Pokemon: Emerald Version ROM – GameBoy Advance (GBA)

Pokemon: Emerald Version is a 2004 role-playing video game developed by Game Freak and published by The Pokémon Company and Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. It was first released in Japan in 2004 and was later released internationally in 2005. It is the third version after Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire and is the final game of the third generation of the Pokémon video game series.

GAMEPLAY

The gameplay in Pokemon: Emerald Version is largely the same as in Ruby and Sapphire. Much of the game takes place in an overhead style; players’ characters can move in four directions and can talk to other people on the overworld. Players can encounter wild Pokémon by walking into the grass, surfing on their Pokémon, walking through caves, and other means. They can also battle other trainers’ Pokémon. When this happens, the game shifts to a battle screen where players and their Pokémon are seen on the front-left portion of the screen while opponents are viewed on the back-right portion. Stats of the Pokémon and their trainers are shown on the side of each participant; these stats include the Pokémon’s levels, each trainer’s number of Pokémon (from one to six), the Pokémon’s health, and any status effects, such as poison, paralysis or burn. Trainers send out the first Pokémon in their party and they take turns attacking where the first strike is determined usually by the speed of the two Pokémon. Players can choose from one of four options: Fight, Bag, Switch, and Run. Each Pokémon has up to four moves that they can use, which have different effects, number of uses, and types, such as Grass or Psychic. When a Pokémon hits 0 hit points (HP), it faints, forcing the Pokémon’s trainer to switch out. Once one trainer runs out of Pokémon, the battle is over. When a human-controlled Pokémon wins a battle, the Pokémon gains experience. Enough experience will earn that Pokémon a higher level, which grants upgraded stats—attack, defense, special attack, special defense, HP, and speed—and sometimes grants new moves.

SETTING AND STORY

The setting and story remain largely the same as Ruby and Sapphire. Players can choose between either a boy or a girl, both of whom have been given new outfits with a green color scheme, and one of three Pokémon before they proceed from their hometown into the rest of the game’s world.

Players are tasked with filling their Pokédex by catching different Pokémon species and evolving them. They are also tasked to complete eight gym challenges and defeat the Elite Four and its Champion by battling their Pokémon. Along the way, they make two rivals: May or Brendan, the child of the Pokémon Professor Birch, and Wally, a timid child from Petalburg who the player assists in catching his first Pokémon, a Ralts. They also encounter Wallace, the Hoenn Region’s Champion.

Along their journey, they face both Team Magma and Team Aqua, who originally could only be faced in Ruby and Sapphire, respectively. Both have a goal to change the world they believe will benefit Pokémon—Magma desires to expand the landmass and Aqua desires to expand the sea—and both plan to accomplish their respective goals by summoning the legendary Pokémon Groudon and Kyogre, respectively. Both teams make repeated efforts to alter the landscape. Team Magma attempts to make a volcano erupt and Team Aqua tries to steal a weather-altering Pokémon.

Between the player’s visit to the seventh and eighth gyms, both teams summon their respectively-sought legendary Pokémon with mystical orbs stolen from Mt. Pyre; however, the Pokémon refuse to obey either team and begin fighting, which puts the world in a constantly switching state of droughts and heavy rainfalls. The player climbs a tower in order to summon the legendary Pokémon Rayquaza, who quells the other two Pokémon’s rage.

After the player defeats the Elite Four, they are able to encounter two Pokémon flying across Hoenn, Latias, and Latios, and can access an area called the Battle Frontier, which adds several new challenges for the player. The player gains access to a battle with former champion Steven Stone in Meteor Falls, who uses a powered-up version of his team in Ruby and Sapphire. The player is now able to catch Kyogre and Groudon, which can be tracked by talking to the scientist in the Weather Institute.