Childlike Wonder Relived Through Pokémon Brilliant Diamond

My Reactions

If you are one of those kids who loves Pokémon and grew up with a Nintendo DS, you most likely have played one of those Gen. 4 classics, Diamond, Pearl, or Platinum. As one of those people myself, Pokémon Diamond was my first introduction to the wide and wonderful world of Pokémon. I recently found my old game cartridge and discovered that over the years, I have put in over 330 hours in my save state.

I relived child-like joy whenever the Brilliant Diamond & Shinning Pearl remakes were announced. My friends and I knew it was only a matter of time if you followed the timeline that Game Freak had done over the years.

I wasn’t able to get a copy of Brilliant Diamond until Christmas, leaving me having to avoid too many spoilers on how the remakes looked for around a month. After being able to play the game, I can honestly say that it was amazing to relive my first DS game again. The art style was something that took a minute to get used to, but throughout my play-through, I learned to love it. The environments looked incredible and the effects in the overworld as well as in the battle scenes were a well-appreciated touch.

My Thoughts

These remakes were at first, met with skepticism due to the change in the art style. The overworld sprites became chibi versions instead of the pixel art that found its home with the Pokémon series. While in battle, the character models seemed to lean more towards what we saw from the Let's Go games, gone are the small bodies and big heads of the overworld.

The Pokémon battles were moderately changed from the original versions. Fairy types were added into this remake, a typing that was added to the games long after the Gen. 4 games were released. The game also brought in features that allow players to tell the move's effectiveness against their opponents, as well as a menu that tells the player their next objective, thus making things relatively easier for newer players. The overall changes do make it more accessible for someone just getting into Pokémon to be able to play and enjoy these games.

Ending Questions

So, how closely does a remake need to stay to the original game? The line between making the game better for the current day and age and just altering it too much is still debated to this day. With many people saying that the Pokémon games have become too simple and easy to play, where do you as a player draw the line on these topics?

My personal thoughts are that adding features that make the game more accessible for more players is never inherently wrong. More people enjoying a game should make older players happy and I hope that they would want to welcome a younger generation. I do agree that some of the newer Pokémon games can be beaten without too much effort, primarily the Sword and Shield games. This entry allows a player to move through the cities and not have to spend time grinding levels in order to beat the gym leaders, which has proven challenging in some previous games and later gyms.

I think that even though there is a lower focus on grinding, this is better in a way because players can then focus on catching new bodiesthat are easier to level and actually use in their teams even in the late game. Looking back to earlier games where a player would have to grind each Pokémon took hours, it's a relief to see the process becoming easier. Before, players went the route of finding six Pokémon and never changing their party, so being able to throw one in the box or pick a new buddy to use doesn't seem like such a time sink anymore. I do agree this leads to easily over-leveling Pokémon when you don't intend to, but it does allow for less hair-pull annoyance in the end.