Pokemon Ruby (Gameboy Advance), No Box

Great graphics and support for two-on-two Pokémon battles are just some of the exciting innovations in Pokémon Ruby and Pokémon Sapphire, the first Pokémon games for the Game Boy Advance. The main gameplay is similar to the previous Game Boy games–explore the games’ towns solving puzzles and capturing, nurturing and training Pokémon to use in battles along your journey. The biggest gameplay breakthrough is that trainers can now take two Pokémon into battle instead of just one. Since each Pokémon offers a unique combination of strengths and weaknesses, doubling the number that can battle at once adds immeasurably to the games’ richness and depth.

Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire’s graphics are greatly enhanced for the GBA. In the battle scenes, a rich palette and subtle shading gives both the trainer and the Pokémon themselves a great degree of realism, and the same meticulous attention to detail can be seen in the world scenes–artistic touches like ripples on a pond and intricate ironwork in a modern city bring the world of Pokémon to life like never before.

As with the previous Pokémon games on the original Game Boy, both Ruby and Sapphire include exclusive Pokémon, and you’ll find that some species are common in one game and rare in the other–so trading with friends via the link cable is a must if you want to catch ’em all. As before, you can challenge a friend, but now you can also take part in two-on-two battles too. Link cable(s) and extra game cartridge(s) are required for multiplayer gaming.