Ruby & Sapphire were such monumental releases for Pokémon, it was on a different scale. While Gen 2 provided a ton of game changing designs, many saw the games as remakes of the first. From the reused routes of Kanto, the predominantly Gen 1 Pokémon available throughout the story arc, and the same villainous group, there were a lot of elements that fans saw as redundant from the first generation. But Ruby & Sapphire changed all that. In an interview from 2003, Junichi Masuda and Ken Sugimori actually discuss how Ruby & Sapphire were initially designed to only feature the new Dex at first (Like gen 5). However, as development progressed, they realized that in balancing the game it made more sense to introduce Pokémon from Gens 1 & 2 as well. But this is the reason that you don’t come across hardly any familiar Pokémon until you’re nearing the third gym badge. Additionally, Hoenn’s map is entirely brand new, filled with water, and larger than ever before. In this same interview, Masuda and Sugimori review how Hoenn’s more complex layout/design was intentional.  At one point, Masuda comments: “[T]he areas around Mauville and Lilycove are kind of tricky to understand. We wanted to add in an element conceptually where it’s like a parent letting go of their child’s hand and saying ‘now go wherever you want.'” This was to encourage players to take side routes, and play the games less linearly.  Because of this, Hoenn provided a renewed sense of adventure for players. It encouraged searching in the corners, and finding new areas - even if they didn’t progress the story.  Gen 3 holds a special place in a lot of older fan’s hearts. An updated system, new graphics and sprites, a massive world with beautiful areas to explore, a new Poké Dex with 135 new Pokémon, and some incredible storytelling with Groudon and Kyogre made for a game that has made a lasting impression over these last nearly 24 years. If it wasn’t clear from my appreciation of the games, I truly hope these are added to the Switch library to play. There’s been a lot of speculation around it over the recent months, and I think there would be a very large population of fans that would quite appreciate getting to explore Hoenn once again.

So, Steven can walk on water 💧 He really is that special I guess 🤷‍♀️

In light of a new Pokémon x McDonalds promotion being announced this morning, I wanted to take a moment to provide my review on why these types of promotions are unfortunately not nearly as special as they used to be. Pokémon has an extremely long line of collaborations that they’ve done over the years with different brands to promote their games, cards, and merchandise. However, arguably, none is more ubiquitous than their collaborations with McDonalds. Over the last 30 years, Pokémon has partnered with McDonalds to release unique and exclusive cards and toys that are typically highly sought after. A personal example would be my copy of the McDonald’s e-minimum Chikorita, released back in 2002. (Picture 2) However, since Pokémon’s latest popularity boom, fans of the fast food/media collaborations have been left with a sour taste in their mouth. This most recent Pokémon craze has a ton of people, fans and opportunists alike, trying to take advantage of any Pokémon handout they can get their hands on.  The most recent Pokémon/McDonalds collaboration was the Japanese “BuggerChu” debacle. This rollout was atrocious. There were tons of reports of wasted food, fights that broke out, and backdoor drops/scams all for some people to make a quick buck. (Picture 4) These cards were selling for hundreds of dollars at release. And now? You can get one of the over 300k PSA 10’s for around $80. These promotions used to be a way to introduce children to the franchise in an easy and accessible way. While also providing older, more dedicated, fans a way to obtain an exclusive piece of Pokémon history. However, the Pokémon space has recently become dominated by those most concerned with money. Which in turn shoves aside so many other considerations. And because of that, Pokémon has to respond accordingly. Once again, take the Buggerchu as an example: Pokémon printed millions upon millions of copies of the card. Why? Because the demand was there! But that demand wasn’t for the card, history, or love of Pokémon. It was for the money attached to the card. So that leaves us with one of the most common, and most graded, ‘exclusive’ promos of all time. And just because something is common, doesn’t make it less special. I’m not saying that exclusivity is what makes something special. It’s the memories we hold on to and the stories we share that make it special. But unfortunately for the Buggerchu, a lot of the stories and memories sound like this: “Remember all the food waste, fraud, and money people lost on those cards?” That’s not special, it’s just sad. And I’m afraid we may be in store for more of it with the way things have been trending.

Friendly reminder that the WOTC era of Pokémon was pretty sweet

Let this be a reminder of two things: 1. Whatever the odds, never give up 2. Whatever rare thing you think might never happen, will definitely happen at some point in a Pokémon game

Anyone entering the Pokémon seller space recently, or trying to establish a name for themselves This right here is easily some of the best advice to adhere to

I didn’t make this pumpkin, it was on display It’s so good!

Pokémon really did something special making these stamped cards way back when

Babe, wake up More Gen 3 Pokémon glitches dropped this morning

This post has shown me that a lot of people do not agree on which Pokémon these truly are

So, I had a pretty wicked mail day today If you need me, I’ll be staring at this absolute masterpiece

Over 6,400 items stolen, and tons of rare and expensive Pokémon cards included Grading cards obviously comes with risk, but something like this is just awful for everyone affected

I love that these old Topsun cards have a bunch of Pokémon in the background But can anyone tell me who the Pokémon are that I have circled? I can’t quite tell

I decided to open some Pokémon cards last night And I struck gold ⭐️

I get that Pokémon cards selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars is quite crazy and dominates what a lot of people are talking about right now. But it's so uninspiring and unoriginal. It's so boring to only talk about money and overlook all the other spectacular elements that come from collecting and Pokémon in general.

One thing that's been eye opening about the Pokémon trading card boom over the last 6+ years is truly how many Pokémon fans still have collections from 15+ years ago I would venture a guess that stories like these will keep popping up for awhile. There's a lot of vintage cards still sitting around out there, just waiting to be appreciated once again

I need to get back to photographing Pokémon cards like this I love the way these turn out ✨

My dinner this evening while I scroll looking for deals on Pokémon 🍥

This account has shown me half a dozen new things about these gen 3 games, which I played obsessively as a child How do you even find stuff like this