After 89 hours in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl I want more Pokemon games like this

I confess that my journey with Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl Pokemon the first time it ended too quickly because I rushed the story and mainly spent time in the Grand Underground. I didn't really like the direction of the games in terms of being “pure Gen 4 remakes” with little Pokemon Platinum traits, a very limited Pokedex before the National Dex, and chibi characters. It follows that I have never lost Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl Pokemon several years after their debut and have only just started playing again Pokemon Shining Pearl very recently.

I didn't want to play these games so badly that I even skipped the Darkrai and Shaymin events BDSP (which makes me very sad). I don't know why exactly, but I guess I was expecting a different experience from the remake, which I didn't get, and that in itself was disappointing for me. After a short while he came Pokemon Legends: Arceusand I ended up spending a lot of time with it which made me decide it was the better Gen 4 Pokemon the game anyway. That gave me a good reason to give up BDSPand I didn't look back. But I should. Now that I'm replaying it Pokemon Shining PearlI feel like I was too rough, too early, and there's something about these games that I feel got lost in the process with 3D open world titles.

Why other future Pokemon games should be like BDSP

My first thought when I cleared my game data after entering the world and started a new game was that I didn't remember Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl Pokemonto make the graphics so vivid. And after another 20 or so hours, I fully stand by it. I think the same thing happened when I was playing Pokemon Sword and Shield again after a long hiatus, as what I once thought of as middling games are now some of my favorites in the series simply because of their charm, colors, and more down-to-earth approach.

I think Pokemon BDSP's Gyms Are Peak — Sorry, not sorry

Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl Pokemon's Gyms still retain that dungeon-like design element with great puzzles and gameplay Pokemon Legends: ZA and Pokemon Gen 9 for so long I didn't even know I missed it so much. Not only that, but I feel like I was longing for the old 2D era Pokemon with this top-down view, tall grass encounters, and a stricter Pokedex before beating the game. Before BDSPi went back to Gen 1 s Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreenand that feeling intensified when I played Gen 4 again.

I haven't finished my second playthrough of Shining Pearl yet as I'm trying to take things slow to the point where I've decided to just do a shiny run where I can use one more shiny Pokemon I catch at full rate after each Gym. I did the same with Pokemon FireRed on my last playthrough, which I haven't finished yet because I only found three shinies, including my starter, in a whopping 180 hours played. Luck was not on my side there, but again a clear chance appeared Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen they are abysmal. Fortunately, this is not the case BDSP.

Anyway, I feel it Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl Pokemon's Grand Underground is one of the games hidden gems. Pun intended. It's very expansive and rich with Pokemon to catch, NPCs to encounter for that (long and horrible) Spiritomb quest, loot to collect by digging, and even a cool Diglett event that lets you find shiny and rare items more often. This is something I was thinking about when I first played these games in 2021, but it hits home differently when the framing is also different.

Pokemon BDSP comparison with Gen 9 and beyond

Who is that character?

Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.

Easy (7.5s)Medium (5.0s)Hard (2.5s)Permadeath (2.5s)

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Who is that character?

Identify the silhouettes before time runs out.

Easy (7.5s) Medium (5.0s) Hard (2.5s) Permadeath (2.5s)Start

RestartRear

The results

0

Highest score: 0 —

for comparison, Pokemon Scarlet and Violetwhich are still among my absolute favorite games in the series, can feel a little too big on their own. There's a lot to do and discover, but encounters with the worlds above can take some of the magic away. Likewise, gyms are no longer dungeon-like mazes filled with puzzles and brainteasers, but rather have more straightforward challenges to complete in order to fight. Pokemon Gym leader. They're more minigames than puzzles, and while that's not necessarily a bad thing, I feel like a piece of the series' identity has been torn away.

What's more, it's been two generations of games in a row without meaningful villains. To be honest, I don't love the villains in Gen 7 either, and I think the best are the ones in Gen 3, 4, and 6. That said, Chairman Rose and Team Yell are a troubled man and a group of misfits who want their favorite coach to succeed, while Team Star's story is about what happens after being bullied at school as loners. I appreciate all of these things, but Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl PokemonTeam Galactic is on a whole other level, just like the original games, and I think it adds to the charm of the game BDSP see a space themed background when you fight them.

So, if I should ask for my perfect Pokemon game to follow up on Pokemon winds and waves at the end of 2027 it would have to have the following characteristics:

• Stunning 2D or 2D-HD JRPG graphics in the world, 3D in battle – as well as BDSP

• Vivid colors rather than as realistic as possible — BDSP and Sword and shield vs. Scarlet and Violet

• Indoor gyms with real mazes and puzzles – like BDSP and FRLG

• Around 200-250 Pokémon in the base game, with more unlocked through the National Dex – like BDSP and FRLG

• The ability to flash hunt a starter Pokemon, even if it means pausing the game until you get one

• Either real villains, or characters like Team Yell and Team Star, without pretending to be a villainous team. Better yet, both

WITH Pokemon Gen 5 remakes are not among them Pokemon games in production at Game Freak, according to leaks, there are two options: either the remakes are no longer in production, or they will be outsourced from here. From BDSP were awarded to ILCA, I hope more games like them are made at some point.

Pokemon BDSP aren't perfect games, and that's okay

By this I want to emphasize that I do not think Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl Pokemon they are perfect. They have their faults and some things still raise wrinkles on them, like cutting Pokemon Platinum's Distortion World and Battle Frontier. However, as I played these games over and over again, I felt that there was an underlying spark to them Pokemon games that modern titles still have, but in a very altered way.

Gen 9 a Pokemon Legends: ZAI thought the story was amazing and carried the campaign a lot in both cases, even at times when it felt like a slog. Likewise, being fully immersed in a vast world is amazing and I don't want to see that disappear from future games. At the same time, I really miss the charm of small towns with a few houses and NPCs that made interactions matter more often, and I miss the anticipation of random, wild encounters in tall grass. I have high hopes for Gen 10, even though it's seemingly very different from all of that, but an occasional return to this classic formula would make me very happy – and I'm sure I'm not alone.