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Published on May 7th, 2014 | by Firestorm

378

Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire Announced for November 2014 Release

Today, we received some surprising news about new games in the Pokémon franchise for release later this year in Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. They are widely believed to be remakes of the third generation games which nobody expected at all. We have no information on the titles outside the release date which is planned for November 2014 as a worldwide release, much like Pokémon X and Y. Also like Pokémon X and Y, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company International seem to have dropped the word “Version” from the titles of the games.

Nintendo says that, “Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire are a fresh take on Pokémon Ruby and Pokémon Sapphire, which launched in 2003 and were fan-favorite hits on the Game Boy Advance system. The new titles promise to take players through a dramatic story within a spectacular new world.”

With a November 2014 release, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire will not make it in time for the first Regional Championships of the VGC ’15 season in October. Like the VGC ’13 and VGC ’14 seasons, we expect to play using Pokémon X and Y at the fall regionals before switching to Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire after mid-December. Keep in mind that the VGC ’15 season will be the first year we will hopefully have events on a regular basis if the current Premier Challenge pilot program pans out. It remains to be seen how long that Play! Pokémon decides is sufficient before sanctioned events switch to the new games.

 




About the Author

is one of the co-founders of Nugget Bridge and the Community Manager for eSports Tournament Platform Battlefy. He has been playing Pokémon since 1999, competitively since 2007, and attending tournaments since 2010. He lives in Vancouver, Canada with a degree in Interactive Art & Technology + Communications. You can follow him on Twitter at @rushanshekar.



378 Responses to Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire Announced for November 2014 Release

  1. youxiu says:

    I feel like flygon is better suited for a physical attacker than a special one.
    Dragon Claw, Earth Quake, Rock Slide, Stone Edge. 
     
    Why would you want to tie with a fast HP Ice-er ? Especially when  you’re removing -10 from the possible 100 sp def.
     
    Unless you wanted a sun team with fire blast and solar beam, but then doesn’t char Y do that better?
    I don’t think sacrificing 10 sp def is worth it but to each their own. 

  2. Silvershark says:

    Same here, but it’s not too unexpected. There might be a Z or XX XY (see what I did there?) depending since BW2 made that big of a change.

     
    Or Sigma FireRed & Gamma LeafGreen.  :P

  3. BlaqJstr says:

    I doubt the other starters will get Megas being that Blaziken was highly more popular. On the other hand since we lost gems this Gen so maybe AS/OR will get us berries that take up that slot. As far as mechanics goes since it super easy to breed and train in Kalos I dont know what they could possibly bring now. Maybe some new weather gimmicks, <everyone is hoping for the KangaNerf>,Obviously new Megas and more Postgame.

  4. Thowra says:

    I cannot wait for contests to come back. My Altaria from Sapphire (now in my Y game) has every contest ribbon in Gen 3, and most of the contest ribbons from Gen 4 – the master ribbons of Sinnoh were just too hard to get, considering as a 11 year old kid I just fed all kinds of pokeblocks to my Altaria to make it happy instead of min/maxing its contest stats.
     
    Hopefully with the return of contests we get the contest version of EV reducing berries to reduce a Pokemon’s contest stats, then I could make my Altaria the beautiful dragon she was always meant to be :D
     
    And hopefully we can have competitive contests too, though I highly doubt it will happen.

  5. HenryLeonheart says:

    Am I the only who doesn’t like the idea behind a meta filled with Ubers? I know they’re awesome but they are legendary Pokémon.

    Supposedly there should be one of it per region and seeing everybody use the same Uber kinda puts me off imo but to each it’s own I guess.

    Also, I hope that GameFreak nerfs Parental Bond to 30% on the second hit at least.

  6. youxiu says:

    I’m looking forward to being able to use ubers.

  7. TheToge says:

    I cannot wait for contests to come back. My Altaria from Sapphire (now in my Y game) has every contest ribbon in Gen 3, and most of the contest ribbons from Gen 4 – the master ribbons of Sinnoh were just too hard to get, considering as a 11 year old kid I just fed all kinds of pokeblocks to my Altaria to make it happy instead of min/maxing its contest stats.
     
    Hopefully with the return of contests we get the contest version of EV reducing berries to reduce a Pokemon’s contest stats, then I could make my Altaria the beautiful dragon she was always meant to be :D
     
    And hopefully we can have competitive contests too, though I highly doubt it will happen.

    Although contest ribbons have been merged into one in XY, I’m sure that contests will return because, at least in gen V, contest stats are kept on anything that ate pokeblocks/poffins (in fact a beautiful feebas can evolve without a prism scale in at least gen V). Also, the reason for the contest/tower ribbon merge is likely to keep past achievements from being treated as fresh ones. Let’s just beg that all moves will gain a contest effect.

  8. projectmars says:

    I for one would love to see a return of Gen 3 Contests as I did enjoy those immensely. As for my wishlist from ORAS, it’s pretty simple: Make Parting Shot an egg move for a few pokemon (such as Meinshao and Hawlucha) so that it can have a chance to shine.

  9. youxiu says:

    So does 07:30 JST mean 7:30AM japan time? because that’s in under 7  hours..

  10. projectmars says:

    For those in the US, this means 4:30pm on the East Coast.
    EDIT: oh, yeah. It’s 7:30AM in Japan when it airs. IIRC the pokemon talk shows have always been morning ones.

  11. youxiu says:

    I’m so excited. Pokejungle is going to livestream it apparently.

  12. Interesting extension of the Drought and Drizzle animation. Are we thinking an exclusive for the legendaries or everything? Personally, I think it would be *pretty* for them all to be extended, but in the long run, it would probably become useless.
    What also peaked my interest was the location. Groudon in the sea? Crazy! Personally, I loved Kyogre’s entrance. Overall, I was hoping for more, but what can you do?

  13. projectmars says:

    That didn’t look like a battle scene… that looked like the Cinematic where Groudon/Kyogre cause their respective weather effects over the region.

  14. deathwreaker says:

    Harder Battle Frontier: The Comeback
     
    its happening. its goin’ down. BRING IT!.

  15. PreyingShark says:

    What also peaked my interest was the location. Groudon in the sea? Crazy!

    ‘Twas my reaction in 2003. It was weird.
     
    …Now I feel old. :(

  16. Twinhead says:

    What if that was the emerald fight scene? It would make sense at least.

    The hype train continues toot toot

  17. Szarkai says:

    What if that was the emerald fight scene? It would make sense at least.

    The hype train continues toot toot

     
    It looks like that was the legend attacking the volcano island. Sootopolis City or something? I remember that as when the Pokemon finally emerged from its undersea sleeping cave it attacked or was basically inside causing the weather to distort all around the region. Everyone was standing outside staring at the water where Groudon/Kyogre was chilling out at.
     
    Maybe now it is outside the volcano town, angry at the orb that woke it up?

  18. I just thought of something. There was a weird cave in Emerald west of that house with the different mini games. It magically appears after you beat the league. You go inside and there’s nothing inside of it.

    I’m wondering if that cave will come back and if anything will be inside it this time?

  19. rapha says:

    I just thought of something. There was a weird cave in Emerald west of that house with the different mini games. It magically appears after you beat the league. You go inside and there’s nothing inside of it.

    I’m wondering if that cave will come back and if anything will be inside it this time?

    What cave are you talking about??

  20. Dark51 says:

    “I can’t see Mirage Island today.”
    Never count out the Mirage Island.

  21. youxiu says:

    Atleast the internal battery won’t run dry

  22. DoppelGengar says:

    I just thought of something. There was a weird cave in Emerald west of that house with the different mini games. It magically appears after you beat the league. You go inside and there’s nothing inside of it.

    I’m wondering if that cave will come back and if anything will be inside it this time?

    I guess you are talking about the Altering Cave. The same cave exists in FR/LG as well. Normally only Zubat will appear in there, but you could encounter various other pokemon after receiving a certain mystery gift.
    The cave made sense for FireRed/LeafGreen, where some of the pokemon in this cave could not be found in the game otherwise. However, all of these pokemon were obtainable in the Pokemon Emerald Safari Zone (apart from Smeargle, which could be found at the Battle Frontier), making the cave quite redundant in that game.
     
    Link: External

  23. Twinhead says:

    Geez this is moving so slowly

  24. projectmars says:

    Well, to be fair, the largest game convention in the world is mext month. So we’re probably going to get a bunch of news dropping around then.

    Besides, if you’ve played Ruby/Sapphire before, you should know most of the major details already. The only questions involve the battle frontier, secret bases, character customization, possible new mega evolutions (i’ve heard rumors of 4 new ones), and any other post-gane changes that weren’t in the originals (Will the legendary beasts make an appearence? Will Looker breeze in to delight us with his epic theme song and amusing way of speech? Will there be move tutors and what moves will they teach?) There’s time to answer most of these questions, since we know post-game and move tutor info wont be known until after people have started playing. My guess is that if there’s any new mega evolutions besides mega lati@s then those will be seen at e3. Ditto with Character customization. Most likely they will do an overview

  25. projectmars says:

    Of the game, including info on secret bases and the inclusion of a battle frontier.

  26. Szarkai says:

    Well, to be fair, the largest game convention in the world is mext month. So we’re probably going to get a bunch of news dropping around then.

    Besides, if you’ve played Ruby/Sapphire before, you should know most of the major details already. The only questions involve the battle frontier, secret bases, character customization, possible new mega evolutions (i’ve heard rumors of 4 new ones), and any other post-gane changes that weren’t in the originals (Will the legendary beasts make an appearence? Will Looker breeze in to delight us with his epic theme song and amusing way of speech? Will there be move tutors and what moves will they teach?) There’s time to answer most of these questions, since we know post-game and move tutor info wont be known until after people have started playing. My guess is that if there’s any new mega evolutions besides mega lati@s then those will be seen at e3. Ditto with Character customization. Most likely they will do an overview

     
    That remark about Looker was perfect. Maybe we can get some background info on the guy since he’s still “mysterious”.
     
    I’m interested in preorder stuff. So far the remakes have had a little something extra.
    FRLG – Wireless Adaptor and those island minigames (so new places to explore)
    HGSS – Pokewalker (I forgot if there was a new area or if it was still Jhoto/Kanto minus islands)
    ORAS – ???? Probably another close quarters thing though.
     
    Sky Tower in 3D is going to be…. insanity…. I’m not looking forward to trying to steer my bike around a 50 floor tower with holes and rocks everywhere. It took me ages last time T.T
    I’m also getting excited to find out the next set of VGC rules. I’m still just collecting breeding stock for future use and filling up my Pokebank, but I suspect Blaziken is going to come right back. From being banned so many times from Smogon I’m sure we’ll see a fair share of them from people wanting to use it.
    Plus Protect, Speed Boost, Hi Jump Kick Kanga in the pouch. Immediate “balance”

  27. projectmars says:

    High Jump Kick has a drawback of knocking off 50% of your HP if it misses, including if you use it on a pokemon that protects. With a bit of prediction, this would make taking on Mega Blaziken a lot easier if it uses that. If it becomes a problem then Chandelure usage will probably rise as a check, since it can be immune to both Mega Blaziken’s STABs.

    And yeah, Looker’s theme is one of my favorite pokemon songs, mainly because it reminds me of Casino Night Zone. Looker is awesome in general though.

  28. Twinhead says:

    Well, to be fair, the largest game convention in the world is mext month. So we’re probably going to get a bunch of news dropping around then.
    Besides, if you’ve played Ruby/Sapphire before, you should know most of the major details already. The only questions involve the battle frontier, secret bases, character customization, possible new mega evolutions (i’ve heard rumors of 4 new ones), and any other post-gane changes that weren’t in the originals (Will the legendary beasts make an appearence? Will Looker breeze in to delight us with his epic theme song and amusing way of speech? Will there be move tutors and what moves will they teach?) There’s time to answer most of these questions, since we know post-game and move tutor info wont be known until after people have started playing. My guess is that if there’s any new mega evolutions besides mega lati@s then those will be seen at e3. Ditto with Character customization. Most likely they will do an overview

    Those rumored megas are swampert, sceptile, shiftry and ludicolo and it was first seen on 4 chan BUT looked like it came from serebii, don’t get your hopes up but dat dancing pineapple

  29. Crunchy says:

    Calling Drizzle Mega Swampert right now.
     
    But if I get no other Mega Evolution than Ludicolo I’ll be okay with that.
     
    Unless it’s Mega Slaking. omg.

  30. BlaqJstr says:

    Competitive Contest? If not a Regional event it can be Wifi contest. Like to see what Meta contest brings this gen

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