Old and new

When a game relies as heavily on nostalgia as these remakes, it has to grab attention in another way. Otherwise it will be difficult to end up on wish lists with a new audience. By this we mean players with little to no Pokémon experience, but also those who have dropped out after years of fanatic play. For them, these kinds of remakes could just mean a return to the franchise. That is something that developer Ilca has understood well, because Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl radiate fun. The mix of a Chibi

-esque overarching world and three-dimensional combat feels like new, while keeping the charm of old-fashioned Pokémon games.

From the moment you wake up in your bedroom, to the moment you come face to face with Cynthia in the Pokémon League, everything feels familiar. You experience the same adventure as before, only the paths you walk feel a lot less trampled. In addition, the remakes contain a number of changes that should make your agony as a Pokémon Master more bearable.

Enjoy safely

For example, the Pokétch summons wild pokémon to perform HM-bound attacks for you and can become party pokémon at any time swapped with box pokémon. A spot in the party for Bidoof therefore no longer needs to be reserved. Furthermore, the autosave function prevents unnecessary loss of progress and lost players can always fall back on the hints in the pause menu. These kinds of logical developments, which have already been added to the past games within the franchise, ensure a more pleasant gaming experience.

Even if it’s not a graphical masterpiece, the polished game world of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl catches the eye. In addition, everything runs just that little bit better, so you lose yourself even faster in the Sinnoh region. That ensures that you can keep your focus longer, so that after beating the Pokémon League you still have enough energy to enjoy the endgame. There’s still plenty to do then: you can spend hours wandering the Great Underground, looking for special places where rare Pokemon run loose, hunt legendary Pokemon and challenge all trainers again.

You experience the same adventure as before, only the paths you walk feel a lot less trampled

‘Improvements’

Not all however, changes can be considered direct improvements. For example, the automatic XP Share – originating from Pokémon Sword and Shield – significantly changes the flow of the game. Training in the grass is almost unnecessary. Especially in combination with the reduced difficulty, this addition makes for less exciting battles. When it comes to tactical combat, you depend on one or two gym leaders and the Elite Four. Also, adding a new Pokemon to your party feels very different from the original. Experience shows that in practice you only use one or two pokémon, because the level of the rest of your party grows with it. This leads to less connection with your pokémon.

That not all changes equally well working in a new Pokémon game is nothing new and also depends on the type of player. It is striking that the controls of the games are clearly developed for an outdated platform. Your character moves across a game grid, based on the Nintendo DS’s four-point push-button controls, which is at odds with the freedom that the analog stick used in these remakes should provide.

Ultimately, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are low risk and not as impressive as Pokémon SoulSilver and HeartGold. Still, except for the somewhat clumsy controls, the games do little wrong. The game world is rock solid and classic Pokémon games have never been so atmospheric and catchy.

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are available now for Nintendo Switch.