All things considered, this might be my favorite game of all time. Collectively, I must have played it close to a billion hours or so. As a kid I had an older cousin loan me his Sapphire version, I played it just a tiny bit, and before I even got to Rustboro, I fell in love with the game. So I returned it to him and, since my birthday was coming up, I asked my parents for a Ruby version, which I got and played non-stop, always taking my sweet time to discover Hoenn. But then another cousin of mine got Emerald and, though I initially acted like it sucked, I was just jealous. When I realized my love for Ruby could easily be upgraded, I asked my grandma to buy me an Emerald copy, which I then played on and off until I had close to four hundred hours on it. And I played with two of my cousins all the time, building nice memories that I won't bore you with. And though my trajectory with this third generation of Pokémon games zigzagooned a bit there, it was with this one that it ended, and continues to this day.
In those days, I was experiencing all of it with no rush to get to the end, I was just enjoying it in a way I can't quite mimic nowadays, and I had some good times. It began when I was in fifth grade, and to be honest, it never really stopped. I suppose this is one of those childish things I'll never put away... As soon as I laid eyes on Hoenn I was mesmerized by it's beauty – the green grass routes all over, the colorful sands on every shore, the flowers on those more peaceful and wistful routes, especially the one leading to Verdanturf as well as the subdued loneliness of Ever Grande City... Anyway, I always loved pretty much everything about it. Suffice it to say that to me, and to many people, this game is nostalgia, and as such, even playing it now, though I should probably be doing more productive stuff instead, I just had to catalog some cool details I found along the way, some of which I hadn't noticed until very recently.
So, in no particular order aside from playthrough convenience, I now give you some neat details about Pokémon Emerald that you may not have noticed or considered or even cared about.
1. This meditative young man standing by the water in Petalburg.
One of my favorite details in the game was always the water in ponds such as that one in Petalburg, so simple and placid, and of course, the character's model being reflected on the water's surface is a beautiful detail that still holds up to this day as far as I'm concerned. As a sidenote, I also really love how the pond just before Rustboro is similar but its surface ripples in the wind... Anyway, I always liked this guy's monologue, which I now leave with you. He says – My face is reflected in the water. It's a shining grin full of hope... Or it could be a look of somber silence struggling with fear... What do you see reflected in your face?
2. After defeating Wally in the Victory Road you can talk to his dad in Petalburg, though his reaction isn't the best.
I had no idea until fairly recently that so many characters change their dialogue depending on the player's actions. This is one example I didn't know about until this very playthrough. Sadly, Wally and May aren't great rivals, the former because there are only two fights with him, and the latter because she lacks one last, epic fight. At any rate, Wally's character arc is fairly interesting, and it's surprising to see that, though he was inspired to toughen up, his father still underestimates him. His full dialogue is – Oh? You met Wally in Ever Grande City? Oh, Paulo, don't be silly. He may have gotten healthy, but he can't go somewhere far away like that all by himself.
3. If you defeat Norman in a post-game rematch he will finally talk fondly about you.
Though Norman breaks the mold of the completely absentee father by simply existing, he's still quite distant, always focused on managing his gym and battling, both during the first encounter as well as after the battle for the badge. However, if you battle him after beating the Elite 4 he will ask you about your dreams and then implies he's proud to see you overcome his accomplishments. He says – Paulo... What is your dream? My dream... Hahaha... It has already come true, actually.
4. This lady just before Petalburg Woods.
That would be lady Cindy, and I just now realized that if you try to call someone on the pokénav whilst in the same route as them, the game will tell you to talk to the trainer in person. Isn't that neat?... Aside from that, I got nothing to say. It's just a beautiful quote.
5. How this lady describes the life cycle of berries.
Ibid. I'll just add that maybe I'm being overly sentimental here with some of these, but hey, it's Pokémon Emerald.
6. My chosen trendy sentence for the Dewford hall.
For the sake of completion I always reply to characters when they ask for player inputs, such as the interviewers, the Berry Master's wife, and of course, Dewford's trendy phrase. I always pick that expression because, when reading the poster, it becomes fairly similar to In Search of Lost Time, the greatest novel about nostalgia ever written. And for all I know, Emerald is indeed the birth of lost time.
7. There's a heart scale in front of this lovey-dovey couple on route 109.
This is one of the many surprising instances of the itemfinder being useful to discover little secrets and details about the game. I know heart scales are commonly buried around Hoenn beaches, but I just thought this one wasn't coincidental, and thus, it was pretty neat.
8. Mr. Briney's hiding place.
This one I legitimately had no idea about until this very playthrough... I always though Mr. Briney completely ghosted you after the fourth gym battle. Turns out he just stays at the shipyard, helping build the S.S. Tidal. I don't know where Peeko is at this point though. After the Elite 4, as we all know, they can both be found inside the ship.
9. By seas never before sailed by...
If you sail from Slateport to Lilycove and peek through the porthole you can actually enjoy a brief animation of the ship traversing through the strong currents of routes 134 and 133. However, you are mercifully forced to look away before the ship rams into Pacifidlog.
10. The Trick Master's last trick.
Yet another itemfinder secret... In recent playthroughs I developed a sort of tick of checking the itemfinder all the time, even indoors. Well, it finally paid off because after the very last challenge, the man leaves you a hidden nugget.
11. Fossil Maniac's literary preferences.
You'll find bookcases exactly like that one in many houses throughout Hoenn. If you interact with them the text usually reads – It's filled with all sorts of books. However, if you interact with the bookcase inside Fossil Maniac's house you'll discover his books are all related to geology. The text will read – The Composition of Strata... How Rain Shapes the Land... Stones, Soil, and Rock... It's crammed with books.
12. Probably the best of all possible Groudon locations.
After beating the Elite 4 you can travel to the weather institute and the scientist there will mention droughts or drizzles happening somewhere around Hoenn. Well, it's common knowledge now but it wasn't when I first played these games. When I played Ruby and I had absolutely no idea what to do after Mossdeep, I was absolutely convinced Groudon had to be somewhere around Fallarbor. It just made sense... And even after playing this game so damn much, I never knew route 114, the heart of a volcano, was a possible location. So I'll take this one as an instance of synchronicity.
13. If you can't catch Registeel, you could catch this pokémon instead.
Turns out there are more overworld Kecleon encounters than I thought. There's one just before Fortree, next to the ninja in the tree disguise, and another just before this cave, in front of the secret base, but I thought this one was the funniest.
14. This nostalgic couple standing by the Lilycove shore.
Lilycove's slogan reads – Where the land ends and the sea begins. So what better way to admire the sea than with an old married couple blissfully reminiscing by the shore? Their respective dialogue lines read as follows,
It was sixty years ago that my husband proposed to me here. The sea remains as beautiful as ever. Mufufufu mufufufufufu...
Even as we grow old and wrinkled, the sea remains forever young with the vivid brilliance of life... Fwohoho fwohohohoho...
15. Finally, some recognition!
It's a recurring idiosyncrasy in some games of all stripes that no matter what you do, not matter how colossal your accomplishments, NPCs will always treat you like you're a total nobody. Well, after beating the Elite 4 these three characters in Lilycove's fan club will give you some much deserved recognition and support.
16. Some color finally illuminates the Lilycove museum.
If you beat the master rank in any contest, a painter will approach you asking if he may paint a portrait of your winning pokémon. If you accept, that pokémon will receive a ribbon and its portrait will thereafter be displayed in the museum. Sadly though, not all of them looked very nice, at least they didn't in my game, I dunno if there are more possible versions. But I liked this one of my Bellossom so I figured, hey, why not... The reason I named her “Summer” is because, aside from being a beautifully cliché name, I discovered Gloom could involve into Bellossom when I was lazily playing Ruby in my grandma's house at the end of a summer afternoon.
17. Once upon a time, this dragon tamer reawakened my passion for the game.
For the longest time, I had no idea where to catch the first form of Salamence. It sounds silly now, but playing these games before understanding the internet was no easy thing. For that reason, I had no clue what a Bagon even was... until I battled that guy. His only pokémon is precisely a Bagon, and he even mentions Meteor Falls. So putting two and two together, and still having to watch an old school YouTube video about it, I learned where to catch a Bagon, which made me want to train it all the way to level fifty, and thus I returned to the game once again.
18. The source of so many old school internet myths.
Ah yes, you could get Jirachi by talking to that mysterious white rock, and you could get Deoxys by talking to the rocket scientist at the space center who would ask you if you wanna go to the moon. Sure thing, bud... Weird thing is though, the woman by the white rock even mentions wishes and stars, both things associated with Jirachi, and Deoxys was known to be an extraterrestrial pokémon. So it's almost like the myths and jokes were begging to be told, and for that reason I don't blame whoever spread them. They got me good, I gotta admit.
19. A little bit more recognition.
If you beat the Elite 4, if you complete the pokédex, if you win all gold symbols from the Battle Frontier, and if you win master rank in all five contest types, you'll get the golden trainer card. It's a shiny little thing, and no, I didn't get it legitimately, obviously, and for that reason, getting it at all feels like a bittersweet victory. Why these games were virtually impossible to complete when we were kids was insane but, looking back, it also gave them a certain mystique I now can't help but cherish...
So that's about it from me. I found many more neat things as I played, but the definition of “neat” may vary a whole lot, and thus they probably wouldn't be very interesting to you, assuming any of these were... Anyway, why did I do this? I guess it just made sense, I guess I just needed to. Because in a way I wanna grow up and move on, and to do that I needed to get these things out of my head by writing about them. But then again, I think I might be playing this game for the rest of my life...
And so, trainer Paulo, with nothing left to do in Hoenn, adjourned to his secret base on route 120, surrounded by his favorite things so that he could finally enjoy the cozy sound of constant rain.
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