The Nintendo Switch has had a plethora of exciting releases across the past 12 months and amongst them was the recent remaster of Pokémon Diamond, as well as Pokémon Pearl. Aptly-named Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl, the former Nintendo DS games have been through a gorgeous makeover thanks to developer ILCA, bringing 3D graphics and quality of life adjustments to what was already an addictive and enjoyable experience.
Players will find themselves in the familiar town of Twinleaf to start their adventure, where they quickly find their avatar embroiled in a life-changing journey throughout the Sinnoh region, collecting Pokémon and research for the local Professor along the way.
As has come to be expected from a Pokémon title, the adventure is one that is tackled in a linear fashion and, there’s an antagonistic group interested only in power - this time Team Galactic - hoping to discover and capture a Legendary Pokémon before stripping it of its energy for their own dastardly means.
There’s also the grind of levelling up your Pokémon, sorting out a team that you can be proud of and of course, battling fellow trainers and more importantly, eight Gym Leaders, to make a name for yourself in Sinnoh and beyond.
The ‘marmite’ additions to Pokémon games in recent years, such as Dynamaxing and the like, have thankfully been kept out of this remaster.
Instead, it’s as faithful as you would hope, with a number of gameplay mechanics changed to simply make your adventure a more enjoyable one and less of a grind. My personal favourite was the automatic EXP share; your monsters will now level up alongside one another, so long as they’re on your team. No need to switch one in just for a small EXP grab!
There’s also the move from having HM moves such as ‘Cut’ assigned to a specific Pokémon, to making them available via the Pokétch device you pick up early on in the game, so that your journey is a more streamlined one.
Some of the biggest changes in the games come with the Grand Underground, which you can explore at any point in your adventure once you've obtained the Explorer's Kit. Whether you're digging for treasure in the walls or stumbling across wild Pokémon, it's a thrilling experience and one that has been juiced up. Now, you can create your own Secret Base and fill it with unearthed statues, that will see more Pokémon of certain types headed your way for eventual capture.
Combining the improvements with the nostalgia overload, this is a remaster that anybody who grew up on Pokémon will be thankful for. Anybody who is only used to the modern-day releases however, may struggle a little here.
Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl are both available now, exclusively for the Nintendo Switch family of consoles. A code was given to Female First for Pokémon Brilliant Diamond in exchange for a fair and honest review.
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