A Look at Pokemon: Generation 3

Intro
For me the series kept getting better and better, though some people believed that the series went down hill from this point.  I think the main issue with this is that no one foresaw what was to come in this generation.  There are some things that could have been handled better but I think the 3rd generation can stand on its own pretty well.

Graphics
So being the Gameboy Advance series the graphics have gotten FAR better than ever before.  The world is colorful and every town had their own style to it that wasn't seen in the last generations.  Buildings like the Gym, Pokemon Center, and PokeMart all have their own look, and really... was it really that hard to pull off before?

It's from this point that Pokemon all have their own little icons for them, and not like in the last games where icons on the Pokemon team list had generic sprites for most of them.  I would like to also note that the Pokemon have not had any more mistakes in their sprites.  Also looking at the back sprites of Pokemon from gen 2 have been updated for these games.

And in Gen 3 is where Ken Sugimori did a new style for the official Pokemon artwork that he has continued using to Gen 5.  A good move since his artwork back then had more white in them than needed.

Plot
The same old tale but with a few differences to the earlier and later generations.  Instead of growing up in the town your character just moved in with his/her mother.  The player also has a FATHER, and not only that but he is the gym leader of a gym that is in another town than the one you live in as well as only challenging you after you have gained 4 other gym badges.

There is also the gender character.  In the region you will battle the child of the Professor Birch.  But that child will be the character you did not pick from the gender selection.  It is an interesting way to add in a character that would have been not used in the region.

With there being two different version there is also two different teams of bad guys out to do what they want.  The teams are both in a sense environmental terrorists out to fix the world the way they see fit.  In Ruby the player goes against Team Magma who are after the legendary Pokemon Groudon in order to create more land.  Grunts from Team Magma tend to use fire, ground and dark type Pokemon.  Sapphire we are treated to Team Aqua who want Kyorge to cover the world in water.  Grunts from Team Aqua use water and dark types.  Personally I would side with Team Magma myself.  They use my favorite color red, and use fire one of my favorite types, and Groudon is one of my favorite Pokemon.  Plus I think more people would naturally take Team Magma's side than Team Aqua's, if only because the world itself is already covered in more water than land and humans are built to live on land and not water.

Gameplay
One of the things of Pokemon is that no two Pokemon are the same, while Pokemon share base stats with their own they will not be the exactly the same.  To continue the difference they added natures to add more to stat differences.  Natures in the game are like personalities that a Pokemon can have 1 of 25 different ones that increase the growth of one stat while decreasing the growth of another stat.  The stats that are affected by Natures are Attack, Defense, Special Attack, Special Defense, and Speed.  Out of the natures 5 of them are neutral that they don't increase or decrease certain stats.  They can help you find the Pokemon that can benefit from a loss and gain while at other times the might hinder them.  Natures also have an affect of special stats for the Pokemon Contests that will be explained later.

Next change to the series is Abilities.  Now Pokemon have powers that can be activated right away or when certain conditions have been meet.  Take for example the starter Pokemon, now they all have the ability to increase their water, fire, or grass type after they are down to 1/3rd of their HP.  The legendary Pokemon Groudon and Kyorge have the ability to have it sunny or raining respectively.  Not all abilities are useful though, Pokemon like Slaking cause them to attack once then do nothing the next turn then can attack again, rinse and repeat.  Granted abilities like that are part of what the Pokemon is based off of.  But there are moves that make use of one's ability to gain the upper hand.

With Gen 3 we are treated to a new form of battle, Double Battles.  With this two Pokemon fight side by side, and many moves are fixed to fit the new battle style with moves like Razor Leaf attacking only the opponents or Earthquake hitting all Pokemon (that includes the partner Pokemon) and some moves hit only a single opponent.  This ups the brain power needed for battles since now instead of keeping track of the two Pokemon fighting each other you have to watch four of them while considering the attacks, types, and abilities to give you the edge.  Like if you use Earthquake it is best that the partner Pokemon is a flying type, knows the Levitate ability, or is using Protect.

PokeNav is alright but not the best of the Pokemon technology in the games.  It has the map like the PokeGear but that is about it.  There is time in these games but it doesn't show them like in Gold, Silver, and Crystal, and the time isn't displayed on the PokeNav, but shown in the cloak in the player's room.  Trainers can be rebattled again and shown on the device to it is a hassle to check as you wouldn't know who would like to rebattle you.  Though it is improved in the Emerald version having a call function like the PokeGear and even allows you to challenge gym leaders again.  It also checks the condition and ribbons of the Pokemon you have gained in contests, though in later generations those things are in the summary of the Pokemon you look at and for the better too.

The biggest side quest of the Pokemon series is of course the Contests.  Pokemon have one of five conditions that can be shown on the PokeNav; Cool, Tough, Beauty, Smart, and Cute.  The conditions here are reflective of the stats of the Nature of a Pokemon.  So Cool=Attack, Tough=Defense, Beauty=Special Attack, Smart=Special Defense, and Cute=Speed.  These stats are increased not through leveling up but through Pokeblocks.  Pokeblocks use berries to make a candy like treat that will help a Pokemon through the contest rounds.  All Pokeblocks have certain flavors to them and each one works in favor of a different contest, Spicy for Cool Contests, Sour for Tough Contests, Dry for Beauty Contests, Bitter for Smart Contests, and Sweet for Cute Contests.  So one with a nature that will boost a stat like Attack will naturally like Spicy flavored Pokeblocks while the decreased stat like Speed will have a Pokemon not like Sweet flavored ones.  In fact one of the rare Pokemon, Feebas, evolves when it's Beauty stat is at max, making it and its evolution Milotic some of the most difficult Pokemon to obtain.  The contests themselves are in two rounds, one where your Pokemon is judged by its condition and the appeals round where moves are used outside of normal battle to create new plans on winning to get the most points.  Moves in contests now have one of the five types to them and using the right types will score or subtract points.  Like using a Cool move in a Cool contest will score you extra points, or if a Beauty move in a Cool contest will be normal, and a Smart move will lose points.  Spamming moves over and over will not go well as contests what to have Pokemon try to use all their moves to win, at least more than one move.  But there are combinations that some are easy to figure out as they work the same in battle for the most part, with combos like Sunny Day on one turn and the next followed up with Solar Beam.  Pokemon that win contests will get ribbons that can be seen in the PokeNav.  And each of the contests have 5 levels to go through and if your Pokemon does well enough in the last contest level they can have a painting of them in the Lilycove Museum.

Gen 3 also has baby Pokemon from the last generations, so how does one get around the breeding thing when it was set in the 2nd gen?  Incense!  You know... thinking about it the idea sounds kind of strange, since.... well.  You get them to breed and have a pleasant sent get them in the mood.  But to get the new baby Pokemon now the Pokemon must be holding the right incense item so instead of getting the second stage Pokemon we get the new first stage baby Pokemon and this is method is used in the next generation too though it still makes me wonder if they could do that why not make their baby Kangaskhan already and get it over with.

While Trainers could put stuff in their own house in Gen 2, Gen 3 offers something even better, the Secret Base.  With the help of the move Secret Power, trainers can make a base from a cave, really tall grass, or even a tree.  By doing mix records with other people, the bases of your friends can show up that you can explore, and even battle a NPC representing your friend complete with the team of Pokemon they have when the records were mixed.  Battle them takes place after beating the Elite Four.

The Battle Tower from Crystal also makes it to these games.  But with a level 50 or level 100 challenge, and yes the Pokemon have to be 50 or under to be in the level 50 battles anything from 51 to 100 can't join those battles.  Trainers can get ribbons for their Pokemon here to for competing in the tower.  Trainers select 3 Pokemon to one on one and face off against a set of 7 trainers before the challenge is over.   The more winning streaks you get the better the items you will be rewarded once you beat the seventh trainer.

So with the Battle Tower in Ruby and Sapphire, the Emerald version had to make something bigger, the Battle Frontier.  The island that contained the Battle Tower is now larger and has several other areas including the Tower to give a new battle experience.  So far the Battle Frontier has only been in two generations (with Gen 3 and Gen 4 being different), but is really something that should be in more of the games because of how battles are worked.  Since I did the Tower the next one would be the Battle Palace, where Pokemon fight on their own without commands.  This style puts one faith in their Pokemon as their nature and moves would decide what will be done and may change if health is low, a battle where there is a LOT of care placed on getting everything just right.  Next is the Battle Factory, that uses rented Pokemon.  Now using rented Pokemon isn't anything new as it goes back to the Stadium games, but you only get 3 Pokemon and can trade them with one of the Pokemon from the losing trainer.  The Battle Pyramid is much like a dungeon which is perfect for the setting.  Trainers are in a dark building and can only get light from beating trainers, also you can find items in the Pyramid that can only be used in the Pyramid, and to finish the dungeon quality you might even run into wild Pokemon which you can't catch... I think.  Tournament battles are the main feature of the Battle Dome.  With 16 trainers (including you), there will be 4 battles that need to be won for each visit.  For the Battle Arena it isn't a matter of only K.O.ing your opponent but getting a better score.  Depending on the actions you take after 3 rounds and both Pokemon still stand the one with the most points wins the match.  The last one is the Battle Pike shaped like a Seviper.  Here you can chose a room to enter that can have a verity things happen, single battles, double battles, your Pokemon get status ailments, battle a wild Pokemon, heal your Pokemon, and even nothing at all.

No Gen 2 connection.  For better or worse all generations of Pokemon can connect in some way to the previous one, but not Gen 3.  The 2nd gen had the power to use a time machine to trade, and with the other games... well we will get to that for another time.  Connecting to an old generation system would have been a great thing, many people might have wanted this if they knew it or not.  I believe it might have had something to do with how the coding in the game was for the 3rd gen but I think they should have tried some way to make this work, heck the Gameboy Advance could play Gameboy games.  It was a missed chance to bring the games full circle if given the right possibilities.

Pokemon
This generation has given us 135 Pokemon and oddly holds 3rd place for number of Pokemon released.  The 3rd gen also has been kinder to the Dragon, Ghost, Steel, Dark, and Bug types compared to the last generation, with new Pokemon and moves to balance out the types more.

Of course one has become infamous with the meme, "So I herd u liek Mudkips".  Which isn't bad as they are cute and it will never get old.  At least for me anyways.

What also strikes me about the Pokemon of this generation is the Hebrew mythology.  The Legendary Golem trio and the Weather Trio are both based on Hebrew stories.  The Regis are Hebrew golems that also represent the three ages, Regirock=Stone Age, Regice=Ice Age, and Registeel=Iron Age.  The Weather Trio is a bit more complex then the other trio.  Groudon is based on the behemoth, Kyorge the leviathan, and Rayquaza the ziz.  All of them taking their natural place in the Pokemon world based on those creatures.

Fire Red and Leaf Green
The Vs Seeker, best item ever.  End of story.  What is the Vs Seeker those who haven't played this and the games later you ask?  It is a device that can let you rebattle anyone you want on a route that you encountered in your journey.  What... there was the Pokegear and after that the PokeNav?  Junk compared to this baby, while people may not battle all the time you can battle them most of the time, unlike those other tools that only let you rechallenge a few people.  This is something that would have greatly improved the first generation even if you kept all its faults.  That is how good it is.

Aside from that a new region is in the game, the Sevii Islands.  Which allow you to explore more of the world with this island chain.  The main point of the islands is to really catch Pokemon that are outside of Gen 1, like the Gen 2 Pokemon. Though I think such a think would have been better handled if after the Elite Four and Champion battles that we got to go to the Johto region, kind of a reverse of the 2nd generation but it would have been awesome and people would have enjoyed it.  But the islands do offer a few things, like their own little stories like how one is terrorized by a gang of bikers or a branch of Team Rocket that remain is carrying out experiments on how to force Pokemon to evolve, along with one scientist noting a possible back story to the gen 2 rival.  One island even has their own Battle Tower that is different than the Ruby/Sapphire one, plus challengers there can have shiny Pokemon.  There are a few secret islands that can be available through events allowing one to obtain Ho-oh, Lugia, and even Deoxys that can have an Attack or Defense form based on what version you have.  Also an interesting note is that in Emerald while not all of the Sevii Islands are there the events one are with Deoxys having a Speed form from this one.

Gameplay for this one mainly consists of what was in the Ruby and Sapphire game.  With the types updated and the dark and steel types, along with Pokemon having abilities.  This time you can pick your gender which is interesting as there was meant to be a female character or the Gen 1 games but was pushed aside but came back for this game.  Breeding also is in this one, with the daycare for that being on one of the Sevii Islands.  So with everything these Gen 1 games are better than the originals giving us more than the first games.  Heck even if they only added the Vs Seeker to the remakes it would still be better.  But it isn't the best remake as we'll get to them soon.  These remakes also introduced the starter type hyper beams, Frenzy Plant, Blast Burn, and Hydro Cannon, that became signature moves of all starter Pokemon.  If there is one thing I think could have been done better, aside from Johto, is to have added some of the Pokemon Yellow plot in it... having Jessie and James might not have been bad and could have worked off the double battles for them.

Pokemon Colosseum
Now we reach the Orre region, a desert devoid of wild Pokemon... strange that there are Pokemon that can live in a desert but moving on.  The hero this time isn't a 10 year-old just starting their Pokemon journey but a darker and older character with his Espeon and Umbreon that was once part of the evil gang known as Team Snagem.  For reasons to this day are unknown he rebelled against the Team by blowing up their HQ and stealing a machine they were working on.  He later saves a kidnapped girl who has psychic powers telling him of a group of people changing Pokemon into mindless fighting machines called Shadow Pokemon.  So this character along with the girl are off to save the Pokemon from this evil group known as Cipher.  How does he save the Pokemon?  Steal them of course... correction, Snag them!

So yeah this is the story in a nutshell and it's GREAT.  The usual games focus half on the badge thing and the other have on the evil organization, but here it is full force against an evil group using Pokemon in the most twisted of ways.  You do get the first human partner in the game but sadly she doesn't do much other than informing you on what Pokemon is a Shadow one, they could have done more.  And while you don't pick your Pokemon, an evolved Pokemon like Espeon and Umbreon are nice to have.  Also everyone has names in this game, and some of them are just strange... play the game yourself to find out why, those who have played it will get what I mean.

The graphics are fantastic, not only are there updates to the Pokemon and the newly added Gen 3 Pokemon but Trainers are given unique looks as do the places.  A lot of the time the game comes off as having a Final Fantasy feel to it with the graphics but that could be just me.  But because of this many places just pop with the right colors, my favorite place being the Under, a underground city full of neon lights.  Character models are just as good from the hero, his partner, and the many people of the world including Team Snagem and Cipher.

Gameplay uses the same mechanics as the games at the time with a few changes.  First off, no breeding is involved so no daycare that takes two Pokemon, there is a daycare but it's only one.  The focus of the gameplay is the Shadow Pokemon.  To obtain one the hero must snag it from another trainer.  This is mostly the same as getting a wild Pokemon but since it is from a Trainer it is usually the last Pokemon in their party. Once you have a Shadow Pokemon you must open its heart, and that usually requires you to use them in battle, walking around, and other things if you look around to find out how to clear them.  When you first have them you don't know their nature and they only have one move Shadow Rush a move that does recoil damage.  As you open their heart they will get back 3 of their moves and you can even learn their nature, and once you open their heart Shadow Rush will be replaced and the Pokemon gets all the experience they would have obtained in battle to level up.  Battles for Colosseum are all double battles, a reason you get two Pokemon to start with, meaning you have to deal with strategy a lot in the game and when dealing with catching Shadow Pokemon it's best you take out all other Pokemon and make sure you can gang up against the Shadow Pokemon the trainer uses.  There is also Mt Battle, a volcano that has 100 trainers waiting to do battle and is a great place to train, and in Battle mode if you purified all the Shadow Pokemon and win Mt Battle with your story team you can get Ho-oh.  This is a Gamecube game, and with a cable one can trade Pokemon from the Gameboy Advance games to the Gamecube games, once you clear the story mode of Colosseum that is.

Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness
Back to the Orre region, after some years have passed the region is at peace.... OR IS IT!?  As the story opens up a ship carrying many Pokemon is attacked by a strange Lugia.  The hero this time is a young boy (never an option to be a girl in the Orre region is there?) and his trusted Eevee he got from his father is off to save the day.  The hero lives in a lab that was created by my guess some time in-between the years that passed.  The lab was started by the hero's father to help Pokemon from Cipher or anyone wishing to create Shadow Pokemon if such people ever showed up again.  The father sadly passed away in that time but at least it's something instead of having the father be nonexistent.  As it turns out Cipher as indeed rebuilt themselves and are ready to take the world.  All with the help of XD 001, Shadow Lugia.

As before you have to steal Shadow Pokemon in order to free them but there has been some changes since last time they came along.  First off there is no longer one Shadow Pokemon move but many now,  and Pokemon can have up to 4 of those moves, with each move being different from powers, aims, and effects.  Now while Shadow isn't a type it is fixed up so it does act like a type, with Shadow moves doing super effective damage to non Shadow Pokemon and not very effective damage to other Shadow Pokemon.  One of the major ways to purify Pokemon now is the Purification Chamber, that by using a ring of other Pokemon and using the effectiveness of types can create energy that purifies many Pokemon even if you can't carry anymore.  Also not all trainers have just one Shadow Pokemon but can have many with the final boss having SEVEN of of them!  Purified Pokemon also obtain a move that they don't normally have, take for example Togepi, once purified it can get Tri Attack, and while not great in this generation it becomes a power house of a move in later generations.  There is many more Shadow Pokemon to snag in this game but there is also wild Pokemon now.  Yeah Pokemon have been appearing in the Orre region and in what is known as PokeSpots you can place bait and when you are signaled you can go back to the spot to catch the Pokemon there.  And like the last Gamecube game you can only trade with the Gameboy Advance games once you beat the game.

Pokemon from Gen 4 gain some of the spotlight in this game, with the first game appearance of Munchlax, owned by the old lady who sells herbs, and Bonsly, the only Pokemon on the ship that was attacked by Lugia that did not get changed to a Shadow Pokemon.  Munchlax goes around PokeSpots to eat the bait you placed there for wild Pokemon, and the old lady will repay you in more bait and some free herbs.  After one saves Bonsly from the ship the player can use Bonsly in a special battle, but of course you do not keep it.

Replayability
With Ruby and Sapphire you not only have the Pokemon League but also Contests to keep you busy in deciding what you want your Pokemon to do if it's battles or contests.  And lets not forget the Battle Tower that is the most challenging parts of the game.  With Emerald you have a whole Battle Frontier with all kinds of different battle styles aside from the Tower.

The Fire Red and Leaf Green versions were of course with it being better there is more things to do when compared to the original.  And it is something for the people who like the series but felt like they didn't get enough out of Red, Blue, and Yellow.

Colosseum was a great way for people who couldn't get certain Pokemon in Ruby and Sapphire to get them here.  There wasn't much Pokemon to catch but it offered some great stuff and with Mt Battle the perfect training ground for all your Pokemon from the Gameboy Advance games.  XD gave the people more in battles and challenges.  For the best in replay value of these games at the minimum all you need is one of the Gameboy Advance games and one of the Gamecube games for the best replay experience, though you could get more to give you a LOT to do.

Final Thoughts
So did the series really start to fall here? No!  One of the things that might have put people off was that you couldn't "catch them all" when Ruby and Sapphire came out.  But the other games came out and gave use a different kind of experience that the games before didn't.  Someone might say it might be because the number of games that came out for this generation but they all had their own design about them that not only made Gen 3 a whole but made each one important.  Ruby and Sapphire shaped the basic gameplay that is still used with abilities, natures, and double battles, along with Contests.  Emerald gave what Ruby and Sapphire had just with the added Battle Frontier.  Fire Red and Leaf Green, brought back Gen 1 and showed us that the games from back then can be touched again and redone to make better.  Both Gamecube games gave their own stories to the Pokemon world and their own kind of gameplay with Shadow Pokemon, which I hope to see in future games.
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And to end the look at this generation we look at the best and worst of designs of Pokemon. Now a few things to note.  Not all will be about appearance alone but how they are presented in the series.  Also no Pokemon on the worst list can be explained through species of real life animals, take Beautifly for example, it is a butterfly like Butterfree but based on two different kinds.  Also this list is hard to make, while some of my favorites are on the best list it goes by design.  Last rule is that pokemon may be grouped in one spot by family, or if they are part of a group (Ex: legendary trio thing), and of unrelated pokemon might be together if they have something similar that bugs/fascinates me.  Finally any Pokemon on my worst design list is not a Pokemon I hate.

Top 5 Worst and Best Pokemon Designs of Generation 

Worst


5 Castform

Mainly because of the debate that the bottom part of Castform looks like.... well look for yourself and you'll see.  This Pokemon is based on a teru teru bozu, a Japanese doll to pray for good weather.  While the forms it takes in the weather effects are fine it's the normal form that could have been fixed up so people wouldn't have to bring that up.

4 Azurill

If only because it's the oddest of any pre-evolved Pokemon to exist after its evolutions.  It's a normal type yet having a look AND evolutions based around water.  Plus for the biggest what the f**k in Pokemon one in every three female Azurill will become male.  Yeah there are some animals that can change genders but this isn't the think of thing you would think could do that.

3 Trapinch

While not bug type which it is based from that isn't what gets me.  The design flaw is the disconnect between it and it's evolution.  There might be others that fit this but this one is personal for me.  I been trying to get a Vibrava for some time in Ruby and well I didn't know how.  Thanks to the internet I did find out Trapinch evolves into Vibrava but how could I possibly figure that out.  It wouldn't have hurt the creators to color it the same as it's evolved forms.

2 Shelgon

The same reasons as Pupitar pretty much.  A Pokemon that didn't have to be based on a cocoon at all.  It says that in this stage it gets ready to evolve again, but I think that isn't a good excuse.  There are Pokemon out there that start without wings yet gain them without a cocoon like form in the middle.  There are things they could have done with this, but we are stuck with Shelgon as is.

1 Tropius

So it's is something like a Brachiosaurus, okay I get that.  But how about the wings it has?  Pokemon has played lose with how things work but this might be one of their worst ideas.  I can't imagine leaves of its size to lift something that is 220.5 pounds into the air.  So yeah Tropius gets the number 1 spot of generation 3 because that is where I draw the line at believing what Pokemon can do.  And it does some strange stuff!

Best 



5 Nosepass

What I love about Nosepass's design is that most people should know what it is based off of.  Created from the Easter Island heads, and honestly I think Nosepass looks better than the heads it's based off of.  It's nose is a compass that always points north from what we are told, though I think it might be a bit impossible with how it is in the games and anime.  But if the Easter Island heads ever look exactly like this then I would so want to go.  It's just something that looks better than the original.

4 Sharpedo

It's about time we had a shark Pokemon and boy did we get one.  It's mean looking and looks like it could do what real world sharks would do and attack people, though that might be too much to think about.  What is also nice it that while it is obviously based off a shark it does have some subtle design based off another sea creature that people might not think about giving it a first glance.  That being is that its half body like shape is based on the Ocean Sunfish.  It's nice to have a Pokemon with a bit of obviousness to it along with a touch of subtly.


3 Shedinja

So for one Pokemon to evolve you get TWO!  This is one and a great design it has.  The discarded skin of a Nincada is given life making it a unique Bug and Ghost type.  Not only that but with that floating crescent on its head it is given something of an insect angel look that is both enchanting and kind of creepy.  While having 1 HP it makes up for that by being immune to just about everything that isn't super effective against it.  So if you know your opponent well this guy might even be a star player on a team.

2 Relicanth

Fossil Pokemon have always been part of the Pokemon world and each generation (not including Gen 2) has given us some kind of Fossil Pokemon and this is one of them.  While not needing a fossil to revive it like all the others this one is a living fossil, based off the Coelacanth.  The moment I saw it I knew I wanted one since it was one of the things I read about back in elementary school and it was my favorite thing I learned about.  When you make something based off a real world creature and want someone like me to want one so much you know you did a good job designing it.


1 Sceptile

A Pokemon based on a gecko, not just any kind of gecko, but the leaf-tailed gecko.  That is the thing with Pokemon, there are Pokemon based on creatures you never thought lived in the world.  Geckos that have plant like parts to them and while there is this starters pre-evolved forms Sceptile shows this the best.  It is even designed to illustrate it has an attitude, I mean look at it's "I'm cool and I know it" facial expression.

Pokemon Art (c) Ken Sugimori
Information Source Bulbapedia