This November, Pokemon players can return to the Gen III region of Hoenn with the release of Omega Sapphire and Alpha Ruby.
Bricker Jr. did not start playing until Sinnoh (Gen IV), but did go back and acquire the GBA versions of Ruby and Sapphire, so I have seen these, but now I look forward to actually playing the updated versions as a participant instead of an occasional helper.
Woo hoo! Awesome news!
Do you know if these new versions will be Pokebank compatible? 
I don’t know for certain – but I cannot imagine that it would not be.
Anyone else played the demo yet?
The initial adventure takes about 30 minutes to play through, and there are no save points. The demo assumes you’re already familiar with the game mechanics such as battling and capturing (although you don’t get any Pokeballs until the end, and you don’t get to keep any Pokemon except the final one, so you may as well run). At the end you get to keep the Pokemon you capture and import it to the full game.
Subsequent adventures take about 5 minutes each (battle 3 trainers; find a missing Pokemon: etc.) and unlock a few more items you can import into the full game. So far I got some extra Pokeballs.
Visually it looks great. It has the same art style and X & Y. Riding on Latios is a nice touch. There is a news cast in the game that throws out lots of teases, including the Mirage Spots, which supposedly contain legendaries from all previous generations. Supposedly between the 4 3DS games (X,Y, Alpha Sapphire, Omega Ruby) one will be able to obtain all of the non-event-only legendaries.
Speaking of which, Diancie is available for X & Y right now. Go to a GameStop and pick up a single use download code before November 16th
Hey everyone!
I’ve been playing the demo, and finished it about 10 times. There’s a rumor going around that if you play it for a certain number of days, you unlock special missions. I haven’t seen any of those missions yet, so I can’t confirm or deny it.
My friend went to pick me up a Diancie code two days after they were released. Gamestop was out. So if you want one, I’d advise going to Gamestop ASAP.
People on eBay are selling codes for Diancie, as well as the Shiny Gengar that was given out via Gamestop in October. (I missed that one too.) I don’t know how trustworthy these people are however, so buyer beware. And where do they get extra codes? Aren’t the codes just one per customer?
I’ll be getting Omega Ruby on release day. Very excited.
It seems to depend on the Gamestop and how well they understand the promotion. At the one closest to my house, when I went to get the Pinsirite, they insisted the cards were only for people preordering the Hoenn games. I had to show them the Pokemon website which clearly stated codes were for anyone, it was the posters that were only for preorders. That Gamestop was barely willing to give me two cards, even though my son was with me.
At the other extreme, the Gamestop closest to my work hands the cards out like Halloween candy. I got 3 (for myself and my two sons) Shiny Gengars just for the asking, and the guy gave me 5 Diancies when I asked for 3. The extras fell on the counter and when I handed them back, the guy just told me to “go ahead and Wonder trade them”.
Heh. I also heard that if you beat the elite four in Yellow a hundred times with a Zapdos in your third slot you’ll get a Pikablu.
Can I have one?
Sure. Do you want the physical card snail mailed to you or do you just want me to scratch the card and PM the code to you?
Awesome. Thank you.
The PM’d code should work fine.
Thank you again.
Hey guys!
I know we were skeptical about the inclusion of “special missions” in the OR/AS demo. However, just this evening, I got one!
It wasn’t a big deal - My character flew somewhere and talked to a guy. And the guy gave him a Nugget, which I can transfer to the full game!
Nuggets hopefully can be sold for a good amount, which will be a nice boost to my income in the early game.
If I run into any other special missions, I will let you know!
So I have this game now – anyone else playing? Is there a point to secret bases at all?
Bricker Jr has 7 badges and is trying to capture Kyogre. I have 6 badges and am shopping at the Lilycove Department Store.
Both my son and I have finished the game, as well as the Delta Quest which follows. The post-game here is rich.
Hey everyone. I just got Omega Ruby yesterday.
Haven’t had a chance to do much yet, but I’m hoping to get more done with it this weekend.
I love my Mudkip! And my Shiny Beldum is super useful in catching Pokemon without knocking the poor critters out completely.
Kind of a bummer there’s so little character customization, though.
Still, overall, I like it! And if I want to play dress-up, I can always pop in Pokemon Y.
Couldn’t help myself–after crushing Alpha, I picked up Omega too, to see how the other side plays.
I have caught lots o’ legendaries. Uxie was a particularly irksome catch.
I’m up to two Gym Badges now! 
In my defense, I didn’t get the game until Dec. 3rd, and I’ve been proceeding pretty slowly in it. :o Not because it’s hard, but because I seem to be overly tired for some reason. It’s a bummer.
Planning to put in more time on it tonight while Survivor is on.
WOO-HOO!! I got an Eon Ticket via Street Pass Saturday night while picking out my Christmas tree!! I spread it to my son yesterday.
I’m doing Omega Ruby but I haven’t had a lot of time so far. I’ve got 6 badges and just got to Mt. Pyre. My son has already finished and is tracking down legendaries at the Mirage Spots. He just made use of his Eon Ticket to get Latios, who he complained was too easy to catch (only level 30).
They’re good for grinding. Each one I’ve visited has 4-6 trainers to battle. You get healed after each battle so it’s easy to wipe out the whole base and gain Exp.
I’m lucky in that we have two 3DS’s in the house; my son and I both play.
But if you have only one, you might be stymied trying to trade Pokemon between your old X/Y game and the new OR/AS.
Even if you invested in Pokebank, you can’t trade items to the new game; Pokemon moved to Pokebank lose their items.
But – there’s a way to use GTS to trade to yourself, and maybe bring in some trained Pokemon from XY to help out your ORAS adventures.
Let’s say you’d love to see your level 90 Xerneas frolic in Hoenn with Groudon.
Start with OR. Catch a throwaway Pokemon – a level 3 Wurmple from Petalburg Woods, say. Deposit that Wurmple on GTS as a trade. Say you’re asking a level 90 Xerneas in return. In the comments section, put your name or a unique recognizable line so you can identify this as yours. (Note that “Xerneas” isn’t going to be a pickable choice since you haven’t seen a Xerneas yet, but you can use the Spell-Your-Own option).
Shut down OR, fire up X.
Go into GTS, search for trainers offering Wurmples. Find yours – other people may be doing this trick and that’s why you used your unique recognizeable line in step 1.
Trade!
Wurmple ends up in X; Xerneas ends up in OR ready to help fight Stephen for the championship.
WHOA. :eek:
I thought of doing something like this, but I could not figure out the logistics. You’re a genius! 
I finally got the bike in Mauville. Not as fun as the skates in X/Y, but still alright.
In other news, I was Streetpassed an Eon Ticket today, somewhere between home and the local Hy-Vee (grocery store). You cannot believe how psyched I was. I literally could not stop smiling. 
I just wish I knew more people locally playing Ruby/Sapphire so I could pass them an Eon Ticket too!