Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl are 2021 remakes of the 2006 Nintendo DS role-playing video games Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. The games were developed by ILCA and published by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company for the Nintendo Switch. Promotional material said these games are true to the original Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. The games were released on November 19, 2021. They were announced as part of the 25th anniversary event, along with Pokémon Legends: Arceus.

Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl received mixed reviews from critics. Some praised the gameplay, but others had concerns about changes to the original games, the visual design, and the absence of certain features, such as the Sinnoh Battle Frontier from Pokémon Platinum.

Gameplay

The gameplay of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl is similar to the original Diamond and Pearl games, just like the previous remakes such as Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. The games use a top-down isometric third-person perspective, which shows the player's character from the side, and they have a unique visual style.

Setting

Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are set in the fictional region of Sinnoh. This region is inspired by the Japanese island of Hokkaidō.

Development and release

Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl were created by ILCA. These games are the first main-series Pokémon games to be developed by a company other than Game Freak. Yuichi Ueda from ILCA and Junichi Masuda from Game Freak, who directed the original Pokémon Diamond and Pearl games, led the development of these titles.

On January 15, 2021, a subdomain called "diamondpearl" on the Pokémon website was registered and made public. Soon after, the subdomain was removed. On February 26, 2021, during a Pokémon 25th Anniversary event, some people claimed that the livestream would announce remakes of Diamond and Pearl, named Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, as well as an action role-playing game set in the Sinnoh Region, later revealed to be Pokémon Legends: Arceus. During the event, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl were officially announced for the Nintendo Switch with a planned release in late 2021.

On May 26, 2021, the release date of November 19, 2021, was announced, along with the game box art. During the July 6, 2021, reveal of the Nintendo Switch OLED model, improved visuals for the games were shown. An August 18, 2021, presentation highlighted new features, such as character customization, a return of The Underground (now called The Grand Underground), renamed Poké Ball decorations (now called Stickers), the Union Room, Super Contest Shows, and the ability for Pokémon to follow the player. It was also announced that a Mythical Pokémon Manaphy egg would be available as an early purchase bonus until February 21, 2022.

On September 28, 2021, which marked the 15th anniversary of the original Diamond and Pearl games, a new trailer showed the Pokétch with Hidden Moves, Poffins, and Pokémon following the player in Hearthome City's Amity Square. It also introduced "stat trainers" (trainers who specialize in specific Pokémon statistics), Cheryl and Riley, and Eterna City Gym Leader Gardenia. On October 26, another trailer featured Snowpoint City Gym Leader Candice, Sunyshore City Gym Leader Volkner, Team Galactic Commanders Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, Team Galactic Boss Cyrus, and the Legendary Lake Pokémon Mesprit, Azelf, and Uxie. It was also announced that outfits from the protagonists Lucas and Dawn in Pokémon Platinum would be available as an early purchase bonus until February 21, 2022. An overview trailer summarizing the games' features was released on November 5, 2021, on the official Japanese Nintendo YouTube channel.

Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl had many glitches discovered shortly after their release. These included the ability to walk through walls to catch the Mythical Pokémon Shaymin, access the location for the Darkrai event early, speedrun the game in 23 minutes, and duplicate multiple Pokémon and their held items. Many of these glitches were fixed in an update released on December 1, 2021. Players can find Arceus if they become the Champion and beat Pokémon Legends: Arceus.

Reception

After the announcement, fans had different opinions about the new chibi art style shown in the trailer. Some people believed the graphics were worse than those in earlier Pokémon remakes, such as Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire and Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!. Others argued that the new look stayed true to the original 2D games while adapting to 3D visuals.

Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl received "mixed or average" reviews from critics, according to the website Metacritic. Another review site, OpenCritic, reported that 53% of critics recommended the games. Japanese magazine Famitsu gave the games a score of 34 out of 40, based on individual scores of 8, 9, 8, and 9.

Rebekah Valentine of IGN gave the games an 8 out of 10, saying the games were strong and respected the original versions, but did not improve the originals as much as other remakes. John Carson of Game Informer called the games "faithful remakes" of the DS versions but noted that some changes to gameplay had mixed results. He praised the smooth graphics and said the games felt like a return to a simpler time when completing a Pokédex seemed achievable.

While IGN generally liked the chibi art style, some story scenes were criticized for not being taken seriously. Chris Carter of Destructoid said the visuals took time to get used to. He noted that the game’s design was too close to the original, making it feel disconnected. The inability to disable the Experience Share feature caused player Pokémon to grow too strong early in the game, making battles with NPCs less challenging. Jordan Middler of Nintendo Life said the art style was worse and compared the characters to "emotionless Funko Pops," but praised the battle animations. He also noted that removing features from Pokémon Platinum was a downside, though the new Grand Underground area helped balance the game. Steve Watts of GameSpot liked the chibi style and improvements to gameplay but criticized the lack of new features and the difficulty of the Elite Four. Takuya Watanabe of IGN Japan gave the games a 5 out of 10, saying they were too similar to the originals and criticized the chibi characters in close-up scenes.

In Japan, the games sold 1.39 million copies in the first three days, surpassing the launch sales of Pokémon Sword and Shield in the same period. They became the second-largest launch for a Switch game in Japan after Animal Crossing: New Horizons in 2020 and the second-best-selling game in the UK in 2021, behind FIFA 22. Worldwide, the games sold 6 million copies one week after release. By June 30, 2022, they had sold 14.79 million copies globally, and by December 31, 2022, sales reached 15.06 million copies.

In Spain, the games sold 228,000 copies in 2021.