The Generation 3 games were truly a big jump forward for the Pokemon franchise. While the first two generations looked visually similar, the Game Boy Advance brought with it plenty of graphical improvements with a much more diverse color palette, sprite work, etc. Certain core aspects of Pokemon were also introduced in this generation, such as Abilities and Natures. What most fans really were looking forward to, however, was taking on a whole new Gym challenge in the brand new Hoenn region.

The first gym is rather far in Hoenn, only in the third town/city you visit. The player actually visits another gym first, in Petalburg City, where the player's dad (we have one?) is the gym leader. He will only challenge the player later in the game, so it isn't until we reach Rustboro City that we can actually challenge Roxanne, the rock type Gym Leader.

Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Alpha Sapphire, Omega Ruby

As per usual with early gym leaders, we don't meet Roxanne at all prior to entering the gym. She's a teacher at the trainer school and an expert in Rock type Pokemon, as well as fossils. In battle, Roxanne has just two Pokemon: the well known Geodude and a Nosepass, a new rock type from the Hoenn region. Geodude is as easy to take out as ever with a grass or water move, of which there are plenty by this point in the game. Nosepass is a bit tougher to deal with, as it is really bulky for this point and can trap your Pokemon with the move Block. It doesn't deal a ton of damage though, so you'll be alright.

In Ruby and Sapphire, this is where her involvement with the game and story ends. In Emerald, she will eventually call the player to give them her number. As the player progresses through the story, Roxanne will periodically be available for a rematch, gradually increasing the strength of her team by adding new Pokemon and evolving them. By the end, she will use a team of Kabutops, Omastar, Aerodactyl, Golem, Steelix, and Nosepass. It's unclear why all her Pokemon are old Pokemon instead of adding some of the new ones.

Pokemon Black 2, White 2

Roxanne returns alongside all her fellow Hoenn Gym Leaders for the Pokemon World Tournament. She will be available for battle in the Hoenn Leaders and Type Experts challenges. In these fights she does finally get the opportunity to show of the plenty of new Rock types that were added in the Hoenn Pokedex. She uses the Hoenn Fossil Pokemon, Armaldo and Cradily, alongside the likes of Relicanth and Aggron. Her Nosepass is now also in its evolved form Probopass, which was added in Gen 4.

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Roxanne is a fine first Gym Leader. She doesn't have a whole lot to do in the story of the game, but she at least has some background beyond being a gym leader. It's a classic trope to have the Rock expert be interested in minerals and fossils, but she was pretty much the first of this archetype. In fact Roxanne can actually be seen in the Fossil Maniac's cave during the post-game in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, trying to get a Fossil off the guy in exchange for a badge (illegal?). She also joins Steven Stone, the Champion of Hoenn, in missions to find rare rocks and fossils. I'm glad she has a friend who shares her weird passion. I do like that they show or talk about some of her past times, it adds some depth to her character.