So hyped for these, Ruby was the first game that I really sank loads of hours into one file, a save file that is still going to this day, I've even traded my team to Emerald, cloned them using the battle tower glitch and imported the clones all the way to X and Y, so this really will be coming full circle. And while I loved Yellow, my first Pokemon, and GSC, there was just something about Ruby that I loved more than the others. The graphics blew me away after all the years of gen 2's 8 bit graphics, even something as simple as staring into the player's reflection in the water.
The only thing I was a but bummed about was the lack of hype. The teaser video looked like it was put together in an afternoon, a likely response to Nintendo's poor financial figures. It really did come out of nowhere and was sure that the remakes would be after Z (which I thought would come out next year) putting the remakes at a 2016 release.
But I started to realise that this makes way more sense, and to me, spells something much greater coming soon. I looked at the release dates between third versions and remakes and noticed something quite interesting:
(Jp release - US release - EU release)
Red Green Blue
1996 - 1998 - 99
Yellow
1998 - 1999 - 00
Gold Silver
1999 - 2000 - 01
Crystal
2000 - 2001
Ruby Sapphire
2002 - 2003
FireRed LeafGreen
2004 - 2004
Emerald
2004 - 2005
Diamond Pearl
2006 - 2007
Platinum
2008 - 2009
HeartGold SoulSilver
2009 - 2010
Black White
2010 - 2011
Black 2 White 2
2012 - 2012
X Y
2013
OmegaRuby AlphaSapphire
2014
Not only have the release dates gotten nearer, as in now they are worldwide, but Pokemon has basically become an annual release, at least in the West. But it would seem that if Japan was going to take a year break as seen in 2007 and 2011, this would have been the year to do so. So assuming they don't 'miss' a year in 2015, it's safe to say that Z or X2/Y2 will come in 2015. Now this would make for a short generation as would also mean they have to pull a Meloetta and not give Volcanion/Hoopa the limelight like they deserve with 2015's movie, as 2016 would be promoting Gen 7. Which leads me to believe that there is another Gen 6 game being released in 2016, to stall the generation a bit longer to the usual 4 years. 2016 also happens to be the year of Pokemon's 20th Anniversary...
Pokemon Red and Green 20th Anniversary Editions
This would mean every gen of Pokemon could be played on a 3DS; Gens 2, 4, 5 with backwards compatibility and Gens 1, 3 and 6 on 3DS.
Anyway I digress, I hope that ORAS incorporate a lot of Emerald's features such as the Battle Frontier and the combined story of Groudon and Kyogre. I also want to see better rivals with May being strong and Wally going all the way and being a real threat. And some cameos from new characters would be cool as well. If possible something like the PWT from B2W2 for gym leader rematches everywhere. Mega Evolutions would be welcomed as well! I suppose the real question is will we have to wait until E3 for the first bit of news or will this month's corocoro deliver?