Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are the old school Pokémon games we’ve been missing

In late 2006, I took a train from Tokyo to some stations to pick up a copy of Pokémon Pearl on a whim, which had been released in Japan earlier that day. Over the next several months, I spent hundreds of hours in the Sinnoh region, where I immersed myself deeply in the nascent online community. Needless to say, it has held a special place in my heart ever since – the first generation to play entirely in Japanese, and one that has a way of transporting me to one of my favorite moments in my life.

In the years since, Pokémon Diamond and Pearl have received relatively little attention, much to my chagrin. Developer Game Freak didn’t even see fit to include Diamond and Pearl beginners in Pokémon Legends: Arceus, despite the fact that their open-world Pokémon adventure (mostly) takes place in an older version of the Sinnoh region. Gen 4’s. Most of the love for Pokémon games of the past few days is generally reserved for players like Black and White, with little regard for the surprising atmosphere of Diamond and Pearl and the myriad improvements it made to Ruby and Sapphire.

Come to think of it, the Pokémon Diamond and Pearl generation was largely based on refinement. It brought back several features that had been removed in Ruby and Sapphire, redefined the balance of competitive play by dividing physical and special attacks, and introduced several much-needed evolutions for Pokémon such as Roselia and Piloswine. Most importantly, it introduced true online gaming, paving the way for the community to grow into what it is today. But saying that a game refined the existing formula isn’t a terribly exciting legacy, which is perhaps the biggest reason Gen 4 ended up getting lost in the mix of history.

Still, that didn’t stop the community from demanding remakes of the Diamond and Pearl, if only because they were next in line after 2014’s Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. But when they were finally announced earlier this year, the community was felt a little puzzled. Compared to the gorgeous fully updated Gen 3 remakes, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl seemed to be on the losing side of things. My initial reaction was to be irritated. Gen 4 gets the short end of the stick one more time. Typical.

Now I’m a bit glad Game Freak took the remakes in this direction. Over the course of a 40-minute hands-off demonstration, I found myself once again transported to the region that remains my sentimental favorite. The remakes strive to preserve the look and feel of the originals, and until I saw Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl in action, I didn’t realize how much I missed it. Going back to the aerial camera angle is refreshing, somehow taking me back to the Red and Blue days on the Game Boy. Even the distinctly tiny soundtrack isn’t that different from how it was on the Nintendo DS. If I had only kept the 2D sprites, it would be perfect.

It’s wildly different from the more recent Pokémon Sword and Shield, which tries to mix somewhat modern graphics with online social elements like Wild Areas and raids. By comparison, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are a throwback – a nostalgia trip. It even brings back the old Union Room, a kind of visual lobby system introduced in the days of Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen in 2004. It’s really interesting to compare them to see how the series has progressed in recent years, particularly in terms of how it has leaned towards elements similar to those of an MMO, such as raids. Being the first in the series to support online play via wi-fi, Pokémon Diamond and Pearl certainly had their share of the early social elements online, but the balance of the game still favored content that could be enjoyed without a license. Internet connection.

A window to a different era

Being remakes, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are, of course, loaded with various bizarre artifacts from the Nintendo DS era. Poffins can be created using the touch screen. The Pokétch, a game device that previously lived on the second screen of the DS, will now occupy the upper corner of the Switch screen if you wish, allowing you to easily check your Pokémon’s friendship or search for items. This was an era where the DS touchscreen was still a fresh and novel concept, and many of the remake’s features date back to that period in one way or another, from the screen-tapping rhythm game to the Super. Answers up to the ability to put stickers on Pokéballs. Even the random badge polishing mechanic is back.

Of course, they are not one-to-one remakes of the original games. Among other additions, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl will feature the most robust version of Exp. Share, which means that XP will be distributed throughout the group (which for some reason cannot be disabled). It will also be possible to customize the appearance of your character thanks to a new store in Veilstone City that sells unique outfits, with Pokémon capable of following you around the world map. In particular, hidden machines [HMs] It will return in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, but it will be handled slightly differently than before. Instead of teaching a monster a move that is later irritating to kill, a “Wild Pokémon” will appear to perform the action. It’s a setting that manages to preserve the spirit of the original system while eliminating much of the hassle.

But probably the biggest change is the Great Underground: a series of tunnels where you mine items and build secret bases. In addition to supporting online play, it will feature biomes full of special Pokémon on screen that are influenced by statues that you place in your base. It’s here that Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl come closest to matching current-gen games, but their approach is still firmly grounded in the originals.

Most of the improvements it makes are welcome, if only because Pokémon Diamond and Pearl are probably the least enjoyable generation to learn and play in the modern age. I even admit that the battle system was painfully slow in the past. The memory of seeing a monster’s health bar. sloppily drain to zero after a critical hit still burns in my brain even after all these years.

By removing some of its more abrasive elements, the remakes should be able to bring some of the region’s strengths to the fore. In particular, I hope they manage to capture his mood – the vaguely menacing title screen, the gym battle music. There was an unsettling vibe to these games that still stands out in my mind to this day.

One way or another, it will be a relief to go back to a simpler period in Pokémon history: an era without Gigantamax forms and Mega Evolutions, and with a Pokedex that is actually almost manageable. I’m excited to stomp through the snow mounds around Snowpoint City one more time; travel to the pillars of the spear and fight Cynthia, who after all is still the best champion in my opinion very biased.

Above all, however, I will be glad to have Chimchar by my side again after all these years. Welcome back, friend. It has been too long.

Kat Bailey is a senior news editor at IGN. His natural enemy is Blaziken, who gets too much attention compared to Infernape.