Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire

Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire Versions are the main third-generation Pokémon games. Featuring a new batch of Pokémon, abilities, new stat mechanics, and a LOT of water.

Debug Version
A German-language debug build of Pokémon Ruby, containing some extensive debugging and testing features, has been released by drx in October 2011.

Prototype Pokédex Order
While it's not in the same disarray as that of Pokémon Red and Blue, the new Pokémon are nonetheless in a markedly different internal order, compared to the ingame listing. Most notably, Ralts, Kirlia, and Gardevoir apparently weren't so early-game at one point; they're bunched up with the Bagon and Beldum lines at the end. Furthermore, Chimecho appears to have been a late addition- it's beyond all of the other Hoenn Pokémon, even Deoxys. There are 25 blank, formatted spots between Celebi and Treecko, too. By default, they all share the cries of Unown in battle.

No Ability
No Ability, presumably an error handler, is used when the game manages a Pokémon with an ability of identifier. The term is never used in normal gameplay within the final game, however, because all Pokémon were given abilities.

Cacophony
Cacophony is an ability identical to Soundproof, which is assigned to no Pokémon in the final game. It was presumably meant to be the ability for the Pokémon Whismur, Loudred, and Exploud, given their penchant for noise-based attacks. However, despite there being multiple redundant abilities for different Pokémon families, Cacophony was replaced with Soundproof, and the Cacophony ability does not exist in any Generation IV or V games.

Pokémon Festa 2002
Map bank 27 contains two maps that were used in a demo version of the games, playable at the Pokémon Festa 2002 event in Japan. The first map is a prototype version of the northern part of Route 104, in the final version connecting Rustboro City and Petalburg Woods. The actual map data of this map has been removed from the retail version and only its event data remains. The map's dimensions in its header were also changed to 1 by 1, so its original size can only be assumed. The second map in this map bank is a prototype version of the Pretty Petal Flower Shop. Unlike the prototype Route 104, the Flower Shop map still has all its data. The trainers on the prototype Route 104 still have text associated with them, although it may have been deleted for some trainers as some were used in the final.

Footage from Pokémon Festa 2002, showing how those maps looked in-game.

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Lilycove Dock Storage Room
Map 13.11 contains an empty map which has only one warp. This leads to map 13.10 - Lilycove Harbor.

Slateport City


Warp 09 is an unused warp at X=41 Y=08 (out-of-bounds). The warp leads to 9.9.2, an unused warp in the Slateport City Harbour.

Slateport City Harbour


There are two unused warps located at X=19 Y=16 and X=20 Y=16 (out-of-bounds). Both lead to 9.0.1, an unused warp in Slateport City.

Lilycove City Harbour


There are two unused warps located at X=19 Y=16 and X=20 Y=16 (out-of-bounds). Both lead to 13.11.1, an unused warp in Lilycove City. Interestingly, the warp was removed in Pokémon Emerald.

Unused Trainers and Events
The text for Lady Cindy, a trainer who, in the final version of the game, is actually found on Route 104.

Text for Lady Brianna. She isn't used anywhere else in the game.

Unused Trainer Data
Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire contains many unused trainer data.

Unused Tileset
There is an unused Tileset with ID 38. It seems to be an early version of the Mossdeep City Gym tileset



Unused Weather
Weather effect ID 04 appears to show a few snowflakes falling.



Unused Decorations
The Secret Base decorations that appear for purchase in Emerald's Battle Frontier existed within Ruby and Sapphire's game engine prior to Emerald's release. These are:

Cushions:


 * Kiss Cushion

Poké Dolls:

Posters:


 * Kiss Poster

Japanese Version Exclusive Dolls
Regirock, Regice, and Registeel Poké Dolls exist within the game coding but they are more or less unobtainable outside Japan, because they were only distributed via a Japanese version exclusive "Regi-Dolls Decoration set" e-Reader card.

Unused overworld sprite
This sprite (in its stretched format) exists in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. It's unused, but actually a revamp of a sprite from the first game developed by Game Freak: Mendel Palace.

Unused Aqua Grunt Sprite
Trainer Sprite 69 shows an early version of the male aqua grunt sprite.



Pokémon AGB testing dialogue
Three messages exist within the coding of Ruby and Sapphire but remain unused. Presumably, by their context, these were used to test whether the game could print text to the screen in an early prototype version of the game.

Note that these messages refer to "POKéMON AGB", rather than Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. "POKéMON AGB" was the tentative name for both games before the Game Boy Advance was officially revealed. AGB stands for Advanced Game Boy.

Time Capsule Leftover Text
At offset, a message referencing the Time Capsule can be found. The Time Capsule in Pokémon Gold and Silver allowed you trade Pokémon from the previous gen. This gen is infamously known to not have this feature.

Pokédex Pokémon sprite placeholder
In the hex slots between Celebi and Treecko (252-276) there exists placeholder data. Generally, this data is inaccessible by normal means. However, with the use of a Gameshark or similar device, it is possible to bring this placeholder data up in a wild Pokémon Battle as it is coded as an actual Pokémon in the game to prevent crashing when the data is force loaded. A similar method was employed with the infamous Glitch Pokémon Missingno. from Generation 1 games, which is why it existed in the first place. This odd placeholder Pokémon appears as a pair of pixelated floating white question marks and goes by simply "?".

This very placeholder is seen in some early screenshots of Ruby and Sapphire found in some magazines in the Pokédex and was originally used to represent a Pokémon the player hadn't seen yet in the Pokédex. It was eventually replaced by the question mark in a circle picture in the final. This version is coded as an actual Pokémon as well and is found in slots and everything after  (the Egg's data).

Unused Music
Ruby and Sapphire has some unused music, mostly from the previous generation (Gold, Silver, and Crystal). Since they occupy the first slots before new music, they were probably used during testing before new music was made. However, there are exceptions. The Littleroot Town Test Theme with the weird loop is located at, before any other music in the game. --the Team Rocket theme--is located after all other music.

Struggle oddity
When the move Struggle is used in a contest, it is considered a Cool move. However, there is no possible way to use Struggle in a contest, since it is only used when you run out of PP for all moves (impossible in a contest).

Unused and Semi-Unused Ribbons
These names were found in a text dump of Ruby. Many of these seem to be ribbons that were intended to be awarded at tournaments; however it is not known if they were ever awarded. Others may be older names for existing ribbons. Interestingly, text for them also exists in Generation IV, most likely for the sake of compatibility (or in the case of unused ones, to keep errors from occurring). Interestingly, a few ribbons refer to towers that don't seem to exist, such as Red Tower.

Build Dates
The following dates are found in both versions of the game.

Trainer Ledge/Wall Glitch
In earlier versions of Ruby and Sapphire, such as the English version, there are trainers in Route 118, Route 121, and the Abandoned Ship (Aroma Lady Rose, Gentleman Walter, and Tuber Charlie, respectively) which can walk through ledges/walls if they spot the player. This glitch was fixed in later versions of Ruby and Sapphire, such as the Spanish version, as well as all versions of Emerald.

Victory Road
In B1F of Victory Road, there is a ledge near a certain staircase in the Japanese and English versions. Here, if the player jumps the ledge to the left, he/she must go through a long path through B1F and B2F to be able to go back to the right of the ledge. In non-English European versions, the ledge was shortened by one tile, making this path accessible in both directions. The ledge was removed in Pokémon Emerald entirely.

Trainer Sprites
Certain trainer sprites in Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald were changed for International versions. For example, Hex Maniacs were changed to have smaller eyes with pupils in their battle pose, and the female Psychics have their arms stretched outwards (possibly because players might confuse the hands around their chest due to the handheld screen's resolution).