Pros: Over 350 pokemon, great story and gameplay, high replay value
Cons: not many, but maybe the sounds of the game could use some tweaking
The bottom line: This game is simply great for many reasons, while consisting of not too many flaws. A great game with a high replay value.
Pokemon Emerald is probably the best all around pokemon game to ever come out for any platform. Prior to playing this game my favorite pokemon games were pokemon silver and pokemon stadium. After playing this game for a couple of hours, it instantly became my favorite pokemon game.

The story of this game is similar to those that preceded it. You get to choose whether you want to be a male or female, choose your name and then your story begins. Like the other games you move into a new town. After a couple of events you end up with your own pokemon and your now starting your own pokemon quest. Your main objective in this game is to collect the eight gym badges and to beat the elite four, while on route to that combating the bad guys whom are team magma or team aqua.

The graphics in this games are like any other pokemon game. They are not great, they are not terrible, there just decent. The graphics of the worlds, like the caves and towns, are pretty good. The pokemon look nice in this game, most of them look like they would on the tv show.

The music on this game is like any other pokemon game. All of the songs are quaint and simple, but some are quite enjoyable like the battling music. The pokemon in this game really don't sound like their t.v. show counterparts, but this is no real problem.

Now on to the best part of the game the gameplay. This game has the most pokemon ever existent in one game which is a whopping 386 pokemon. Trying to fill the pokedex alone is a tall order, and this alone could have you playing for months. The main points of this game are rather simple. You catch some pokemon, while using up to six at any one time. You battle wild pokemons and other trainers while along the way training and evolving your pokemon. As time progresess the opponents get stronger, while you become stronger too.

While battling is the main point of this game, your pokemon can also be used for other things like entering contests. There are 5 different contest you can enter them in beauty, cute, tough, smart, and cool contests. You can also give your pokemon special moves so they can do things outside of battle. Like the move cut can give some pokemon the ability to cut grass and bushes that are in the way.

This game has some hard gym leaders. Most of the leaders in this game are quite challenging if your pokemon are not strong. I remember having trouble with the first gym leader, it took me a couple of tries to beat her. Also the elite four are very strong compared to other pokemon games.

A new aspect to this game is the battle frontier. The battle frontier is a area in which you can gain symbols that show your strength as a trainer. This area has seven areas to battle in, the areas are the Battle Palace, Battle Tower, Battle Dome, Battle Arena, Battle Pyramid, Battle Factory, and Battle Pike. Each of these places have levels set at open level or L50. Open level means that the contest is open to any level pokemon, while L50 means that pokemon can only be enetred if they are level 50 or lower. If you win any battles you get BP(battle points) which can be used to get exclusive prizes. And if you manage to beat the leader at the end of all these places you get a symbol. the battle frontier is just a great addition to this game.

Related Reviews:
Pokemon Diamond for DS
http://www.epinions.com/content_410248777348

Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness for GameCube
http://www.epinions.com/content_410601688708

This is a great game period. I give this game a 10/10. This game will have you hooked from beginning to end, and will have you playing for months and months down the road. I highly recommend this game to everyone. It's rather difficult, but very enjoyable at the same time.