Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire (Nintendo GameBoy Advance) - Retro Game Review - Tama Hiroka
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 มิ.ย. 2024
- Today Tama reviews Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire for the Nintendo GameBoy Advance, games that have been criminally misunderstood for their entire existence. Can Tama overcome her Pokemon nostalgia to look at the game for what it really is? How does history reshape our understanding of what they were trying to say?
You are definitely gonna wanna see my reviews of other Pokemon games:
Pokemon Diamond and Pearl - • Pokémon Diamond and Pe...
Pokemon Gold and Silver - • Pokémon Gold Silver an...
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Sources:
www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/...
www.nippon.com/en/in-depth/a0...
www.env.go.jp/en/coop/experie...
ejatlas.org/conflict/isahaya-...
www.env.go.jp/en/focus/docs/f...
• Everyday life in bygon... - German Documentary on 1960's Japan
earthshots.usgs.gov/earthshot...
www.jawan.jp/e/news/081015isah...
www.statista.com/statistics/1...
www.japaninc.com/article.php?...
www.gameinformer.com/b/featur...
• 【公式】ゲームフリークゆかりの地「下北沢思い... - GameFreak Office Tour
• 【公式】ゲームフリーク30周年企画「マスダの... - GameFreak 30th Anniversary Video
0:00 - Intro
1:33 - Part 1: The (hi)story
9:12 - Part 2: What we didn’t see
22:31 - Part 3: Weird risks that put people off
39:14 - Conclusion
#Pokemon #Ruby #Sapphire #PokemonRuby #PokemonSapphire #GBA - เกม
There was a lot this video needed to do, including examine a game's themes through the lens of newly discovered information and look critically at something I have never focused on that way before. I didn't have room to talk about every single aspect of these games and whether they hold up nor could I fully discuss all of the parts that I love about them and explain why that is. So I may end up following this up with another video some time where I have room to do that more. This video has a couple very specific jobs to do and in doing that eats up 42 minutes so for now I will have to leave it where it is lol. I hope that you will join me when I return to these games in the future and am able to share more of my feelings and thoughts. I just have a lot of feelings about video games okay
It's okay, we love you for it.
Lady, you nailed it... downloading video for environmental examples. I´m from Perú and started playing pkmn when I was 12 (1998) so I kind of understand the joy of playing 3°Gen. Love your videos, keep on!!
I appreciate you taking your time to dissect and research what had been going on in Kyushu during the time of development for Gen 3 games. As a little kid in 2003 who was separated from the protests in Japan, all I saw was "this game doesn't have a day and night system! This game has too much water and HM's. Everybody at school is making fun of me for playing Pokemon. This sucks!"
17 years later, now with an awareness of what the developers were trying to go for, I can definitely respect what Pokemon was trying do here. Their appreciation for nature, the island of Kyushu and the world around them is more than apparent now. I will forever hold Gen 2 in my heart, but this game is more than a worthy follow-up. Thanks for the great and informative video, Tama!
@@theadvocate1 I'm still not over the ORIGINAL Pokedex controversy in the 2000s. GameFreak shouldn't be allowed to prevent you from transfering your Pokemon like that, even though it was done to streamline the game and get the game done on time. My brain doesn't understand this. I think it's time to vent on the forums and compain about the game for several hours a day to resolve this pressing issue.Yeah, that'll show them! (This post is satire.)
Super excited for when that does come!
People ALWAYS have to understand that every part of history has context. You did a great job setting the stage for this review.
Tama and Ron definitely should work together on something one day.... hehehe
Hey Ron
Mr Green? Fancy seeing you here!
Truegreen7 in a tama comment section? What is this a crossover episode?
Truegreen7 ayy
Fun story about the regi codes: I was on holiday with my family and a friend when we got to the regi part. We didn't have any internet whatsoever. So to crack the code we used the braille on a drug package to slowly figure out the alphabet. It took us ages but we felt like absolute masterminds :D
I remembered I went to copy the braile code out of some book, and then share the codes with my friends at school. After that I was able to read some of the codes in real life in places like lifts and toilet lol.
Me and my friend were playing the games at his house and we got to the sealed chamber, but couldn't figure out what the dots meant. He eventually asked his mom, who recognised the braille, but couldn't read it. Obviously we didn't have internet then, so I went home and asked my mom if she knew anything about braille. She took me to our study/computer room and we had these stacks of encyclopedia books (Because I guess it was just a trend to have them, I dunno) and she helped me decipher the clues for what felt like hours back then. Lol, I think that was the only time I ever played a video game with my mom. I just remembered her getting excited cause she saw a Marill and recognised it from the series😅
You know, I have strong and fond memories of finding these areas and cracking the codes as well. There's something so powerful about giving the player a puzzle and just saying... good luck. So many games just give away the answer through insanely obvious hints. It robs the player of the satisfaction that comes from solving the puzzle and ultimately becomes forgettable. The internet is so incredibly accessible these days, so there really isn't any excuse for the hand holding we see in a lot of modern games. If someone is stuck on a puzzle, they'll just look it up. No need to over hint and ruin the experience for players that enjoy solving puzzles.
Similar for me. While I did have access to an internet cafe. I usually could not spare the money for it. I had a school book that had examples of many languages. Once I made it to the first cave. I friend and I noticed it was similar to an example in the book. The book had braille for each letter and number. So we took a piece of paper, and started to translate. That was fun.
Champollion recognizes his own.
Watching the beginning of this video just learning about the history of land reclamation in Japan and then slowly realizing you were basically describing the real-life version of these games plot was really cool, great video
I know a guy who caught a feebass and bred them and sold them. He made the prices high and sold only male ones so he would have a monopoy.
Until FR:LG allowed for Ditto trading. ☺
@@a-s-greig And Emerald allowed you to catch ditto without trading.
what a pimp rofl
He was a fucking GENIUS
@@davion4777 he said he had 150 people buy it for $20 each. Meaning he gained $3000 if im doijng my math right
Did you... did you just explain, give the whole backstory, almost 20 years later, the whole Magma vs Aqua thing? That's huge! Can't wait until this video gets traction among the Pokemon community, this new perspective changes everything!
I must admit, at first I threw a little bit of a tantrum when I started playing Ruby&Sapphire. I was very attached to Crystal, still am, and I resented everything that changed. However, once I actually played the games, I really enjoyed them. I LOVED hunting down the Regis, it spoke to my love for adventure stories as a kid, made me feel like Indiana Jones (that needs to be the concept for the next live-action Pokémon movie!).
I agree with you that the Hoenn games' story is very underrated. In fact, I've been stating for a while that ORAS' story can rival gen 5's -- now that they took the time to flesh out the entire main cast (Maxie, Archie, their admins, the rivals, Steven, his dad...), adding Zinnia and the Delta Episode (which one could argue also expands on the dangers of technology, althought IMO it's more tradition vs technology than nature vs technology). Really, ORAS could've been the best games in the series if it weren't for all the hand-holding and no Battle Frontier.
The Hoenn games have always been about celebrating the beauty and richness of nature, of geology, I've known that for a while. I was today years old when I found out the drama behind those celebrations, though. Great job on this video, Tama! Can't wait for the one on FRLG!
Gen V’s story isn’t as untouchably good as Gen Fivers will have you believe. Of course it’s still one of the better stories in the series but people put it on way too high of a pedestal.
@@BeeBwakka Also gen 5 may have had a good story but at the cost of exploration. You couldn't enter a route without being stopped by Cheren, bianca, N, your mom, team plasma, a gym leader or Juniper.
@PokeHokage
Gen 5 had plenty of optional places to explore, though... Unova was definitely the most linear region at the time of its release, but it still had plenty of offshoot areas for you to go out of your way to look for and visit (or see *much more of* on a revisit, either after you unlock a certain HM or in the post-game.)
Dreamyard (on a revisit), Wellspring Cave (on a revisit), Desert Resort (you were ever required to even go there your first time passing by it), Mistralton Cave, all of Routes 17 and 18, Abundant Shrine, Challenger’s Cave...
And B2W2 only required you to explore like thirty seconds of the Castelia Sewers when that entire dungeon is HUGE, and most people never end up seeing the rest of it. Along with the Strange House! Seaside Cave was also optional since you had the option to take the easy route to Humilau City through the Marine Tube. (Even when you’re required to go to Seaside Cave much later to find Team Plasma’s ship, you’re only required to go through about half of it at best.)
And that’s not even listing every place there is!
Gens 6-8 were MUCH more railroaded. Gen 7 had a few optional areas to explore, too-like Seaward Cave, Kala’e Bay, Ten Carat Hill, Blush Mountain, and Haina Desert, but it isn’t anywhere near the same level of exploration Gen 5 offered you.
How did having a rival battle or cutscene halt your exploration in Gen 5? They just talked to you and maybe battled you and left you on your way. The laters Gens are when they start limiting you a bit more.
Komaru Naegi No I definitely think the interruptions started to reach annoying levels in Gen V. It’s not that every single rival battle or cutscene was bad but they just happened a lot. For most people who are accustomed to the early gens, they’d rather just adventure completely on their own without any of the main NPCs getting involved constantly.
@BeeBwakka
I dunno, I’d say that’s a subjective thing. My first game was Blue, then Silver, then Ruby and Emerald, then Diamond and Platinum, then SoulSilver, then White. I was 14 when I got White, and I didn’t mind any of the cutscenes. It was only the new art style for the Pokémon designs that threw me off for a little while before they grew on me. The only bad thing I remember not liking when it comes to the dialogue was the forced tutorials, but that was it.
So whether the cutscenes are annoying or not really just depends on the person. I can see why they’d bother some people, but as someone who grew up with Gens 1-4 beforehand, they didn’t bother me.
I never knew that environmental issues in Japan were actually reflected in the RSE games. RSE is my favourite gen besides gen 2. Wow. A lot of research must have went into this video. Great job.
Same!
I’ve vaguely heard about some environmental issues that Japan had at the time, but I never knew the full story.
I didn’t think that the Pokémon devs actually incorporated real-life current events in R/S/E.
It actually kind of opened my eyes about how the game was made.
@@dramatictrauma331 Yeah its very interesting that the makers of Pokemon took real life environmental events and placed it in these games. Makes me appreciate it much more than before. A lot of heart went into it.
I found that so interesting! Never knew that particular part of the games was based on that.
I'm Dutch.
We had this exact debate, but with less urgency.
Gen 3 and gen 5 are head to head as my favorite pokemon gens
I would also like to point out the fact that rubies and sapphires are two gemstones that are essentially the same crystal structure, Corundum, it's just the way we've perceived it that makes us think they're different. I never really realised how the titles of these games are representing two different ideas that are at their core the same. (I mean the later titles tended to be more on the nose, but RSE really had a lot in terms of interconnected ideas and philosophies)
I dont like how im old enough for these games to be called "retro" :(
I remember when this was new! And exciting, like, we didnt notice the features that were taken away cause it added so much more!
Lol, "too much water." Sounds like Team Magma propaganda.
That's from the IGN review lol it's bonkers.
The issue was just the lack of content in the water rather than the water itself. It is an endless pool of grass with 1 type of Pokemon, filled with trainers who use that same type of Pokemon, and doesn't mix it up outside of going underwater which is more of the same except prettier, or tile puzzles. IMO that was the second biggest problem with the remakes, they didn't fix the issue with water (or anything in general.)
@@haruhirogrimgar6047 it seemed okay to me. It was tons better than only Tentacool appearing all the time. It definitely wasn't the funnest part, but it wasn't terrible. And there are only so many water types that would live in the sea, so it's sorta inevitable.
I don't like having to google stuff, because it feels like it breaks the realism. But this game forced me to google so as not to waste my time endlessly surfing to figure out what I had to do after beating the seventh gym.
@@zachmorgenstern3243 I personally did just fine. In any game you can get confused and not know where to go. That doesn't mean that particular segment of the game should be gone.
"I just have a lot of feelings about video games okay"
Hi Tama. We understand you and we love you for that.
Tama: "btw Ruby Sapphire was political the whole time"
Me: *spits out Soda Pop*
Okay I don't know how I missed this in my feed, but holy shit Tama. I've followed you for 12 years or something, and these long form reviews are so good. I ADORED the explanation of the land reclamation project. It makes these games feel so much larger, thank you for letting me revisit my childhood through a new lens for 42 minutes.
This video is huge, seriously. SO MANY people have shat on RSE over the years for how "nonsensical" the plot and evil teams' motivations were. Need to start pointing them towards this
@Seven V You very well may have, since where I'm from these games in particular arent generally considered very good (putting nostalgia aside) and Emerald is considered the only good version. But it's mostly loved for the Battle Frontier, people still generally dislike the amount of water, overwhelming lack of difficulty, Wallace is thought to be one of, if not the worst Champion, and still question the two evil teams' motives
Oh no the mega evolution timeline split created yet another multiverse lol. Seriously though I think every iteration of pokemon gen after johto got some form of early backlash in the beginning, and then would level out to becoming a cult classic later on. This being most prevalent with gens three, five and now with seven at least from my perspective.
@Seven V no you didnt change timelines. everyone has different opinions on everything so it all depends on who you talk to
@@Frozensniper0 nahhh, maybe D/P (rightfully) got hate for the terrible, terrible engine, how slow and uncomfortable they were to play, the mediocre dex (a large portion of which was just evos or pre evos of preexisting mons, and which wasnt improved upon THAT much by Platinum), bland color palette and graphics in general (not really improved upon at all by Platinum, though the Distortion World looked cool), and some of early Team Galactic's inexolicaboe actions (why tf were they stealing honey, Pokedexes, why did they wait so long to capture the lake legendaries, etc. isn't much better in Platinum, only that the plot feels more complete with them going after both Dialga and Palkia, like how Emerald connected the inidividual plots of Ruby and Sapphire), but generally Platinum was received well. And BW was only poorly received at first due to a few of the new mons (Stunfisk and Garbodor, mostly) being not well liked and a lot of them being oddly reminiscent of gen 1 mons. past that, gen 6 is still considered shit, and gen 7 has been well liked since the get go
Joe Dorben Really? It seems like everyone hates Gen 7 now lmao. I don’t hate it, I just couldn’t play it because of how bored I got sadly.
I played ruby for the ENTIRETY of my childhood and I never had a glimpse of this weight on storytelling. I'm brazilian and only was really fluent at english at the age of 15 or so (when playing pokemon was already 3d), now I'm pretty sad about the message I missed.
I mean, the concepts wouldn't completely translate well since land is not a physical problem living in a continental-size tropical country,; so my child version didn't really understand why someone would want to wake up a legendary beast to just flood an entire country. There's plenty of room to everybody (especially if you ignore the aristocracy and the slavery past)!
But I just can't think of a better people to listen to this message than young brazilians. I mean, I've been raised listening at school about the amount of trees, and how they used to be everywhere, and how every year people kill another piece of the rainforest at Amazônia even though it's crucial to life anywhere on the planet. I was that one anxious kid that always secretly worried about what would humanity do when the world's natural resources were finished. And always felt dumb about doing it. No other kid ever talked about this things. It's just immensely funny to realize that my favorite Pokémon game for so long has been talking to me when nobody else was. And I just couldn't understand it. I guess even funnier is that through this games, especially pokemon, is that I got interested into understanding english. Maybe I also knew that there were something for me in it too. Who knows, right?
Thank you for giving me this, I thought I had already experienced everything good this game could offer and now it has all been renewed. Pra você que também aprendeu inglês jogando Pokémon, parabéns por chegar até aqui. Um vídeo inteiro em inglês não é pouca coisa não. Tmj e temos que pegar
Cara, eu lembro da época. Meu tio me ensinou a usar emulador no computador do meu pai, e eu, meu irmão e meu primo tiramos no palitinho pra ver quen ficava com qual pokemon e cada um jogava numa conta diferente. Bons tempos. Amava o jogo mas não entendia nada.
sempre bom encontrar um brasileiro aleatoriamente, nesse contexto mais ainda :)
@@giovanni1234580 vdd
Também não tinha ideia alguma do peso da história, cresci jogando o pokemon omega ruby, e isso foi o que me fez ser fluente em inglês aos 10 anos de idade
Memo q eu só tenha 12 anos eu posso de certa forma entender essa sensação
Gen 2 & 3 will always have my heart 🖤
And 4 but ye
usually its the ones you played as kid.
Damn you’re cute!
The pokemon world as we know it today is just too much haha. Galarian versions suck, and there's literally a trash bag pokemon.
Generation 1-3 are absolutely the best!
same.
i love these longer, more explained reviews. most reviewers give maybe 20 minuets of the review, but they don't give the review time to explain backstory/ meaning to the game. this is one of the reasons why i love your videos so much, because you show that you actually care about what your talking about and your personal experience with it.
As someone who initially thought that the story of this gen wasn't as good, I have to say that you've definitely changed my opinion thanks to explaining the context about how the story came to be. It really puts a lot into perspective about the motivations between the two antagonist teams and how it was an allegory to the bay incident that happened Japan around the time. I have to agree that it's a little more clear with Team Magma and their want and drive for progress at the blind expense of what it does to the wildlife where as it can be a little harder to understand Team Aqua's perspective unless you had a background or were aware of environmentalism and really, how many kids at the time would? Sure we Americans had Captain Planet but uh... Yeah lol All in all, I really enjoyed the video. I never really had a problem with anything else about the game and like you, it was my introduction to the online Pokemon community as well though the story was always something I was more iffy on but now, I have a newfound respect and appreciation for it. :)
Well said.
Gen 3 has remained my favorite gen of the series to this day, and I've been with this series since the very beginning. Hoenn is without doubt the most gorgeous and fascinating region of all, being very diverse with its habitats and its towns. Also as I love being around anywhere there's water, I didn't mind all the ocean travel. For the first time, I got a sense that we REALLY were saving the world of Pokemon when Groudon and Kyogre were released and caused a "the darkest hour" where if we failed, everyone would die. Double battles, secret bases, and the music. Oh my God, the music! And last but certainly not least, my favorite (non-legendary) Pokemon came with this gen, Flygon.
Someone who distinguishes between 'macrocosmic' and 'microcosmic' when addressing narratological elements? This video pushed my *a* and *b* button as both an English nerd and a huge fan of gen 3. Pleasantly surprised by this (seemingly random) recommended vid! You've earned my curiosity; can't wait to see what else you've got! P. S: your confidence in asserting your thesis and analytical perspective is so refreshing. Young academics could learn a lot from your 'script' (although I want to call it an essay or dissertation tbh!)
5 mins in and I'm like: "Girl when did we step up the content!?" This is a veritable documentary... Not saying old content was bad or anything but **claps**
tamashi's old content was good pokemon content, but now its good pokemon content AND good analysis of the context, themes and stories behind the games
I love the video.
There is an ocean of meaning you've found and a vast colorful landscape of themes and ideas you explored.
...
Totally unbiased here.
Vidit Vinor thank you for blessing us with the Zig Zag Squad
@@NerdStrikesBack Vidit brought my zigzagoon team to life! What a trooper.
7.5/10, too much meaning.
When it comes to the enjoyment one can get from these games, the sky is the limit.
it's 2022, i'm 24 years old, Pokemon Sapphire was my first ever videogame and i basically worship Hoenn as my #1 comfort place even now. even still, i had no idea until today that Maxie and Archie's goals actually had a context where they made sense. despite how much i adore the Hoenn games, i always conceded when people talked about how pointless the Magma and Aqua conflict is- and while the writing of it is DEFINITELY too vague in the originals, i've now found an appreciation for it all these years later. thank you so much for this video, it just goes to show that there's always more to learn and understand from eachother!
Ruby and Sapphire (and Emerald for that matter) was a huge part of my childhood and the root for my love of Pokemon. Though many people did find the mechanics and the villain's and their motivations to be...sub-optimal, I still love them (Nostalgia accounted for). And with the historical context behind the story, development behind the game and evil teams in mind, it made a lot more sense for me. I live in Bangladesh, a tropical country where water makes or literally breaks your livelihood, and when I played the Gen 3 games, unlike most players, I saw where some of these themes and ideas were coming from. We need land to sustain our booming population and provide more housing and industries, but we need to look after the environment to make sure they are healthy enough to sustain life. And I can attest to Rayquaza being the embodiment of nature, since nature did bite back where I lived, in the form of devastating flash floods and crippling droughts. In the wet and tropical region of Hoenn where people live on treetops or on top of sentient coral reefs, water dominates a good portion of the region and people complain about there being too much of that, I look at it and say, "Yeah, I like it here. I'm used to it by now. I'd stay here. What about it?" But that could be my nostalgia talking.
Now all we have to do is wait and see what you have to say about Gen 5, and find out what was up with N's initial design! Kid used to look like he had his candy bar with a side of spider legs, Jeez Laweez!
GEN 3!! For Life 💙💚❤️🔥 Amazing video!
Stg
Gen 3 holds a special place in my heart. It was actually the opposite for me. Gen 3 was when I had the most amount of interaction with other players. Contests, Mixing Records and Secret Bases were all fun times had during Gen 3. I remember being floored the first time I saw a lightning storm in route 119.
13:40 If you return to Mt. Pyre to return the orb you have, Archie/Maxie will show up and return the orb he took as well.
"I understand now that humans cannot freely control the balance between the land and the sea... So I have come to return the Red Orb.."
Not much of an attempt to make up for what they've done, but eh. It's something.
Did I really just never return to Mt. Pyre after finishing the game? I never knew that
@@Tama-Hero It's not like the game ever tells you to go back there.
And in Emerald there's something similar (since the player never gets an orb themselves, you see both Maxie and Archie there)
@@Tama-Hero the old couple guarding them emphasized how bad it was to hold on to them or to keep them seperate or something, and my 8-year-old mind was devestated by the idea I would be harming this amazing world I was in
I’m a gen 3 stan and this is the most self indulgent thing I’ve ever done in my life.
The berry thing is so true. I remember in one of my games I depleted ALL of the natural berry resources and the entire region was basically barren. As a kid, it really shocked me that that was possible at all.
Oh hey, that’s my comment (from my other account) about Johto and Kanto. Thanks for the shout out!
On a separate note I’m glad you brought up so much about the Hoenn region. It’s one of my favorite, because it’s so diverse in environments and it feels like a real place. Game Freak managed to get you to care about this region, which is significant in their first major attempt at an important plot. You come to care about Hoenn and all its unique features, so when you are presented with Archie or Maxie’s environmental alternative, you want to undo their mistake.
I'm glad that someone is talking about how great the map design is in gen 3. I feel it's an often overlooked part about gen3 discourse. While it is true the way they force HMs into the games is mechanically annoying, I never understood the idea of too much water or too many caves with wild Pokemon since you can just buy Repels for super cheap.
Also I would agree that the lack of movepool can condemn some pokemon to obscurity RIP Lileep, but that the variety and movepool issues are not as bad as you say. Wingull, lotad, nuzleaf, shroomish, abra and ralts are all decent special attackers and the lack of tools early game can force you to make interesting strategic you otherwise wouldn't (i. getting over Broly's Makuhita, using flying types or Sableye or sacking or relying on confusion or screech), that's what I loved about B2W2's first gym as well. The game is not that bad (except maybe endgame) with some planning and thoughtful use of TMs. I've recently completed a Grass monotype run and didn't run into too much trouble except for a few spots like Flannery's Gym even though Oddish's best attack is Acid until Lv 30ish.
I grew up playing the Gen 1 games, so these games should be the ones I hold the most nostalgia for, but replaying the games again more critically allowed to more objectively analyze how the games hold up. After going back to all the older games, I can say that RSE are one of the best crafted Pokemon games in the series easily. Believe me, I was one of those guys who criticized it at launch and when I first fell out of Pokemon, but the more I play the games, the more I appreciate the many little details that are overlooked but add so much to the games. Like I often forget how much better the games are with Natures, Abilities and the ability to tailor customize EVs.
As someone who hold no nostalgia to the games, I can say that it is a very strong Pokemon game.
Also you can catch Marill in Route 102, so you do have access to an older gen Pokemon before Dewford.
You can't catch Marill (or Goldeen in Emerald) until you know surf. You don't have access to surf until well after Route 102. I think that's what she meant. Super knit-picky, but I thought I'd mention it.
Nicolas Quero I’m pretty sure you can find in the grass tho
@@justintsui2522 on bulbapedia and serebii it says surf
*Brawly's Makuhita
I love how this is blatantly a love letter to RSE. Definitely helped me see the games through a new perspective. Love it!
Sapphire has always been my favorite game and I didn’t know the story of the region, it’s even better now
Wonderful review! I did not expect to have a history lesson this morning, but I’m glad I did and learned more about the lore of my favorite games in the process. I look forward to the coverage of the rest of the generation, but you deserve some rest for a bit after this review lol
How did you respond a day ago when this video has only been out for 3 hours?
When I opened the video I wasn't expecting a 20 minute lecture of the relationship between these games and real world events that help contextualize them, it's amazing how closely related they actually are.
I'm so glad to see people give these cames the credit they deserve! As someone who has grown up in a tropical climate with large oceans and the constant, ever-increasing discussion of habitat-expansion vs. conservation the Hoenn region has always felt like home to me. Ruby was the second Pokemon game I ever played but I always felt more connected to Hoenn than Kanto/Johto, and this video just helped me realise even more just WHY I love these games so much. They definitely aren't perfect (the grinding in this game is insane - I remember being stuck on the Elite 4 and having to get my cousin's overleveled Azumarill to help) but the region felt so diverse and alive that exploring all of Hoenn - including that glorious ocean - was half the fun! Just learning about the history of why Team Magma and Aqua exist helped to reignite my respect for these games. Thank you for such a wonderful look into a game that is very near and dear to my heart.
This video has been living rent free in my mind since it came out, I've watched it so many times now, thank you for your hard work
Recontextualizing the story of Pokemon R/S/E with the real world events that inspired it took me by surprise. I, and a lot of other people, at best saw the narrative as a flawed environmental message that wouldn't be out of place in a cheesy 90's animate film, never realizing the message that the team that made it wanted to send. Pokemon R/S/E is such an important game for me, even today I love getting lost in Hoenn and appreciating all of the effort that went into designing each and every area in the game. Contests are such an underappreciated part of the experience and I can't stand the amount of trash that gets talked about it in the fandom and I'm not even sure what caused this perception to even exist.
I spent years of my life playing this game over and over but your review of Pokemon Gold and Silver made me look at it through a new lens and I loved it more because of that, this review does the impossible and makes me love them even more. Pity about the broken RNG in Emerald though, makes shiny hunting a little different that what I'm used to.
I'm not sure you even remember this, but we had a brief conversation about these games during a livestream a few years ago. It was all about the design of the Battle Frontier and how much we both appreciated the work it took to overcome the challenges presented in each facility. It's not really important to the review, I just wanted to say that it was what made me discover your channel and I'm glad for it.
Surely a lot of the lack of respect and admiration for Contests is simply because they were side content with less mechanical or narrative depth than battling, but sadly I suspect that another part of the problem with Contests is that the show depicted them as pageant-like events that were primarily the focus of the female protagonist, likely turning some boys off from them as "for girls." This perception was only furthered when Diamond and Pearl chose to add dressing up and dancing to the mix, of course. I would like to think that Contests would fare better in today's more progressive culture where gender roles and stereotypes aren't as strictly subscribed to; they really do deserve more love.
Your D/P review still is my favourite video out of all of yours, and it was interesting to see a review from a different point of view. As a person who has Gen III deep in my heart -I made a proper push to learn English after winning an American Ruby in a contest so I could play it 8 months before it came out in Europe-, this has helped me discover severañ factors I didn't know about. The backstory really does explain a lot.
I've been listening to different retrospectives for the last few days, from different TH-camrs and this is a step above all of them! This was so informative and interesting, learning about the real world inspiration made a beloved classic so much more impactful. Great work! Keep it up!
Tama, this essay was incredible! You're always an icon for your genuinely thoughtful analysis of Pokemon, especially in a heavily saturated "Poketube", where everyone is trying to get out their feelings. Your incorporation of culture and context into the development of Ruby and Sapphire is something even more than impressive to me. Stay amazing, and I would love to see more videos like this!
Really well done video. Lots of good information and you drive your points home clearly. Great job!
This is so cursed. Thanks
I remember being a kid during the RSE era. During that time I distinctly remember being picked on for sticking with Pokemon.
Amazing video Tama!
A lot of middle school-ish age kids in the early 00s got insecure about Pokemon when they realised it was popular with really little kids (including pre-schoolers). Adults assumed Pokemon was a fad that would just go away and they were wrong about that, but in 2002/3 it was certainly nowhere near the phenomenon it was in 99/00, at least in the west.
Time moves fast when you're a kid; the marketing for Fire Red\Leaf Green in the US in 2004 was heavily playing on Gen 1 nostalgia, which had only ended in the US four years prior!
Yeah, FRLG was released way too early. When they came out, I still had my cartridge of Yellow and was still a kid. Who feels nostalgic for stuff that came out 4 or 5 years earlier? I might’ve enjoyed the games more if they were based on gen 4 and HGSS were pushed back to gen 5.
@@IgorsDen And then 2016 came and those same people started hopping on the Pokemon bandwagon
@@cubedmelons876 they released FRLG and the Gameube games in order to fix the Dexit problem
@@Lucideyes89 *Slams through the wall in a panic*
NO! *Pummels something with an iron Sledgehammer*
We will NOT have any dexit shit here!
I AM S I C K 2 FUCKING DEATH OF THAT D A M N SWSH DRAMA!😫
*Pummel noises* WE *Pummel noises* GET *Pummel noises* IT *Pummel noises* ALREADY!
I've been watching you since your very first videos - the humorous rom hack ones. Being a young adult woman into video games myself, I feel in a weird way that we grew up together. I'm really, really proud of you Tamashii. This video was phenomenal in every respect. I can't want to see more (:
Finally finished this. Good stuff!
I'm super amazed by the history too, in retrospect it really did look kind of empty to me as an American with no knowledge of Japanese environmentalism, but you've managed to fill up gaps I didn't even know were there and I can say I appreciate the games so much more now that I have this history lesson
I never knew any of the backstory about land reclamation in Japan. Gen 3 are my favorite games, even though I always thought the water/land plot of RSE was silly, but now I have a whole new appreciation for the message of these games. It carries a lot more weight than I realized. Great video
But did you consider that if Mt. Chimney and Sootopolis were swapped, Hoenn would become a giant thematic ying-yang symbol?
i feel the whole thing wouldn't have been so lost on the western audience if the region was based on the netherlands instead.
@@windhelmguard5295 not necessarily true for USA audience, and also all regions were as Japanese as the company that made them until ~2010
I'm only 15 or so minutes in but I'm already absolutely astounded by the backstory and it makes the whole magma vs aqua thing make so much more sense now!! Sapphire was my first Pokemon game and I have a lot of fond memories of the generation, thank you for this video!!
Coming here straight from the video on Gen 2. I've seen 7 min of this so far, but I just have to comment on how thought out, researched, and well presented your videos are. This is just incredible content, and I can't wait to see more!!
Ngl this took me by surprised i was expecting something else but this is truly something special and unique and i am glad to be able to watch videos like this :)
I like how you give each game's story an in-depth look, instead of taking the easy way out and going, "it's always the same!"
Wow that historical context really changes my perspective of Hoenn and the Gen 3 games. That’s really amazing
Thank you for this, you just made me really appreciate my favourite pokemon games even more.
THIS WAS AMAZING! Well worth the patron sub. I never knew the background of the story. You’re right when you say American kids couldn’t relate. With this new lens to look through I really want to go replay these games. Thank you for making this!
Such a great thing to wake up to on a Friday morning after such a crazy and busy week!
This is the best video you’ve ever made. Fantastically researched too and I loved the historical context you included. Man you did such a good job with this! :D
Wow you actually blew the roof off of Gen 3 discourse. Thank you so much for this insightful video, and I wouldn't have found it without referencing it from your FRLG review
The thing i like most about gen 3 is how different the two versions are. Having different villains in each one and in essence helping out one side to balnce things. And the legendary being tied into why you have a different one works very well.
I needed this video so much I havent even watched it yet but this notification was a gift to behold. Time to unwind after a long week of hating adulthood and the world with a nice long video from Tama! Im so fucking cozy right now i could scream.
I am always impressed by your commentary on these games. Your last video on Gold and Silver completely changed my perception of them and how I play them. You've followed that video up with another great one for Gen 3. I appreciate the time and care you put into making all your videos; but most of all, I'm grateful for your insight. You've sparked a new interest in me to examine games as texts and explore the deeper intentions of developers. I absolutely love it. It's wonderful to see you delving deeper into things you love. I'll look forward to the follow up video when you'll discuss these games more. Thank you!
This is a wonderful video and i really appreciate how in-depth it goes into explaining the themes of RS as well as the events that inspired it. Definitely earned a sub!
28:00 IGN referring to "too much water" in their review. They meant what you are talking about here.
I'll be honest, I learned more from you than i've ever learned in any world history class. You are a good teacher Tama!
I played Emerald as a child and actually fell in love with Hoenn as a region. For me it really felt like a place where I wanted to live because of the connection to the ocean and the community. I actually enjoyed the commentary on enviromentalism as a child even though i didn't understand the depth of it but a few years ago I played ORAS and felt like it was actually great to have this kind of topics in a video games. Your review was so great and detailed and made me love the original games even more. I appreciate how much passion you have for video games and look forward to hearing more opinions and analysis from you.:)
The first half of this video is truly unique and something I’ve rarely if ever before seen in a video review. Wonderful job on this! It makes the nonsensical story of Hoenn actually enthralling.
"let me, an intellectual, explain"
*cuts to failing the ice puzzle in Sootopolis*
I spit out my coffee lmao
Also its so cool to hear the context behind the teams.
I loved this so much. Thank you for all your hard work. People can say what they want about bias but it's all about self awareness at the end of the day. I truly believie that since you have so much experience with these games and in a way mastered them you can understand all the good and bad inside and out. Even I'm surprised as I didn't know anything about those specific environmental issues in Japan, I just thought that Junichi Masuda wanted to direct a game inspired by his grandparents rural hometown before. Having played these games a million times myself I can attest to everything you said about grinding and move learning but I think it's just more to be expected from more older pokemon games like these.
You are genuinely one of the most amazing people I have ever met. These videos are so informative and have taught me so much. It’s really given me a newfound appreciation of these games and has given me a whole new outlook on them. Thank you so much and keep doing what you’re doing!
I'm watching this video for the first time, on its second anniversary. Your channel is an absolute gem.
it’s cool to see you uploading regularly again and putting all this effort and nuance into your vids. these are a lotta fun to watch cos I think you are having more fun making them. Maybe that’s not true but that’s what’s coming across and either way I hope u are happy with them. There’s like a genuine spark of serotonin when I see you’ve uploaded which is hard to come by these days lol,, have a great day
I am having a great time thank you :)
Wow, this is the greatest analysis video I've ever seen for any videogame
Excellent analysis! I still love your older reviews but they've just gotten even more interesting and insightful over the years!
This is a really great video! I love the presentation, the background info, the explanations of how the story ties in to real world events, and the pretty unbiased look at the games overall, I can tell this was a labor of love and I really appreciate the work you put in!
I haven’t watched this channel in like 6 years, so let’s see how far you’ve come since then
EDIT: holy shit I love this, I loved the historical analysis of RS and I appreciate its inclusion as a prologue because i, and probably everyone else, had NO idea about the background this game was made in. also, you appear a lot more confident and as a result get your points across more meaningfully than I remember back in like 2014. It feels nice when I see old youtubers i used to watch improve and thrive
This was really good. I learned so much from this and I really appreciate how thorough you were - for as long as I can remember I've always said Gen 3 was one of my least favorite gens, but you've painted it in an entirely new light and have given me a lot to think about.
Tama, your channel has turned into something so amazing. You are killing it and I love your content. Don't ever stop.
Recently came across you channel and recently restarted replaying every Pokemon game. Awesome work 👏
Much like your video on gen 2, this video has changed my entire perspective on gen 3 as a game as well as an experience. Please keep up the good work, I’d love to see this type of analysis applied to EVERY generation. It’s like a marxist analysis (aka materialist analysis) of a video game and I love it 🥰 this is on par with the quality and content of a PhilosophyTube video tbh 😳😳😳
Hoen is my fav region so wachting this is just a bunch of nostalgic comfort food
Wow, mind blown by Part 1. You've come a long way since the Diamond/Pearl review, good job here!
I feel like I learned so much this is such an amazing upgrade to your previous video on the topic thank you for revisiting it!
I distinctly remember when the Gen 3 games came out and missing out on them because I was worried about being bullied for still playing Pokémon in the eighth grade. I was there for the first two gens and it took Sword and Shield for me to start playing them in earnest again. Having gone back and played some of the games in between, I really kick myself for having skipped over the Gen 3 games. Emerald may be the best Pokémon game ever.
Gen 3 and 4 truly are masterpieces in gaming
I saw the woodgrain TV and thought, "haha LGR would love that". Then i saw the credits and OF COURSE it belongs to him! haha. It's nice to see all my favorite youtube channels collab even in the smallest of ways.
I was genuinely surprised when I saw the shout-out to LGR at the end, didn't know Tama knew about him lol. It's great to see more fans of LGR out there.
Wow 🥺 this video really spoke to my younger self, thank you so much for going back and exploring the themes of this game and region, it touched my heart ❤️
I really appreciated this video. I grew up with Gen 1 and stopped shortly after Gen 2 and have recently gone back into the world of pokemon after uncovering my old GBA and GB Color. This video convinced me to look into Gen 3 and I appreciate having the background context.
18:27 awwhhh those Zigzagoon have the cutest nicknames ever!!
Me and my friends were JUST talking about how good emerald is too
this is such a great way to break down some of my favorite games in the series, i had no idea about the history behind these games and how they relate to the themes in hoenn, thank you tamashii!!
This is so well produced and informational!
Really appreciate the work you put into this!
Knowing the backstories of these games REALLY puts a lot of the story into a clearer perspective. I really wish they could have given the central conflict more context in-game, because that really impacts how the game feels. Me and a friend recently replayed all 3 games (Sapphire and Emerald for me, Ruby for them) and I always wondered about the stories of Ruby/Sapphire, and how they didn't make any sense until Emerald.
Of course, although the artistic side of the games are more clear, it still doesn't balance out the rest of the issues with the games (which affects the entirety of gen 3, for the most part). Lack of trainers/experience, heavy grinding pre-elite four, hollow postgame, no ditto breeding, and questionable story were all fixed up by Emerald (and FRLG), but things like Pokemon level-up moves, availability of TM's, and lack of physical/special split hurt this generation so much more than before. It feels almost incomplete without the modern movesets with maximum type coverage and moves that actually complement the Pokemon's stats.
wow ! I never realized all the cohesiveness that the entire game has- the sense of community, the role the Pokemon play, and the town designs. I also didn't know about the inspiration behind the games, the fight for environmentalism. it was definitely lost on me, as an American (tm).
I do agree, I wish there was more cool oceanic things. that explains why Ruby was always more popular than Sapphire- something I never understood. Great video!
Thank you for this video! I had no idea about the history and controversy of land reclamation that inspired these games!
wow, this video is incredible. your best work. happy to resub and def going back and seeing what you've been up to!
Something I kinda wanna say about the HM usage and the overall design, kinda personal overall and not specific to Gen3 as much either but since this was the first game where it became an "issue" I felt the need to say something
The idea of using your Pokemon as tools to circumvent the land/sea to me has been one of the coolest idea's Pokemon has had since the beginning. Things like riding Pokemon on the ocean as a practical means to traverse it I think goes a long way in contextualizing their significance in their world, the same goes for using physically strong Pokemon in order to push boulders that were obstructing your forward path. The idea of using your Pokemon as tools to more optimally move through the environment I think help lends a great sense of your companionship throughout the game, I'd be lying if I said this was something that was lost by Sun/Moon
There does, however, come a point where HM navigation becomes SO much of a pain in the ass on the game itself that it becomes somewhat of a problem, but I'd say that this is something that RS does rather well. Victory Road requiring four moves (one more being optional) to carry on I'd say strikes a pretty good balance, using your Pokemon to break through the last thing standing in your way to the end of the game I think works as a culmination for the end of the game. I'd prefer some of these moves to be a little stronger, mainly Rock Smash, and I think the process for getting rid of these moves should be a little easier/more obvious to the player so that they wouldn't be such giant roadblocks to progression like I felt was starting to become the case in some moments of DPP.
Like Tama said in the video I'd say highlighting the usage of HM's was important in Hoenn's case because it helps sell the idea of nature being important in the game overall, and I don't feel as if there is ever one super area that makes HM navigation too obnoxious. I can see why HM's would put people off as annoying roadblocks, but I think they really have a place in series still.
Also great video Tama, I really learned something about the history of the games I wouldn't have otherwise and made me appreciate these games even more then I already did.
Not gonna lie I'm actually a fan of HMs and actually want more. They add and integrate a puzzle element that connects battles with the world and I think they're a great way of limiting the player to make more challenging situations. What they could use is being easier to remove/add and also having alternate moves with the same function. Ex. Brick Break & Rock Smash both being functional. Or Slash and Cut. Or slightly altered functions like Cut removing grasstiles surrounding the player as opposed to slash clearing a row.
I really wish they made more use of these mechanics as well. They have always needed a quick menu for world moves though. I kinda think it should've been accessible through holding a trigger button. Anyway more moves interacting with the world like sweet scent and dig is better. And things like that are among the biggest reasons I feel like I can't enjoy later entries in the series.
I know there's a lot of potential for softlocks, but that also has a relatively simple solution. Just have your Phone/Nav device be able to contact your mom, dad, professor, Rival, or whoever that come out to bail you out which is treated as a whiteout you lose your cash and are placed back at home. This would just free the player from lots of potential softlocks anyway.
Sounds like a pretty solid theory. If you are right then Pokemon, like sadly too many franchises, fell victim to developers that were too scared to take a stance.
In one game the environmentalists are evil, in the other the bureaucrats. And as you said: both of them are hyperboles of their respective stances. So all you are left is a mess of a conflict that tries to invoke the horseshoe theory and boils down to "extremism is bad, mkay?" without actually addressing the matter at hand. They could be arguing about vanilla or choclate flavored ice cream and the story would barely change.
We don't see the good either team is trying to do (something like reclaimed land with more people for Ruby, an untouched preservative with many pokemon in Sapphire) and even the negative effects of their actions get resolved by the player before anything really happens. And maybe even worse for a kids game we don't see anything good come from the cooperation between the two teams after their conflict has been resolved. Both teams talk too much and show too little.
How great Hoenn is doing is honestly only making things worse. Hoenn is almost a nature utopia - so why do these two teams even want to change it? It seems the conflict between humans and nature has been resolved for a long while. You yourself listed how well all cities represent this unity. It seems the developers were too scared to show a world that has actual problems that go beyond a few extremist groups (that should really lack any motivation for their extremism). Even Sea Mauville is portrayed as a great asset to the balance between humans and nature - at least in the originals. In the remakes they at least made it look like a rusting husk so there is a semblance of conflict here.
So in the original games you have a cartoonishly idealistic world clashing with resource problems that can only ever exist in a much more realistic and imperfect world.
I have to respectfully disagree that this is competent storytelling. It probably wasn't your goal but your story analysis has made me more disappointed with Ruby and Sapphire. They had a great and important message to tell - but were too afraid to show kids a world with actual problems or upset the parents of said kids by taking a side in the conflict. So they seriously botched what they were going for.
But besides all that criticism I have to concede that Rusturf Tunnel is very well executed. We see a conflict in (in)action and find a way to resolve it in an organic way that doesn't involve using a deus-ex-machina (which is funny because Strength is a hidden *machine*).
Overall a great video and I can really see the love you have for those games.
I loved the contextual work that you done in Part 1
So im just watching this now and realized the naming of your Pokemon and I love it, also wonderful video Tama!!
This is the best review of RSE I've seen, thank you for going past the surface level complaints about the generation. I always loved gen 3 for having a more meaningful story and such a beautiful and interesting setting for a pokemon game. Your original review of gen 3 was what made me subscribe to the channel in the first place, so I was really excited to see an updated review, and I was not disappointed. The extra backstory on why the developers chose to tell the story they did was greatly appreciated, and I can't wait to see any video about fire red/leaf green that you do!
I've seen this video so many times but for the first time I noticed "Black and Trans Lives Matter!" Thanks Tama we love you.
The information given in part 1 has changed my whole perspective on the plot for gen 3. Thank you
Such detail ! Great Work !