A couple weeks ago, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company teamed up to release a special demo of their upcoming set of games, Pokémon Omega Ruby and Pokémon Alpha Sapphire. Nothing like this has ever been done in the Pokémon series before, so like all new things that happen in the gaming world, the Internet is trying desperately to decide if they love the idea or hate it.
It’s easy to see why this little piece of software may be ruffling a few Pidgey feathers here and there. First of all, it isn’t freely available on the Nintendo eShop: you have to be issued a code to download it. I really feel bad for the people that didn’t get a code and wanted one, but by distributing them in this way the demo feels more special and exclusive, and definitely has a lot of people chatting about the game that otherwise might not have. Secondly, The game isn’t really a demo in the traditional sense of the word.
Players are given control over a Pokémon trainer named Orlando and you are given the opportunity to team up with Steven on a series of missions spread out through random, confined areas of Hoenn. These missions are pretty simple and really don’t do much to show you what’s going to be new and exciting in the upcoming Omega and Ruby games. Instead, the missions exist to whet your appetite for the full game that is releasing on November 21st and to grant you some bonuses to transfer to the full game.
You receive the following items or Pokémon based on how many times you adventure with Steven:
Mega Glalie 1 Adventure
PokéBall Set 3 Adventures
Heal Ball Set 5 Adventures
Heart Scale Set 10 Adventures
Nugget Complete Strange Secret Mission (there are a couple of secret missions that have a
randomized chance of appearing as you work you way through the demo).
If you want to call it a demo or not, or even if you’re mad about how the distribution of the demo is being handled, it is hard to deny that getting some free stuff to transfer to your game in a couple weeks is pretty cool! If you didn’t get a code for the demo and are still dying for one, leave us a note in the comments telling us what your favorite type (Water, Fire, Rock, etc) of Pokémon is your favorite and why. We’ll pick two of our favorite responses and send a code out by 11:00 PM Central time on Friday, November 7th. Be sure to sign in to the commenting system and include an email address in your profile, or include your Twitter handle so we can contact you privately for code distribution.
