Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire were the shiny, new Pokémon games released on a new platform: the Game Boy Advance. Taking players to a new region, it was a j🌠ourney designed to bring tons of new fans to the series while giving꧟ old trainers a reason to get back into the groove of catching new creatures and training them to battle the Elite Four.

The world of Ruby and Sapphire became some of the best-selling games on the GBA, and were many fans’ introduction to the series. As a result, they are some of the most beloved games as well, with tons of people clamoring for a proper remake on the 3DS before Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire came out. Now that everyone’s need for Hoenn has been satisfied, we can looﷺk back on the region fondly.

As fun as Ruby and Sapphire were, though, that’s not to s🐈ay they were perfect. In trying to take the series to a new region with new mechanics, Game Freak took a risk. While the risk paid off in t🌸he long run, it wasn’t without its hiccups along the way. Some of the new systems and Pokémon introduced in the games hurt the quality of the adventure.

Ruby and Sapphire are far from bad games, but they had their fair share of problems. There are a lot of reasons the games are good, but there were plenty of mistakes made during its development. We’re looking at 25 mistakes in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire only true fans noticed.

25 ๊ Constant Surfing 🥀

As much as IGN's “too much water” criticism became a meme for how ridiculous it sounded, it’s hard to deny that there is a lot of water in Ruby and Sapphire. While the Hoenn Region is based on real locations, it’s quite a chore to constantly travel t🐈hrough water to reach a chunk of the game’s areas. There are constant trainer battles on every route, and players susceptible to wild Pokémon encounters whꩵile surfing. It made the journey in those sections feel much longer.

24 🧜 Too Many HMs

HMs, as a mechanic, were horribly outdated, even by the time Ruby and Sapphire came out. These moves had an impact on the overworld, and players had to take up one of their Pokémons’ move slots to have it. There were a total of eight HMs in Ruby and Sapphire, meaning that some Pokémon often had more than one in their moveset. Furthermore🐭, three of those HMs were water-type moves, meaning that players would often have to bring more thꦦan one water-type Pokémon with them.

23 𒁏 More Wild Encounters

As an extension of surfing through at least a third of the world, Ruby and Sapphire had tons of wild encounters, which is saying a lot for a Pokémon game. To travel swiftly through the world (and to gain any of the Legendary Pokémon), it was necessary to always bring repels, just so the adventure could continue without constant interruptions. By the end of the game, the encounters just became tedious and unwanted. At least Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire tightened up the traveling system.

22 🌳 Pointless Mechanics

With Ruby and Sapphire came the introduction of some new ways to categorize a Pokémon, like abilities and natures. While these further enhanced the customization that went into a player’s team, there were also some introduced that were extremely po𒀰intless. Certain abilities served as a crutch for most Pokémon while some natures were practically useless. It made creating a team a grind fest, as players were subject to RNG the entire time. With later entries in the franchise, it became easier to create an ideal team.

21 Double Team🎉 Buf♕fed

One new stat that entered the series in Ruby and Sapphire was evasion. This meant that moves like Double Team, which increased evasion, were some of the best to use. There were several trainers and Pokémon who would constantly use the move (in tandem with Sand Attack) to essentially turn any match into something tha💙t could take nearly 10 minutes. The r🐓eason they took so long is because the player’s Pokémon wouldn’t be able to land a hit because of that ridiculous evasion stat.

20 Subp𒅌ar🧸 Pokémon Designs

Whether it’s because of the idolization of the original 151 or because the designs were objectively bad, there were some questionable choices with the Gen III Pokémon. Some of them were shameless rehashes of older Pokémon, like Gulpin and Swalot. There were a few that stuck out from the crowd, like Metagross and Salamence, but they were the minority in that generation. Most people wouldn’t be able to recall wha𝔉t Mawile, Electrike, or Lombre looked like if you asked them.

19 Two Bikes

Bikes became a primary method of travel in the Pokémon series, allowing trainers to travel from place to place even faster. In Ruby and Sapphire, there were two bikes thrown into the mix: the Mach Bike and Acro Bike. One was built for speed, and the other for tricks. The problem is tha🍰t the Acro Bike could be used to get to new areas but was slow. Forcing the player to travel all the way to the bike shop to change bikes for exploration purposes was downright tedious.

18 𓂃 Pokéblocks

Do you remember Pokéblocks? You’re not alone. This was a new mechanic introduced in Ruby and Sapphire where players could make Pokéblocks for their Pokémon. These blocks would be used to raise stats that were only relevant in contests. Naturally, few people used this feat𒁃ure. It could only be done in specific locations and could even be done with a friend who had a link cable. That said, it was easier to just catch a Pokémon that had all the right stats.

17 Pokémon Contests ♍ 🅠

Instead of just battling, another thing that players could do in Ruby and Sapphire was partaking in Pokémon Contests. The problem with them was that the rules were so ill-defined that it was hard to gauge which strategies worked and which ones didn’t. Without any serious rewards for coming out on top, there was almost 𓃲no point to engage in contests. Why spend all that time trying to figure out how to win if there’s nothing in it for the player?

16 The♒ “Nice” Rival ꦺ

One of the most universally-hated tropes in the Pokémon franchise is the rival who is just a nice and upbeat fellow who playfully accompanies players on their journey. This trope started in Ruby and Sapphire, where May or Brendan was a nice person that happily competed with the player instead of being a downright jerk. There was no drive to defeat them because they weren’t insufferable. It’s surprising that Game Freak continued the trope for years after Ruby and Sapphire’s release.