Pokémon Alpha Sapphire / Omega Ruby Special Demo Version “Review”

When I loaded up my 2DS after a period of a few weeks without using it, I was surprised to see a demo for Alpha Sapphire / Omega Ruby. After all, I had played the main game, which had been out for a couple of months: Nintendo had bragged about how it had shipped almost 10 million units, last month! However, I went and had a look anyway, because I'm bloody nosey.

I'm certainly glad I did - because I saw the phrase "items you can transfer to the main game". This meant prizes and more stuff for free! So I downloaded and booted it up, because of course I want stuff for free and very little effort. I’ve since learnt that there are variables, so I’ll try to address those by listing both options - such as the Pokémon present.

You - named Orlando - arrive at Mossdeep City where the space centre is, and after Team Aqua or Team Magma steal from it, Pokémon champion Steven enlists your aid by giving you one of the starters in their second evolution and literally one level away from their final form. Then he wants your help stopping the Team from capturing a Pokémon, rumoured to be able to mega evolve. Using Latios or Latias, he takes you off to help out that poor Pokémon by capturing it yourself.

Arriving on the island you have to venture forth by yourself - because nobody in Pokémon wants to help you and the demo wants you to get used to this - to take on grunts from both Team Magma and Aqua. You find May inside a cave, having come here to find some Pokémon for her dad, where you fight a couple of grunts before she legs it and leaves you to go against the remaining adults.

After a brief cutscene with two of the higher-ups in the organisations, Steven deems it the perfect time to come help you out with getting rid of them. Together you then investigate a single shrub and out pops a level 40 Glalie - which you must capture by simply throwing a Pokéball and doing nothing else. With that captured, the demo ends by taking you back to Mossdeep and rolling the credits - but the fun isn’t done!

Playing over and over, you get prizes and more people to interact with in Mossdeep City. The prizes can be sent to the main title (one per day), giving you a Pokémon, Pokéballs, some Heart Scales and if you’re lucky, a Nugget. You get a prize after every other adventure, with more people coming to Mossdeep City after each other adventure.

The adventures, after the first one, can be one of a few different types. Help Pokémon trainers with their special training, find a Pokémon or fight an Expert. Each one usually includes fighting Pokémon in tall grass as well as other trainers. However, if you’re lucky, you might get to do a special mission which sets you against Team Aqua or Magma again - with May helping you. It doesn’t give you anything, but you can replay it any time afterwards.

Long story short, the demo is well worth playing. If you don’t own the base game, it gives you lots of experience with what that will entail should you buy it, without giving anything away. And the best thing is, unlike the majority of 3DS demos, you can play it as many times as you want!

So load up the Nintendo eShop and download it! 10/10*!

*Score does not count, as this is not a real review.