There has been just as much hype around Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl as one would expect. They’re Pokemon games, after all. Despite the understandably high levels of excitement around these titles, there have been some concerns after early versions of the Pokemon remakes were leaked online. However, these early builds aren’t indicative of the games’ true full release, as Nintendo confirmed there would be a day one patch fixing the noted issues: a complete lack of Pokemon and graphics.
If you were one of the eager fans who downloaded the leaked copy of either Brilliant Diamond or Shining Pearl, you would be met with a bunch of text and MIDI songs. While the text did indeed confirm that this data was for the much awaited Diamond and Pearl remakes, there seemed to be absolutely no mention of the titular Pokemon anywhere. Dataminers scoured through all of the games’ code and couldn’t find a single instance of the word “Pokemon” or even “those weird little guys who say their names.” Oddly enough, Generation IV’s Professor Rowan isn’t described as a Pokemon professor, but rather as a professor of economics.
The lack of any graphics at all seemed quite shocking to Pokemon fans, because say what you will about the original Diamond and Pearl games, but they did have graphics. However, the leaked copy of the games try to gaslight players new to the franchise. Professor Rowan describes the Sinnoh region as “dark and full of text” and the Champion Cynthia insists that “Pokemon were never real” and that the player is “lying to get attention.”
When asked about the lack of Pokemon and graphics in the release version of Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, the game’s developer ILCA seemed angry. “All of these people think that they remember Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, but they really don’t,” they said in an official statement. “Pokemon games are dry and repetitive games that you only really like because you played them as a child. Don’t let your unfettered nostalgia make you think that Pokemon games were anything more than a blank screen, MIDI horns, and millions of lines of dialogue about fiat currency.”
While the day one patches to these games added both graphics and Pokemon to these remakes, there apparently isn’t any word on any additional features. When asked about bonus content, ILCA told us “we’re lucky enough to get Pokemon” and we should “just buy it regardless like you do all the others.”
We did, and it’s an eight out of ten. It has a little something for everyone!
Join our community on Discord, find us on Twitch, Facebook, and Twitter, and subscribe to our Patreon for exclusive benefits.
