Pokmon Emerald, known in Japan as Pocket Monsters Emerald (????????? ????? Pokett o Monsuta Emerarudo,?

), is a role-playing video game developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance handheld video game console. It was first released in Japan, and was later released in North America, Australia, and Europe. It is an enhanced remake of Pokmon Ruby and Sapphire. Players control a Pokmon trainer, whose general goal is to traverse the Hoenn reg ion and conquer a series of eight Pokmon gyms in order to challenge the Elite Fou r and its champion. Players capture creatures called Pokmon along the way using P ok Balls and use them to fight other trainers' Pokmon. It uses Pokmon that first ap peared in Ruby and Sapphire while it also features Pokmon from Pokmon Gold and Sil ver that were not featured in Ruby and Sapphire. It features the same plot of Ru by and Sapphire except it introduces the Pokmon Rayquaza into the story as well a s the Battle Frontier, a tournament in which players' characters can participate after the game's credits. Setting and plot See also: Pokmon Ruby and Sapphire The setting and plot remains largely the same as Pokmon Ruby and Sapphire. Player s can choose from either a boy or girl (both of whom have been given new green c ostumes) and choose between one of three Pokmon before they proceed into the rest of the game's world. Players are tasked to fill a device called a Pok Dex by cat ching different Pokmon species and evolving them. They are also tasked to complet e eight gym challenges and defeat the Elite Four and its champion by battling th eir Pokmon. Along their journey they face both Team Magma and Team Agua (whereas Ruby and Sapphire had you face only one of them based on which version you had). Each has a goal to change the world to their liking; Magma desires more landmas s while Aqua desires more water. They plan to accomplish their respective goals by summoning the legendary Pokmon Groudon and Kyogre. Late in the game, they both summon their respective legendary Pokmon; however the Pokmon refuse to obey eithe r team and begin fighting, which puts the world in a constantly switching state of droughts and rain. The players' character climbs a tower in order to summon t he legendary Pokmon Rayquaza, who quells the other two Pokmon's rage. After player s beat the Elite Four, they are able to encounter two Pokmon flying across Hoenn called Latias and Latios and can access an area called the Battle Frontier.[cita tion needed][1] Gameplay See also: Pokmon Ruby and Sapphire The gameplay is largely the same as it was in Ruby and Sapphire. Much of the gam e takes place in an overhead style; players' characters can move in four directi ons and can talk to other people on the overworld. Players can encounter wild Po kmon by walking into grass, surfing on their Pokmon, walking through caves, and ot her means. They can also fight other trainers' Pokmon.\ When this happens, the ga me shifts to a battle screen where players and their Pokmon are seen on the front -left portion of the screen while opponents are viewed on the back-right portion . Stats of the Pokmon and their trainers are shown on the side of each participan t; these stats include the Pokmon's levels, the trainers' Pokmon number (which can be anywhere between one and six), the Pokmon's health, and any status effects (s uch as poison, paralysis, burn, sleep, and freeze). Trainers send out the first Pokmon in their party and they take turns attacking where the first strike is det ermined usually by the speed of the two Pokmon. Players can choose from one of fo ur options: Fight, Bag, Switch, and Run. Each Pokmon has 1-4 different moves that they can use, which have different effects, number of uses, and types (such as Grass, Psychic, etc.). When a Pokmon hits 0 HP, they faint, forcing the Pokmon's t rainer to switch out. Once one trainer runs out of Pokmon, the battle is ended. W hen a human-controlled Pokmon wins a battle, the Pokmon gains experience. Enough e xperience will earn that Pokmon a higher level, which grants upgraded stats (whic h includes attack, speed, defense, special attack, special defense, and health)

and sometimes grant new moves. Certain battles allow for two-on-two combat; certain moves were designed to supp ort partners while other moves are capable of attacking two or more Pokmon. Unlik e Ruby and Sapphire which had you fight two specific trainers, Emerald allowed f or you to have a 2-on-2 battle with two trainers both of whom you could usually battle separately. Every Pokmon has an ability that often aides in battle, such a s abilities that make a Pokmon more powerful if they are near death. Wild Pokmon e ncountered by players can be captured using items called Pok Balls, which have a greater chance of success the weaker the wild Pokmon is. Players can battle and t rade with other players by linking their copies of Emerald with other Game Boy A dvance games (which include Ruby, Sapphire, FireRed, and LeafGreen). This can be accomplished either by using a Game Boy Advance link cable or by use of the wir eless adapter that was bundled with FireRed and LeafGreen. It is also compatible with Pokmon XD: Gale of Darkness. This allows players to trade for Pokmon not nor mally obtained in Emerald.[2][3] Aside from the traditional battle and overworld style, players' Pokmon are able t o participate in Pokmon Contests where they can try and win in "Cool", "Beauty", "Cute", "Smart", and "Tough" competitions. The players' characters are given a d evice early on called the PokNav, which allows players to view the world map, che ck their Pokmon's contest stats, and make and receive phone calls with trainers t hat they have met with whom they can chat or plan a battle. This replaces a func tion called "Trainer's Eyes", which allows players to register certain trainers and see when they are in the mood to battle. This also allows players to rebattl e Gym Leaders, an ability not found in previous Pokmon games. Emerald includes se veral other new features and changes. It includes animations of Pokmon in-battle (which was not present in Ruby or Sapphire) and an area called the Battle Fronti er. It is an expansion of the Battle Tower found in previous games. A man whom p layers encounter several times throughout the game will eventually allow them to access the Battle Frontier after beating the Pokmon League Champion. The Battle Frontier features the aforementioned Battle Tower in addition to six new areas. Completing these areas awards players with "Battle Points" which can be spent on prizes to use in and out of battle. The Japanese version featured compatibility with the Nintendo e-Reader; however, this was cut for the English release due t o its lack of success. Emerald features the Trainer Hill area which, in the Japa nese version, is compatible with the e-Reader.[citation needed][4] Rare Pokmon th at originated from earlier Pokmon games such as Mew, Lugia, and Ho-oh were made a vailable through an in-game event.[5][citation needed] Development and promotion Pokmon Emerald was developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. It was first announced in Coro Coro Magazine.[1] It features compa tibility with the Nintendo e-Reader and 83 cards launched for Emerald on October 7, 2004.[4] This was removed from the English versions.[citation needed] It is the third version of Ruby and Sapphire and follows a tradition of third releases (Pokmon Yellow for Pokmon Red and Blue for example).[6] The wireless adapter was bundled with Japanese copies of Pokmon Emerald; this was removed from English ver sions of the game.[7] Nintendo has done several promotions related to Pokmon Emerald. Nintendo held a c ompetition for players based on Pokmon Emerald where players compete to be the "P okmon Emerald Ultimate Frontier Battle Brain". The competition took place in seve n areas across the United States and Canada, where 14 finalists (two from each a rea) will compete in Seattle, Washington's Space Needle for a trip for two to th e Pokmon Park in Nagoya, Japan. People can also enter to win a trip to the Space Needle to watch the competition. The competition amounted to trivia about charac ters from Pokmon and their abilities.[8][9] Nintendo also introduced a pre-order program that would give those who pre-ordered as part of the program including e xclusive access to a Pokmon website, a collector's tin holder, and a guide to the

Battle Frontier.[8] A limited edition Game Boy Advance SP was released by Ninte ndo which features a silhouette of the Pokmon Rayquaza. It was distributed by Nin tendo in Japan exclusively on their website "Pokmon Trainer Online" and was never released outside of Japan.[10][11] It was featured in the Official Nintendo Mag azine's list of rare Pokmon consoles.[11] Players who brought their Game Boy Adva nce with a copy of Pokmon Emerald and a wireless adapter to Booth 2029 of the 200 5 Comic-Con International would be given an in-game item called the Mystic Ticke t which allows players the opportunity to capture Lugia and Ho-oh.[12] Reception Sales It launched in the number one spot in Japan with 791,000 copies sold in its firs t week with 372,000 in its first day.[13] It was the fourth best-selling game in Japan for 2004. It sold 1.4 million for the year and ranked behind Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride, Pokmon FireRed and LeafGreen (combined), and Drag on Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King.[14] The list of the top 1000 best-sel ling video games in Japan for 2010 featured Pokmon Emerald at 779 with 7,724 copi es sold for a total of 1,916,505 sold since release. It was the only Game Boy Ad vance game on the list.[15][16] More than 146,000 people pre-ordered copies of E merald in the US.[9] Pokmon Emerald launched in the United States at the number o ne position in May; it followed in June by falling to the number two spot below Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on Xbox with 265,000 copies sold in that month.[17 ][18] It was the second best-selling game for the first half of 2005.[19] In a p oll conducted by IGN, readers ranked Emerald as the most popular Game Boy Advanc e game for the 2005 Holiday season.[20] It ranked second for the whole year of 2 005 below Madden NFL 06.[21] By the end of 2005 it had sold 1.2 million in Europ e and nearly 5 million worldwide.[22] It had sold 1.72 million copies worldwide by June 1, 2005.[23] It had sold 5 million worldwide by the end of 2005.[22] To date it is one of the three best-selling Game Boy Advance games.[24] Its life-to -date sales totaled 6.32 million by the 2007 fiscal year.[25] In November 2005, Nintendo Power erroneously reported that "Total sales [from Pokmon Emerald] would exceed the value of an actual emerald the size of Neptune."[26] Critical reception Pokemon Emerald has received generally positive reception. It has an average sco re of 76 and 76.65% on Metacritic and Game Rankings respectively.[27][31] It rec eived an award for excellence at the ninth annual CESA game awards.[32] IGN's Cr aig Harris stated that while he was not enthused with Emerald, he had to admit t hat it was a solid game and was the best version for people who hadn't played Ru by or Sapphire yet.[29] 1UP.com's Christian Nutt felt that it was the definitive version of Pokmon at the time yet was also a rehash.[30] GameSpy's Phil Theobald felt that it was a good game in its own right but felt like the same game as Ru by and Sapphire.[33] GameSpot's Ryan Davis noted that it was a quality experienc e despite being similar to Ruby and Sapphire and that hardcore fans may apprecia te its changes.[28] IGN's Lucas M. Thomas bemoaned the fact that he had to play through the whole game before he could play the Battle Frontier.[34] Eurogamer's Corey Brotherson felt that it was a good game in its own right but was lacking in compelling additions. He added however that it was a better game for players new to the series.[35] Nintendo Life's Laurie Blake performed a retroactive revi ew of Emerald; she felt that the Pokmon games have aged well but still feel like they did in 1996. She further stated that the similarities between it and Ruby a nd Sapphire prevented it from being a must-have while still being good.[36] Allg ame's Julia Reges felt that the game had a lot of value for younger players but that older players may be disinterested. She compared Nintendo's remakes of the Pokmon games to the various Star Wars remakes.[37] IGN's Audrey Drake praised the game for utilizing both of the villain groups and called it a "marked departure" from Ruby and Sapphire. She felt that the abilit y to re-battle Gym Leaders created an "exciting challenge" for players.[38] She also included Emerald (alongside Ruby and Sapphire) in a list of Game Boy Advanc

e games that she wanted to see on the Nintendo 3DS' eShop.[39] 1UP.com's Jeremy Parish listed Emerald as one of the best games to bring onto a plane.[40] Fellow 1UP.com editor Kat Bailey included it in her list of remakes that "left the ori ginals in the dust". She praised the Battle Frontier and its fixes for flaws fou nd in Ruby and Sapphire.[41]