The Pokémon franchise marks 25 years of adventuring across various regions, defeating the Elite Four, and becoming the very best that no one ever was in 2021. In celebration of its anniversary, the Pokémon Company has announced some good news for fans of the Generation IV games: Pokémon Diamond and Pearl remakes, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, will be landing on the Nintendo Switch later this year.
Like the original DS titles, the games make a return to the Sinnoh region, a naturalistic setting that’s home to wild Pokémon like Bidoof, Luxio, and Gastrodon. Players will have the option to choose from the Turtwig, Chimchar, or Piplup starters for their journey, with the visuals getting a fresh chibi-3D art style.
Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl is helmed by Pokémon Home developer ILCA instead of GameFreak, but the games’ original director Junichi Masuda remains onboard. In addition to the preserved scale and look of the towns and routes, fans can also look forward to the signature top-down view during exploration, some quality-of-life improvements, and a modernised battle approach in the vein of recent 3DS and Switch titles.
The Pokémon Company assured fans that the versions will be “faithful remakes” of their DS counterparts, which the trailer teases in the form of familiar locations and faces. Prior to the official announcement, rumours of a Diamond and Pearl remake have been surfacing for weeks, so it’s nice to finally get confirmation on the matter.
Meanwhile, a new open-world RPG, Pokémon Legends: Arceus, was unveiled for the Switch as well, targeting an early 2022 launch date.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
Trinity Sun
