and SoulSilver, which added a smorgasbord of new, exciting content, Alpha Sapphire/Omega Ruby just prettied things up and took a few steps backward. Remember how they gave us the Berry pots in Black/White and the Berry Farm in X/Y? Yeah, you now get the privilege of once again traveling from route to route to pick and replant berries. Remember how the contests were just animations of your Pokemon making attacks from behind? Same thing. Despite the painstaking process Gamefreak and Nintendo took to do 3D animations of attacks from all sides, contests are EXACTLY what they were before. Remember how annoying it was to travel to Mauville City to change your bike from Acro to Mach? You have to do the same damn thing now. Pokemon Amie, Super Trainer, and PSS were GREAT additions to the franchise, but were they so great that they needed to be included exactly as they were in X/Y? Apparently, Nintendo thought so. We didnt even get any new games with Pokemon Amie! This just screams laziness to me. Character customization, a feature I enjoyed ridiculously, has been removed in its entirety. Why? I feel that the AI is incredibly dumbed down. Ive had no trouble whatsoever with the gym leaders, and Im almost to my eighth badge. I even switched my Pokemon team just to see if the battles would be any more challenging--theyre not. Even the bad guy bosses are ridiculously easy. I understand that this is a childrens game at its core, but one of the reasons Pokemon does so well is because of its long-term fans, who have since entered adulthood. Yes, Im 25, with a job and a house, and I still play Pokemon, but I know Im not the only one. For the price and the time spent waiting for this remake, I expected the same love and care that went into HeartGold and SoulSilver, and FireRed and LeafGreen. This game, though pretty, is nowhere near the quality Ive come to expect from Nintendo.

This review is useful for both Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire as both are practically the same game, with only slight version differences. The version differences are explained in this article: [...] This is a must have game for any Pokemon fan. I have played every generation of Pokemon game (only main series titles) and I have to say this is the best experience so far. All of the best things that you remember are present, with updates added for smoother play. This modern take on the original Ruby and Sapphire is refreshingly nostalgic, with the addition of new game elements, making the entire experience feel new. This is not meant to be a full review ( here is a link for a full review: http://kotaku.com/pokemon-omega-ruby-and-alpha-sapphire-the-kotaku-revie-1659957634 ), but I will touch on some things. - The game is much more cinematic due to 3d Before in Ruby in Sapphire (though then they were a major improvement to graphics), much was left to the imagination. In ORAS, you see things from angles you havent seen before and animations are much better. This leads you to feel much more immersed in the story. - A much better map, utilizing spotpass Before it was a chore to check on your berries. With this new map you can see when your berries are ready to be collected anywhere in the world. It will even tell you what berries you were growing. The same thing is true for trainers. This time around trainers eye is much more user friendly, letting you know exactly when and where a trainer is ready. The best thing, you can fly directly to them. No more flying to just pokemon centers. Now you can fly directly to berry and trainer locations. Bases too! You can tell if the base features that can only be used once per day are ready and can fly directly to bases. However, if you are just wandering around, the map will still pop up a berry/base/trainer notification letting you know something is ready. Super useful tool while playing. With spotpass, if you pass a friend, their base information will automatically update in your game, allowing you to find their base in your world. In addition, if you are connected to the internet, you have many options to interact with players around the world. -Super training and affection You can now super train your pokemon. In addition to giving pokemon calcium and protein (and other stat boosting items) you can actually select what base stats you wish to improve on any given pokemon. You can also grow closer with your pokemon by playing games, feeding them, and petting them. Super training can lead to seriously strong pokemon, and affectionate pokemon will dodge attacks and even negate status affecting moves. -Experience sharing Remember when you move your experience share item around your party to boost to the level of your pokemon, always preventing them from holding that one good item. NO MORE. Experience share is now a key item that you can turn on and off, allowing all pokemon in your party to experience (no pun intended) the benefits without giving up an item slot. -Seamless inclusion of mega evolution Not much more needs to be said, now you can mega evolve many 3rd generation pokemon. The already strong starters become seriously mean. -SO MUCH TO DO This is not an understatement. After one of the best story lines imo, and the pokemon league, there is still so much to do. After you finish the pokemon league, an after story called the delta episode appears. But, even before that, you unlock one of the coolest features in the game. Using either Mega Latios or Latias you can soar around all of Hoenn. This is a beautiful game, but this part has to be the most beautiful feature to date in all of Pokemon. This is the realization of the childhood imagination of what it actually would like like soaring the sky on the back of a Pokemon. With this ability you can catch (between the two versions) every single legendary that has ever been in a Pokemon game. The amount of exploration you can do is immense, making this easily one of the largest games (as far as content) yet. -You will not be bored if you played Ruby and Sapphire and Emerald before I was personally worried that this would effectively be replaying a game generation I have already put hundreds of hours into. Not the case. Though the main story is the same, you remember the similarities with a smile instead of a bored gaze. The modern improvements are really that, improvements. When you play you will recall many oh i wish...., because many of those wishes have frustration-solving improvements in ORAS. This was a remake made for players to recall the things they felt playing those games (personally my favorite, with johto and kento a close second and third of course), not simply to regurgitate material. Final thoughts: This is good. Very good. Hard to imagine good. This is so much more than any pokemon game before, which such a pleasant air of familiarity. If you ever played the original games, or played RSE, or are just completely new to the world of Pokemon, ORAS is for you. All the pleasant nostalgia with modern amenities that make it smoother, more enjoyable, and better than ever before. Definite buy. Should I buy both versions? While you need both versions to get all of the pokemon (there are time where you need two specific legendaries, one available in OR and one in AS just to unlock another legendary on your map), the ability of internet play gives you access to players around the world. The best case would be for you to get one version, and a friend to get another. There is so much content in one version alone (and the two are so similar), the other version would only a slave for getting all the pokemon. I doubt you would invest another proper play through. Since you can connect with many players for trading, I would recommend you only purchase one of the two versions.

As a person whos played since Gen 1 and has played every gen since then, I will right out say that I wasnt a fan of Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald when it first came out. Whether its the regions Pokemon, the bombastic music that starts to grate on the nerves after a while, or the fact that each and every route between towns is ridiculously empty and kinda lacking in fun content, I dont know. I just know that I didnt like the original games and if you didnt like them either, then no. This is not the game for you. It will feel like a chore to complete and I will say this now as a person who has stalled on the seventh gym not because its difficult, but because the game stopped being fun. That said, its a very faithful remake and people who were fans of the original will be thrilled with it. Its got everything you loved about Hoenn with X and Ys updated graphics/mechanics, which can give those people a huge nostalgia trip while they get to see their favorite Pokemon and gyms in living color. HOWEVER, a lot of the gameplay issues from R/S/E are still there. You dont have a Berry Farm and have to go around collecting berries from routes every day. You still have to go to Mauville to switch between the Acro and Mach bikes. And theres still a lot of water and around 7 HMs to lug around, making the need for one to maybe TWO HM slaves a necessity. Fortunately, you CAN fly to different routes and locations that arent cities or towns now, which is something that hasnt been possible in any game prior to this. As for the Safari Zone, pickings are slim if youve already filled up your PokeBank with everything you could ever need or want. The selection of Pokemon in the wild is narrow in general compared to the selection in X and Y, but if newcomers and veterans find this tedious, then the WonderTrade feature is accessible as soon as you help Wally catch his Ralts. SuperTraining and Pokemon Amie are also back, which can only be advantageous, but nothing has changed there either. Those who were hoping for new Amie mini-games may find themselves disappointed. The breeding center is still there, so shiny hunters and competitive battlers, you can still import all your X and Y Pokemon over and get back to work, but Id suggest breeding in X and Y before transferring them over just because the breeding center route isnt very comfortable for riding back and forth on your bike. You also dont have the circle in Lumiose City to do half the work for you, so keep this in mind. Mega Stone enthusiasts however, REJOICE. While a lot of stones are (presumably) in the post-game, you can still acquire many of the news ones during the main story and all the old stones from X and Y are in the game for you to find. Trading between ORAS and X/Y is possible as well, so your main concern should be beating the game in a way thats comfortable for YOU. However, you may find yourself missing some of the liberties that have come along post-Generation 3.

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!

In the aftermath of X and Y, which were staggeringly wonderful, with a dynamic PokeDex, dynamic new animation, the gloriously empowered Exp. Share and dozens of other impressive features, AS and OR were somewhat of a letdown. The game itself is a little different than it was back in Generation III, but only in ways that were redundant with X and Y. The new Mega Evolutions were wonderful, but are not available until much later in the game than in X and Y. With the Exp. Share upgraded, a game where you previously had to struggle to get a full party above level 45 you can now end up with six Pokemon in their 80s. Unfortunately, the levels of the opponents Pokemon remained the same, turning a game that was an enjoyable challenge into an unfortunate breeze. With the Battle Maison returning from X and Y, we lose the one thing that made Third Gen (or Emerald Version, at least) so enjoyable, namely an immensely diverse and challenging Battle Frontier. There are some awesome new features like the ability to find rare Pokemon and keep track of what youve caught off of each route using the Trainers Eye, but more or less, this game was a disappointment. If given a choice between playing this again or playing Emerald, Id pick Emerald again in a heartbeat. And that says nothing in comparison to X and Y.

I never played the original Alpha Sapphire game on GBA, but this remake on 3DS is great. The adventure is your standard Pokemon adventure where you get a starter Pokemon that you battle with to catch more and more Pokemon. There are a total of 8 gyms, which come with a few easy puzzles to solve, pretty standard stuff. Ive played at least 10 different Pokemon games all the way through from the original Blue Version, Yellow Version, Gold, Silver, and Crystal versions. I also played Diamond, Heart Gold, and Soul Silver, and Pokemon X. If youre looking for an adventure that will be fun and give you a dose of good old Pokemon adventure time this is a great title. It took me 18.5 hours to finish the game all the way through, so there is a great amount of value to be had here. I bought this game for $30 so that is $1.62 per hour of entertainment.

Seller didn’t bother to delete the saved data which caused a lot of consternation and upset on Christmas morning while I google searched how to fix it. Otherwise is fine.

Works great on my US 3DS

If youre looking for the non-world edition, this isnt it