Generation III
Generation III, also known as the Advance Generation, is the third set of Pokémon games released. It consists of Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, FireRed, LeafGreen, and Emerald Versions on the Game Boy Advance and Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness on the Nintendo GameCube. It appears to take place contemporaneously with Generation I.
Advances in gameplay
The third generation, while incompatible with Generation I and II, boasts the most changes in the world of Pokémon. Many new Pokémon are added with brand-new type combinations such as Fighting/Psychic. The advances include:
- An increase in the graphics display and general appearance.
- A new, streamlined Pokémon storage system with a graphical user interface.
- Pokémon Contests are introduced.
- Pokéblocks are introduced.
- 135 Pokémon added to the Pokémon world, bringing the total to 386.
- 103 new moves, bringing the total to 354.
- New villainous teams involving one specific legendary Pokémon — Groudon in Pokémon Ruby and Kyogre in Pokémon Sapphire.
- Individual values (IVs) are increased from 0 through 15 to 0 through 31.
- Natures, which determine a Pokémon's stat growth, and can be affected by an item attached to a Pokémon while breeding (Pokémon Emerald only).
- New environments can be explored: underwater, deserts, volcanoes, and tropical jungles.
- Wireless communication (only available in FireRed, LeafGreen, and Emerald).
- Nintendo e-Reader communication.
- Abilities, which can affect Pokémon inside and outside of battle.
- Berries have greater use; can be used for Pokémon Contests, regular battle, or in stat training (Pokémon Emerald, specifically).
- Double battles are available, along with a single Multi Battle (Pokémon Emerald only).
- Areas where weather is set before the Pokémon battle starts.
- Code preventing certain event legendaries from being hacked, since, if they are hacked, they always disobey the trainer.
Hoenn starters
Players begin their journey in Littleroot Town with a choice of Treecko, Torchic, or Mudkip. The Grass-Fire-Water type triangle from previous generations remains, and the difficulty setting follows Generation I where Template:Type2 or Template:Type2 Pokémon will serve to make the beginning gyms easier, whereas choosing the Template:Type2 provides an extra challenge.
Gym Leaders
Being that there are only 17 types, and Kanto and Johto, during Generation I and II, had Gyms specializing in 16 of them, all of the types of the Gym Leaders of Hoenn are the same as that of a Gym Leader in one of the previous regions.
| # | Leader | Type |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Roxanne | Rock |
| 2 | Brawly | Fighting |
| 3 | Wattson | Electric |
| 4 | Flannery | Fire |
| 5 | Norman | Normal |
| 6 | Winona | Flying |
| 7 | Tate and Liza | Psychic |
| 8 | Wallace* | Water |
| Juan* |
Other Generation III games
Pokémon Colosseum, for the Nintendo GameCube, features a new land called Orre where several Generation II and Generation III Pokémon are altered by two teams called Cipher and Team Snagem. Players must "snag" the "Shadow Pokémon" and cure them of their darkness. Once this is completed, the Pokémon may be transferred to the other Generation III games. Pokémon Colosseum is the first 3D Pokémon RPG. This game also features an advanced Stadium Mode similar to those of the Pokémon Stadium games.
Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen are remakes of the original Red and Green Versions, and return to the world of Generation I for an updated telling of its story.
Pokémon Box Ruby & Sapphire is another Generation III game, which allows for:
- Storage of up to 1500 Pokémon from Ruby, Sapphire, FireRed, LeafGreen and Emerald games.
- Playing Pokémon Ruby and Pokémon Sapphire on the television.
Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness, also for the Nintendo GameCube, follows a storyline that takes place a few years after the story of Colosseum. It allows for snagging of rare Generation I, II and III Pokémon as well, and includes a difficult to purify final Shadow Pokémon, a Shadow Lugia.
Generation III is the biggest generation yet, with a whopping five handheld games and three console games, though it remains to be seen whether this will be matched or even surpassed during Generation IV.
Trivia
- It is the only generation not to have a playable character in the Super Smash Bros. series.
- In the soundtrack for Hoenn's games, there are around five unused themes, one of these is a remixed Route 37 theme from GSC. This may have been a music test, though it could have been an alternate theme for such routes as Route 116, but was left out during development.
- It is the only generation with two villainous teams instead of one.
