Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are enhanced remakes of Gen 4’s first installments. These games are dear to the hearts of many fans and have even brought several people into the series. However, not long after these games, Gamefreak came out with Pokemon Platinum. Platinum expanded on everything Diamond and Pearl put forth and not only gave players earlier access to viable Pokemon in the Sinnoh Pokedex, but gave Sinnoh much-needed depth. Sadly, ILCA did not take Platinum’s additions into consideration when making this overly faithful remake. This Pokemon BDSP retrospective will cover three aspects of Platinum that BDSP should have kept.
Having All of the Platinum Pokedex Before Post Game
The Sinnoh Pokedex is awful. Anyone who has played the games knows that Diamond and Pearl’s roster is abysmal. There is little availability for important types like Fire and Grass and over half of them are convoluted to obtain. In fact, some Gen 4 Pokemon like Gallade and Probopass weren’t even in the game. Players would have to transfer Pokemon not native to Sinnoh over in order to get them post-game.
Pokemon Platinum version fixed this by making these evolution lines available during the main playthrough. Sinnoh became more diverse and the teambuilding became easier. Players can also get gift Pokemon such as Eevee and Porygon during the main game instead of after entering the Hall of Fame. This is one of the key reasons players revere it as one of the ultimate Pokemon experiences.
Unfortunately, BDSP did not do this in the most desirable way. ILCA chose to use the old Diamond and Pearl Pokedex and relegate the Pokemon from the Platinum Pokedex to the Grand Underground. While this is not the worst thing they could have done, they still left a couple of lines to the end of the game. This left players unable to use them until they entered the Hall of Fame. It would have been more ideal to have these Pokemon as part of the surface spawns as players could get these Pokemon easier without having to worry about the lower catch rates in the Underground or certain milestones.
Also a letdown is the relegation of Pokemon such as Rotom and Eevee to the post-game when players could get them much earlier in Platinum. There is no reason to go back on a change like this, especially since Rotom and its forms are solid electric-type Pokemon that can make any team stronger.
Platinum Story Content
Platinum included scenes in the story that helped give it more understanding and depth. Not only that, but certain moments even gave characters more depth and presence. For example, after beating Wake in Pastoria City, the player’s rival goes up to the player and talks to them about how Wake is his new mentor. Wake then comes out and denies this. Following this, the Team Galactic grunt near the Great Marsh detonates a bomb, and Wake rushes to check it out. This shows how much he cares for the city as its gym leader.
This entire scene is cut from BDSP and it makes the rival and Wake as a gym leader so much flatter. This is especially disappointing when it comes to the content related to Team Galactic, most notably Looker. Platinum allows players to learn more about Cyrus’ motives earlier in the game, battle him one extra time at Celestic Town, and hear him give a huge speech to Galactic in Veilstone’s HQ specifying their goals more.
NONE. None of this is in Platinum. They don’t even give players the opportunity to explore the Distortion World in the post-game. Platinum’s additions made the narrative experience leagues better and ILCA ignored these in favor of remaking the first draft quality script of Diamond and Pearl.
Shoddy, Limited Post Game
Now for the last item in this Pokemon BDSP Retrospective. ILCA should have kept the Battle Frontier, on top of extra features of the Resort Area. ILCA included the Battle Tower, without any of the Platinum upgrades that it had. There is no reason that a beloved and innovative area for post-game battles should not have been included in the games that had them. Sinnoh’s Battle Frontier is beloved by Gen 4 fans everywhere and each facility added a new gimmick and flavor to the type of battles they offered.
On top of that, something that added a bit of flavor to the post-game was the ability to own and decorate one’s own villa. NPCs, including Cynthia, would visit the player and praise them depending on the decorations they use. While BDSP is not by any means supposed to be a replica of Platinum, when remakes like ORAS still take some inspiration from their sister versions, there is just no excuse for their attempt to be faithful to negate any new creativity or innovation to the Gen 4 classic.
Conclusion
This Pokemon BDSP retrospective highlights a little bit of what could have made these games better. Faithfulness is okay, but it is unfortunate that these games don’t feel like remakes. They feel like little more than a paint job. These are still great Pokemon games to play and many have been enjoying them. But fans can only hope that the next remakes strike a better balance between nostalgia and creative freedom.
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