It was back in 1999 that I first discovered Pokémon Red and Blue. At the tender age of 10, I was infatuated with it, playing my copy of Red from the wee hours of the morning until the late hours of the night, leveling up my various monsters and desperately trying to take down another Gym Leader. Then, when I got my hands on Gold a couple years later, my love for the series was realized all over again, and with 100 new Pokémon to collect, you can bet I put massive amounts of time in. Then I kind of lost interest. And now, after four years of not playing the franchise, I decided to give it another go for old time’s sake with Pokémon Emerald. Did I think it was just as good as previous incarnations? Yes, and that’s the problem.

The game starts up with you choosing your name and gender, then popping you smack dab in the middle of your home town. After speaking to some town folk, you’ll eventually be given your choice of three different types of Pokémon (water, fire, and grass, just as in past iterations), after which you’ll be thrust into your adventure. The story, if it can even be called one, is really a small collection of mini-stories, mostly dealing with rivals and warring Pokémon groups, Team Aqua and Team Magma. Other than that, there isn’t a single noteworthy plot detail. I realize it’s Pokémon and it doesn’t have to showcase a tale of epic proportions, but a good story would have really helped to provide the player with a reason to keep playing, since the gameplay is as dull as can be.

Emerald is basically the same collect-a-thon that the others have been, this time offering both of the legendary Pokémon from Ruby and Sapphire, as well as an all-new mythical monster. Other than that, it plays just like any other Pokémon title you’ve ever tried, leaving you to go out to capture and train the little critters (of which there are hundreds, so you can definitely get a lot of time out of the experience). This is, of course, the series’ concept and should be expected in each new game. What is really disappointing is what was supposed to be the greatest draw, Pokémon battling.

When crafting a turn-based RPG, it’s important to add something interesting to the fighting system to prevent it from being just a bunch of menu options. Unfortunately, Emerald does nothing of the sort, and since battle animations still look the same as they did in Red and Blue, I couldn’t help but feel bored as I repeated the same moves over, and over, and over for minutes at a time. Emerald could have been text based. If it were during a battle, I honestly wouldn’t be able to tell the difference.

Exploration, while remaining relatively similar, isn’t as much of a drag. With running shoes and, later on, a bike at your disposal, you can get almost anywhere with little trouble. With nice-looking and varied environments, you may even look forward to finding new towns, if only for the aesthetics.

Speaking of the visuals, they haven’t received much of an upgrade since the originals debuted over six years ago, but they are adequate to keep the experience intact. Character sprites closely resemble those of the TV show, and the various towns, routes, and caves carry a good amount of detail. Overall, the presentation isn’t spectacular, but it’s good enough to get the job done.

What is spectacular, though, is the audio. Although Pokémon still growl and grunt the same way they always have, the themes that follow towns and routes (and especially the classic Pokémon theme at the start menu) are brilliantly done, and really accompany the title well.

In the end, Emerald was a nice romp of nostalgia, but the fact of the matter is that, unlike the Pokémon themselves, this franchise can’t evolve, and the system’s been milked for all its worth. It’s bad when great games from yesterday lose their steam. It’s worse when that very same game’s mechanics are implemented in an all-new title.