Ruby #2 : Old versus New

Progress has been made.
‘7 hours and 30 minutes’ deep, my ‘team’ and I have touched down in Fallarbor town, and my Marshtomp is all grown up, minus the fact that he still knows tackle.

Swampert
We did it!
My ‘Team’ to date. Daycare have the rest.

So jumping straight back into what I was saying in the previous article; Why didn’t I start Ruby sooner?
Yet another reason was the dead internal battery (RIP time based events).
Am I now going to solder it in myself and risk killing my Swampert? No.
Do kids nowadays have to have to solder their Switch games for time based events? No.
One thing Ruby is doing very well is reminding me how threatening gaming used to be.

Those little quality of life features that we now take for granted just weren’t there 20 years ago. Dammit, why can’t my Pokemon just be healed after a big battle? Are you really going to make me visit you every time I want to change from the acro to the mach bike (they kept this feature in the remakes but I think that is more for the sake of continuity more than anything and that video games just don’t really do stuff like that anymore).
Potions n’ balls have never been so expensive! It feels like I’m grinding for hours for a few great balls.
It’s wonderful to see that the newer Pokemon games are set in a time of great economic prosperity and all, but I just want to buy my 99 repel without worrying about bankruptcy.
Criticisms aside, shoutout to Rydel of Rydel’s Cycles – he is very generous after all.

Which oh which do I choose?
Still Generous!


Don’t even get me started on the emotional pain of missing a manual save before a key event. Over the years it has become muscle memory for me to intermittently smash that save, however there have been several times, notably before being harassed by my rival and their seemingly endless number of super potions, or when challenging the fighting gym, that I just wish I had that sweet sweet autosave piece of mind…
Flash side note, the dialogue in this game is hilariously on the nose. The UK version has been unashamedly translated and uses classic phrases like ‘all on his lonesome’ and ‘I beg your pardon’ consistently, which I am quite enjoying and find rather amusing indeed.

All that being said, there is something quite intoxicating about the danger in the older games that has simply lost its edge in newer titles – that lack of risk, or more, that feeling of a constant safety net underneath you, simply cannot excite in quite the same way.

Even the hardware is dangerous – the lack of a 3.5mm port has forced me to enjoy Ruby’s wonderful OST out loud everywhere I take the gameboy; a packed underground tube, a quiet public library, even my pet rabbit’s funeral!
Jokes aside, this limitation of the SP does mildly frustrate, yet in that frustration, we are forced to enjoy a limited and unique experience. That little tinny speaker is likely exactly what the devs had in mind when putting the game together. Think about that for a second.
Additionally, whilst innovative and convenient, the GBA SP’s clamshell design and closing mechanism makes no effort at suspending the game.
This hurts my battery life (trash on my SP. About 3-5 hours) and the playtime figure that I am all too often so proud and protective of (Oh it absolutely took me sub 5 hours to get a Swampert, not 7 and a half, pfft).

I am enjoying this play-through a lot. The lack of instant gratification paired with the simplicity of the gameplay is akin to a meditite-ative experience for me (please don’t hurt me).

Speaking of dated things, game boy, anyone? Anybody else still waiting on that game girl? (please don’t hurt me).

Thank you for reading! The arbitrary time I am setting for uploading my next post is upon beating the remaining 5 gym leaders. See you soon gamers.

Lots of Love,

Gummy

Pokemon Ruby #1

The other day, I whipped out a Gameboy Advance SP (of course the tribal edition) that I purchased a couple years back from a wonderful retro games store in Canterbury (shout out to level-up games).
This is a thing of beauty.

I must have been 5 years old the first time I saw one – some lucky kiddo was playing it at the airport and surely enjoying their life.
In fact, this may be one of my earliest memories…
My earliest exposure to Gen 3 was from a good friend of mine at about 6 or 7 years of age. I recall with immense nostalgia seeing his team, and just being in total awe of the game’s aesthetic.
For the record, I have since never played through any Gen 3 game at the ripe old age of 24. And for someone who has played all of the mainline Pokemon games from Gen 4 onwards, this feels big. Like uncovering an old treasure (pardon the pun).

I promptly booted up Ruby for the first time in a year. It has 30 minutes playtime on the cartridge and a MUDKIP to show for it.
One hour of furiously killing ZIGZAGOON later, that blue cutie (of which I happen to own an oversized and top heavy plush that refuses to stand up independently) magically transformed into a MARSHTOMP (yay)!

In a timely manner, the red light battery indicator came on telling me it was time to smash that good ol’ ‘save game’ button and call it a day.
A classic SP charger (also used on the DS classic aka DS Phat) was sadly not within reach, so I had to call it there. Lucky in a way actually, as I would have likely stayed up far beyond my bedtime otherwise.

Exciting news, however – I will be collecting my charger tomorrow and resuming the adventure. SWAMPERT awaits!
I cannot tell you how excited I am to keep going.
I am going to make this a little series documenting our adventure.

Now a few points:
I put off playing this game for a year, as mentioned, for a couple of reasons.
1) It is Ruby, not Emerald
2) My SP is the AGS-001 (front lit), not the newer AGS-101 with the brighter backlit screen
3) (bonus) there is a spec of dust under the display that really gets under my skin


What did I do? I decided I’d just give it a go.
No overthinking for once! I do not regret my decision one bit.
Sure, the screen is darker and a little washed out.
Sure, Emerald’s crown jewel RAYQUAZA won’t be blessing me with their jaw dropping greatness anytime soon.
But was pulling that ol’ boy out one of the best decisions of my life? No idea.
Did it subtly encourage and inspire me to start this blog? Probably.
Do people argue over which SP is more worth it on reddit?
Sure they do.

And actually, after a brief google, you will see the AGS-001 has some things going for it – no ghosting, better visibility in sun light, better to play at night. And yes, I am trying to make myself feel better about having the older model.

Will I overlook my initial prejudice and play it like a kid playing Pokemon for the first time?
No, because I know far too much about Pokemon and video games to do that.
Will I try to leave my judgements at the door? I’ll try.
Will I approach the game with an open mind and an open heart? Absolutely.


Until tomorrow!

P.S If you are reading this text, you are immensely appreciated. Thank you for your support.

HI TWITCH PEOPLE

This one is for you!

If you are reading this and you are coming from discord, you are super duper cool and I appreciate you. Bless you.

This is my blog. I intend on using it for a variety of purposes that have not 100% been fully defined yet, but my aim is to make it informative and entertaining in some way.

Gummy signing out – peace

Von Dutch – Charli XCX

Just thought I’d drop this one here to get the hype train going.

Absolutely loving this new track by Charli.

Prettyyy sure she sampled a jet engine sound and just slowly pitched it up and down throughout the track – in any case, this sound is MEAN and truly sick.

She is coming to the UK soon but tickets seemed to sell out pretty much immediately (I checked today – 9th April 2024).

Peace n love.

Gummy