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.