Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire
Pokémon Ruby and Pokémon Sapphire (ポケットモンスター ルビー&サファイア), released on March 172003 in North America for the Game Boy Advance, mark the beginning of the third generation in the Pokémon series of RPGs. Ruby and Sapphire were succeeded in 2004 by Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen and in 2005 by an enhanced remake titled Pokémon Emerald. The game features over 250 pokemon
Storyline
In Ruby and Sapphire, the protagonist moves to Littleroot Town of Hoenn and, upon rescuing Professor Birch from a wild Poochyena, receives a Pokémon and begins a journey. The main antagonists that the player faces are Teams Magma and Aqua. The two teams coexist in both games, though the focus shifts from one to the other.
In Ruby, Team Magma's plans to deplete the sea are considered "evil"; in Sapphire, Team Aqua's goal of expanding the ocean are also considered "evil". Through a series of confrontations the protagonist learns of their agenda and attempts to stop them. Team Aqua eventually awakens the ancient Pokémon Kyogre and Team Magma Groudon. Following this, heavy rain begins to fall in Sapphire and bright sunlight shines in Ruby until the legendary Pokémon is defeated or captured. This game features of 250 Pokémon.
Music
Critical and commercial response
Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire were met with mostly, if not universally, positive reviews from critics.[1] The games are best-sellers, having sold more than five million copies in Japan,[2] and nearly four million copies in North America.[3] When their sales are combined, Ruby and Sapphire are the best-selling Game Boy Advance games in history. Separately, they are both among the top 3 best-sellers for the Game Boy Advance.
Berry glitch
 | It has been suggested that this article be merged with Notable glitches in the Pokémon video games. (Discuss) Proposed since December 2006. |
One new feature in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire is the ability to plant berries (Berries previously being introduced in Pokémon Gold and Silver) in "patches of loamy soil," allowing the player to cultivate berry gardens of whatever berries that player wants. This feature came with a significant bug; after a saved game of Pokémon Ruby or Sapphire had been played for a year or longer, the berry plants wouldn't grow, and all time-based events stopped working.
Nintendo created a program that fixed this problem with the game's clock and began a program to make players aware of the glitch and the fix; in the United States, beginning in March of 2004, Nintendo included a berry fix program on the GameCube demo discs distributed to GameStop and EB Games stores, for use in their demonstration GameCubes. (These game stores often have kiosks with current video game consoles for customers to try out games.) Connecting Game Boy Advance running a copy of Pokémon Ruby or Sapphire to a GameCube running one of these demo discs will fix the berry glitch, as well as transfer over a Shiny Zigzagoon with a Liechi Berry as a hold item to the copy of Ruby or Sapphire.
This program was discontinued in North America by the end of 2004, but Nintendo included the berry fix program in other products, as well. The demo disc given to those who pre-ordered Pokémon Colosseum has a program similar to the one included on the EB Games and GameStop discs, but, instead of transferring a Shiny Zigzagoon, it transfers a Jirachi to the connected game.
Later Pokémon games, including Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, Pokémon Emerald, Pokémon Box, and Pokémon XD also include a hidden mode that can fix the berry glitch, albeit without the additional gifts included with the other versions of the berry fix program.
Footnotes
- ^ - Gamerankings has aggregate scores of 84% for both Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. [1] [2]
- ^ 5,275,000 copies sold in Japan, as of August 2005, according to Famitsu Top[3]. These numbers reflect combined sales of both games.
- ^ 2.03 million copies of Pokémon Ruby and 1.83 million copies of Pokémon Sapphire sold in North America as of approximately August 2005, according to the Magic Box[4]. (The Magic Box list doesn't have a date, but was referenced on the Gaming-Age Forums on August 2 2005[5].)