Once more from the top
A few weeks back we brought you the latest episode of Road to ORAS, featuring on Pokémon Contests. This week we’re ushering in a new topic: New Features. As you’re probably all aware now this series has been commandeered by a certain someone, DefensiveBastiodon. He takes full credit for the below article, and you can expect to see much more from him in the future; he even asks me if he can write articles on a frequent basis!
Due to the uncertainty of when Corocoro was going to hit, we pushed the publish date of this article back to allow space to breath. As such this was written by DefensiveBastiodon before Super Secret Bases were announced for Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.
Road to ORAS: New Features
With many years of new features being introduced to the Pokémon world, there is an exceptionally large possibility Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire will adopt some of these features. From the night and day in-game effects of Gold, Silver, and Crystal, to the Player Search System in X and Y, there are many things that have a solid foundation in the future games; not that they always work as planned, of course. (*Glances at the GTS requests for level ten legendaries*) Notable features will return, as the games have been referred to as “complete remakes of the original games,” though they will obviously have a tweaked stories, as learned from released screenshots.
In game time sequences of night and day were removed from the third generation games. It was a favored feature of the second generation that allowed you to catch certain Pokémon during the day and some at night. It was brought back in Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum with different times of day: morning, afternoon, evening, and night. Seeing as it has been in every game since the fourth generation, one would suspect it will make a return once again for Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.
The lower 3DS screen has allowed for various functions to be added to the games. In Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum, the DS’ lower screen was used for the Pokétch. In Heart Gold and Soul Silver, there seemed to be a downgrade for the lower screen. It was simply used for easy access to the menu, a run lock, and easy access to your selected key item. In Black, White, and Black and White 2, The lower screen was used for the C-Gear; the C-Gear was like an early version of the PSS in X and Y, but had a few more features such as the choppy video chat and infrared connection option. It also allowed the player to connect to the Dream World to deposit a Pokémon. X and Y expanded the C-Gear in a way that it wasn’t even called a C-Gear anymore. The Player Search System allowed players to easily connect with their friends or other players around the world. X and Y also introduced Super Training and Pokémon Amie which gave you an alternative for EV training and a way to actually interact with your Pokémon, respectively. Seeing as Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald had the PokéNav, which had various functions, a fan could only wonder how Game Freak will bring back that feature, if they do. Pokémon X and Y had some of the biggest changes to the lower screen. GameFreak has many options for exploring the bottom screen.
Super Training was a feature in X and Y that gave players an alternative to EV training. It was a mini game in which you attacked balloons with balls to score points. Once you reached a certain amount, you received a hit amount of EVs depending on which level of training you completed. Seeing as hoard battles were also introduced and more likely to progress to the next games, Super Training may not be in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. Hoard training was much quicker with the Power items and was more efficient. It was, however, more difficult to fine tune stats, but super training fixed that. Both have their pros and cons, but Super Training may have a smaller life span.
Even though it obvious they are coming back, the 3D graphics need to be brought up. Previously in a 2D world, Hoenn only seemed tropical and big. Thanks to the released trailers, fans have been able to get a glimpse at how the new graphics will impact the games. These new graphics will give details to the region we’ve never noticed before, and possibly making it even bigger…
Of course, there are many other features I have left out of this discussion. Feel free to comment and discuss any new or old features you would like to see in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.
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As always, please keep the comment spam down and thank DefensiveBastiodon for bringing an interesting twist to this series. All of us can’t wait to see your replies and hopefully we can begin to feature the best comments and responses starting with this episode.
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