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 created by ILCA and released by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company for the Nintendo Switch. Promotional materials said the games are true to the original versions of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. The games were released on November 19, 2021. They were introduced as part of a celebration marking the 25th anniversary of the Pokémon franchise, along with Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl received mixed reviews from critics. Some praised the gameplay, but others had different opinions about changes made to the original game, 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, as well as earlier remakes like Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. The games are displayed in a top-down isometric third-person perspective, but with a unique visual style.
Setting
Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are set in the fictional region of Sinnoh. Sinnoh is an island inspired by the real Japanese island of Hokkaidō.
Development and release
Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl were created by ILCA. These games are the first main-series Pokémon titles to be developed by a company other than Game Freak, which usually makes the games. Yuichi Ueda from ILCA and Junichi Masuda from Game Freak, who directed the original Diamond and Pearl games, led the development of these titles.
Information about possible remakes of Diamond and Pearl was shared on January 15, 2021, when a "diamondpearl" subdomain of the Pokémon website was registered and made public. Soon after, the domain was removed. On February 26, 2021, during the Pokémon 25th Anniversary Pokémon Presents event, some people claimed the livestream would announce remakes of Diamond and Pearl, named Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, along with an action role-playing game set in the Sinnoh Region, later named 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 shared, along with the games' box art. During the July 6, 2021, announcement of the Nintendo Switch OLED model, improved visuals for the games were shown. An August 18, 2021, Pokémon Presents presentation highlighted new features, including character customization, a revised version of The Underground called The Grand Underground, Poké Ball decorations renamed to Stickers, the Union Room, Super Contest Shows, and the ability for Pokémon to follow the player. It was also revealed that a Mythical Pokémon Manaphy egg would be available as an early purchase bonus until February 21, 2022.
On September 28, 2021, on the 15th anniversary of the original Diamond and Pearl games, a new trailer was released. It showed the Pokétch with Hidden Moves, Poffins, Pokémon following the player in Hearthome City's Amity Square, "stat trainers" (trainers who specialize in specific Pokémon stats) Cheryl and Riley, and Eterna City Gym Leader Gardenia. On October 26, another trailer was released, featuring Snowpoint City Gym Leader Candice and 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 the outfits of the protagonists Lucas and Dawn from Pokémon Platinum would be available as an early purchase bonus until February 21, 2022. An overview trailer summarizing the games' main features was released on November 5, 2021, on the official Japanese Nintendo YouTube channel.
Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl have had many glitches discovered shortly after their release. These include the ability to walk through walls to catch the Mythical Pokémon Shaymin, access the location for the Darkrai event early, and complete the game in 23 minutes. There is also an exploit that allows players to duplicate multiple Pokémon and their held items. Many of these glitches were fixed in version 1.1.2, released on December 1, 2021. Arceus can be found if you 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 the previous 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 remained 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. Famitsu, a Japanese magazine, 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 story and themes were strong and lasting, but relied heavily on the past. She noted that if a good remake is defined by its loyalty to the original, then Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are very good remakes. However, she also said the games did not improve upon the originals as much as other Pokémon remakes had done. John Carson of Game Informer called the games "faithful remakes" of the DS versions but said they changed the way the games worked with mixed results. He praised the graphics engine for being mostly free of slowdowns and said the games felt like a return to simpler times when completing a Pokédex seemed achievable.
The chibi art style was mostly praised by IGN, except for some serious story scenes. However, Chris Carter of Destructoid said the visuals took time to get used to. He noted that while the game world was enjoyable to explore, the developer, ILCA, stayed too close to the originals while adding only a few new features, which made the experience feel uneven. The inability to turn off the Experience Share feature caused player Pokémon to become over-leveled, making battles with NPCs feel tedious. Jordan Middler of Nintendo Life said the art style was worse and compared the characters to "emotionless Funko Pops," though battle models were better proportioned. He also said that excluding features from Pokémon Platinum was a drawback, but the addition of the new Grand Underground area helped balance the limited selection of Pokémon from the original games. Steve Watts of GameSpot praised the chibi style and improvements to gameplay but criticized the lack of changes to the franchise’s mechanics and the sudden difficulty of the Elite Four. Takuya Watanabe of IGN Japan gave the games a 5 out of 10, saying they were too faithful to the originals, had awkward close-up character designs, and would mainly appeal to fans nostalgic for the original games.
In Japan, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl sold 1.39 million copies in its first three days, surpassing the launch sales of Pokémon Sword and Shield in the same period. It became the second-largest launch for a Switch game in Japan after Animal Crossing: New Horizons in 2020 and the second-best-selling game launch of 2021 in the UK, behind FIFA 22. The games sold 6 million copies worldwide one week after release. As of June 30, 2022, the games had sold 14.79 million copies globally. By December 31, 2022, sales reached 15.06 million copies worldwide.
In Spain, the games sold 228,000 copies in 2021.