Pokemon Sapphire is the official sequel to the highly successful RPG released on the GameBoy and GameBoy Colour.

The basic game mechanics have remained fundamentally the same as its predecessors, however, with new additions to the game-design, the game-play has been much improved upon.

So what’s it all about then?

The story centres itself around a child who dreams of becoming a Pokemon Trainer and winning the Pokemon League. (For those of you that don’t know) Pokemon are a species of animal that live in harmony with humans in a region known as Hoenn.

Pokemon Sapphire is the latest of a series

Your adventure sees you travel to different lands, from town to town, capturing and nurturing wild Pokemon, and then battling them with fellow Trainers’ Pokemon.

Successful battles will see Pokemon grow with skill, strength and experience, and once your Pokemon become powerful enough you can challenge the Gym Leaders of each town, and once beaten you will earn their badges and abilities.

Pokemon Sapphire sees the induction of a plethora of new features which have added depth to an already complex, and polished game design; there are now two-on-two battles.

Pokemon can now perform different move types (a grass Pokemon, for example, can now perform a flying or a water attack) and they can also be given items to hold and use during battles.

Pokemon Sapphire sees the induction of a plethora of new features which have added depth to an already complex, and polished game design; there are now two-on-two battles.

David Clarke

Discovering how and when to use these items and what effect they will have is all part of the fun. Now if we add to this the side-quests, mini-games, and the four-player linkup mode, we are left with the ingredients for a rich adventure of epic proportions.

Despite only having a basic art style (only a slight upgrade from the GBC version) and a better-than-average composition, Pokemon Sapphire still never fails to impress.

As far as RPGs go for the GameBoy Advance this is definitely the jewel in the crown. The main adventure is over forty hours long, and even after that has been completed there is still plenty more to see and do.

8/10

David Clarke