Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire

Pokémon Ruby Pokémon Sapphire
North American box art for Pokémon Ruby, depicting the legendary Pokémon Groudon. The box art for Pokémon Sapphire Version depicts the legendary Pokémon Kyogre (not pictured).
Developer(s)	Game Freak
Publisher(s)	The Pokémon Company
Distributor(s)	Nintendo
Director(s)	Junichi Masuda
Producer(s)	Hiroyuki Jinnai Takehiro Izushi Hiroaki Tsuru
Artist(s)	Ken Sugimori
Writer(s)	Toshinobu Matsumiya Akihito Tomisawa
Composer(s)	Go Ichinose Morikazu Aoki Junichi Masuda
Series	Pokémon
Platform(s)	Game Boy Advance
Release date(s)	JP: November 21, 2002 NA: March 19, 2003 AU: April 3, 2003 EU: July 25, 2003
Genre(s)	Role-playing video game
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Pokémon Ruby Version and Sapphire Version (ポケットモンスタールビー・サファイア, Poketto Monsutā Rubī & Safaia^?, "Pocket Monsters: Ruby & Sapphire") are the third installments of the Pokémon series of role-playing video games, developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. The games were first released in Japan in late 2002 and internationally in 2003. Pokémon Emerald, a special edition version, was released two years later in each region. These three games (Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald) are part of the third generation of the Pokémon video game series, also known as the "advanced generation". Remakes of the two games, titled Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, were released for the Nintendo 3DS worldwide on November 21, 2014, exactly twelve years to the date of the original Ruby and Sapphire release date, with the exception of Europe, where it was released on November 28, 2014.

The gameplay is mostly unchanged from the previous games; the player controls the main character from an overhead perspective, and the controls are largely the same as those of previous games. As with previous games, the main objectives are to catch all of the Pokémon in the games and defeat the Elite Four (a group of Pokémon trainers); also like their predecessors, the games' main subplot involves the main character defeating a criminal organization that attempts to take over the region. New features, such as double battles and Pokémon abilities along with 135 new Pokémon, have been added. As the Game Boy Advance is more powerful than its predecessors, four players may be connected at a time instead of the previous limit of two. Additionally, the games can be connected to an e-Reader or other advanced generation Pokémon games.