Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl Review – Cute and cuddly can’t cure all

Should you dig out a ROM or are you good to go?

pokemon brilliant diamond shining pearl game review

Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are great examples of the monkey paw curling as you make the wish. These remasters of the first DS entries of the Pokemon franchise are as safe as you could possibly do when doing any work to rerelease a game. 

They bring nothing new to the original experience, while also omitting content changes that fans perceived as the ‘best’ versions from Pokemon Platinum, the third, later released version while the Game Freak team worked on Black and White. 
While they do nothing outright new, I will say that I adore the chibi-look that they’ve applied to everything in the game world. The bubbly, almost sweet (candy) like aesthetic lends itself well to this one-to-one recreation of the world from way back in 2007.

Welcome back to Sinnoh, it’s cute now

Pokémon Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl game review

While they do nothing outright new, I will say that I adore the chibi-look that they’ve applied to everything in the game world. The bubbly, almost sweet (candy) like aesthetic lends itself well to this one-to-one recreation of the world from way back in 2007. 

However, this is pretty much where things end for the game’s fresh aesthetic choices, as battles and in-game interactions feel lifeless with the added level of detail. This can be said for a lot of Japanese RPGs in general – I’m a big fan of Atelier Ryza and its sequel, which are seemingly made on a template structure – where moments that aren’t meaningful just aren’t given any love. 

This however does bother me in the battles, which feel as if they dropped right out of the DS game, just with the updated models for the Switch. Seeing my Pokemon move erratically or an effect appear instead of any real animation just cemented this as a place-holder for the fans who want this experience. 

It’s not that the developers – ICLA, not Game Freak – are lazy, it’s probably down to budget and time, a common theme across the industry. Yet, with the slight backlash against Sword and Shield, as well as the upcoming Legends: Arceus changing the formula again, this feels like the plaster on the sinking boat. Instead of taking the boat ashore and fixing the problem properly, it’ll soldier on, even if they need to jettison something over the side. 

New Verse, Same as the First

Pokémon Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl game review

If you’ve been craving a bit of the classic Pokemon style game, then you’ll be happy to know that this is about as straightforward a remaster as you can get. Everything you want from the top-down perspective, battles, interactions and loop of the game are here. Catch Pokemon, level them up and do battle with Gyms until you beat the Elite Four, as well as the additional content in the post-game. 

Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl offer nothing new to this, they are what they are and while I like the Pokemon experience, I am also tired of remakes and remasters that don’t attempt to improve over their originals. Changing the looks is all well and good, but Nintendo games like this could really benefit from an “I’ve played this before” button. 

Battles drag on as you watch shoddy animation and text box scroll by. The story remains mostly unchanged, things that hardcore fans will notice will breeze by us, the lowlifes that don’t care about IVs and getting the perfect team. 

Gotta preserve ’em all!

Pokémon Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl game review

Making games accessible across all platforms is vitally important to the preservation of video games as a whole. Even if the ports aren’t perfect, ensuring that they’re still playable is a great thing.

I just wish that this refresh of the experience just did a little more around the edges. ILCA and Game Freak should have looked at what Square Enix have done with their re-releases of Final Fantasy games like 7 and 12, where adding in a fast-forward feature makes grinding or exploration easier on the player, as well as — in the case of 12 — changing up the way you play in some capacity. 

If you’re looking to replay Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, but don’t want to play a ROM or dig out your Nintendo DS, then hey — you have it right here. This is a good version that does exactly what you want it to do. If you’re looking for something that might expand on what you’ve already played, then you might want to look at another monster collection game.

Pokémon Shining Pearl and Brilliant Diamond Review

The Good
  • Exactly what you want
  • That nice new art style
  • Accessible again
The Bad
  • Does nothing new
  • Stale animations and battles
  • Tonnes of cut content
WePC Logo White
VERDICT
3/5
0 /5

If you can ignore the content cut from Platinum, you’ll have fun with the familiar experience that is Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. If you’re looking for that classic style of Pokémon game, then you’ll enjoy this.

Read our review policy