Dragon plays Pokémon Emerald!

[Dragon]

Let's Play: Pokemon Emerald
Pocket Monsters Emerald
ポケットモンスターエメラルド

Platform: Gameboy Advance
Release dates: Japan: September 16, 2004 / North America: May 1, 2005 / Australia: June 9, 2005 / Europe: October 21, 2005​

Welcome to the first of my many Pokémon LPs, my friends! This LP will be playing Pocket Monsters Emerald, or just known dubbed as, Pokémon Emerald. This game is a sister game to Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, and is the fifth and final Generation III core series game. It added many features that weren't present in Ruby and Sapphire too, just like Pokémon Crystal.

It's one of my personal favourite Pokémon games too, so many reasons! But yeah, for this LP, I do hope it will serve as a sort of help for those of you who are stuck or new in the game! I'll also try to use and introduce as much Pokémon that are present in the game as much as I can, so don't expect me to use the same party/team in each part.

Part 1: Messy Mudkips and Zingy Zigagoons

(Booting up the game, we get this cool silhouette of the game's mascot, Rayquaza! We'll definitely see him later.)

(Ah, the classic empty room with the professor. Though I think it's more like, we're communicating online or something like that... as was shown from Sun/Moon.)

Welcome to the world of Pokémon!

My name is BIRCH.

But everyone calls me the POKéMON PROFESSOR.

(Ooooh! Tell me more about this... Po-kay-mon...!)

This world is widely inhabited by creatures known as POKéMON.

We humans live alongside Pokémon, at times as friendly playmates, and at times as cooperative workmates.

And sometimes, we band together and battle others like us.

But despite our closeness, we don't know everything about POKéMON.

In fact, there are many, many secrets surrounding POKéMON.

To unravel Pokémon mysteries, I've been undertaking research. That's what I do.

And you are?

(Right, so here, we get a bit of introduction to the protagonists! This boy here is canonically named 'Brendan'. As for the girl...)

(...Her name is May. I actually like both their designs, so I don't mind playing as either or, but this time, we're going to be playing as a girl! A legendary girl.)

(Again, her name is supposed to be May, but... I've got the perfect name!)

(I'll be naming her Janna! A strong, kind, and charismatic trainer!)

Ah, okay! You're JANNA who's moving to my hometown of LITTLEROOT. I get it now!

(They like to put important nouns in capital letters. Cheesy, but classic.)

Take courage, and leap into the world of Pokémon where dreams, adventure and friendships await!

Well, I'll be expecting you later. Come see me in my POKéMAN Lab.

(Aaaaaand we shrunk down to an over world sprite. I swear, it's like a science experiment where people get shrunk down to rat size trying to find a piece of cheese. Not that I'd find that feasible... Anyway, time to start!)

(We start out in a moving truck! Like, we're inside, of the moving truck. Isn't that a little... dangerous? o-o L-Lets move out.)

(Ah, this is our MOM. Hi Mom! No, I am not hurt by all those boxed that flew directly in my face during that ride in the moving truck.)

It must be tiring riding with our things in the moving truck.

(...Thanks for asking by the way!)

Well, this is LITTLEROOT TOWN.

How do you like it? This is our new home!

It has a quaint feel, but it seems to be an easy place to live, don't you think?

And, you get your own room, Janna! Let's go inside.

The mover's POKéMON do all the work of moving us in and cleaning up after. This is so convenient!

JANNA, your room is upstairs. Go check it out, dear!

DAD bought you a new clock to mark our move here. Don't forget to set it!

(Oh come on, Dad's in all capital letters too...?)

(These are the movers. They're called Vigoroth, and they seem to be working hard... before in Ruby and Sapphire, the movers were Machoke, I believe. So, I think this is one of many small differences in the game. Anyway, heading up to our room...)

(It's time to set our clock! The clock will be important, because it's to prepare for the clock-based events in this game. Or should I say, event...but we'll find out more when we get there.)

(By the way, if you're wondering, yes. That's an orange Nintendo GameCube in our room. Has a GBA player too! Mine is coloured black.)

Good! Everything's put away neatly!

They finished moving everything in downstairs, too.

POKéMON movers are so convenient!

(Didn't you say that a few seconds ago...?)

Oh, you should make sure that everything's all there on your desk.

(Well, here are the things on our desk: a notebook and a PC. The notebook provides very important yet complicated rules essential to our survival. Oh boy, let's read on..)

ADVENTURE RULE NO.1
Open the MENU with START.

ADVENTURE RULE NO.2
Record your progress with SAVE.

(...Pretty complicated, right?)

(This is our PC. It has a few function that are quite useful:)

(The Item storage is.. well, to store our items, just in case our Bag gets too full and we want to store important items for later. The Mailbox is for Mail storage, and Decoration is a store where our decorative items go in. We can customize our room with that, when we get those items, that is. Anyway, time to go back downstairs.)

(Oh?)

Look, it's Petalburg Gym! Maybe Dad will be on!

(How convenient!)

Oh… It's over.

(How convenient!!)

I think DAD was on, but we missed him. Too bad.

Oh, yes. One of DAD's friends lives in town.

PROF. BIRCH is his name.

He lives right next door, so you should go over and introduce yourself.

(Well, we've got nothing else to do, so, let's do that!)

(As indicated, here's his house. Let's go inside!)

(Well, that was a wonderful conversation! Let's go on upstairs.)

(C-caught in the middle of stealing?)

Oh, you're JANNA aren't you? Moved in next door, right?

I didn't know you were a girl.

Dad, PROF. BIRCH, said that our new next-door neighbor is a GYM LEADER's kid, so I assumed you'd be a guy.

(That was a lovely assumption. Thank you!!)

My name's BRENDAN. So, hi, neighbor!

Huh? Hey, JANNA, don't you have a POKéMON?

Do you want me to go catch you one?

Aw, darn, I forgot…

I'm supposed to go help my dad catch some wild Pokémon.

(Why not catch myself one while you're at it...?)

Some other time, okay?

(Sure, why not. Anyway, Birch isn't home, nor in his lab, so let's search around the town...)

(Couldn't be too scary. Alright, let's go see---)

(Uh-oh, spoke too soon.)

In my BAG!
There's a POKé BALL!

(Maybe I can pretend I didn't see all that...)

(Gosh darn it! Oh well. Time to rescue him! So, I guess we reach into his bag here...)

(...Oh! There are three Pokéballs here! Each one of these Pokéballs contain three different Pokémon; we pick one, and that will be our starter Pokémon for the journey! Now, let's take a look see at our choices:)

(This green little guy is Treecko, a Grass-type Wood Gecko Pokemon. Let's take a closer look at his base stats:)

HP: 40
Attack: 45
Defense: 35
Sp. Atk: 65
Sp. Def: 55
Speed: 70
Total: 310

(Treecko has the most Speed and Special Defense of the trio, and while leveling up and evolving, it learns some pretty decent grass type moves. Comes in really handy as a grass type in general!)

(This girl is Torchic, the Fire type Chick Pokémon. Taking a look at her base stats:)

HP: 45
Attack: 60
Defense: 40
Sp.Atk: 70
Sp.Def: 50
Speed: 45

(She has the best special attack of the trio. Fire-type Pokémon aren't too common in this game, so, choosing Torchic is not a bad idea to cover type weaknesses and advantages! Plus it learns some decent moves leveling up and evolving too. But the main starter that I'll be choosing...)

(...is Mudkip, the Water-type Mud Fish Pokémon! With his base stats:)

HP: 50
Attack: 70
Defense: 50
Sp.Atk: 50
Sp.Def: 50
Speed: 40

(It has the most HP, Defense, and Attack of the trio. There's going to be quite a few times that we need to cross large bodies of water in this game, so having a good water-type is pretty much essential for a play through. Mudkip learns pretty good water type moves too, as well as some ground type moves when its evolved. Anyway, as said, we're going to pick him!)

(Looks like this is our attacker, a Zigzagoon! Zigzagoon is a normal-type Tiny Racoon Pokémon that's quite common in this region. I'll talk more about Zigzagoon later, but now it's time to battle!

During battle we get four options: Fight, Bag, Run, and Pokémon. Fight allows us to choose an attack, Bag sends us to our bag to use an item during battle, the Pokémon option let's us swap Pokémon during battle, and Run let's us try and run away. Right now we can't run away, and we have no other items and Pokémon, so we should fight.

Mudkip only has the moves Tackle and Growl right now, so let's just Tackle it!)

(And we've won without taking a single hit. That's some scary wild Pokémon, right?)

(Like all of the Pokémon games, we gain experience points (or EXP) after each victory.)

I was in the tall grass studying wild Pokémon when I was jumped.

You saved me.
Thanks a lot!

Oh?

(Oh...?)

Hi, you're JANNA!

(Hi?)

This is not the place to chat, so come by my POKéMON LAB later, okay?

(Well, we just warped there. Like mom would say, that's very convenient!)

I've heard so much about you from your father.

I've heard that you don't have your own Pokémon yet.

But the way you battled earlier, you pulled it off with aplomb!

(Not much time that I see Pokémon games using more complex words like... aplomb. Interesting.)

I guess you have your father's blood in your veins after all!

Oh, yes. As thanks for rescuing me, I'd like you to have the Pokémon you used earlier.

While you're at it, why not give a nickname to that MUDKIP?

(I have just the name too!)

(Well, actually it took me a while to figure one out. I decided to name Mudkip after Edge, the protagonist from Star Ocean 4, because hey... oceans. Right?)

If you work at Pokémon and gain experience, I think you'll make an extremely good TRAINER.

My kid, BRENDAN, is also studying Pokémon while helping me out.

JANNA, don't you think it might be a good idea to see BRENDAN?

(Sure, why not.)

Great! BRENDAN should be happy, too.

Get BRENDAN to teach you what it means to be a TRAINER.

(We'll see. Anyway, now that we have a Pokémon, we now get a special perk! Let's head back home.)

I think you should rest a bit.

(Back at home, Mom heals our Pokémon, just in case things go south during skirmishes with wild Pokémon and our own Pokémon get hurt. It's also a good place to heal, in case you wanna do some early training.)

Take care, honey!

(Gonna wrap things here for now, but before that:)

(We're here, in Route 101. A town called Odale is just a bit north of here!)



Pokémon obtained thus far:

Spoiler:

 

[Lunar]

Glad we're able to follow your playthrough of Emerald, Dragon! Always love seeing this game, excited to read the rest of your journey :)

 

[Dragon]

Part 2: Wally, and Norman

Welcome to part 2 of my Pokemon Emerald play through, my friends! Now then, last time we left off at Route 101. Now that we've gotten our first Pokemon, we can finally go though the tall grass around here.

(In a nutshell, that's how encountering wild Pokemon works. So, we find our first wild Pokemon:)

(It's another Zigzagoon, a Normal-type Tiny Raccoon Pokemon. Now we can touch up about Zigzagoon in a bit more detail.)

(Zigzagoon is not bad as an early Pokemon to find; kinda fast, and averagely defensive. It learns a move called Headbutt pretty early, which is a pretty strong move during this early game. Pickup is also quite useful early game too; a good technique is to have a few Pokemon with this ability while traveling around, and you'll be able to get some pretty cool items, like Ultra Balls, Rare Candies, or even Full Restores if you're lucky!)

(Another Pokemon in this route is Poochyena, a Dark-type Bite Pokemon. It has pretty respectable attack for early game, and can learn Bite pretty early too. Not bad to have for a physical attacker.)

(The last Pokemon in this route is Wurmple. Wurmple is a tad... weird. It can evolve into either Silcoon or Cascoon respectively, depending on its personality value. In detail it might be a bit complex to understand; but basically, just know that as soon as you encounter it in the wild, it's already predetermined to what it evolves to. So, it's basically all RNG.)

(We trained and trained until Edge reaches Level 10! It learns Mud-Slap and Water Gun along the way; two handy moves for good coverage.)

(This lad tells us about a Pokemon Center nearby! Like Mom, thy don't charge money to heal up pokemon, so they're handy to have around.)

(Finally here in Oldale Town! The description is a bit odd... where things start off scarce? Maybe it's just a message that it's the first town trainers go to after gaining their starter.)

(We meet a sorta friendly Mart clerk...)

(...And he's a bit forward, daaaarn. Normally I'd be concerned, but it's Pokemon, so, it's all good. Let's follow the kind, weird man!)

(We got a Potion for all that. Potions are quite useful early game too. We tried to exit the city via the left side, but...)

(We get stopped by one of those 'Pokemon Maniacs'. Apparently he's trying to sketch something, sooo let's leave him be.)

(Up north is where we need to go; right here in Route 103. Time to find Brendan!)

Hey, it's JANNA!

…Oh, yeah, Dad gave you a POKéMON.



(It's kinda weird how he changes his town here, like YAY IT'S JANNA! But Oh... it's a Pokemon from dad.)

Since we're here, how about a little battle?

I'll teach you what being a Trainer's about!

(Well, we finally enter our first battle against Brendan. We both have one Pokemon, so it's a fair 1 on 1 fight.)

(Like the Rivals from the previous games, this one chooses the starter that's strong against the starter you choose; like now, he has Treecko against my Mudkip. But for now, it's not really a threat since we're like, double it's levels and it has no grass types.)

(So we defeat him pretty quickly.)

I think I get it. I think I know why my dad has his eye out for you now.

Look, your Pokémon already likes you, even though you just got it.

JANNA, I get the feeling that you could befriend any Pokémon with ease.

We should head back to the Lab.


(Well, not a warp, but kind of an awkward... chase back to the lab?)

I heard you beat BRENDAN on your first try. That's excellent!



(BTW I tested it and, even if you lose against him and re challenge him, the Professor says you beat him on your first try anyway. Hah.)

BRENDAN's been helping with my research for a long time.

BRENDAN has an extensive history as a TRAINER already.

Here, JANNA, I ordered this for my research, but I think you should have this POKéDEX.

The POKéDEX is a high-tech tool that automatically makes a record of any POKéMON you meet or catch.

My kid, BRENDAN, goes everywhere with it.

Whenever my kid catches a rare Pokémon and records its data in the POKéDEX, why, BRENDAN looks for me while I'm out doing fieldwork, and shows me.

(I... honestly can't read him. Is he happy? Is he sad? Is he jealous?)

Well then, here. I'll give you these.

You know it's more fun to have a whole bunch of POKéMON.

I'm going to explore all over the place to find different POKéMON.

If I find any cool POKéMON, you bet I'll try to get them with POKé BALLS.


(Anyway! Having Pokeballs and Pokedex, it's time to head back out. Until we see our mother.)

Oh! What an adorable Pokémon! You got it from Prof. Birch. How nice!

You're your father's child, all right. You look good together with POKéMON!

Here, honey! If you're going out on an adventure, wear these RUNNING SHOES.

They'll put a zip in your step!

(Running shoes at last! Using these makes you faster, as you'll be able to run while holding the B Button.)

(At any rate, back on the route, it's time to capture some Pokemon! Generally how we capture Pokemon in this game works the same way as all the other games. Weaken the Pokemon > Bag > Pokeball > Use.

(You get a nice 'ping' and a message when it's captured! After you catch a new Pokemon, it's automatically registered into the Pokedex. So I captured the three Pokemon in these routes, and obtained their data:)

(While training these Pokemon, I decided to catch a second Wurmple. One's named Selkie, and the other, Velouria.)

(Sure enough, Selkie evolved into Silcoon! It's one of those Caccoon Pokemon like Metapod, and Kakuna.)

(Lucky for me, Velouria evolved into Cascoon! As you can see, both are different; different colour and all.)

(When Silcoon evolves, it becomes a Beautifly, the Butterfly Pokemon!)

(Aaaand when Cascoon evolves, it turns into Dustox, the Poison Moth Pokemon. So yeah, it's basically up to RNG on how Wurmple evolves, so even if you didn't get what you want from a Wurmple evolution, just save before catching another Wurmple, and keep trying.)

(At any rate, the Pokemaniac finally steps aside, and we get to go to Route 102.)

(There are different Pokemon in this Route too!)

(Lotad is a Water/Grass type Water Weed Pokemon. With its evolutionary line, a rather handy pokemon to have if you're looking for a grass, or a water pokemon, so consider it! Now we're getting into the rarer Pokemon:)

(Ralts is a Psychic-type Feeling Pokemon. Early on, you'll find that it won't have any attack moves, so, training it might take some time. But it does learn Confusion soon enough, and overall, it's a pretty solid Psychic type to have once it fully evolves.)

(Aaaaaand here we go, the even rarer Pokemon in this Route (goodness they took hours to find):)

(Surskit is a Water/Bug type Pond Skater Pokemon. It's quite speedy for a pokemon early on, and it's quite handy as a water type.)

(Seedot is a Grass-type Acorn Pokemon. Like Ralts, it's a bit tough to train early on, as it only knows Bide as an attack move... which is a double-edged sword, but can pay off well.)

(Now that we're finally trained up and caught the Pokemon in this Route, it's time to move on:)

(Basically, as soon as we lock eyes with a trainer, we can't escape the upcoming battle. How fuuuuuun. So, there are a bit of generic trainers in this Route, so we gotta get past them in order to get to the next town.)

(One guy has a Taillow, which is a Normal/Flying Tiny Swallow Pokemon. It's basically like this region's 'bird' pokemon - you know, Pokemon like Pidgey. It's actually quite good though; if you're looking for a Flyiing type, then search one out in the later route!)

(One lass has a Shroomish, a Grass-type Mushroom Pokemon. It's pretty useful to have around if you need a grass type early on; it can learn Stun-Spore, Leech Seed, and Mega Drain all early in levels, and it's quite bulky for this part of the game.)

(Going a bit downward, we find ourselves a Potion! There will be quite a few items just laying around, so we're gonna scope them out during this adventure!)

(Finally we reach Petalburg. They definitely do mingle with nature; there is a woods nearby, and a small beach just up ahead!)

(This city also has a Gym, with the leader being Norman... our Dad, in fact! Maybe it's time to test our skill...)

(We see Dad in the middle of the Gym.)

Well, if it isn't JANNA! So you're all finished moving in?

I'm surprised that you managed to get here by yourself.

Oh, I see. You're with your Pokémon.

Hm… Then I guess you're going to become a TRAINER like me, JANNA.

That's great news! I'll be looking forward to it!

Hm? You're… Uh… Oh, right. You're WALLY, right?

I'm going to go stay with my relatives in Verdanturf Town.

I thought I would be lonely by myself, so I wanted to take a POKéMON along.

But I've never caught a POKéMON before. I don't know how…

Hm. I see.

JANNA, you heard that, right?


(Uh....)

Go with WALLY and make sure he safely catches a POKéMON.

WALLY, here, I'll loan you my POKéMON.

Oh, wow! A POKéMON!

Hm. I'll give you a POKé BALL, too. Go for it!


(Norman says 'Hm' a lot, doesn't he...)

Oh, wow!
Thank you!

JANNA... Would you really come with me?

Pokémon hide in tall grass like this, don't they? Please watch me and see if I can catch one properly.

...Whoa!

(Aaaand now we see Wally trying to capture his Ralts. This is kind of a guide on how to catch Pokemon in general too, but at this point everyone would kinda know how to catch Pokemon already, so...)

JANNA, thank you! Let's go back to the GYM!

Thank you, yes, it did. Here's your POKéMON back.

JANNA, thank you for coming along with me.

You two are why I was able to catch my POKéMON.

I promise I'll take really good care of it.

Oh! My mom's waiting for me, so I have to go!

Bye, JANNA!

JANNA, if you want to become a strong TRAINER, here's my advice.

Head for RUSTBORO CITY beyond this town.

There, you should challenge the GYM LEADER, ROXANNE.

After her, go on to other POKéMON GYMS and defeat their LEADERS.

Collect BADGES from them, understood?

Of course, I'm a Gym Leader, too. We'll battle one day, JANNA.

But that's only after you become stronger, JANNA.


(In other words, we're not strong enough to challenge him yet. But, someday we will! So now, we're off to Rustboro! But that will be saved for the next part. Thanks for reading!)


Pokémon obtained thus far:

Spoiler:

If there's a Pokemon you'd like to see in the next part that I've captured in the spoiler, just say so, and I'll do my best to include it!​