*continuation from newspaper

Developers have been remaking games for years. Recently, Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire (ORAS) were one such remake made by Nintendo. While, older players may remember the old Ruby and Sapphire with the legendary pokemon Groudon, Kyogre and Rayquaza. This is still the same but in this one there are many additions such as mega evolution, Secret Bases and the much played up Primal Reversion.

The story of ORAS is simple.The player wakes up and and goes to Professor Birch who is a lead researcher of that region. You are recruited along with your friend to complete the Dex or list all the Pokemon. Afterwards you are let loose to battle and do what you want. Traditionally you go from town to town circling the region collecting badges. During the quest, you learn of Team Aqua or Magma which is set on either flooding or raising the land. That’s depending which game the player has gotten.

The player as they get stronger will get the legendary and at that point you have multiple options. You can go and beat the Elite Four and champion becoming the champion.

*That should be hard yet, the battle mechanic feels too easy. The battle A.I. makes simple mistakes and the pokemon level so fast that there is no challenge.

There is also the option of being a Contest Coordinator. These are introduced early on and offer a variety of things for each player’s style. Player are able to put, clothes, bows and other items to earn contest ribbons as with the previous one.

The biggest addition to the contest is the bar at the top of the screen. As the contestants use moves that capture the digital audiences attention it fills the bar. When it is filled they can use a special move that gives them bonuses. This can be claimed by other players if not timed correctly though. If the contestant is holding a evolutionary item called a mega stone they mega evolve and earn extra points.

That’s not the only addition to the game though. There is also a special Delta episode only available after the the Elite four is beaten and the player becomes champion. This episode is filled with extra starters, and a storyline that involves the legendary dragon pokemon Rayquaza and the dna pokemon Deoxys. This story follows a similar idea as the main story with Groudon and Kyogre so there isn’t much surprise.

It does have a deeper story and the characters can feel rushed. Their actions have some more depth than the main story, which can really be felt when Zinnia (the antagonist of the delta episode) tells you the story of her people and why she went to the lengths she did to steal the mega stones. This is far different from the villains Maxi and Archie who don’t expound to much other then that they want to make utopia for either humans or pokemon.

This remake has many features from the X and Y series. Super training still feels slow and the tutorial feels too long if you are already familiar with the mechanic. Trading is still the same and there can be trading between oras and the X and Y games. Along with the Pokemon Amie from the previous game, it feels like a X and Y in the skin of Ruby and Sapphire. Overall a buy for all the nostalgia or if you never played ruby or sapphire.