POKEMON BRILLIANT DIVOND AND SHINING PEEARL: IS IT FAITHFUL TO BE TOO FAITHFUL?
November is known for three things: unreasonably cold temperatures, premature Christmas celebrations, and controversial Pokémon games. Remakes of Generation 4 games like Shining Pearl and Pokemon Brilliant Diamond are coming out this year. Remakes of Pokemon games are not a new phenomenon, but this year there is something more. These games place a greater emphasis on being faithful than any other. This focus on faithfulness will allow us to return to the classics and make the games more enjoyable, or it will hinder our creative potential. It is time to examine how these remakes differ from those of years ago and whether or not they are worth the effort.
Shining Pearl and Brilliant Diamond are the fourth (or fifth, if 2018’s Let’s Go Pikachu or Let’s Go Eevee) sets of Pokemon remakes. However, they were the first Game Freak did not develop. They were instead developed by ILCA, a less-known studio. This could explain the inconsistencies these remakes brought to the table. It could also be meaningless. It could also mean nothing.
The Pokemon Company first announced the games in February. They made it a point to stress that these are faithful remakes. It’s a good thing. Shining Pearl and Brilliant diamond are extremely faithful. This might seem to be a good thing to an outsider. It’s true that if you want to remake a game the more you can change the better. It’s actually a little more complicated than that. It’s possible to make changes to a game by making a remake. This is something Brilliant Diamond or Shining Pearl do not fully appreciate.
POKEMON BRILLIANT DIMOND and SHINING PEEARL are two different types of REMAKE
Pokemon had an original philosophy about remaking old games. The previous remakes were not merely remade, but added tons of new content. They also made many aesthetic changes, while keeping the games current with modern standards. Brilliant diamond and Shining pearl are two different games. They’re not a new take on the Pearl and Diamond , but they’re almost the same games. While those games are an excellent foundation, it is a departure from the established tradition.
Shining Pearl and Pokemon Brilliant Diamond have the exact same look and feel as the originals.
As an example, let’s take Omega Ruby as well as Alpha Sapphire the remakes of Generation 3. These games updated the original with all the changes that were made in the 12 years since their release. These remakes included every Pokemon added since Gen 4 and brand new Mega Evolutions to return Pokemon.
Shining Pearl and Brilliant diamond have nothing similar. Despite the fact that there have been 4 generations of additions to the roster, they reduced the roster to include only creatures that were alive in 2006. With few exceptions, there is still the same amount of content in the games as 15 years ago.
CONFUSING DISCREPANCY
The new remakes don’t just miss out on content. Although the elimination of HMs is a positive quality of life improvement, it’s not the same for converting TMs back into single-use items. There are many areas where this is the case. The Grand Underground has made it possible to catch many Pokemon that were previously only available in postgame. This is a great thing.
