After years of fans asking Nintendo and The Pokemon Company to release remakes ofPokemon DiamondandPearl,Pokemon Brilliant DiamondandShining Pearlare finally here, fifteen years after the originals' release. ThePokemonfranchise has gone a long way over the years, and modern games are very different from the originalGeneration 4, which translated into some extra features making their way intoPokemon Brilliant DiamondandShining Pearltoo. The remakes are overall meant to be faithful to the story and setting ofPokemon DiamondandPearl, but they also improve upon the foundations laid by Game Freak’s work.
Pokemongames introduced the concept of friendship levels back in Generation 2, but it’s only in more recent times that this evolved into something more, withPokemon SwordandShieldandPokemon Brilliant DiamondandShining Pearlshowing a bit of emotion from the critters. This happens through small in-game movements and text messages while in battles, but it can also have an impact on the battle’s outcome, especially if the Pokemon are fond of their Trainer.
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A great example comes from the short video shared on Reddit by a user called fat_flamingo, as the clip shows a Luxray sitting at 1 HP from a previous attack fromByron’s Steelix in the Canalave City Gym. Then, Luxray performs a critical hit on the opposing Steelix to impress its Trainer, only to survive two KO moves in a row for the same principle, showing how powerful the bond with Pokemon can be. This is an exceptional case, of course, and players shouldn’t expect their Pokemon to do the same inPokemon Brilliant DiamondandShining Pearl- at least, not all the time.
This addition toPokemongames has been there sincePokemon XandY, butPokemon SwordandShielddid elevate Pokemon friendship to a new level thanks to Pokemon Camps and the possibility to allow players to interact with their critters.Pokemon Brilliant DiamondandShining Pearl’s approach is a bit different and more simplistic, but it can still yield amazing results such as these.
While friendship and how it works in the games is improved in the remakes, one of the flaws ofPokemon Brilliant DiamondandShining Pearlis its Poketch Calculator, which is completely broken whenever players attempt to use it without whole numbers. Still, despite the bugs and soft locks,Pokemon Brilliant DiamondandShining Pearlmake for a fine addition to the saga thus far.
Pokemon Brilliant DiamondandShining Pearlare out now for the Nintendo Switch.
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