Pokémon Ruby Version

1001 Video Games

Pokémon Ruby appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Anime

The girl character in Pokémon Ruby/Sapphire became the basis for Haruka, one of the new characters to appear in the sixth anime series of Pocket Monsters: Pokémon Advance Generation. It was scheduled to debut in the U.S. in the fall of 2003, and Haruka's name was changed to May. Team Magma and Team Aqua were the subjects of several episodes in this series, and the boy character received a number of cameos.

Debug

German Debugging Version 0509A was leaked to the public after an anonymous Nintendo employee sold a copy to a collector of game prototypes, who then uploaded the ROM to the internet. A number of debug options are named for programmers who worked on the game, and functions include automatically winning battles, setting flags, and jumping directly to minigames. The text in this version is a mixture of German, English, and corrupted Japanese.

Real-Time Clock Issues

Early production runs of Ruby and Sapphire contained a glitch in which the in-game clock would stop functioning properly after 366 days, causing daily events to freeze until another year had passed. Once the glitch was discovered, Nintendo released a patch that could be downloaded through communication with other Pokémon games or special demo stations. However, once the cartridge's internal battery runs dry, the in-game clock will stop working entirely until the battery is replaced, which will eventually cause the glitch to resurface in cartridges that experienced the original issue.

ROM Hacking

Pokémon Ruby Version and its counterparts, Sapphire and Emerald, have become popular games among ROM hackers, and are the focus of large and dedicated hacking communities. Several completed hacks have become well-known across the internet, and many specialized programs and scripts have been developed to assist ROM hackers for these titles.

Sales

In 2003 Pokémon Ruby Version won the Gold-Award from the German VUD (Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland - Entertainment Software Association Germany) for selling more then 100,000 (but less then 200,000) units in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.

In addition, in the first quarter of 2004, the game also won the VUD Platinum-Award for selling more then 200,000 units.

Note: The Platinum-Award does not replace the Gold-Award, but is in addition. Therefore it equals more then 300,000 sold units in total.

Awards

• GameSpy
  • 2003 – #7 Game Boy Advance Game of the Year (together with Pokémon Sapphire Version)

Information also contributed by Xoleras