I'm going to read more of this thread once I'm able to become more active, but I just wanted to comment on a few things.
Junichi Masuda's Twitter said:
Thanks! I've received your sentiments. Ruby and Sapphire are very important games to me. I want to make something good. Thanks!!
https://bulbanews.bulbagarden.net/w...eet_regarding_remakes_of_Generation_III_games
AIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!! :cer_boogie: While this leaves us...basically back where we started in the first place XD, it's a tiny glimmer of hope pushing for
Ruby/
Sapphire remakes. I'm going to be optimistic in this case. :) I don't expect actual news on them until probably between February and May of 2012, since those months were the times of the BW and HGSS announcements, respectively (if you count the Zoroark silhouette thing as a BW 'reveal').
-The elite four's Pokemon keeps the same as Emerald, the champion is steven, in the rematches you will fight wallace, you can battle steven in the Meteor falls.
-They really should add one more battle with May, all of her Pokemons are fully evolved.
- In the remake of ruby Wallace will be the last gym leader, Juan in the remake of sapphire, like B/W.
As for Elite 4 teams, I'd prefer the "first wave" (initial challenge) to take after their original teams from
Ruby/
Sapphire. For the "second wave" (rematch), in a manner similar to
FireRed/
LeafGreen's Elite 4, I would definitely love their teams to be powered up a bit. If they can have up to 6 Pokemon for the rematches, I'd like it if Sidney used his five core Pokemon from RS, as well as adding Crawdaunt from
Emerald to his rematch team. The other Elite 4 members would get similar upgrades, with rematch Pokemon levels being on par with at least the ones from FR/LG.
Regarding the RS remakes' Champion, I'd prefer it to be Steven, simply because he was the original, and IMO the RS Elite 4/Champion challenge was a little more varied/tougher rather than having two Water-type based teams (In addition to being 100% Ice-type, Glacia's team is 60% Water-type) like
Emerald did.
However, the deal with each remake version having a different 8th Gym Leader like BW is somewhat intriguing... I could see the
Ruby remake having Wallace as 8th Gym Leader and Steven as Champion, with Steven's fossil/metal team reinforcing
Ruby's
land theme. Post-game, Juan could be lounging around in the Abandoned Ship, a suitable place for a Water-type
aficionado. The
Sapphire remake could feature Juan as 8th Gym Leader, and Wallace as Champion, reinforcing
Sapphire's
sea theme. Steven, like in
Emerald, could be scavenging for meteorites at Meteor Falls during the post-game. The only problem I have with it is that I'm most likely getting the
Sapphire remake, and I'd rather have Steven as Champion like in the originals. :P
And yeah, May could use a few more battles. At least let her starter Pokemon become fully evolved (the same goes for Brendan and female players).
I'd say they're putting the finishing touches on the third game and have already began work on RS remakes, but are planning on getting the third game released before RS, once that's done they can dedicate their full effort into the RS remakes which will follow not long after the third game (next year)
At this point, I'm not too sure about whether the remakes will precede the proposed
Gray Version or vice-versa, as we've had both patterns exhibited by the releases of Generation III and Generation IV third versions and remakes. Since Generation V is touted as a "rebirth" of Pokemon, I would think that Game Freak is trying to extend the current generation for a little longer, although the fact that
Best Wishes is a bit faster-paced than past anime seasons contradicts that notion... Then again, RS's 10th anniversary in Japan is coming up in November 2012, and I would assume that roughly a year gap is left between main series' releases, so if the remakes release
were to match that time period (as FR/LG showed, the remakes don't
have to be released on anniversaries),
Gray Version would likely be released after the RS remakes.
I'd probably prefer that the RS remakes get released after
Gray Version, so that they would be able to glean any enhancements introduced in
Gray, similar to how HGSS was able to utilize
Platinum's enhancements, such as VS sprites. Time will tell, I guess... >_>
EDIT: Just thought of another idea for the RS remake Champion. How about a double battle against Steven
and Wallace? It would be a nice compromise between
RS and
Emerald, and would highlight the land/sea theme (Steel/Rock/Ground-types + Water-types) even further.
Alternately, we could simply re-use
Emerald's League structure. GAH, so many possibilities! #_#
In actuality, I'd prefer Wallace as 8th, Steven as Champion. For the post-game, either Juan joins forces with Wallace during the rematch to pit the player in an 8th-Gym
double battle,
or Juan could be found and battled in the Abandoned Ship.