Walking up to villagers in the Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire , I couldn't help but notice I've had a lot of these conversations before. The third generation of Pokemon games, which takes place in the Hoenn region, is reborn in this 3DS remake with vibrant 3D graphics and an updated soundtrack that sounds amazing. And all of the smaller details fall into the place as I remember them from the Game Boy Advance original, right from my humble beginnings in a quaint village called Littleroot, to the inevitable journey to Rustboro gym to claim the Stone Badge. Well, most of them do anyway.

Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire Gallery 9 IMAGES

In typical fashion, my fictional Poke-mom comes out to see me off before I head out on an adventure. I remember this exchange well. "This is when she gives me the running shoes in the original game…," I confidently told to a Nintendo representative. "Is it?" he responds. I half wonder what she'll give me, since I already have the running shoes. In fact, I've had them from the start of the game.After wishing me well on my adventure, like any good parent would, fictional Poke-mom starts to walk away, turns, and then stops. A pregnant pause hangs between us as she looks me over. Mom then turns, and walks away silently. Not even a casual whisper of running shoes. I expected roller-skates, instead I got nothing. I imagine she walked away with a coy smile on her face.Pokemon ORAS Producer Junichi Masuda has a similar smile on his face as I shower him and Director Shigeru Ohmori with interview questions. Will this installment finally allow players to share screenshots on Miiverse? He explains that with Pokemon X and Y, the team was trying to prevent story spoilers, since it was their first global launch for a game in the series."This time around, players will have to play it and find out for themselves what the implementation is," Masuda said. He and Ohmori answer plenty of other questions, but even small features like Miiverse integration remain a secret for Pokemon ORAS's upcoming release.This idea of playing with expectations encapsulates Pokemon ORAS in a nutshell. Everything you remember is kind of the same, but it's also kind of different too. It all overlaps in a weird, yet fun way. A scientist I rescue from the clutches of a Team Aqua goon, the group of villains associated with this specific game in the series, gives me XP share, a great tool introduced in Pokemon X and Y a year ago that speeds up the acquisition of experience points for my team. But these are small changes compared to some of the other stuff I see during my 90-minutes with the upcoming Pokemon remake.Other features reveal even bolder changes coming to the new adventure. The coexistence of new and old ideas and technology together, says Masuda, is a major theme in Pokemon ORAS.Suites of new tools have been added to the bottom touch screen, and combined they make the process of traveling, exploring, and searching for Pokemon a little more interesting. A feature called DexNav scans a location and will identify a nearby Pokemon I can try to capture. The location of the Pokemon is shown by a tail graphic poking out of the grass on-screen. My trainer can now tip-toe (which requires me to carefully nudge the analog slide pad) and sneak up to try and capture them. The catch? If I get pulled into a random battle with wild Pokemon, my target disappears and escapes potential capture. Pro-tip: Use the item repel to keep the wild creatures at bay long enough to snag a potential target.AreaNav and BuzzNav introduce other useful tools to Pokemon ORAS. AreaNav quickly pulls up the map and allows me to use the fly command and fast-travel to another location (once the move is unlocked for one of my Pokemon). I could also use it track NPCs trainers I previous fight, so I can go back and challenge them again once they're ready. BuzzNav alerts me to random events. So, for example, if an outbreak of Zigzagzoon's happens on Route 101, I'll get a heads up and decide to head out or avoid that area entirely.Will I ever get those handy roller skates from Pokemon X and Y? I honestly don't know. But right from the first moments of its fabulously retro opening in the back of a moving van, Pokemon ORAS got me pumped to revisit the third generation of the series. I'm eager to uncover more Mega Evolutions, use the impressive secret hideouts that have been updated in the 3DS version, and reveal the startling truth behind the Primal forms of this gen's cover stars Groudon and Kyogre. Some moments will be the same as I remember of Ruby and Sapphire, but some will be different. And getting to experience the new and old is the exciting part for me.

Jose Otero is an Associate Editor at IGN and host of Nintendo Voice Chat . You can follow him on Twitter