Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire: the complete guide to the third generation

A new console, a tropical region and two gods asleep beneath the sea: with Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, the series switched hardware and, along the way, gained a whole new depth. The first main-series games on Game Boy Advance, they introduced mechanics that still govern battles today — Abilities, Natures, weather, two-on-two battles. They also invented the formula of two rival criminal organizations, one awakening the land, the other the ocean. And they dared a break the series has never attempted again: cutting ties with every previous cartridge. Here is the complete rundown, from the French release date to the legacy.

Contents

• The Game Boy Advance, a fresh start
• From Japan to France: summer 2003
• Hoenn: a move, eight Badges and two Teams
• What's new: half of competitive Pokémon was born here
• The starters: Treecko, Torchic, Mudkip
• The Legendaries: two gods, a referee and three golems
• Version exclusives: seven on each side
• What players remember
• The legacy: what Hoenn imposed on the series
• Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire at a glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

The Game Boy Advance, a fresh start

Ruby and Sapphire are the first main-series games designed for the Game Boy Advance, released in 2001. The leap is spectacular: a color palette in a different league from the Game Boy Color, detailed backdrops, larger sprites, a richer soundtrack. Hoenn, a lush maritime region, was made to show off this new hardware.

The switch in console came with a switch in engine. The code was completely rewritten, which explains the most talked-about decision of these games: Ruby and Sapphire are incompatible with first- and second-generation cartridges. Pokémon raised in Kanto or Johto simply can't make the trip.

This break cost the series a lot of goodwill, but it allowed Game Freak to rebuild the battle system from the ground up. It was also quickly remedied: the FireRed and LeafGreen remakes, followed by the GameCube games Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD, reopened bridges to the older species.

From Japan to France: summer 2003

Japan got its first taste of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire on November 21, 2002, exactly three years to the day after Gold and Silver. North America followed on March 19, 2003, and Australia on April 3, 2003.

Europe got its turn on July 25, 2003, in the middle of summer and just over eight months after Japan. At the time, it was the shortest wait ever granted to the European market for a new generation — a huge improvement on the three and a half years it took for Red and Blue.

Unlike the Game Boy games, Ruby and Sapphire were never re-released on the Virtual Console. To replay Hoenn any other way, you have to go through the 2014 3DS remakes — or dig out your original cartridge, whose internal battery, which keeps the clock running, eventually gives up the ghost anyway.

Hoenn: a move, eight Badges and two Teams

The story begins in a moving truck. The hero's family is leaving Johto for Littleroot Town, in Hoenn, because the father, Norman, has just been appointed Gym Leader of the Petalburg City Gym. It's the first time the player has a known father — and has to face him in a Gym battle.

Professor Birch makes his entrance being chased by a Poochyena: to get him out of trouble, the player picks the Pokémon that will become their partner from his bag. Depending on the gender you choose, you play as Brendan or May, and the other — Professor Birch's child — becomes your rival, far friendlier than Blue or Silver.

🎭 On the cartridge, you become Brendan or May with a single choice at the start. To become one yourself at a convention, it all starts with the hair: browse our Pokémon cosplay wigs.

Hoenn has eight Gyms: Roxanne in Rustboro City, Brawly in Dewford Town, Wattson in Mauville City, Flannery in Lavaridge Town, Norman in Petalburg City, Winona in Fortree City, the duo Tate and Liza in Mossdeep City and Wallace in Sootopolis City. The Elite Four then brings together Sidney, Phoebe, Glacia and Drake, before Champion Steven Stone and his Steel-type Pokémon.

The big storytelling breakthrough is the two rival organizations. Team Magma wants to awaken Groudon to expand the landmass; Team Aqua wants to awaken Kyogre to expand the oceans. In Pokémon Ruby, you fight Team Magma and its leader Maxie; in Pokémon Sapphire, it's Team Aqua and its leader Archie. Each version therefore tells the story of the same war from the other side.

One more Trainer deserves a mention: Wally, a frail boy who takes up training the way you'd follow a course of therapy. You help him catch his first Pokémon early in the game, and you meet him again, transformed, at the end of Victory Road. It's one of the most touching arcs in the series.

What's new: half of competitive Pokémon was born here

The most far-reaching change is invisible to the naked eye: every Pokémon gets an Ability, a passive effect that constantly shapes the battle. Drought, Drizzle, Levitate, Torrent: these effects, absent from the first two generations, have been inseparable from each species' identity ever since.

Right behind them came Natures, which raise one stat by 10% and lower another. Combined with Abilities and the new training rules, they ushered the series into an era where two Pokémon of the same species are no longer interchangeable.

Battles themselves changed shape with Double Battles, where four Pokémon face off two against two. Weather became a mechanic in its own right: rain, sun, sandstorm and hail alter damage and accuracy, which gives the Abilities of Hoenn's Legendaries their full meaning.

The rest is lighter but just as memorable. Pokémon Contests offer a parallel career built on beauty, grace or cleverness. Berries are grown instead of just picked up. Running Shoes finally let you run by holding B. And you can set up a Secret Base in a tree or a rock face, and decorate it with furniture bought in stores.

👟 Among Hoenn's new features are the Running Shoes: just hold B and the hero finally runs. What you slip into yours, on the other hand, is best picked from our Pokémon socks.

Two new HMs were also added, Rock Smash and Dive, the latter opening up entire underwater areas beneath Hoenn's sea routes. It's the first time the region's map unfolds on two levels.

The starters: Treecko, Torchic, Mudkip

The Hoenn trio is one of the best-loved in the series. Treecko, the little Grass-type gecko, evolves into Grovyle and then Sceptile, a green blade built on pure speed.

Torchic follows the opposite path: the chick becomes Combusken, then Blaziken, the first Fire starter to pick up the Fighting type as it evolves. The Fire-Fighting combo would become a stubborn habit, carried on by the starters of the next two generations.

Mudkip, finally, evolves into Marshtomp and then into Swampert, whose Water and Ground typing leaves it weak to just one type. It's this exceptional resilience that made it, for years, one of the most-used starters in battle.

A final word on the rival, who still picks the starter Pokémon that's strong against yours — the tradition holds — but with a radically different tone: Brendan and May cheer each other on, keep in touch and trade advice instead of sizing each other up. The series becomes more human.

The Legendaries: two gods, a referee and three golems

All of Hoenn revolves around two titans. Groudon, exclusive to Pokémon Ruby, is said to have raised the continents; Kyogre, exclusive to Pokémon Sapphire, is said to have made the oceans surge. Once awakened, each one throws the climate into chaos across the entire region, and that upheaval serves as the story's climax.

The third player in this story is Rayquaza, the sky serpent that, according to Hoenn legend, ended their war. It waits at the top of Sky Pillar, off the main path: it's the true optional challenge of the game.

Hoenn also hides three silent golems, Regirock, Regice and Registeel. Reaching them means deciphering inscriptions in Braille carved into tomb walls — the strangest puzzle a Pokémon game has ever set.

That leaves the twin dragons. Latias and Latios roam Hoenn after the credits, and which of the two appears depends on the version: Latios in Ruby, Latias in Sapphire. As for Jirachi, it was only available through official distribution: this generation's Mythical Pokémon stayed, like Mew and Celebi before it, out of reach in normal play.

Version exclusives: seven on each side

The split here is perfectly symmetrical, Legendaries included. Seven Pokémon belong to each cartridge, and every Ruby exclusive has its mirror image in Sapphire.

Pokémon Ruby keeps the evolutionary line of Seedot, which becomes Nuzleaf and then Shiftry, as well as Mawile, Zangoose, Solrock and of course Groudon.

Pokémon Sapphire answers with the evolutionary line of Lotad, which becomes Lombre and then Ludicolo, plus Sableye, Seviper, Lunatone and Kyogre. The pairings are explicit: sun versus moon, mongoose versus snake, desert versus pond.

Watch the overall count, though: the game contains only 202 Pokémon, of which 200 can actually be caught, out of the 386 now in the National Pokédex. Since no bridge existed to the Game Boy games, only 67 older Pokémon were kept — so many beloved creatures simply vanished from this generation.

What players remember

The first shock was visual. After five years of Game Boy, Hoenn — with its jungles, volcanoes, seabeds and cities built inside a crater — felt like a world finally painted rather than drawn. The fuller soundtrack had a lot to do with it.

The second shock was less welcome. Being unable to transfer your Pokémon from Gold, Silver or Crystal felt like a betrayal to many players, who saw six years of raising Pokémon rendered useless. It's the most persistent criticism leveled at this generation.

Then there are the images that stick in your memory: the Secret Bases you decorated to show your friends over a link cable, the Pokémon Contests and their Pokéblocks, diving underwater, the Seafloor Cavern where the Teams awaken their god, and the final climb to Sootopolis City, a city built at the bottom of a crater.

🛖 Setting up your Secret Base to show your friends over a link cable was already a way of decorating a room of your own. Yours doesn't need a cable: a Pokémon rug at the foot of the bed is a great start.

Commercially, the generation suffered from some early fans falling out of love with it and from competition from other crazes, but it remains a huge success: 16.22 million copies sold, making it the best-selling game on the Game Boy Advance, all franchises combined.

The legacy: what Hoenn imposed on the series

In terms of rules, the contribution is colossal. Abilities, Natures, Double Battles and weather have never left the series since: boot up a recent game, and everything that structures a modern battle, apart from the transformation mechanics, was invented here.

The storytelling gained an equally lasting template: two opposing organizations, a box-art Legendary at the heart of the plot and an ecological disaster as a backdrop. Sinnoh, Unova and Paldea would all replay this score in their own way — to the point where the villainous team has become a staple.

Hoenn also got a third version, Pokémon Emerald, released in Europe in 2005, which brings Groudon and Kyogre together in the same playthrough, puts Rayquaza at the center of the story and adds the Battle Frontier.

The remakes, finally, arrived much later. Announced on May 7, 2014, Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire came out the same year on Nintendo 3DS. They add Primal Reversion, which restores Groudon and Kyogre to their original forms, and an extra adventure devoted to Rayquaza — exactly what the 2003 cartridge didn't have room to tell.

Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire at a glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• When were Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire released in France?
  Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire were released in Europe on July 25, 2003. Japan had gotten them on November 21, 2002 and North America on March 19, 2003: just over eight months separated the Japanese and European releases, the shortest gap granted up to that point for a new generation.
• Why can't you transfer your Pokémon from older games to Ruby and Sapphire?
  Because the game engine was completely rewritten for the Game Boy Advance: Ruby and Sapphire are incompatible with first- and second-generation cartridges. Bridges were reopened later with Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, then with Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD on GameCube.
• How many Pokémon are there in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire?
  The game contains 202 Pokémon, 200 of which can actually be caught, out of the 386 in the National Pokédex after the addition of the 135 new third-generation species. Only 67 older Pokémon were kept in Hoenn.
• What new features do Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire bring to the series?
  They introduce Abilities, Natures, Double Battles and in-battle weather, along with Pokémon Contests, customizable Secret Bases, Berry growing, Running Shoes and two new HMs, Rock Smash and Dive.
• What is the difference between Pokémon Ruby and Pokémon Sapphire?
  Seven Pokémon are exclusive to each version, Legendary included: Groudon and the Seedot line in Ruby, Kyogre and the Lotad line in Sapphire. The criminal organization changes too: you face Team Magma and its leader Maxie in Ruby, and Team Aqua and its leader Archie in Sapphire.
• What are the remakes of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire?
  They are Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, announced on May 7, 2014 and released the same year on Nintendo 3DS. They add Groudon and Kyogre's Primal Reversion as well as an extra adventure devoted to Rayquaza.

In short

Ruby and Sapphire paid dearly for their boldness: cutting ties with six years of collecting left its mark. But they are the ones that gave Pokémon its definitive battle grammar, and gave its stories an ambition they had never had before. Twenty years on, Hoenn remains one of the most atmospheric regions in the series, with its seabeds, its Secret Bases and its two sleeping gods. No wonder Groudon, Kyogre and Rayquaza have never slipped from the top of the bill among the Legendaries.