4.5/5 ★ – TylerTurner7's review of Pokémon Emerald.

Pokémon Emerald, and by extension Ruby and Sapphire, was GameFreak's first foray on the Gameboy Advance and was one of my favorite generations of Pokémon. There is no telling how many times have played the GBA games in my lifetime. I adore these three games for so many reasons starting with, well, the starters. Treecko and Torchic designs, in particular, are two of my favorite starters in all of Pokémon. Emerald is also one of the better-paced Pokémon games offering a lot of variety early in the early routes like Ralts, Makuhita, Aron, and Tailow. Many of these mons can carry a team with or without a starter. Some of my other favorite additions to this generation also include Flygon, Torkoal, Manectric, and Metagross. The game did so well at introducing and prioritizing the new additions to the Pokédex while bringing back some older mons in later areas. It was easy to progress through the game without feeling like you were overleveled. This generation also introduced two rivals, May/Brendan and Wally. While May/Brendan become more disappointing as the games go, Wally goes from this anxiety-ridden young boy to a competent trainer and interesting trainer. You almost want to take a dive and let Wally win just to boost his self-esteem. There are several gym battles that are actually challenging such as the fight against the protagonist's father, Norman, and his Slaking and Winona’s Altaria because of its dragon-typing and coverage. The biggest downgrade from Emerald from Ruby and Saphhire was the change of Champion from Steven to Wallace. Having the eighth gym and Elite Four Champion both being water was a bit disappointing and felt unnecessary. Steven's party was more diverse and his Metagross was a way bigger hurdle than anything in Wallace’s party. Team Magma and Team Aqua serve as some of the better “Team Bad Guy” groups with their eco-terrorist vibe. These teams feel as though they are so much less generic that other villain organizations as they actually have complicated goals and are unique to the legendaries they are pursuing. The “Weather Trio,” Groudon, Kyogre, and Rayquaza might be the best, or at least my favorite, trinity of box legendaries in the series. Another favorite childhood memory in this game was using a strategy guide to decipher the ruins in three caves that housed Regirock, Registeel, and Regice. What I didn’t until later was these ruins were actually brail which I thought was an excellent touch to the otherwise straightforward puzzles and gameplay. IGN famously noted that there was too much water in this generation of Pokémon. Three of the eight HMs revolve around water traversal which gives this game, maybe even more than others, the feeling of a Metroidvania. Several areas are able to be revisited or are optional but usually worth it. I think IGN was also just reaching to find something to criticize because these are such well-made games. All in all, I will probably continue to play this game until I die because it is one of the best games that Pokémon has ever made.