Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl Nintendo Switch Review - Are They Worth It?

Not so shining?


#NintendoSwitch #Pokemon #BDSP

[notrod]

I like the joke where a bidoof shows up to do your HM moves. That's a nice little nod to the originals.

[StardustWhip]

It’s a shame how little this adds to Diamond and Pearl, compared to other remakes. HGSS is the gold standard for Pokémon remakes, and even ORAS added significant new content for all the flack it gets. But BDSP seems pretty lacking in both Platinum content and all-new content...

[hovasaxa]

Honestly would’ve loved to hear Jon’s own thoughts after the review.

[theshadowdirector]

Well Jordan certainly had a very strong view on the art style.

[apollo]

What really gets me is, they didn't bother to bring back the Platinum story or world changes at all. I don't know if this was forbidden by The Pokemon Company, or if ILCA just weren't passionate fans - but, if real Gen 4 fans were involved with BDSP's development, this wouldn't have happened. The other areas these games fall short in (especially the points discussed in this review) are further proof of that. Pretty, moderate effort, but more or less phoned in. A real shame.

Plus, when I was a lot younger, and ORAS had just released, I could not WAIT for a Gen 4 remake including later-gen Pokemon and Mega Evolutions. Walking around Hoenn with Unovan/Kalos Pokemon and any Mega of my choice was just fantastic. Being able to play around with "impossible" teams for that region are a big reason why remakes do so well. It's incredibly disappointing that BDSP will have no post-Gen-4 Pokemon and no Mega Evolutions. It won't even have Z-Moves or Dynamax.

Honestly, this would have been better off as a Virtual Console port of Platinum.

[Part_Time_Fox]

Ok but did they bring back the *Saving a LOT of data* text box when you open the box?

[staticshock]

I just wish this included some of the Platinum content outside of the pre-order costumes.

[Lilly-Gorney]

They seem like perfectly serviceable games for people who just want a straightforward gen 4 remake, but I won't be buying them. It's nice they improve things like HMs and speed compared with original gen 4, but I'd been hoping for more from a gen 4 remake. ORAS was somewhat divisive, but it felt like it had its own vision for the world, even if it was fairly straightforward in most respects. I wish BDSP had taken more things from Platinum, at least. I feel like I had envisioned a remake that overhauled the world to some extent (and had some sort of Arceus-related Aether postgame segment like the Delta episode... I would have loved that) so the reality just feels disappointing.

[echronothemiserable]

All I needed to hear to finally skip a Pokémon game was “team exp share”. You’d think after all the complaints from the previous games, they’d make the team exp share optional but no. Plus throwing in one or two good things shouldn’t be something to change your mind.

Face it, despite pokemon being capable of being bigger and better before, they try to go the safe route and dumb everything down for the younger audience while throwing in one or two things for the older fans. They easily could have made the exp share optional, had more than enough money to have a team work on the battle animations, and made the overworld more fun and alive like Pokémon snap. Instead we got something that a few modders could put together rather than a big jump up in the series like the original platinum was

Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea of the underground, no longer using an hm slave, and the new 3d models for other trainers in battle. But it feels like they did the bare minimum for a “remake” like they did for the let’s go series.

No lie, it’s probably one of the best games to give your kid, but for older fans that aren’t whales shoving money into a company that doesn’t really care about their fans, you’re better off finding a ds and a copy of platinum (or just emulate the original) instead of shelling out $60 for a minimal upgrade that has had its core mechanics and difficulty dumbed down for a toddler instead of giving some options for older fans. Hopefully legends of arceus is everything that it’s hyped up to be, but knowing pokemon and Nintendo, I know they’ll find a way to ruin something

This is just my opinion of course and I am a long time fan but this is finally the point where I’m done with the franchise until something worth while comes out. The franchise has just gone downhill after gen 5 and I gave the 3ds games a chance but, although I love Pokémon, the franchise is definitely not for me anymore

[NinjaristicNinja]

It looks alright. It’s just that it could’ve been so much more…

[thatphotographerjoe]

I've been on the fence on this one; the art style, lack of significant changes, and the evident non-embracing of the more modern games' mechanics just made it look dry and pointless...there a few interesting additions, but not nearly enough, and the style just doesn't hold a candle to the original pixel art. I don't see why they didn't follow in the footsteps of the Let's Go games, at least graphically. They were a beautiful re-imagining of Kanto.
Ah well, will go through a couple more reviews first, but this looks like a skip.

[party_joey]

I really hope they make a pixel art style remake for gen 5 whenever they get to it. The pixel art in that game was so well done and replacing it with lifeless models like this would ruin the aesthetic of the game so much.

[RBN]

It might seem like a minor thing to most, but I just can't get over the permanent EXP share. It undermines the experience of actually training your pokemon

[TwinGearHero]

These remakes are a big disappointment when you consider that HeartGold, Soul Silver and ORAS were faithful remakes and had the extra mile put into them when it came to adding new features.

[coltdeedede]

I hope more reviews hit this one hard and we see the Pokemon Company and GameFreak wake up to the criticisms of their games. This is a AAA gaming studio with the IP that is the single highest grossing media franchise in the world. They need to either 1) be put under heavier watch and support via Nintendo or 2) expand and give their developers more time. I'm tired of the pride, ego, and lack of innovation to a series that absolutely deserves better. These games should look better, run better, and have the mechanics available to them that previous entires have executed.

[AxelHunterTwitch]

Honestly, I was very negative on the Let’s Go games when announced, but I liked them way more than Sword/Shield. And the additions were a lot more interesting than this looks.

[maxpower]

Thank you for daring to give a score lower than seven, it's refreshing.

[joaofilho]

A sincere but sad analysis for the fans. Great job! 👏🏻😃

[BradfortBottlenose]

Judging by what I've seen in a trailer, Totodile is apparently in this game as well, so it's already an improvement over SwSh.

EDIT: Wow. This blew up when it came to likes. Thanks for celebrating with me! ^w^

[kyleh]

You know this is a straight up cash grab when you have to compliment the frame rate and draw distance in a game that looks like this... (No shade to Nintendo Life, just thought it was funny and speaks to the complete lack of innovation in this $80 CAD game.)