From Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia.

The subject of this article has no official name.

The name currently in use is a fan designator; see below for more information.

The third generation (Japanese: 第三世代 third generation) of Pokémon games, also sometimes known as the advance or advanced generation, is the third set of Pokémon games released, and is described by some to be a "resetting" of the series.

Centering around Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald on the Game Boy Advance, released in 2002 and 2004 respectively (2003 and 2005 outside of Japan), Generation III broke from the continuous storyline that had been established between Generation I and Generation II, opting instead to move players to the Hoenn region, an island region disconnected from Kanto and Johto. The games themselves are incompatible with the previous two generations as well, initially causing many complaints due to the unavailability of many popular Generation I and II Pokémon in Ruby and Sapphire. This problem was remedied, however, between the release of Hoenn's paired versions and third version, with remakes of Generation I's Pokémon Red and Green appearing as Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen on the Game Boy Advance, as well as Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness on the GameCube.

Details in the Hoenn- and Kanto-based games hint that the storyline of Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald is contemporaneous with that of FireRed and LeafGreen (and due to this, contemporaneous with Generation I as well), placing Generation III three years before Generation II and Generation IV, themselves contemporaneous. It is unknown where the storylines of Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness fall in the timeline, being five years apart from each other but making no reference to their time period relative to any of the main series games.

Advances in gameplay

Through its incompatibility with Generation I and Generation II, Generation III enhanced the Pokémon world the most yet, bringing about the most changes to the world of Pokémon. The advances include:

Major alterations from Generation II

Wireless communication between games (requires adapter boxed with FireRed and LeafGreen).

The ability to move multiple Pokémon in the PC at once.

The Sevii Islands, a collection of nine islands that contain many Pokémon otherwise only found in the Johto region.

Items are now visually represented with sprites.

Further additions in Emerald

Multi Battles, where two opponent Trainers encounter the player at once and battle in a Double Battle.

A Battle Frontier, adding to the original Battle Tower, and featuring Trainers who head each facility.

Animated Pokémon front sprites have been reinstated. Unlike the animations from Pokémon Crystal, these new animations only have two frames (including the base sprite) and are accompanied by various visual effects to make up for it, such as distortions, rotations, color blending and so on. This will remain standard until Generation V. Back sprites don't have an additional frame, but are now also animated using the aforementioned effects.



Regions

Hoenn

Hoenn

Main article: Hoenn

The Hoenn region, situated somewhat southwest of Johto, was introduced in Generation III. It is more tropical than either Kanto or Johto, featuring rainforests, deserts, and volcanic caves, as well as areas deep underwater.

This region's geography is mostly rural on the interior of the continent, with major cities springing up near its ample coasts. Routes between the cities can be treacherous, with densely-forested area covering much of the land. Legendary Pokémon are said to have created the region long ago, with its shape reminiscent of a yin-yang symbol reflecting the balance between land and sea.

Several ancient ruins are found around the region; their purpose remains to be discovered by the player, though ancient writings found deep beneath the sea south of the region indicate that within them are ancient Pokémon who were sealed away due to their power.

Starter Pokémon

Like before, the starter trio follows the Grass-Fire-Water alignment, with new Pokémon Treecko, Torchic, and Mudkip being the three Pokémon the player has to choose from to save Professor Birch from a wild Poochyena (Zigzagoon in Emerald) at the start of the game.

Gym Leaders

As in previous generations, all Gym Leaders give out Badges and TMs on their defeat.





Kanto

Kanto

Main article: Kanto

Kanto, which in Generation II lacked some features from its original appearance, returned in a state closer to its original form in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, with all features from Generation I brought back and improved.

Starter Pokémon

As the Generation III games taking place in Kanto are remakes of Generation I games, the starters are the same as in that generation; they are the Grass-type Bulbasaur, the Fire-type Charmander, and the Water-type Squirtle.

Gym Leaders

Like the starter Pokémon, the Kanto Gym Leaders are also the same as they were before, with each giving out a TM for the player to use freely as well as their Badge.





Sevii Islands

Main article: Sevii Islands

The Sevii Islands, appearing only in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, are a smaller region without a Pokémon League where the player can journey later in the game. These islands make available many Generation II Pokémon to players of the Generation III games, and through events, allow for the capture of Generation II's game mascots Ho-Oh and Lugia and the mysterious Pokémon Deoxys.

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 Box Ruby & Sapphire is another Generation III game for the Nintendo GameCube. It allows:

Storage of up to 1500 Pokémon from Ruby, Sapphire, FireRed, LeafGreen and Emerald Versions.

Playing Pokémon Ruby and Pokémon Sapphire on the television through emulation.

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.

Sixteen spin-off Pokémon games are based on Generation III: Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire, Pokémon Channel, Pokémon Dash, Pokémon Ranger, Pokémon Trozei!, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team, Pokémon Advanced Generation: I've Begun Hiragana and Katakana!, Pokémon Advanced Generation: Pico for Everyone Pokémon Loud Battle!, Pokémon Advanced Generation: Pokémon Number Battle!, Pokémon Team Turbo, Pokémon Masters Arena, Pokémon Team Rocket Blast Off, Pokémon Poké Ball Launcher, Pokémon Seek & Find, and Pokémate.

Hoenn thematic motif

The third generation of Pokémon games were more directed towards nature and relationships. The three starters were collectively more symbolic to their elements than previous starters: Mudkip is based on a fish which thrives only in Water, Torchic is a chick (which, in the real world, needs warmth in order to hatch) holding its Fire internally, and Treecko is a gecko that lives only in forests with Grass. The main antagonists were either Team Magma and/or Team Aqua who want to expand the land or sea respectively. Once they awaken one of the Legendary Pokémon Kyogre or Groudon, the world is flooded by rain or dried by drought. It's up to the player to set nature back on course by defeating their version's mascot or capturing it. Hoenn's people are far more attuned to nature than previous regions: Fortree City is built alongside Pokémon in the trees, while Pacifidlog Town is built on wooden rafts in the sea atop a Corsola colony, even though Corsola cannot be found there in the games. With Secret Power, a player can make a Secret Base out of trees, caves, or clumps of grass.

There are far more Pokémon that share relationships with other Pokémon in this generation of games, especially the Legendary Pokémon. The Legendary titans are an obvious example of this; however, the game mascots all share a relationship as the weather trio. Latios and Latias are both Eon Pokémon that must be chased around the region. Pokémon such as Lunatone, Illumise, Plusle, and Wailord are related to other Pokémon, namely Solrock, Volbeat, Minun, and Relicanth, in relationships ranging from explicit to loose symbiosis, to intense rivalry in the case of Zangoose and Seviper.

Reception

While the opinion of the fandom shifts from time to time, Generation III is notable for drawing the most criticism for the series yet. The sense of a reboot when players were thrust into Hoenn (which excludes 184 of the older 251 Pokémon from availability) with no way to recover their old Pokémon drew ire from some fans. The game also saw a jump in newly introduced Legendary Pokémon, with 10 more introduced, a significant increase from Generation II, which only introduced 6.

Later games improved this, however, with Emerald's return to Hoenn being a welcome addition to the series (and including the first Battle Frontier in the series as well). FireRed and LeafGreen brought back nostalgic fans who decided to pass on Hoenn's primary paired versions, as well as bringing new fans to the Kanto region, only previously available in its fullest state on the Game Boy.

Title screens

English title screens

Japanese title screens

Trivia



