Pokemon Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald is probably my least favorite generation to this point in the series, yet I still find myself excited by the prospect of playing Omega Ruby next month. It’s confusing.

Back when the games first came out, I jumped into Ruby and was excited to tackle this bright, colorful new world. But somewhere along the way, the journey started to get jaded.

Maybe it was because I didn’t catch many Pokemon I really liked. Maybe it was because a Pelipper (yes, that monstrosity) was the quote-unquote “best” member of my team. Or maybe it was because my awful team slogged its way through Victory Road, only one Pokemon alive as I finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel – and then that snot-nosed rival challenged me with his stupid Gardevoir that I helped his dumb ass raise from a Ralts, and I rage-quitted.

Hard to pinpoint any one reason.

Nevertheless, playing through the Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire demo was entertaining. You get to see Steven Stone be a badass, and you get to capture a Pokemon with a Mega Evolution for use in the full game later on.

You also get a chance to sample a few songs from the soundtrack, like the soothing tones of Mossdeep City. Ardent R/S/E fans might be disappointed by the lack of OMNIPRESENT TRUMPETS (a hallmark of the original OST), but I think the new versions sound pretty good so far.

Case in point: the Team Aqua/Magma battle theme. You get to hear it a few times in the demo, as Aqua and Magma are both in pursuit of the same Mega-Evolving critter that you and Steven are chasing. It’s different, but it sounds neat. Here’s a link to the original, and the new mix is below.

Pokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire – Team Aqua/Magma Battle

Music to My Ears covers soundtracks or individual songs from video games. You can view all posts in the series by clicking here.