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Pokémon Emerald

Pokémon Emerald Version (Japanese: ポケットモンスター エメラルド Pocket Monsters Emerald) is a sister game to Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, and is the fifth and final Generation III main series game. Like its predecessor, Pokémon Crystal, it added many features not present in the earlier paired versions.

It was the second highest selling video game of 2005 in North America. It was also the third best-selling game for the Game Boy Advance, losing to its two predecessors, Ruby and Sapphire and FireRed and LeafGreen. Emerald was the final main series game released on the Game Boy line of handhelds.

Changes from Ruby and Sapphire

Aesthetic changes

• Vigoroth move boxes into Brendan's or May's house instead of Machoke (though the cries are not changed due to an oversight, but this was corrected in the v1.1 release), while a Zigzagoon replaces the Poochyena chasing Professor Birch.
  • Similarly, the first Pokémon Trainer fought aside from the rival has a Poochyena.
• Animated Pokémon front sprites return for the first time since Pokémon Crystal. This feature was defined as standard for the main series Pokémon games ever since. Emerald is also the first game to have animated back sprites.
• Every Gym has received at least a slight reorganization due to the addition of Trainers for the option of Double Battles. Some of these Gyms received complete overhauls in their designs, such as the Mossdeep Gym, which was given a different puzzle for navigating through it.
• The color of the Champion room at the Elite Four changed from purple to blue.
• The legendary Pokémon battle intros include a different animation before moving into the battle scene. This animation involves the body patterns of the weather trio and the legendary golems's braille eye patterns.

Storyline changes

• Both Team Magma and Team Aqua are featured as the villainous teams, each stirring trouble at different stages in the game. The objective of each team, to awaken Groudon and Kyogre, respectively, is eventually fulfilled.
• Rayquaza is prominent plot-wise, awakened in order to stop the destructive battle between Groudon and Kyogre. It is the one out of the three ancient Pokémon that can be captured prior to the Elite Four challenge, while still at the same place and at the same high level as in Ruby and Sapphire.

Gameplay changes

• Groudon and Kyogre are captured at new locations and at higher levels.
• The entrances to the Magma and Aqua Hideouts are not sealed after defeating the Elite Four.
• The roaming Pokémon across Hoenn, Latias or Latios, can be selected right after beating the Elite Four. The one that is not selected is available on Southern Island, requiring the promotional Eon Ticket.
• The Regis' puzzles are somewhat different, though the same in principle.
• Wireless linking with Union Room, as in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen.
• Tag Battles are available outside link-cable battling. Featured in the Battle Tower with a computer player (or, using the Wireless Adapter, a human player), as well as at the Space Center stage of the game, battling alongside Steven.
• Double Battles are more common as different Trainers can team up if the player is able to be spotted by two Trainers at once.
• Gym Leaders may be rebattled in Double Battles, with new Pokémon on their teams that are not regularly found in Hoenn.
• The Trainer's Eyes in the PokéNav is replaced by Match Call, which integrated a calling system similar to the Pokégear cellphone.
• Chikorita, Cyndaquil, or Totodile may be acquired from Professor Birch after catching every Pokémon in the Hoenn Pokédex.
• Deoxys is in its Speed Forme.
• New map effects for abilities.
• New item list for Pickup; Pokémon pick up items based on Pokémon's level.
• Abilities have a role in breeding as Magma Armor and Flame Body hurry up the hatching process if a Pokémon which has them is in the party.
• Having a female Pokémon or Ditto of the breeding pair hold an Everstone grants a 50% chance of passing down their nature to the hatched Pokémon when breeding.
• Raise friendship and lower effort values with certain Berries.
• The Mystery Gift option of the Wireless Adapter primarily replaces the Mystery Events option of the e-Reader. The Enigma Berry is thus obtained through Mystery Gift, unlike in Ruby and Sapphire. Mystery Events are absent from the English version of the game.
• Pokémon Contests are all held in Lilycove City.
• Unlike Ruby and Sapphire, trade restrictions between games are in place. Trading with Ruby and Sapphire as well as with another Emerald only allows trading of Pokémon indigenous to Hoenn while the player possesses only the country's regional Pokédex, while the National Pokédex is required to trade with FireRed and LeafGreen and XD: Gale of Darkness. This restriction also includes Pokémon Eggs from Ruby or Sapphire regardless if it contains a regional Pokémon. However, trading with Colosseum only requires the Hoenn Pokédex regardless of the Pokémon being traded.
•  All the Gym Leaders from Ruby and Sapphire, including former Gym Leader Wallace, have upgraded Pokémon teams. The changes include the addition of Pokémon they did not have in Ruby and Sapphire, or in rare cases some of their previous Pokémon are removed from their team.
•  Emerald is the first game to have at least one of the Gym Leader's Pokémon hold onto an item.

Character changes

• Brendan and May have slight outfit changes.
• Contest Lady, Quiz Lady, or Favor Lady in Lilycove Pokémon Center.
• New move tutors added, including most of the ones in FireRed and LeafGreen (all but Frenzy Plant, Blast Burn and Hydro Cannon), along with 15 others that teach moves previously acquired through Generation II TMs.
• A new Gym Leader in the Sootopolis Gym, Juan, while its former Gym Leader Wallace is now the Pokémon Champion.
• The former champion Steven can be fought in Meteor Falls after the Elite Four challenge, with all of his Pokémon at exactly 20 levels higher than in Ruby and Sapphire.
• Scott, a new character introduced in Emerald, will meet the player numerous times throughout the game, ultimately inviting the player to the Battle Frontier.

Area additions

• The Fossils (Root Fossil, Claw Fossil) in the desert are now found in a short-lived tower called Mirage Tower that sinks into the ground once a Fossil is chosen. However, the other Fossil can now be acquired after the Elite Four challenge.
• Battle Tents replace Pokémon Contest Halls in Verdanturf Town, Fallarbor Town and Slateport City. Instead, all contests take place in Lilycove City.
• A new battle area, Trainer Hill, which is similar to Trainer Tower found in FireRed and LeafGreen. Features e-Reader compatibility in the Japanese version.
• Another new battle area, the Battle Frontier, an expansion of the existing Battle Tower. This is also the only place to find a wild Sudowoodo and Smeargle (Inside Artisan Cave) in the Generation III handheld games.
• New areas within the Safari Zone and Desert Underpass, introducing 19 Pokémon native to Johto and Kanto. 12 of these Pokémon consist of Johto Pokémon that can only be found in this version other than the Johto Starters, Sudowoodo, and Smeargle, while the other 7 can also be found in FireRed and LeafGreen.
• Terra Cave and Marine Cave, accessible only after defeating Elite Four, are home to Groudon and Kyogre, respectively. The caves are not fixed to one location, and in order to track them it is necessary to investigate the unusual patterns concluded by the Weather Institute.
• Navel Rock, where Lugia and Ho-Oh appear, as well as Birth Island, where Deoxys appears, can be reached in the same way as in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen.
• Mew appears on Faraway Island, an island that is located remote from Hoenn. Reaching the island requires a special promotional item, the Old Sea Map.
• Altering Cave was added, as in the one found in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen.
• The wireless minigame house was added to Mossdeep City, as in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen.
• Utilizing the GameShark device, players can find hidden music in the games, including music originally used in Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal.
• While Team Aqua's hideout is at Lilycove City just like in Sapphire, Team Magma's hideout has been moved to a hidden cave at Jagged Pass and has been given a completely new design. Also, Magma Hideout is now where Groudon is first encountered.

Missing Pokémon

These Hoenn Pokédex Pokémon are missing from Emerald and must be traded to the game from another Generation III game to be obtained. While wild Surskit can appear in Emerald, the player needs to mix records with a copy of Ruby or Sapphire Version in order for Surskit to appear by way of swarming; otherwise, Surskit cannot be legally caught without the aid of another game.

Missing Pokémon
0283 Surskit Bug Water RS 0284 Masquerain Bug Flying RS 0307 Meditite Fighting Psychic RS 0308 Medicham Fighting Psychic RS 0315 Roselia Grass Poison RS 0335 Zangoose Normal R 0337 Lunatone Rock Psychic S

Compatibility

Emerald maintained the same levels of compatibility as its companion games Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire and Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen. Trading between each of these games is possible, but not with games from Generations I and II. This utilizes the traditional link cable, or alternatively, the GBA Wireless Adapter like in FireRed and LeafGreen.

While Emerald cannot trade directly with the Generation IV games Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, HeartGold, and SoulSilver, a player's Pokémon may be permanently transferred via Pal Park, and some of the Generation II Pokémon introduced into the Hoenn Safari Zone extension can be found using the dual-slot mode.

Reception

Many reviews criticized Emerald for being too similar to Ruby and Sapphire, with Game Informer stating that "there simply aren't enough changes to make this a must-buy."^[4] However, IGN gave the game an "Impressive" rating of 8/10, stating that there are "special, newly-created treats sprinkled throughout the experience to make experiencing this repeat worthwhile."^[5]

Trivia

• Pokémon Emerald was the first game to feature Gym Leader rematches.
• Although Pokémon Emerald is a modified version of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, a number of changes occurred to make it more similar to Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen:
  • The game's font has been changed to one very similar to that of FireRed and LeafGreen.
  • The PP counter for a move now changes color depending on how many power points are left.
  • The two event locations from FireRed and LeafGreen, Navel Rock and Birth Island, make a return.
  • Altering Cave, from FireRed and LeafGreen, returns in Emerald.
  • All of the music tracks from FireRed and LeafGreen were inserted to Emerald, but only a handful are actually used:
    • The Pokémon Caught fanfare was changed to the one from FireRed and LeafGreen.
    • Navel Rock plays the music that was used in the routes outside Five Island.
    • Altering Cave plays the music that was used in Mt. Moon.
    • Battles with the non-Hoenn legendary Pokémon (Mew, Lugia, Ho-Oh) use the music from battles with legendary Pokémon in FireRed and LeafGreen.
• Emerald was released in Japan one week after FireRed and LeafGreen were released in North America.
• Groudon and Kyogre appear in Fiore after the game's ending. The two seem to have been hurt in a battle, which took place in Hoenn according to Emerald.
• The game uses a faulty implementation of the pseudorandom number generator used in Generation III and IV games, which allows literally identical personality values for a Pokémon even after multiple resets. The game neglects to reseed the PRNG on startup (only doing so when the adventure is begun), which means that the personality values of an encountered Pokémon follow a predictable sequence once the seed is found and/or forced.
• Emerald has many similarities with Pokémon Platinum: both are the third versions of their respective storylines, add a Battle Frontier in the place of the regional Battle Tower, are represented by the final member of a legendary trio which was not confirmed to be part of it beforehand, and share features with the remakes of their generation that are not present in the original paired games.
• All of the Hoenn Pokédex Pokémon not available in Emerald may be obtained through Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness alone.
• Pokémon Emerald Version is the last main series Pokémon game made for the Gameboy series.
  • It was also the last game with a color cartridges ever made.
• GameStop released a special tin with a Battle Pass and more. People could get it if they pre-ordered Pokémon Emerald online.
• Although Pokémon Emerald was released after Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen and the former's game engine was based on the latter's, Pokémon Emerald didn't retain the moveset changes of all Pokémon from the latter games, instead retaining the moveset from Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. This was fixed on Pokémon Diamond and Pearl and onwards. However, there are now changes:
  • Some Pokémon retained their FireRed and LeafGreen updated move(s) on their level-up moveset, such as Nidoking's Megahorn.
  • The said move(s) of some Pokémon were now able to be learned via egg moves by breeding, TMs, HMs, and move tutor instead, such as Charmander's Metal Claw.
  • Diglett and Dugtrio can't learn Fury Swipes anymore, possibly due to the fact that both have no hands or that their hands are not visible, although this is unconfirmed. However, the player can transfer both with said move from Generation III to Generation IV and onwards by transferring it via Pal Park in Generation IV and transferring it via Poké Transfer in Generation V.

In other languages

Language Title Japanese ポケットモンスター エメラルド European French Pokémon Version Émeraude German Pokémon Smaragd-Edition Italian Pokémon Versione Smeraldo Korean 포켓몬스터 에메랄드1 European Spanish Pokémon Edición Esmeralda

• 1: Although this game was not translated into Korean, this name is still used on official Pokémon material in South Korea.

See also

• Staff of Pokémon Emerald

References

Template:Main series

This game-related article is part of Project Games, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon games.