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I don't think I've seen so many people joke about a Pokémon remake than what was done for Ruby and Sapphire, but once it was announced that a remake was in the works, I was all too excited to revisit Hoenn region again.

For the most part, ORAS does not deviate from the orginal RS storyline aside from a little more depth. In essence Team Magma in Omega Ruby or Team Aqua in Alpha Sapphire is trying to revive Groudon and Kyogre respectively to accomplish their goals of expanding the land or ocean respectively. This time though they plan on reviving them using the Red or Blue orbs to awaken a power they once held in ancient times, the power of Primal Reversion. It's up to you, a new trainer who moved to Hoenn from Johto to stop them. After the game there is a post game story called the Delta Episode. I won't spoil it if you have yet to get to that point, but it's more lore and great stuff from here. Unlike FRLG and HGSS which, for the most part, was just a visually upgraded remake, ORAS is more like an enhanced version, not just for the visuals, but the story tweaks that stays true to the originals, but still feels like an all new adventure. The presentation of the gyms are also quite good as they still are similar to their original layouts and the battles are similar more to the Emerald teams. Of course, this is all well complimented by the 3DS gorgeous 3D modeling for cutscenes as well.

For the most part, the gameplay hasn't changed at all from XY aside from a few new Mega Evolutions. I have yet to truly test out most of them yet so I can't say for sure if any are game breaking like Mega Gengar, Mega Mawile, and Mega Blazkien are. Sadly, the trainer customizations which was one of the coolest features of XY did not make it into ORAS which was a huge disappointment. Nevertheless as a remake it did need to stay true to the originals I suppose. People tended to gripe about the huge amount of water in Hoenn but I never felt like it was as bad as people were making it out to be. I mean sure people loved that Sinnoh had so little water routes, but to me that just made it seem like the HMs were useless. But also given the theme of the Land vs. Sea conflict, I thought it fit in quite nicely. It's not gonna make me dock points for it.

Several new features were added like the Dex Nav which allows you to search for Pokémon in routes that have hidden abilities, Egg Moves, and even rare items. Fly can now take you to literally any location, not just cities, so you can just fly to Shoal Cave and Route 193 at your leisure for example. There's also the new Soaring feature which allows you to take to the skies on a Mega Latos/Latias to search for mirage spots containing numerous Legendary Pokémon from other games. Contests also return and has been tweaked slightly, but it just about the same as before so look to it as an alternative game mode. The Battle Resort in the post game has the Battle Maison again too. And of course, Secret Bases make a triumphant return! You can even make your base a makeshift Gym with your character as the Gym Leader.

For the most part, the music of ORAS aren't too different from their original takes compared to FRLG and HGSS, but they still are quite enjoyable in my opinion. Gotta love that trumpet heavy soundtrack. There are a lot of new themes though such as for Wally and the new character Zinnia. Both of these are excellent and are easily my favorite themes of the game.

Nonny's Rating: 8.5/10. For pure nostalgia value, it is just as fun to play as I remember from Ruby and Sapphire. For those more involved in the Meta, don't expect much changes unless there is a Mega that you're dying to get. Just know that there is no Mega Flygon.

Nonny's Tips: HMs are super important in the story unlike gen V and VI. Expect to use a Mule or spread these across your team.

The EXP share continues to be OP. Too much water in it