Review Pokémon: Brilliant Diamond + Shining Pearl - A Fresh Coat of Polish | Winter Spectacular 2021
Back during their initial releases, Pokémon Diamond and Pearl were huge! While definitely flawed, they provided a terrific Pokémon experience and as a result they became some of the best selling games in the franchise. With this huge following and with Pokémon's history of remakes, it made sense for the games that kicked off Pokémon's fourth generation to receive their very own updates. But the question is: do Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl live up to the many months of hype?
I’m going to be honest, 15 years later, the original Diamond and Pearl games could pass for a beautiful retro throwback indie title nowadays.
The Switch’s hardware may be aging faster and faster by the day but, hell, put enough motion blur and a heavy enough depth of field on anything and it can look pretty nice, I guess.
From the offset, the Chibi art style is cute and remains authentic to the duo (or trio) of games many fans loved from the mid 2000s. However, some fans wanted games with a similar visual style to Pokémon Sword and Shield. With the much more visually mature Pokémon: Legends Arceus on the way in 2022, I can forgive this and I hope others can too. It is slightly disappointing but I quickly looked past this because not only does the artstyle bring back nostalgic memories of the DS games, but it also looks adorable and faithful (a word you will see many times throughout this review). My only major issue with it is that it makes the strongest characters look much less menacing. Cyrus has not benefited from this and the Spear Pillar cutscene loses some of its intensity due to the Chibi style. Nonetheless it is great most of the time.
Excuse me ma’am? Are you (a grown woman) about to attack this child with fire/water/rock/etc-breathing wild animals?
Stylistic improvements benefit the majority of locations. While it is the bare minimum for a remake in terms of visual improvements, the changes are nonetheless pleasing. When it comes to the actual Pokémon and battling the visuals are also improved. The environmental range of battle locations allows the battles to feel more vibrant. They are no longer just 2D backgrounds and while not as impressive as those of Sword and Shield, they are still sufficient upgrades. Again with Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl in this respect, it is just hard not to compare to Sword and Shield because the potential was there. Trainers such as Cyrus at least look as menacing as in the original games during battle, because the Chibi style swapped out for a more realistically proportioned 3D models.
In the world, Pokémon walking with the player is a neat little touch reintroduced from Let’s Go. This has become a recurring trope across the remakes of main series games yet has never been featured in a brand-new title, which is bizarre. Nonetheless, having a team member walk alongside you in many areas is nice and adds personality to your pocket pals. There are some examples of this being poorly done, however (any snake-like Pokémon for example looks terrible following a trainer as they have ridiculous walking animations). Overall, it is a nice touch that importantly enhances the experience, but some of the animations are more distracting than anything else.
Why did I imagine the Nier:Automata desert theme when I saw this screen?
Much like the visuals, music has seen changes. Most of which are minor but few – if any – are bad changes. Pokémon Diamond, Pearl and Platinum have one of the best soundtracks in the main series and I would argue these remakes are also up there. While not as creative, the note changes here and there are lovely touches that makes the tracks feel different to their decade and a half old counterparts. The Lake theme is the most improved of all and sounds spectacular! On a side note, being able to revert to the original music when you complete the main game is a fantastic addition that allows players to return to the nostalgic days if they wish. Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver did the same thing back in 2010 and it is a welcome bit of player choice.
As you can gather, the big draw for returning fans with Brilliant and Shining are the little changes updates to the generation four games. The games’ story and progression probably change the least. This is Pokémon Diamond and Pearl given a visual polish with some gameplay tweaks. You’re fighting the same trainers and same evil team as before, with a near-identical structure. So, if you enjoyed the original games, you should enjoy these. It makes complete sense to hardly change the game’s structure. After all, there is a reason why fans called for a remake of these games for so long and that’s because the originals are good games. While the main story is very much the same, some elements have been notably tweaked to improve the overall experience. The most significant of these is the Grand Underground.
This list of verbs is also my list for “best ways to be asked to leave a party”.
In Pokémon Diamond, Pearl and Platinum, the Grand Underground could honestly be quite wearisome. You would get the Explorer Kit after earning the second Gym Badge. From there, you would use the Grand Underground to collect useful items and build a base. The problem is, the best items took ages to get and the base building is pretty bland. Plus, the secret bases in Pokémon Emerald were better. Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl add fun twists to make the Grand Underground much better… at least for a few hours.
Rather than just collecting items, you can catch rare Pokémon now thanks to the statues you find! The Pokémon which were introduced in the Platinum Pokédex (but were omitted from Diamond and Pearl’s) are available here. With many of these critters being great team members, it really feels like you have to earn them. While some will say it's frustrating, it adds reward for hard work and encourages you to use the feature. While I am not pleased with the Pokémon selection on the surface (we’ll get to that), this is an interesting way to add team members and find useful items for your journey. It gets boring after a while but diving in for 30 minutes at a time is good! Contests receive the same treatment on a smaller scale but unfortunately, are not particularly interesting once again. But they are okay to play a couple of times.
Now, about the Pokémon selection. This may be my biggest issue with Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. Being faithful to a classic game is smart for a remake, but you must make changes that make sense; this remake is too faithful. Pokémon Platinum significantly improved upon the formula created in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. So – with that in mind – you would think carrying over more features from Platinum would be the smart way to update these games. In relation to the Pokémon available, Diamond and Pearl’s Pokédex had just 151 Pokémon, compared to the 210 in Platinum. To be fair, the underground allows you to catch the majority of the 59 other Pokémon. But my main problem is that A.I. trainers have the same teams from the original Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. This leads to way less variety in combat and generally an easier game.
“What is you competitive comp look like?”
”Well I have this Charizard, the Squirtle and a 9mm.”
One of Pokémon Platinum’s best upgrades was the teams of A.I. trainers. Teams were more varied and challenging in Platinum, which is one of the main reasons why people cherish that game so much. So, why weren’t gym leaders and the Elite Four at the very least given their Platinum teams? With the lack of Fire, Ice and Electric Pokémon in the Diamond and Pearl Pokédex, those respective specialist trainers are much weaker. Since the player can catch those Platinum Pokémon, why can’t specialist trainers not do the same? What I also found annoying is some Pokémon evolutions are still locked behind the post game, despite Platinum being praised for the variety of teams available. Getting a Gliscor for example is impossible before you complete the main game. It really does feel like a step backwards, to not add items that allow for Pokémon evolutions.
While the Grand Underground partially fixes the range of Pokémon in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, other changes have massively improved the gameplay. HM’s (Hidden Machines) have been altered to improve the pace and encourage team variety. In older Pokémon games, you would restrict your team’s move sets with often bad HM’s. Now, all you must do is defeat the gym and you can use the HM’s, regardless of your team. Diamond, Pearl and Platinum have eight HM’s which is too many to have on one team, so this change is a big step forward. What I also appreciate is the Pokétch and how HM’s are visible there. With the transition from two screens to just one, developer ILCA had to adapt the game to the Nintendo Switch. While it is a bit slower to use, it is adapted quite well and has all the original features that make it so useful on your journey.
There are other little changes that improve the experience. Being able to change the clothing your avatar wears adds some individuality. While the costume range is not particularly expansive, it does the job effectively enough. A lot of TM’s (Technical Machines) are available more than once but are not infinite, giving the player enough necessary limitations to create difficulty. Ramanas Park is a great, new location which allows for the capture of legendary Pokémon. Speaking of which, the variety of legendary Pokémon available is delightful and means that catching the 493 Pokémon is possible.
Let’s be honest. Being gifted cheekbones like that by your parents means you were never going to grow up to be a good guy…
One of the most impactful changes – and one that is controversial – is the use of the EXP Share. In Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, you cannot turn the item off. This is a massive problem because unless you use a variety of Pokémon, your team will become over-levelled for Gym Leaders no matter what. Fortunately, I like to use a big team when playing through this game, but if you want to use a set team of six this is irritating. Just having the option to turn this off would vastly improve the feature, but it sticks out as a massive problem.
Not sure if I am a huge fan of this new SteamWorld game.
So, you’ve soaked everything in from claiming your starter to beating the Pokémon League Champion. But what is there to do after you’ve seen everything above? Well, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl have plenty to do after you beat the main game. Whether it is catching them all or visiting new areas, you will not bore quickly. All of the post-game from Diamond and Pearl is here, but being able to catch a wider variety of Pokémon, as well as visiting Ramanas Park and battling Shadow Giratina adds to what was already a decent post game. Disregarding these additions, you are still able to discover new areas and participate in the Battle Tower among other things.
Honestly, the game is worth the asking price to just to get to see this in HD.
In summary, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are somewhat underwhelming remakes. The musical changes and graphical improvements are much appreciated whilst the Grand Underground is better than ever! Meanwhile the post-game is also pretty enjoyable and offers a good amount of content, with the quality-of-life improvements also boosting the experience. However, these games are far too faithful to Diamond and Pearl and not enough to Platinum, with the game being pulled down by Diamond and Pearl teams. A number of glitches as well as an irritating EXP share prevents these remakes from being as solid as they had the potential to be. Nonetheless it is an enjoyable venture back to Sinnoh.
