Pokemon Alpha Sapphire is a remake of Pokemon Sapphire (the third generation game for the GameBoy Advance), released for the 3DS. As expected, there is a major graphical overhaul but since the original were GameBoy Advance games which looks pretty good already, it’s not as big a difference as the remakes from the first and second gen Pokemon games. If you’ve played X and Y, then there’s nothing much that’s new to this game. Unfortunately, the game doesn’t have 3D in everything, which is disappointing. The only 3D sections are during battles, and so even though the game doesn’t look graphical intensive, apparently it would tax the hardware too much to have 3D all the time.
The core aspect remains the same. That is, you are a budding new Pokemon trainer as you travel out of your hometown. You’ll go through the region of Hoenn, catching Pokemon to do battle with, and eventually face off against the Elite Four and Pokemon Champion to become the next Pokemon Champion yourself. It’s a simple premise and one that still works well here.
As is customary, there is a subplot involving the villain team, in Alpha Sapphire that is Team Aqua. The third gen games’ villains actually had decent motives apart from the “we are evil” explanations. Team Aqua genuinely cares about the planet, in particular, the lakes and oceans of the world and they seem to have good intentions, even if they are going along the wrong way with it.
The game uses a turn-based battle system with a party of six Pokemon. Most of the battles are one on one, but there will be double and triple battles from time to time. Each Pokemon knows up to four moves, so you need to decide which ones to keep and which ones to replace as they learn new ones. Upon getting to a specific level, certain Pokemon can evolve into stronger ones and this collecting and evolving aspect is one of the most addictive parts of the game.
Each Pokemon also has typing and uses a more complicated version of rock paper scissors where each type is strong and weak against several others. Coupled with Pokemon being able to use moves that are not their type and it’s a strategic and varied experience. That said, given that you get the Exp Share item very early on in the game which gives experience to all your Pokemon even if they did not participate, and this is one of the easiest Pokemon games so far.
Pokemon are encountered via random encounters when travelling through grass or caves. Weaken the Pokemon enough and you can throw a Pokeball that has a chance of catching it for your use. There are plenty of Pokemon available and the main story (as well as most of the game) is designed in such a way that you can use any team you like and still be able to get through it.
Wild Pokemon variety seems really low. Each area only has one to three different types, and you start seeing the same ones in later areas. This makes it a bit boring in assembling your team, it’s worse on the water areas since there is a such a limited pool of wild Pokemon, despite comprising such a large portion of the map. This is also reflected by opponents, especially the villain team, who uses the same various Pokemon again and again. From the midpoint to the end of the game, you’ll start seeing the same types of Pokemon again and again, but right before postgame, and a bunch of new ones will be able to be encountered.
The game’s map slowly unlocks as you gain more abilities. Unfortunately, these are still tied to specific moves that you have to teach your Pokemon, using up one of the valuable spots. Using these moves is tedious as it takes several button presses and then you’ll have to wait for the animation to end. Flying high above Hoenn on Latias is really cool and fun, even if it is ultimately not a massive addition. The camera angles will shift from time to time, taking advantage of the 3D rendering. Despite these tricks, the progression can feel by the numbers, and not a huge improvement over the original games. It is also a lot easier as all your Pokemon will be of a much higher level than other trainers.
If you know where to go and what to do, the game feels really short. It’ll take you 20 to 30 hours to reach and beat the Elite Four to become the Pokemon Champion. That being said, at this point, there will be quite a bit of postgame content, and several routes that you would have not yet explored. Still, it does feel like it goes by way too quickly.
The biggest postgame content would be the Delta Episode. In terms of lore and story, it is also one of the most interesting as you investigate the meteor that is threatening to destroy the world, with a new rival, and the promise of Rayquaza. That said, the constant backtracking just to see a short cutscene is annoying. There are also a lot of Legendary Pokemon to capture. The amount is quite impressive, since it features the Legendaries from multiple generations including Hoenn, Sinnoh and Unova.
Overall, Pokemon Alpha Sapphire is a by the numbers Pokemon game. It doesn’t try anything revolutionary or take many risks, instead opting to go towards the same story beats that has been used for six generations of games so far. This means that while the game did get a graphical upgrade and several quality-of-life improvements, it doesn’t feel like a monumental leap over the original games. As a result, if you’ve played all the previous Pokemon games, then you just might get a tiny bit bored here even though it is still a solid game.
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