For someone who's started playing a Pokémon game for the first time I found Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire an enjoyable game if you are a fan of the series or recommending the series to friends or family; I've picked Omega Ruby on release however both Ruby and Sapphire are enhanced remakes of the GBA versions that were both released in 2003.
Basic story you would see in any JRPG game your playable character move to the Hoenn Region with your mother, as their father Norman has been hired as a Gym Leader for the region you can choose to play as male or female Pokemon trainer. At the very beginning of the game you start to become a Pokémon Trainer after saving Professor Birch from a wild Pokémon, choosing either Treecko, Torchic, or Mudkip as your first partner in Pokémon. You travel around the Hoenn Region to complete the Pokédex and battle the eight Gym Leaders of the Hoenn Pokémon League. Along the way, you'll encounter an antagonist group called Team Magma who wish to use the power of the Legendary Pokémon to change the world to suit their desires so its up to you to stop them as you journey across around Hoenn Region.
Anyone new to the franchise or series will have a little time getting to know the controls and slowly understand why everyone else loves playing series overall. Whichever Pokémon you have started you can level up that Pokémon by fighting other Pokémon trainers and masters plus fighting wild Pokémon that appear out of the blue in grass fields. During battles your Pokémon will have four battle techniques which you can use to attack your oponment more you level your Pokémon it can learn new skills and techniques when it gets to a certain level your Pokémon will evolve into a more powerful Pokémon. If you have Pokeballs in your item bag you can capture wild Pokémon during random battles when their HP is on a level you can capture them and train them you can have up to six Pokémon in your team but you can switch back and forth on what Pokémon you want to have in your team if capture more than six Pokémon.
Completing the main story on defeating all eight Gym leaders can take up to around 20 hours or more including a new side quest at the very end. What really makes the series that popular is that players like yourself can battle other players if they have a copy of this game and a 3DS you can battle up to six Pokémon in an arena; or you can trade Pokémon with other players or style it out in a Cosplay battle where your Pokémon can pull off the best battle techniques in front of a large crowd the more you them wow the higher chance you'll get more ratings in each round.
StreetPass option can let you build your own secret base anywhere in the Hoenn Region depending on where you plan to build your base you can find or look for their base which can be well hidden meaning that you'll have to track down where it plus collect their Green flag more you collect through StreetPass you'll earn more rewards for your base including creating your own base. One of the features you'll see featured is the BuzzNav news when you pass by other players, it will transfer the data they have compiled to you. This data ranges from items you have bought, Pokémon you have caught, TMs you have used and so forth and will appear in the various shows that are in BuzzNav.
With this being on the 3DS you would think that the entire game would have the 3D effect for it but it’s only used through certain cutscenes and only in battles/cosplay rounds. It could have been nice if you could have the 3D effect on through the whole game if that was optional for those who want to experience a game in full 3D. But the layout designs and visuals look impressive to look at it made us want me to come back more into Omega Ruby for its rich colourful textures and beautiful environments. After collecting all eight Gym badges there is still plenty of stuff to do including online and local battles against friends or family including downloading certain Pokémon through the internet if you have the Wi-Fi turned on for your 3DS or heading into your local game store in downloading or asking for a code.
Some fans of the series would say that this is not the best remake or title in the series but yet Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire can offer a lot for both games and is not bad for both games to get the remake treatment after its 10 year release. For someone who is new to the series like myself its worth checking out plus might change your mind on the series even if you don't like Pokémon in general especially the TV series the games can offer tons of hours on gameplay and can be more fun with other players.