Become a Gym Leader (of sorts) in Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire

Pokemon fans woke to up to a pleasant surprise this morning, as the news broke that a beloved and (not so) top secret Ruby and Sapphire feature would be returning in their respective 3DS remakes.

According to an official Pokemon Company press release, players will be able to create their very own Secret Base deep underground and their fellow trainers will be able to pop in to say hi or even challenge them to a battle.

As players of the original Ruby and Sapphire know, a Secret Base can easily become a trainer's home away from, since it can be fully decorated and furnished to be meet their specific taste. Or better yet, they can turn the base into their own personal Pokemon Gym...of sorts. Trainers can fill their personally crafted battle space with mazes and traps to trip up their house guests, before squaring off in Pokemon battles shaped under their own rules!

But of course with Omega and Alpha being remakes, some improvements have been made to the Secret Base's secret formula, mostly in the way bases are shared with other players.

Trainers will be able to share their bases with other players via the Streetpass or if they need a more convenient method to invite their friends over for some super secret fun, they can send an invitation through a QR Code. But the fun doesn't end there. When visiting a Secret Base, players can mingle with other players who happen to be visiting the base at the same time and invite them over to their base through the new Secret Pals system.

Even if you're not the socializing type, you'll find having a lot of Secret Pals to be quite useful because each Pal has or her own special skill, which could be gifting new decorations for your base, allowing you to hatch Pokemon eggs faster, or to even raise the experience of a chosen Pokemon by one level!

This new spin on Secret Bases also brings with it a game of Capture the Flag...well, kinda. Flags are hidden in each base, and if you snatch one and bring it home to your base, you can use it to improve upon the special skills of your Secret Pals.