3rd Gen Do the originals stand up to ORAS?

If you've played the games, Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, how do you think that the original games, Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald stand up to them?



In comparison, the ORAS games are in 3D, the characters are fleshed out more, and there are brand new features. But still, even from what ORAS has, do the original games still hold that special charm to them that still makes them fun to replay? Do you still replay these games even though ORAS is out?

Do you have any other thoughts? You can share them here!

I believe RSE stand up to ORAS due to having content/mechanics changed or cut from the remakes (i.e. volcanic ash, gym leader rematches, battle frontier, etc). They also hold the player's hand a lot less (no teleporting or healing via May/Brendan), and the graphics are still decent by today's standards imo.
ORAS are decent remakes, but RSE are still playable for either the nostalgia factor or Emerald's Battle Frontier.

I haven't played ORAS much yet, but I think overall ORAS is probably more enjoyable for all the modern reasons. However, for somebody who really loves the pixly style and the nostalgia, and also the relative simplicity of RSE, they are definitely still good games today! I don't think they have aged badly.

Honestly, I lost a lot of hype for Pokemon cause I didn't really care for Black/White, and X/Y annoyed me cause of the complete lacking of a post-game, but ORAS completely revived my love for the series.

I think it's one of the best remakes next to HG/SS

I think, ORAS are ''2nd generation'' of RSE games. ORAS, like RSE have a place in Hoenn region, we have same characters, same leaders and storyline. Only a few thing are different in both titles, but these are small details. I see only one big diffrence, graphics. In my opinion, Ruby and Sapphire have no chance with a Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, but what with Emerald? Ruby = Omega, Sapphire = Alpha. I was always missing something like ''Emerald = Delta''. Summarizing, ORAS and RS are very similar games and Emerald is ''something unfinished, but better than others''.

in my honest opinion i think RSE(specifically Emerald) are better to a degree.
when you look back on the games yes the graphis and soundtrack is not up to par with ORAS but content wise in gen 3 we got the game corner,Access to both legendary cover mons, volcanic ash, rematches, and most importantly the battle frontier which we only got a model of the battle tower in ORAS. while ORAS( and gen 6 in general) were not bad games they were lacking to some degree and the older games had what the newer games lacked.

In general agreement with Levea, here. If we had gotten Emerald with the addition of the ORAS Delta Episode, we would have the pinnacle of the Hoenn saga. Due to the anti-gambling efforts of the newer generation games (starting in the DS era), we lose content; and the loss of Battle Frontier for it's replacement was disheartening. With ORAS, I was looking forward to storming the Frontier with EV/IV-trained Pokemon for once. It was much too complicated to be bothered with in Gen3.

IMO OR/AS are better than R/S in most aspects, but just kinda shatter under the view of Emerald. Seriously, those Gym Leader rematches, Battle Frontier and numerous other small features/unique stuff (eg. the fact that you can kinda hunt down Groudon and Kyogre post-game) are just too big of a loss for me to justify playing only OR/AS.

I will say this much.

Unlike Crystal, which has 100% no justification of being played over Heart Gold and Soul Silver, Emerald actually can compete with Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire (Which lacks the arguably fun Battle Frontier) and actually has clean enough graphics to hold up to modern standards while keeping the nostalgia factor intact.

I would say that they absolutely do.

I definitely prefer ORAS from an objective standpoint, those graphics alone are justification enough and I also really love the Delta Episode. But that is down to personal preference as I can just as much see why someone could prefer to play, specifically Emerald. over ORAS due to feature preferences. As for Ruby and Sapphire, they are still extremely playable and hold up to the standards of today too.

J-Pom said:

Unlike Crystal, which has 100% no justification of being played over Heart Gold and Soul Silver

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Kris, the Odd Egg, a more fleshed-out Suicune story, the GS Ball, and Bank compatibility are all very good reasons to play Crystal over HGSS. That, and the fact that HGSS cost an arm and a leg nowadays.

(That being said, Polished Crystal is still the very best version of Gen 2. :tongue-poke: )

As for Emerald vs ORAS, the former still wins in my book. I'm not a huge Battle Facility person, but I'll still take the Battle Frontier anyday over a Battle Tower clone (Battle Maison) and some fanfic nonsense (Delta Episode). I also really despise what ORAS did to Wally, having him turn into some Smogonite out of nowhere in the postgame even though his character was supposed to be all about overcoming adversity and becoming strong through the love of his Pokémon.

(Also, screw Gardevoir being retconned into a Gallade. There's nothing wrong with male Pokémon that look "girly." If Gardevoir wasn't meant to be male, then it would have a 100% female gender ratio.)

I also hate ORAS' protagonist designs (they practically ruined May, who's one of my favorite player characters behind only Kris and Green), especially since they didn't even include some form of Trainer Customization to balance it out, and I far prefer Emerald's Gym Leader teams and having Gym Leader rematches.

Emerald absolutely does and I consider it a lot better than ORAS. I don't think Hoenn needed a 3D remake. RSE are fairly old yes, but nothing about them screams outdated like a glance at Gen 1 or 2 would do. As someone who really likes the Gen 3 graphics (maybe just because she's spent so much time hacking), they're a point towards the originals for me. RSE's overworlds aren't as good as FRLG's but I like them better than those goofy Gen 6 bobbleheads.

The mechanics of Gen 3 are a little old but I don't really think they're old enough that they get in the way of the gameplay like (again) RBYGSC's mechanics do. There is the lack of a Physical/Special split but that's never really bothered me because I mostly play casually. I can't think of anything else major besides maybe the EXP Share working differently? I like the old one better :P

RSE had more nice freedom to explore than any game since and imo is one of the best games in that regard. ORAS holds your hand a ton by telling you were to go next in interminable cutscenes and having those "i'll walk you there" bits. I'd rather go off on my own and explore, and that was one of RSE's best strengths.

Also, Emerald introduced a lot of good changes to RS that ORAS didn't bother to replicate. Having both teams take a more active role was nice, the story changes were cool and the postgame content was definitely better than the Delta Episode (which had a cool ending but until then felt to me like a repeating series of back and forth fetch quests whose only purpose was establishing the alternate Mega Evolution universe so RSE could continue to be "canon").

Not even gonna talk about Mawile City because idgi. Were they contractually obliged to have one megacity area with weird annoying camera controls in every Gen 6 game?

I think the originals stand up just fine. I don't hate ORAS, and they're vastly better than XY at least, but they don't hold a candle to Emerald.

I think to say that the originals hold up would be the understatement of the century. These games are classics. Emerald in particular is a marvelous game that offers a very different experience to Oras.

First for the good about Oras because the originals and the remakes are both among my top 3 favorite games. Oras had a beautiful ost-- give a listen to the sky pillar or the overhaul for the aqua/magma leader theme. Next I like how it expanded the role of the lati twins, introduced soaring as a feature, added dramatic and creative new story content post game in the delta episode, introduced new characters and expanded on existing characters-- in particular I like that they took an already well-liked champion in Steven Stone and made him I feel the definitive champion by developing your friendship with him even further. The secret bases, one of the best loved features from the originals also had some nice updates with a lovely expansion of furniture options and the real potential to have a Pokemon gym. I loved the additional mega evolutions that were introduced in Oras and think that they found a way to take some of the best mechanics from the Kalos region and incorporate them in a relevant way to Hoenn, a way that expanded on what was already strong about Hoenn, its rich sense of history like Sinnoh and Unova. I was also overjoyed to see Poke Amie return. Would have been nice if trainer customization had come back too!

With all that being said there are contributions from the originals games that Oras did not recreate. The originals preserve the game corner and slot machines, which have been censored out by Oras. Emerald also follows in the tradition of the Johto games, allowing you to rematch gym leaders unlike Oras, and has a real sense of closure with a final battle lvl 70+ as we had with Red. These games also had a Safari Zone with a larger variety of Pokemon from other regions like Houndour, Mareep and Miltank compared to Oras. Emerald also opened a new doorway to competitive play by unveiling the elaborate world of the battle frontier. Many fans missed the variety of post game challenges it had to offer and were upset to have it phased out. I was fond of the battle factory in particular and enjoyed how you never knew what Pokemon you would get to make due with.

The stories are also quite different between gen 3 and 6 and the champion's identity can vary as well. You are able to capture both Kyogre and Groudon in Emerald and in my opinion the presence of the entire weather trio at war with one another made the main story even better than Oras and created more interesting dynamics between Aqua and Magma. Though again, I did love the Delta episode as post game story content for Oras.

As others have pointed out the original Ruby Sapphire games are also more of a challenge, Pokemon like feebas and relicanth had lower encounter rates, roaming pokemon still existed, the exp share had not been buffed. berry blending was a mini game you had to do well in if you wanted to get pokemon in good condition for contests. The contests also were more challenging at the base level with opponents using jamming tactics that you would now associate with a master rank in Oras. There were also judges that you needed to take an appeal before. There was more of a spontaneity to game play too with flash sales on TV, visits from special NPCs and Pokemon outbreaks.

Still, I think Oras is best of the 3 Pokemon remakes (though HGSS comes close for me) because it had lots of fresh ideas. Its remaking a region that is very close to my heart, and you're not always going to be able to surpass the original in every capacity. There are valuable contributions from Pokemon Crystal like more detail in regards to Suicune's story and now Celebi's event that make it a formidable game in its own right even after playing HGSS, and there are certainly areas in Pokemon Yellow like having your Pikachu follow you with cute animations and talk to you or including characters from the Anime like Jesse, James and Meowth that you don't get in frlg and still make the originals special.

Both the original RSE games and the 6th gen remakes are amazing. Hoenn is my favorite region for its peaceful and diverse landscapes, elegant Pokemon designs, opportunities for creativity by making your Pokemon a contest star and above all its strong sense of community with characters like Norman, Steven and Wally who you are mentored by or must mentor.

Oras is probably my favorite game overall but I don't think it has to be either or. They are just 2 different games that I would rate 5 stars each.

I really love ORAS, but I think RSE are still worthwhile to play, if only because I view them as the epitome of sprite-based gaming (compare to the fully animated, but very pixelated gen 5 sprites). Never played Emerald so I don't know what I was missing there. But yeah if you had to choose only one generation of Hoenne i'd pick the 3D one

Ruby and Sapphire were great games and had to be understood in the context of the time when they were released. So in a sense, yes the RS series in 2002 would be just as good as the ORAS series in 2014. However, if we placed them side by side, ORAS would obviously be better since it's a much more modern and refined remake of an existing game, so thinking of ORAS as an improvement over RS would be expected.

I do agree with Rainbow and Betty that Emerald was in a class of its own since it integrated the positive aspects of both Ruby and Sapphire. In fact, I would've preferred an Emerald remake over an RS remake!

They definitely do. I have no problem going back to the originals. ORAS were great games, but I have to say that I prefer the originals. I love the old music and graphics. I think they were more challenging than ORAS as well.

if oras had any of emerald in it in the first place (beyond the delta episode) then i'd say that it'd be more enjoyable, but as it stands, the inclusion of the battle frontier in emerald's postgame beats out anything oras had to offer.

ORAS took time to grow on me, I didn't play it much til I restarted over the last year or so. I was excited about it, but then I wasn't that impressed. Aside from some of the characters, the game kinda bored me. D: But upon picking it back up, it's more fun nowadays? Who knows. Either way, I have to stay that with the exception of more Steven and better graphics in ORAS, I did really enjoy RSE more when I played it. We'll see how ORAS stands with me once I finish it.

16-BIT French horn samples = ORAS's orchestral music.

Basically, I'm not sure which games I prefer. Emerald and ORAS are pretty great in their own ways.

I actually prefer RSE, personally.

For one thing, 3D models are not something I consider to be intrinsically superior to pixel art, and I think that RSE has a more pleasant general color palette to its visuals compared to ORAS.
Additionally, while ORAS uses undeniably higher-quality instrument samples for its soundtrack, the tracks are also often remixed in a way that cuts or greatly downplays a lot of the interesting harmonies and lead instrument switches that were present in the original GBA soundtrack.

I'm sure a lot of it is also nostalgia, but I just find RSE to be a more enticing game to play.