Emerald is as fun as any Pokemon game, but it feels almost too familiar
Once again, the story starts out the same as Blue/Red and Gold/Silver. You're a kid who wants to be a great trainer and so you get a Pokemon of your own and start off on your Pokemon journey, traveling around the new Hoenn region and collecting badges so you can join the Pokemon League. There is more to it than that this time though. For one thing, there's a little more back story behind you moving in to this small town (called "Littleroot") and there are bits and pieces about your father who is a gym leader. Plus, the way you meet this game's professor (Prof. Birch) is a new take on the formula as well. You find him cornered by a wild Pokemon and with quick thinking, you run to his bag and take one of his 3 Pokemon to fight the other one off. Still, the story formula is the same, but at least they attempted to mix things up, even if they are minor.
If you've played any other game in the franchise, you probably know how this game is played too. If you haven't, you basically walk around the region and not only can you battle Pokemon in the wild or from other trainers, but you can capture Pokemon too and add them to your team. As you can imagine, not much has changed here from a gameplay standpoint, but why fix what isn't broken I suppose. Of course there are even more moves than before and up to 386 total Pokemon to collect (135 of them are brand new). You'll be busy for a while if you really plan on filling up your Pokedex, but I'm not really a fan of the newer Pokemon in general. They look ok but they don't look as creative as the first 251 were.
So what did this generation of Pokemon add besides more moves and Pokemon? Well, you can now engage in a double battle with certain trainers which is interesting. They work similarly to single battle but you get to use two of your Pokemon at a time. Pokemon also have unique abilities and natures from this game onward, which means they can strengthen their own stats during battles or weaken their foe's and nature affects how they grow. You'll run into contests along the way which tests the trainer's skill instead of power. You select a Pokemon to participate in rounds based on acting and presentation which basically means showing off their moves to impress the audience and win the most points.
Perhaps the biggest addition is the Battle Frontier. This sort of thing was introduced in Crystal but now it has been expanded. The Battle Frontier is a special post-League area that features several arenas where powerful Trainers can battle each other. There are several buildings with different types of battles to partake in (each with their own rules). Each of the facilities in the Battle Frontier has a leader, the Frontier Brain, who may be challenged after certain winning streaks have been made through their respective facilities. This is an interesting reward for beating the Elite 4 and it gives you plenty to do once the game is over, though I was hoping for a bit more like how Gold/Silver introduced an entire second region.
There isn't too much else to say on the multiplayer. Blah blah blah, you can battle or trade Pokemon with your friends...yadda yadda yadda, you've heard this before. Not much has changed this time.
Pokemon Emerald is just as fun as any Pokemon game before or after it, but it seems to take very few risks. The new Pokemon aren't quite as memorable as the originals, but if you're a fan of the series already, you'll likely find plenty to love about this one too. While there isn't as much new stuff this time around, it still proves that the Pokemon formula is still holding strong and still fun to play even as an adult.