Ruby & Sapphire were such monumental releases for Pokémon, it was on a different scale. While Gen 2 provided a ton of game changing designs, many saw the games as remakes of the first. From the reused routes of Kanto, the predominantly Gen 1 Pokémon available throughout the story arc, and the same villainous group, there were a lot of elements that fans saw as redundant from the first generation. But Ruby & Sapphire changed all that. In an interview from 2003, Junichi Masuda and Ken Sugimori actually discuss how Ruby & Sapphire were initially designed to only feature the new Dex at first (Like gen 5). However, as development progressed, they realized that in balancing the game it made more sense to introduce Pokémon from Gens 1 & 2 as well. But this is the reason that you don’t come across hardly any familiar Pokémon until you’re nearing the third gym badge. Additionally, Hoenn’s map is entirely brand new, filled with water, and larger than ever before. In this same interview, Masuda and Sugimori review how Hoenn’s more complex layout/design was intentional.  At one point, Masuda comments: “[T]he areas around Mauville and Lilycove are kind of tricky to understand. We wanted to add in an element conceptually where it’s like a parent letting go of their child’s hand and saying ‘now go wherever you want.'” This was to encourage players to take side routes, and play the games less linearly.  Because of this, Hoenn provided a renewed sense of adventure for players. It encouraged searching in the corners, and finding new areas - even if they didn’t progress the story.  Gen 3 holds a special place in a lot of older fan’s hearts. An updated system, new graphics and sprites, a massive world with beautiful areas to explore, a new Poké Dex with 135 new Pokémon, and some incredible storytelling with Groudon and Kyogre made for a game that has made a lasting impression over these last nearly 24 years. If it wasn’t clear from my appreciation of the games, I truly hope these are added to the Switch library to play. There’s been a lot of speculation around it over the recent months, and I think there would be a very large population of fans that would quite appreciate getting to explore Hoenn once again.

Let this be a reminder of two things: 1. Whatever the odds, never give up 2. Whatever rare thing you think might never happen, will definitely happen at some point in a Pokémon game

Anyone entering the Pokémon seller space recently, or trying to establish a name for themselves This right here is easily some of the best advice to adhere to

I didn’t make this pumpkin, it was on display It’s so good!

Pokémon really did something special making these stamped cards way back when

Babe, wake up More Gen 3 Pokémon glitches dropped this morning

This post has shown me that a lot of people do not agree on which Pokémon these truly are

So, I had a pretty wicked mail day today If you need me, I’ll be staring at this absolute masterpiece

Over 6,400 items stolen, and tons of rare and expensive Pokémon cards included Grading cards obviously comes with risk, but something like this is just awful for everyone affected

I love that these old Topsun cards have a bunch of Pokémon in the background But can anyone tell me who the Pokémon are that I have circled? I can’t quite tell

I decided to open some Pokémon cards last night And I struck gold ⭐️

I get that Pokémon cards selling for hundreds of thousands of dollars is quite crazy and dominates what a lot of people are talking about right now. But it's so uninspiring and unoriginal. It's so boring to only talk about money and overlook all the other spectacular elements that come from collecting and Pokémon in general.

One thing that's been eye opening about the Pokémon trading card boom over the last 6+ years is truly how many Pokémon fans still have collections from 15+ years ago I would venture a guess that stories like these will keep popping up for awhile. There's a lot of vintage cards still sitting around out there, just waiting to be appreciated once again

I need to get back to photographing Pokémon cards like this I love the way these turn out ✨

My dinner this evening while I scroll looking for deals on Pokémon 🍥

This account has shown me half a dozen new things about these gen 3 games, which I played obsessively as a child How do you even find stuff like this

Somewhat unrelated, but a fun fact about Unown in generation two, only the Unown letters I & V can be shiny No other Unown letters would ever be shiny due to their IV values So, also kind of a bummer for shiny hunters at the time I guess

30 years of the Pokémon TCG, and way too many precious memories to count ✨ Who would have thought it was going to lead us here after all these years. If you’re celebrating today, make sure to show off some of your favorite cards 🤩

“One must imagine Sisyphus happy”

Neo Rev master set is one card closer to completion ✨