#game-review #evergreengame #jrpg #finishedgame2018 # Pokémon Emerald `="![]("+this.imgURL+")"` ## Data: - Console: `=this.Console` - Play Status: `=this.Status` - Start Date: `=this.start-date` - Finish Date: `=this.finish-date` - Clear Time: `=this.clear-time` - Total Play Time: `=this.total-play-time` ## Tiering: `=this.Tiering` Pokemon Emerald has one of the most interesting and engaging campaigns of all the Pokemon games I've played. Gym Leader fights are hard but fair, there's very few difficult obstacles that truly bring down the experience, the game is also never too easy, and there's always a reasonable level curve when playing. There's a ton to do after beating the game as well, especially for a Gameboy Advance title, which has kept me playing so many years later. # Playthrough Notes [nReplays:: 5] Start and Finish Date reflect most recent playthrough from my recording from a previous spreadsheet that I began back in 2017 This was the first main-series Pokemon game I ever owned as a child. I got the cartridge from my neighbor Seth, I'm not sure where he had gotten it from, but he gave it to me. I started with a Mudkip and I still have the data of that Swampert in my modern games. I enjoy playing through Emerald quite a bit since it carries a lot of nostalgia for me. There's something about playing through the post-game business that really sticks with me, though that's probably just because that's what I did a lot as a kid, do the post-game stuff. refight the Elite Four over and over and over again. Build up my secret base. I haven't done a Nuzlocke, and don't plan to. But I do want to experiment more with party mons with each playthrough, to give things like Pelipper and Altaria a shot, since I haven't used them yet. (I gotta stop using Gardevoir and Manetric). ## Times I played this before starting in Obisidian - When I got the game in the spring of 2007 as my first mainline Pokemon game I owned - Replayed it again in 2008 after moving my guys to Pokemon Diamond - Played this on a train from Beijing to Hangzhou in 2018 # My Thoughts - [[Places in Hoenn carry a Pro-Environmentalist Message]] - Lord 2018 is already so far in the rear view mirror - Lord 2007 is so far in the rear view mirror - I still have the mons I had from that first playthrough (ID: 29056) ## General Pokemon Emerald fits into my Big 4 of favorite Pokemon games along with Platinum, HG/SS and all of Gen 5. I guess I'm a sucker for the stretch of Gens 3-5. I have played the first two hours of the game so much that I have gotten a little bored with it at times, but no so bored as I am whenever I restart Fire Red or Leaf Green. But I've been able to play through the game with each starter at least once and I can appreciate what each one brings to the game. I like Swampert the most of the three, but I can completely understand why others like Blaziken and Sceptile as well. The Hoenn starters are easily the best set of starters of any generation, in my opinion. The Postgame rocks: - Battle Frontier is so cool - There's a ton of coo legendary Pokemon sidequests, including catching both Groudon and Kyogre. - Secret Bases are great - Finding Steven in Meteor Falls for a "Red-esque" fight. - Finding the Underground Fossils so you can get both Lileep and Anorith in the same game. ## romhacks - [[Pokemon Inclement Emerald]] is a great hardcore version of emerald that features mons up to Gen 7 and some Gen 8 mons - Emerald Rogue is a roguelike version of Emerald - [[Pokemon Emerald Seaglass]] is an aesthetic remix. ## General Notes - Walda passwords being a way to customize the boxes is a really cool way to do things. - Lots eReader events and compatibility just lost to time because of a lack of support and preservation # Favorite Moments / Memories - Fighting Wallace while swinging on the swing at Sanborn Park during the summer. I think we were walking about back from Dairy Queen in Downtown Robbinsdale. - Finding a Chimecho on Mt. Pyre and trading it with Alex Ozark since he needed one to complete his Pokedex and I had just found one. - My only true, non-manipulated or chained shiny, Like TRUE RANDOM ENCOUTNER was a Gulpin on Route 110 - I'm pretty sure that the person I got my copy of Pokemon Emerald must have stole it from someone else. The label was scratched off and the cart was pretty damaged, but like, it still worked. - I remember playing this in bed with a Mudkip, I was about to go to Dewford. - The ship ride to Dewford for the first time was magical. # What were you doing when not playing this? - One of my recent playthrough of Pokemon Emerald was in the Summer of 2018 when I was on a train riding from Beijing back to Hangzhou. we had a long train ride and so I distributed a Gameboy Advance emulator and a copy of Pokemon emerald and let everyone who wanted one the ability to play on their laptops. It was very fun to hop between cars and see where everyone had gotten to. I played through the whole game on that train ride, through the main campaign, and finished at 3 in the morning. # Relevant Links -