Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire

Gameplay

Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire retain most of the features of Pokémon X and Y, such as Mega Evolution and Super Training. The games introduced new features including Primal Reversion for Groudon and Kyogre, as well as using Latios or Latias to fly around Hoenn.

Plot and setting

The plot and setting of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire are mostly the same as the original Ruby and Sapphire games. The game begins as the player is seen riding in a moving truck. The player character starts by moving to the Hoenn Region with his/her mother, as their father Norman has been hired as the Petalburg City Gym Leader for a town in the Hoenn region. The player character begins their Pokémon Trainer journey by saving Professor Birch, the leading scientist in the Hoenn region, from a wild Pokémon, choosing either Treecko, Torchic, or Mudkip to defend him. Following the defeat of the wild Pokémon, the player receives the chosen Pokémon as their starter. They then travel around the Hoenn Region to complete their Pokédex and battle the eight Gym Leaders of the Hoenn Pokémon League. Along the way, the player character encounters the antagonist group Team Magma in Omega Ruby or Team Aqua in Alpha Sapphire who wish to use the power of the Legendary Pokémon, Primal Kyogre in Alpha Sapphire and Primal Groudon in Omega Ruby, to change the world to suit their desires. Team Magma wants to use Groudon to dry up the oceans to make the world a haven for land Pokémon while Team Aqua wishes to summon Kyogre to flood the lands to suit Water Pokémon. With the help of Hoenn League Champion Steven Stone and the Gym Leader Wallace, the player defeats their respective team and then either captures or defeats the Legendary Pokémon to prevent a global drought/flooding, and thus ensuring the teams' mutual reformation. The player then advances on to the Pokémon League, challenging the Elite Four and then Steven to become the new Hoenn Pokémon League Champion. The player also has the option of participating in the various Pokémon Contests throughout Hoenn, using their Pokémon to put on a performance for an audience and judges. Aside from the gameplay, 20 new Mega Evolutions were added since Pokémon X and Y to enhance gameplay. A new side quest featured in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire is called the Delta Episode. The player character must work with the new character Zinnia, Steven, and Professor Cozmo to find a way to stop a meteor from crashing into the planet, which requires capturing the Legendary Pokémon Rayquaza in order to stop the meteor which contains the Legendary Pokémon Deoxys.

Reception

Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire have received positive reviews from video game critics. GameSpot's Peter Brown praised the 3D visuals and the super training mechanic, but believed the game failed to fully resolve general issues in the game formula. IGN's Kallie Plagge also praised the game's 3D reinvention of Hoenn and online functionality. Plagge was critical of the over-abundance of HMs needed to play the game as well as the perceived imbalance favoring Water-type Pokémon (she played Alpha Sapphire which features Team Aqua as the villains) and the reliance on water-based routes. She remarked that while the Dive feature was novel in the original release, it had since become tedious.

The games sold 3,040,000 copies in their first three days of sale. Of the total sales, 1,534,593 copies were sold in Japan, the rest were sold in North America and Australia. Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire had the biggest launch in the series history in the United Kingdom, beating the previous record held by Pokémon Black and White. At the end of 2014 the games have sold 2.4 million copies in Japan. As of December 31, 2016, the games have sold 13.68 million copies worldwide.