Pokemon Alpha Sapphire is one of those games that really deserves to be replayed. I first played it while I was on the train going to and from community college classes. Out of all the 3DS Pokemon games I played, it was the one I put the most hours into. Then I decided to get back into it a few weeks ago after I finished playing Pokemon Legends Z-A and Pokemon Pokopia. I don’t know if I loved it because of the nostalgia from growing up or from something else, but it still holds a special place in my heart.
The original gen 3 titles were already great, but the remakes made those titles even better. It was also nice going back to simpler times after playing the Switch Pokemon games with all their bugs and all. Visually, Alpha Sapphire is one of the best-looking Pokemon games on the 3DS. Making a brand new game into 3D like what they did with Pokemon X and Y is one thing. But transitioning something that was already 12 years old is even better. The Hoenn region on my Game Boy Advanced had a certain flair to it, and the remake keeps that flair alive really well.
Looking back at all the Pokemon games I’ve played since gen 3, I realized that many of the storylines have been forgotten by me. There was some great stuff in Diamond and Pearl, Black and White, and Scarlet and Violet. But many of the villains and plot points of the other games have been forgotten with time. But not Alpha Sapphire and the original games. Team Rocket is obviously iconic, and I really liked what Team Galactic, Plasma, and Flair did. But I feel like I have the plotline of Team Aqua (and pretty much Team Magma too) engraved in my memory.
Collecting the badges to be the very best has always been the core gameplay, but the Team Aqua plotline has always captivated me. The remake doesn’t really change anything about the core storyline from the original, but it doesn’t have to because it was already iconic. But the remake also includes Delta Episode, a new storyline that involves Zinnia and Deoxys. This storyline adds extra content to a game that has taken me 100 hours to beat the first time.
What else does the game do? Well for starters it retains many of the features that were introduced after gen 3 like Mega Evolution, which is obviously the greatest mechanic that Pokemon ever introduced. But other than that, the core gameplay is the same as the original games, and pretty much the same as all other Pokemon games too. You’re just catching Pokemon and training them to be as strong as possible while exploring the Hoenn region.
The audio is also quite impressive, though I later learned that I was quite disappointed. When I first played the remake a decade ago, I thought the soundtrack was amazing. There were a few songs that I really liked, and the entire sound package was great. But a few years later, I realized that my favorite Pokemon song of all time was the wild battle theme from Ruby and Sapphire. But when I listened to them again in Alpha Sapphire, they didn’t hit the same. I recently began to realize that many of the songs are great in their own right, but I actually prefer the originals for most of them.
But other than that, the game is amazing. I personally believe it’s the best Pokemon game on the 3DS. I’d even prefer to play this over some Switch games. I’m looking at you Let’s Go Eevee and Brilliant Diamond. Playing the new games as they come out is fine, but this one is worth revisiting 100%.
10/10