3.5/5 ★ – Pencil_Nexus's review of Pokémon Emerald.

In terms of Pokémon, this is up there for me. In the current state of Pokémon being fucking destroyed, going back to older titles feels nice. The battle system isn't the same as it is currently, physical and special are linked to type, so I had to think differently when it came to assembling a team or a moveset. I'll start with criticisms, some Pokémon genuinely get fucked from the type battle system. As some Pokes that I wanted to use are just unusable due to crazy choices in the phys/spec split. Crawdaunt and Absol to give some examples, by making Dark special, they can't benefit from their high attack stats. Similarly with Dragon being locked to special screws high attack dragons. Not being able to run indoors is hella wack and certain areas like the treetops and the water city make it feel like a drag to traverse. Other than that, everything else is pretty fantastic. Sprite work is at an all time high, the Pokémon selection is top-tier, the visuals and music are highlights. Even the world design is solid as hell. No wonder they decided to remake this gen... and make it uglier, but still better than current. *sigh*