Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire

Pokémon Ruby and Pokémon Sapphire are the third group of Pokémon handheld games to be released in the United States, Japan, Europe, the United Kingdom, and Australia.

They were both released in the spring of 2003 for the Game Boy Advance. This series of games took place in another part of the Pokémon world called Hoenn. New things about Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire include:

1. The player may choose their character's gender in this group (Just like in Pokémon Crystal).
2. Pokéblocks, made by cooperation between either NPCs or linked friends, raise certain stats for contests.
3. Pokémon Contests, which judge Pokémon based on the Cool, Tough, Cute, Smart, and Beauty stats of a Pokémon and the moves it uses for its appeal.
4. Over a hundred old Pokémon can no longer be found in the wild, but an entirely new series of of Pokémon have been added. That mass removal led to making Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, which are enhanced remakes of Pokémon Red and Blue.
5. Instead of Team Rocket, Team Aqua (in Sapphire) and Magma (in Ruby) are the player's main foes.
6. There are several new types of Pokeballs.
7. A new "Trainer's key device" called the Pokénav, not dissimilar to the Pokégear
8. Every Pokémon species now has an innate, special ability.

In Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire, you stop Team Magma from awakening Groudon (in Ruby) or Team Aqua from awakening Kyogre (in Sapphire), and you are eventually given the option of defeating said Legendary or catching it for yourself.

Unlike in Gold, Silver and Crystal you can no longer visit the previous regions, and the day/night cycles have also been removed. This may in part be to eliminate the possibility of triggering an in-game event that will activate a glitch pokemon, commonly referred to as Missingno.

See also: Pokémon (video games) <PokémonGames>