For what is essentially a reboot it was pretty solid. Has some scuffed parts like the borderline experimental endgame map design and RS having borderline Gen 1 levels of nothing to do after the credits, and I think the overworld has never looked worse outside of maybe Gen 6 (which is a shame because it got remade then, I hope Project Seed's art style isn't complete ass so I get to see a good looking Hoenn), but given some other problems Pokemon games have had it's reasonable in comparison and Emerald adds enough good stuff that I can forget most of the negatives. The map design has never been better, both on the macro and micro scales, the closest we've gotten since is Gen 5 and there's still a pretty huge gulf between the two. It's not my personal favorite but given my personal favorite is essentially a nostalgia pick there was no way it was winning out anyway.
