REVIEW: Is Pokemon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl worth it?

Pokémon can be summed up in a simple sentence: capture monsters, train them, earn badges, defeat the villains of the time and become the great champion. This premise holds true for almost every mainline game, except the seventh generation where they stuck those pathetic challenges, and it always worked pretty well. From very early on, the GameFreak, the game's producer, got us used to remake old versions for the current generation of Pokémon, either out of necessity or even to make extra money.

At the time of the release of the fourth generation of games, where Diamond e Pearl meet, everyone was practically waiting for an update. This worsened after switching consoles, as the Nintendo 3DS was much more powerful than the Nintendo DS. With the advent of the Nintendo Switch release, fans knew their announcement was close, and it finally happened. However, instead of GameFreak itself taking care of the project, they passed the ball to ILCA, thus being born Pokémon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl.

Or Sinnoh Continent

One of the main features of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl is that it is extremely faithful to the source material. Virtually everything found in Nintendo DS titles can be found here. Hidden items, shortcuts, characters, everything, and to be honest, it was really good.

The graphic chosen to model the characters was the same as the original, moving away from the art used in Pokemon Sword/Shield, and particularly I prefer it that way. Better to work with something they already know how to do than to try to innovate and fail immensely. At the time of the announcement, many turned up their noses at this choice, but give it a chance, because it was really good.

Now let's talk a little about Sinnoh. This continent is one of the most beautiful and fun in the franchise to date. There are places with forest, with ice, a huge bike path, diverse cities, caves and many more to explore. The work that ILCA has done in Sinnoh is top notch, and sometimes it makes you want to forget about the main quest and zigzag around exploring. Mainly your basement.

At the time of the original release I was very involved in competitive tournaments, so exploring underground was something I let go. However, now I was able to take some time and see what was out there. And actually, there are many things.

We can wander around looking for dig sites. Each location can take a certain amount of hits before it collapses, and there are two tools available: the Pickaxe and a sledgehammer. Each one does some damage, and we can excavate pieces of different sizes and colors, fossils, and statues. But does not stop there. When we finish checking all the dig points, we need to enter one of the many available rooms so that they can be reactivated, but the rooms are quite special too.

Each room is themed, so to speak, and contains some specific types of Pokémon. For example, a room with volcano lava will have Pokémon of the type fire, and we can see them on the map, unlike the earth world. Coming back with the battles happening in random encounters was a mistake in my opinion, but having the chance to meet them underground was like a consolation, so to speak.

Pikachu I choose you!

Now let's talk about the central heart of all games in the Pokémon franchise: its combat. And yes, it is easy. If you've played any title before, you'll find it extremely easy to navigate the game. This is mainly due to the EXP. share (“experience sharer”, in literal translation), which is always active. As the name says, it separates amounts of points for all Pokémon, active in battle or not. That is, your team will always have high levels.

Also, after the first gym, when talking to an elderly couple, and in case you played Pokemon Sword/Shield e Let's Go Eevee / Pikachu, you will receive as a gift nothing more and nothing less than Mew e Jirachi. Two legendary Pokémon that accept multiple hits and can run over everything in front of them.

Other than that, the combat is extremely fun and magnificent. Using moves full of special effects are a real visual dazzle. Several times I stopped to admire the destruction it wreaked on harmless Pokémon. In addition, during fights, the graphics are similar to those seen in Pokémon Sword/Shield, and that for me was a great success.

A personal criticism is the choice of not using the "voices" of the Pokémon that we hear in the anime until today. only the Pikachu getting the voice of your voice actress is extremely unfair. In the past, we could say that there was hardware limitation, but now, on Nintendo Switch, that excuse has fallen apart. Still, I know that will never change, unfortunately.

Poketch and TMs

The meme won. But calm down, I'll explain: at the time of the fourth generation almost all players had a bidooff who was the one who learned the hms (Hidden Machine). These HMs were blows used to access some parts of the world, such as swimming in a river, climbing a hill, among others. Now this is all installed in the poketch, a watch given to the player at a certain point in the adventure.

And now, when using one of the HMs, a message appears saying that a wild Bidoof appeared out of nowhere and performed the requested function. great. On the other hand, they make a big mistake in Etc (Technical Machines). In previous games, all we had to do was find one of the TMs and we could use them as many times as we wanted. However, just like the original game, now the TMs are unitary, that is, rare to be found. So you need to be very careful and think carefully before spending your hard-earned item.

the sound of battle

To be extremely honest, I don't like the work of Junichi Masuda as game director for the main Pokémon franchise, however, I know how to recognize the excellent work done with the soundtrack in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl. The songs are even better and more epic, which has brought an extra dose of nostalgia and freshness.

The songs fit extremely well with every moment of the story, whether it's a battle against a wanderer found on the map, a dispute with the rival, or the grand final contest against the boss of the Team Galactic. There's not much to say, just enjoy.

Conclusion

This remake of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl. produced by ILCA. is absolutely far from perfect. However, just seeing the size of the care and affection with the original work, we can already be satisfied. Combat is fun, despite being easy, and exploring the world, both above and underground, is extremely fun. The songs are wonderful and extremely well done. You can spend many, many hours strolling around Sinnoh. And now that we have this remake, we can only wait, who knows, for a new version of Black / White, the best in the franchise for me.

See also:

To stay on top of the game world and follow other analyses, like this one by The matrix awakens, keep an eye out here at showmetech.