Pokémon Emerald
File:Pokemonemeraldboxart.jpg
Developer(s)	Game Freak
Publisher(s)	Nintendo
Platform(s)	Game Boy Advance
Release	September 16, 2004 May 1, 2005 June 9, 2005 October 21, 2005
Genre(s)	Console role-playing game
Mode(s)	Single player, Multiplayer

Pokémon Emerald (ポケットモンスター　エメラルド, Poketto Monsutā Emerarudo) is a title in the Pokémon series of video games. It was released for the Game Boy Advance in Japan on September 16 2004, in nnNorth America]] and Hong Kong on May 1 2005, in Australia on June 9 2005, and in Europe on October 21 2005.

The game is an enhanced remake of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, adding to the third generation of Pokémon games. Like the games it was based on, the player controls a Pokémon trainer, whose general goal is to traverse around the Hoenn region and capture Pokémon. Like Ruby and Sapphire, the game features the third generation pokémon, but also adds some second generation pokémon that were once limited to Pokémon Colosseum. The National Pokédex is also available without trading.

The game follows the same storyline as Ruby and Sapphire, but adds new elements such as the Battle Frontier, where the player can enter Pokémon battles with other trainers. The elements have been considered by many to be major additions, and the popularity of the Pokémon franchise had seen the game meet commercial success. Emerald was 2005’s second best-selling game in the United States.^[1]

Story

Template:Spoiler Emerald features a slightly modified version of the story from Ruby and Sapphire, with both Team Magma and Team Aqua serving as villains, and both Groudon and Kyogre making appearances.

Beginning

The story begins with the player moving to their new home in Littleroot Town, where their neighbours include Professor Birch, a renowned Pokémon researcher, and his child. The child is May if the player is a girl or Brendan if the player is a boy. Afterwards the player hears a cry for help, and sees the Professor being attacked by a wild Zigzagoon. Taking control of one of his Pokémon, the player must drive off the Zigzagoon, receiving as a reward the Pokémon they used. Birch then sends the player north to find his child, who challenges the player to a friendly practice battle. The two head back to Littleroot, where the protagonist decides to become a Pokémon Trainer, and sets out to visit their father, Norman, who happens to be the Gym Leader of Petalburg City. After Norman refuses to battle his inexperienced progeny, he sends his greenhorn child on a quest to defeat some of his weaker counterparts.

Team Aqua and Team Magma

On the way, the player encounters Team Aqua, a criminal syndicate bent on flooding the land to expand the ocean and sea. Eventually the player meets Archie, the leader of the organization. Archie warns the protagonist not to interfere with Team Aqua’s plan. Travelling onward, the hero meets Team Magma, a parallel group that wishes to increase the landmass. Learning that Team Magma has stolen a meteorite, and is using it in an attempt to force dormant volcano Mt. Chimney to erupt, the player must team up with Archie. The two clash with Maxie, the head of Team Magma, and successfully prevent the volcano from awakening and erupting.

Team Magma and Team Aqua's plan

Part 1

When the player encounters Team Aqua again, they are holding hostage a group of scientists that have supposedly learned how to control the weather. The battle is interrupted though, when they learn that Team Magma is racing to a Pokémon cemetery called Mt. Pyre in hopes of stealing a precious artifact held there, the Blue Orb. Delayed by Team Aqua, the player sees Archie stealing its counterpart, the Red Orb. One of Mt. Pyre’s caretakers entrusts the protagonist with the Magma Emblem (a medal like key item), a medal engraved with Team Magma’s crest. Following Archie to the seaport of Slateport City, the player watches helplessly as he steals a prototype submarine. Back at Mt. Chimney, the Magma Emblem can be used to open the door to Team Magma’s hideout. Confronting Maxie, the hero learns of his plan to use the Blue Orb to reawaken Groudon, an ancient Pokémon with the power to control heat and sunlight, and use Groudon’s powers to dry up the ocean. Although Maxie is defeated in battle, it is too late to stop Groudon from awakening. Unfortunately, the beast doesn’t respond to Maxie’s orders and disappears. Distraught, Maxie and his cohorts flee.

Part 2

Heading to the seaside town of Lilycove, the protagonist spies a cave on the coast, which turns out to be Archie’s base of operations. Held up by constant attacks from Aqua grunts, he/she arrives too late, as Archie departs in his submarine. The player continues on to the Mossdeep City Space Center and obtains the power to Dive to the ocean floor. As he/she leaves, Team Magma invades the space center. The team plans to use the rocket fuel to ignite Mt. Chimney in a furious eruption; doing so will destroy their base and any evidence along with it. Defeated for a third time with the help of a local named Steven, Maxie realizes that his ideals were twisted, and he sets out to find Archie. Meanwhile, the player Dives down to a seafloor cavern, and finds a sleeping water Pokémon, [Kyogre],which has the power to create tidal waves and massive rainstorms. Archie arrives and reveals his plan to use Kyogre to flood Hoenn After the Red Orb awakes Kyogre, the leviathan departs, and Maxie arrives to inform the player and Archie that bizarre weather is affecting much of the surrounding area. Outside, the weather shifts between fierce rains and blazing heat, as Groudon and Kyogre resume the confrontation they started ages ago. If their battle continues, eventually the weather system of the whole world will be thrown out of balance and will cause mayhem.

Team Aqua and Team Magma's plan spoiled

At Sootopolis City, the battleground, Maxie and Archie try in vain to pacify the two legendary Pokémon. Learning of a third ancient Pokémon, Rayquaza, from a resident of the city named Wallace, the player heads to the ancient Sky Pillar, Rayquaza’s home. Roused by the trainer’s presence, the giant dragon heads to Sootopolis and forces the two combatants back down, averting the disaster.Template:Endspoiler

Changes from Ruby and Sapphire

File:Brendan May Emerald.PNG

While Emerald’s relation to Ruby and Sapphire is similar to that of Pokémon Yellow to Pokémon Red and Blue and Pokémon Crystal to Pokémon Gold and Silver, it also adds more dramatic changes and revamps than its two predecessors.

Graphical

• The playable characters/rivals have new, green-themed outfits.
• Because Ruby and Sapphire were released during a time when the Game Boy Advance did not have a backlit screen, Nintendo completely redid most of the graphics for Emerald, making most of the colors slightly lighter, similar to FR/LG’s palette.
• The developers changed some of the graphical elements and added various sprites. They also improved on the new graphical engine which was introduced in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen.
• During battle, the sprites of the Pokémon are now animated in the beginning, demonstrating various taunts and poses.
• The sprite for the FireRed and LeafGreen trainer when linking with FireRed/LeafGreen has been added. In Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire they looked just like the default male or female in Ruby and Sapphire.
• The narrow font from Ruby and Sapphire was replaced by a font similar to the FireRed/Leaf Green font.

Plot

Some of these changes reflect plot points introduced or altered in Pokémon Advanced Battle, or perhaps the other way around.

• New cut scenes involving Groudon, Kyogre, and Rayquaza can be seen during certain parts of the game.
• The whole “trinity” of legendary Pokémon appears: Rayquaza before the player beats the Elite Four, and Groudon and Kyogre afterwards.
• Wallace, the Gym Leader of Sootopolis City in Ruby and Sapphire, has been replaced by Juan (another Water-type trainer). Wallace has been promoted to the position of Champion, the fifth trainer in the "Elite Four" sequence.
• Steven, the previous Champion, has gone on to search for more rare stones. Steven's father, the president of Devon Corp, suggests that, in his opinion, meteorites are the rarest of stones. Oddly, when talking to Steven in Meteor Falls before fighting him, he remembers fighting alongside your character in the Mossdeep Space Center, but refers to it as the "Sootopolis Space Center".

Pokémon additions

• A new exclusive Deoxys form can be obtained: Speed. Deoxys must be obtained through the Aurora Ticket, which could only be obtained through special events, such as the Pokémon Rocks America event or the “Deoxys Hunt” event that took place at Vue cinemas in October 2005 in the UK. Alternatively, the Aurora Ticket, or simply Deoxys itself, can be obtained by Game Shark and Action Replay- this is often done by owners of the game who will never have a chance to legitimately obtain this Pokémon. Also Deoxys can be obtained by buying certain versions of Pokemon Channel then linking the GBA to the Gamecube by way of the Nintendo GameCube-Game Boy Advance cable.
• One can obtain the Mystic and Aurora Tickets from FireRed and LeafGreen for acquiring Deoxys, Ho-oh, and Lugia. In addition, a new Old Sea Map is used for acquiring Mew at a place called Faraway Island. As usual, the tickets are only obtainable at a Nintendo event, or via Game Shark and Action Replay.
• The legendary Pokémon Rayquaza can now be obtained at the top of the Sky Pillar after you defeat the Elite Four.
• Some Basic Pokémon that were not available in Ruby and Sapphire are now available in emerald-exclusive areas. These include Smeargle, Ditto, Mareep, Houndour, Pineco, Teddiursa, Aipom, Shuckle, Stantler, Sunkern, Spinarak, Hoothoot, Snubbull, Gligar, Wooper, Remoraid, Ledyba and Miltank.

Marine and Terra Caves

The Marine cave contains the Legendary Pokémon Kyogre, and the Terra cave houses Groudon. The two caves can be entered after defeating the Elite Four in Pokémon Emerald. The Terra cave will be on the land, and the Marine cave will be at the bottom of the sea, both appearing in random places. In the game's preceding versions, Pokémon Ruby and Pokémon Sapphire, Groudon and Kyogre were found in the Cave of Origin in Ruby and Sapphire, respectively. The Terra Cave and Marine Cave are found by talking to a scientist in the Weather Institute near Fortree City who says there is a drought or heavy rainfall on a certain route in Hoenn.

Comparison to Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen

Pokémon Emerald was released in Japan only 9 months after Pokémon FireRed and Pokémon LeafGreen. However, Emerald lacked notable features that were added into FireRed and LeafGreen. The remakes contained a help menu by pressing the L or R buttons, a considerably more advanced PokéDex that sorted Pokémon by type, habitat, alphabetical order, weight and rarity, and an event recap feature that allowed gamers to remember what they did before saving the game. It is unknown why these were not included into Emerald. It is thought that this was done as to keep the system the same for all three Hoenn games (Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald) as to not confuse people who were used to the old Ruby/Sapphire style of the game. However, Emerald was not meant to replace FireRed and LeafGreen, but rather compliment them in order for the PokéDex to be completed. Pokemon Emerald is also compatible with a wireless link adapter. This adapter allows 2-4 trainers to compete or trade wirelessly.

Notes and references

External links

• Pokémon Website
• Pokémon Games Emerald page (requires Flash Player)
• Official Japanese site’s Emerald page
• PKMN.NET, a full Emerald section of hints, tips and walkthroughs
• Serebii.net, a resource for many Pokémon-related topics
• Psypoke’s Pokémon Emerald section, provides game help and information for Pokémon Emerald

Template:PokémonGames