Pokémon Brilliant Diamond - Nintendo Switch

Id actually like to give this a 4.5/5 star review - This is a solid remake of the Pokemon Diamond/Pearl games originally for Nintendo DS. A majority of things are very similar to the original games, with the addition of some great quality of life improvements. For example, a dedicated HM Pokemon is no longer needed, as you can use these moves in the field as soon as you beat the appropriate gym by calling a wild Pokemon to use the move. You automatically run by pressing the L stick, and walk by using the D pad (instead of having to use the running shoes by pressing B). More modern Pokemon elements - Fairy-types, updated movesets for Pokemon, TM range expanded from 50 to 100 machines, etc. - have also been incorporated. The Grand Underground is a new-ish addition that Im really enjoying. Previously, you could really only mine for fossils and treasures and create a secret base in the underground. Now, in addition to hunting for fossils and items, there are special caverns to explore that hold Pokemon you can catch or train against - most of these are from the Sinnoh Pokedex, but some are not, and you can still use these Pokemon before completing the game and getting the National Pokedex. These are similar to patches of grass in Sword/Shield, where Pokemon will chase you around to battle and you have to either avoid them or get caught up in a fight. Its very fun to go exploring down there, and I could (and have) spend hours just finding new caverns/digging up treasure. To be honest, the only thing I really dont like is that you cant seem to turn off the EXP. Share. Im at four badges right now and already over-levelled, so I can imagine how itll be at the end of the game. I know this has been a mechanic for several games now, but its one I really dislike, and I much preferred it when the EXP. Share was an actual item I could turn on or off. Overall, though, a very good game. Im having a lot of fun going back to Sinnoh.

I still really dislike the overworld models for the trainers, and I really wish they wouldve taken advantage of the additions brought to gen4 by Platinum, but overall, its a fun way to revisit sinnoh, and having the option to let your Pokémon walk with you is so fun. I have many nitpicks, but I dont regret buying it

So there are a lot of people that are upset by this game, and I understand its not exactly like all the other remakes. But this is the by far best remake to me. New content is pretty sparse. But if youre going into this looking to play Pokemon Diamond and Pearl as a veteran player, or a new player for the first time, this game is fantastic. The biggest thing to get used to is the art style. This is as close as they could get to the DS style without making it looks like its the DS game on Switch. A lot of people really dislike the Chibi art style, and I was one of those people on reveal. However, with my 150 hours of playtime currently, the art style continues to grow on me more and more. Battle scenes and Pokemon animations are what you would expect. I would say these are higher quality MOSTLY than Sword and Shield, but its the next game, so youd expect theyd improve. There are a few of them that are kind of bland/boring(The Team Galatic grunt battles for instance) but then you see the ones against the Galactic Commanders and the battle scene grows on you. Galactic Battles are...just kind of a dark background with their G on the ground, and the commanders are that same setup but then you see planets up in the background changing based on which commander youre fighting, which is fantastic. Pokemon Variety was one of the weakest parts of the original Diamond and Pearl, and with the inclusion of the underground, you can find WAY more pokemon than originally available. You can even find Pokemon that werent available in the wild this early until Platinum. You can dig up statues, and use those statues in the underground to influence Pokemon type encounter rates and everything! Something people were worried about was an always on EXP Share. This works exactly like the one in Sword/Shield does. Every pokemon on your team gets EXP when you catch or kill a pokemon. However, in my experience with Sword and Shield, it would leave you horrendously overleveled. In these games, it doesnt. I tend to be the type that will skip trainers. I can say that with my playstyle, it was very easy to fall behind in levels. I regularly would end up 2-3 levels down on gyms because of this. So the EXP Share doesnt break the game. Its great. There is also an affection system, which imo REALLY breaks the game. Heres what it can do. At 1hp or max hp, if a move hits you and could kill you, theres a chance your pokemon shrugs it off, surviving at 1hp So you wouldnt be sad. It ALSO has a chance to shrug off status effects. So if someone say burned your Lopunny, theres a chance that burn just goes away. The Pokemon wills it gone. Or, you could get super lucky with a crit. They land a crit so youll praise them for it (there is no mic on the switch. Its just text.) and these things kill some battles. I won my 2nd Maylene battle because of this. My levels were a bit off, but 3 crits and shrugging off paralysis twice won me the fight. It can make some fights a non factor. I wouldve preferred being able to turn this off, personally, but I can see why some people would like to have this. The biggest disappointment for me was follow Pokemon. You can only unlock this AFTER you get to Hearthome city...but man its disappointing. Most pokemon(Every pokemon Ive tried) can NOT keep up with you if you run. They will fall behind and get a pokeball enter and exit sound to pop up behind you. Ive seen comments from a few people that stuff like Lucario or other bipedal Pokemon can keep up, but currently Ive yet to see any. There are mods abound to fix it though, which leads to... If you have a homebrew Switch, these games get even better because theres already a pretty large modding community around them. Model swaps, minor game changes, and some audio changes are pretty common, but theres even groups working to fix some of the issues people had with the game. Increasing it to 60FPS, removing the DOF effect, fixing follow pokemon...lots of cool stuff. Even increasing the pokemon variety, adding some gifts, making gym leaders harder...theyve got it all! Thats about everything about these games. I would recommend it 100% of youre a fan of Pokemon, or even as a decent starting point! These games are supposed to get Pokemon Home support in 2022, so thatll be a lot of fun when its here. If youre looking for competitive online, Pokemon Sword and Shield is the official competitive stuff, but there is still battling online with people in these!