In the just-over 24 years of the Pokémon franchise, fans have gotten eight different generations worth of games, with each generation having two or more games. While since the whirlwind of controversies that plagued the latest entries, Pokémon Sword and Shield, mostly in the several months leading up to the release of the pair of games, leaving many cynical and jaded as to where the series will continue to go, there have been plenty of great entries in the mainline.
Including those are the equally-demanded remakes. Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire recreated the Hoenn region on the 3DS and brought some good updates. However, the then-updated third version to the original Ruby and Sapphire, Emerald, can be argued to still be the ideal Hoenn experience. Here are five reasons Emerald is the definitive Hoenn game and five why Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire are.
10 Emerald: The Battle Frontier
Without a doubt, this will be the most common and shared reason for why anyone still prefers Pokémon Emerald over the remakes. Emerald specifically introduced the Battle Frontier. This was a post-game battle facility that expanded upon the previous two games' Battle Tower, and, by extension, the one in Pokémon Crystal.
The Battle Frontier includes seven facilities with their own fun gimmicks to battle with in order to defeat the Frontier Brain. This added an enticing layer of genuine challenge to the game and it seemed like a cruel tease to say in-game that the Frontier is under construction in the remakes after Game Freak has gone on record admitting they have no intention of bringing it back.
9 Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire: Physical/Special Split
This is a more technical improvement over the original Ruby and Sapphire and can be easily missed if you didn't know about it after it was implemented or if you didn't pay attention to damage categories for each move/attacking move. Before generation four, each attacking move had only one assigned damage category depending on what type (fire, water, grass, etc.) the move was.
This hindered offensive potency in your creature's abilities because, for example, a Dark-type Pokémon that has stronger Attack than Special Attack wouldn't benefit as much from STAB (using an attack that's the same type as the user/Pokémon for extra damage) because all Dark-type attacks in gen three and two were Special. Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire were released well after that was fixed and this innovation is intact even in Sword and Shield.
8 Emerald: Timeless Sprites
More of a preference, it can be definitely argued that the sprites from generations two through five aged well. Partly nostalgia, but even in 2020 these sprites, including Emerald, hold up well and can be preferred over the 3D models from generation six onward. Even though most of the 3D models look perfectly fine, some have suffered in the transition.
Colors look more pale and poor design changes from 2D (i.e. Typhlosion) were enough to make plenty of fans miss the sprites. Meanwhile, gens three through five in particular generally had more vibrant colors and better overall designs with more personality.
7 Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire: 3D Models
On the other hand, while still an aesthetic preference, the 3D models introduced in gen six's Pokémon X and Y and (slightly) animated could be seen more kindly over (mostly) static sprites. Up until gen six, the mainline Pokémon games all consisted of sprites, with only spin-off games getting 3D models, like in Stadium and Stadium 2, Colosseum, and XD Gale of Darkness.
Finally getting to see your favorites realized in 3D models in the main games (and the Hoenn region as a whole) is certainly a milestone for the franchise.
6 Emerald: Gym Leader Rematches
Another point for Emerald is, yet again, in the post-game department; something the last three generations of mainline games seriously lacked. This is a smaller piece of post-game content, but it's welcome on top of the rest of the post-game events/battle facilities available adds up nicely.
Unsurprisingly, the remakes don't even have this available even though it's a fairly simple addition. In Emerald, after defeating the Elite Four and their Champion, Gym Leaders will offer rematches in double battles via the "Match Call" feature.
5 Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire: Mega Evolutions/Primal Reversions
Most likely one of the biggest features giving the Hoenn remakes a major point in their favor is the inclusion of Mega Evolutions. This quickly became a fan-favorite innovation to the mainline series and twist to the battle mechanics, including the competitive scene. It gave a wonderful twist to existing/new Pokémon by giving them interesting design, stat, and/or type changes. The same can be said for the Hoenn-remakes' exclusive Primal Reversions for Groudon and Kyogre.
Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire introduced new ones, including Mega Evolutions for Swampert and Sceptile. Thankfully, regional variants (Alolan/Galarian forms) have stayed since their seventh gen introduction, but it's a shame Game Freak axed them completely in favor of the far-less-interesting Dynamaxing/Gigantamaxing features.
4 Emerald: Actual Special Events For Legendaries
Having proper special in-game events for legendary Pokémon is something that can be said in favor of Emerald and every other mainline game from the earlier gens, at least for the most part. In this game there were still in-game events for these species that truly felt like they emphasized how rare and special they were.
Examples include catching Deoxys, Lugia, Ho-Oh, Mew, etc. although those admittedly could have been annoying depending on where you live. Still, in the remakes (and all gen six through eight mainline games) legendaries are mostly handed to you in-game or in Wi-fi events as gifts.
3 Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire: Hundreds More Pokémon
Another blatantly obvious attribute the remakes have over Emerald is the fact that, at the time of their release, there were a total of 721 different Pokémon species available. You couldn't literally catch all of those species, but they were all able to be transferred into Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire if they weren't readily available to catch in the wilds of the remade Hoenn.
Being able to raise and battle with Garchomp and other favorites that came after gen three in Hoenn was a dream-come-true for plenty of fans of the games.
2 Emerald: (Slightly) More Challenging
Let's get one thing out of the way: this entry is in no way suggesting that Emerald or any other mainline Pokémon game are actually hard. Even taking nostalgic childhood memories out of the equation, it has become abundantly clear that since gen six with X and Y, the mainline games have somehow become even easier. Many would argue that they've become so much easier that they're less enjoyable.
Plenty would agree a game needs to be fun before challenging, and they'd be right to say so to an extent. But with a franchise that's been so kid-friendly from the start, making it even easier can make the games painfully boring. Emerald had at least some parts where you had to think a bit harder than usual, like the aforementioned Battle Frontier.
1 Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire: No Internal Batteries Drying Up
Internal batteries drying up in Pokémon game cartridges has been a problem since the original Red, Blue, and Green games on the Game Boy. At worst, these batteries drying up would make you unable to save your game, effectively killing the option to even bother playing. In the Game Boy Advance games, internal batteries drying up prevented time-based events and, by extension, certain Pokémon (i.e. arguably the two most popular Eevee evolutions) unobtainable.
Finding online trades on a Game Boy is clearly impossible, so you'd need to be lucky in having access to another system and a game with this feature intact or the Pokémon you want available. That issue has long-since been resolved in the 3DS games, so you can still get your Eevee to evolve into Umbreon or Espeon.