[1][2][3] Owing to the increased capabilities of the Game Boy Advance, four players may be connected to each other at a time instead of the previous limit of two.

Praise was given to the new features and Pokémon designs, though critics were divided in their assessment of the games, especially on the gameplay and graphics.

As with all Pokémon games for handheld consoles, the gameplay is in third-person, overhead perspective and consists of three basic screens: a field map, in which the player navigates the main character; a battle screen; and the menu, in which the player configures their party, items, or gameplay settings.

[6] Factors in the success rate of capture include the HP, status effects such as Paralysis or Sleep, and the strength of the Poké Ball used: the lower the target's HP and the stronger the Poké Ball, the higher the success rate of capture is.

[10] Secret bases were added as a one-off feature where players could open up a hole in the world and customize the area with various items picked up in-game.

In the former two, once players reach a certain point in the game, they are able to transfer Pokémon between Colosseum / XD and Ruby / Sapphire.

[15] Also, in the European version of Pokémon Channel, players could receive a Jirachi at a certain point in the game, which they could then transfer over to Ruby or Sapphire.

[16] Like Kyushu, Hoenn possesses many smaller islands, and part of the region is dominated by sea routes, several of which contain areas where the player can dive underwater.

Like other Pokémon games, Ruby and Sapphire's gameplay is linear; the main events occur in a fixed order.

[18] The games' two main goals are defeating the eight Gym Leaders, proving oneself worthy of challenging the Elite Four and Hoenn League Champion to become the new Hoenn League Champion and completing the Pokédex by capturing, evolving, and trading to obtain all 202 Pokémon available between Ruby and Sapphire.

[20] Prior to facing the eighth Gym Leader, the player has a showdown with Magma or Aqua where the team's leader uses a mystical orb that awakens the slumbering Pokémon, believing it has the power to enthrall their respective target, only for the Pokémon to become enraged and cause catastrophic, region-wide climate changes—a drought in Ruby, and heavy rainfall in Sapphire—until it is defeated or captured by the protagonist.

Wally eventually overcomes his illness and becomes a successful Pokémon Trainer, ultimately becoming the final challenger the player must face before the Elite Four.

Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire were developed by Game Freak and Nintendo under the direction of Junichi Masuda.

They stated that if they receive positive feedback about the double battles, the feature may appear more in future generations.

When asked about any features that could not be included due to technical restrictions, Masuda noted that he wanted each individual Pokémon to make up to three different cries depending on its mood.

[23] The audio of Ruby and Sapphire consists entirely of game music and sound effects; all dialogue is on-screen.

The music, composed by Junichi Masuda, Go Ichinose and Morikazu Aoki, is completely instrumental except for two tracks with vocals, "Trick Master" and "Slateport City".

Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire were released in Japan on November 21, 2002,[26] in North America on March 19, 2003,[27] in Australia on April 3, 2003,[28][26] and in Europe on July 25, 2003.

[32] In addition to rewarding pre-orders of the games with merchandise, Nintendo held a contest in which participants submitted videos of themselves singing the Pokémon theme song with their own re-written lyrics; the grand prize for that event was a Lugia PT Cruiser.

[13][35] Nintendo aired two television advertisements, "Faces" and "Names", on prime-time network, cable, and syndication.

[31] Additionally, Nintendo collaborated with United Kingdom beverage brand Vimto to promote the games.

[37] Emerald received generally positive reception[38] and by fiscal year 2007 sales had reached 6.32 million units.

IGN praised the "deep design" and noted that the addition of features such as double battles greatly increased the strategic aspect of the games.

[49] However, GameSpot called the games "a cakewalk from start to finish" and claimed that Ruby and Sapphire "don't offer much of a challenge".

Other complaints included the removal of the time system of Gold and Silver and the inability to import Pokémon from the games of previous generations.

[59][d] In North America, Nintendo sold 2.2 million units by April 2003, less than one month after the games' release in that region.

[63] Even before release, European retailers imported cartridges from the United States to meet the high demand.

[82] It was released in Japan on May 30, 2003, and in North America on July 12, 2004,[83] but only through the New York Pokémon Center and its online store,[82] and it is no longer available in either location.

Another feature allows Ruby and Sapphire to be played on the television via the GameCube – Game Boy Advance link cable.

He also stated that the game was a good deal due to the inclusion of a memory card and link cable.