Pokemon Brilliant DiamondandShining Pearlwere among the most anticipated games of the year due to them being the remakes of the original Generation 4 titles. The choice to not includePokemon Platinumcontent was something the community was not happy about, even thoughPokemon Brilliant DiamondandShining Pearldo offer some form of interesting endgame content with the Battle Tower and theGrand Underground. Despite the fact that the remakes were conceived as faithful adaptations of the original games, there are major changes to be appreciated inPokemon Brilliant DiamondandShining Pearl.
Thevisual style inPokemon Brilliant DiamondandShining Pearlis quite different, with a more refined classic top-down view from the first few Generations ofPokemongames, whereas the battles are fully 3D and resemblePokemon SwordandShield. However, the change also meant that other things have been altered from the originals, like the walking animations for some Pokemon, and even their appearance. Walking animations inPokemon Brilliant DiamondandShining Pearlhave been a hot topic within the community, especially because of a few notable bad examples like Ekans' and Milotic’s.
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Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl’s Sprites Are Worse Than Original Gen 4
Pokemon DiamondandPearlwere iconic titles because they made the players feel small in a region that held so many secrets, where imposing and towering Pokemon like Giratina dwelled.Giratina, in particular, was extremely tall and much bigger than the player character when Trainers encountered it, making for a rather terrifying encounter with the Dragon/Ghost type. Giratina is still rather big in battle inPokemon Brilliant DiamondandShining Pearl, but it arguably lost its creepy facade because its sprite’s size is much smaller, both when encountered in the overworld, and when players make it follow them.
The same holds true forRayquaza, a huge Legendary Pokemonwith a coiling snake-like body that suddenly becomes smaller than the player character when it’s out of its Poke Ball for a walk. Speaking of which, Rayquaza’s walking animation is one of the worst inPokemon Brilliant DiamondandShining Pearl, and it follows the example set by that of Ekans and Milotic, likely due to all three having a similar body type. Rayquaza, or rather the tiny version of it that comes out of the Poke Ball, simply glides over the terrain and lifelessly follows players around without really moving.
Legendary Pokemon battlesare often meant to be epic moments in the series, where Trainers try their best to overpower mythic creatures to catch them and harness their strength. Thus, seeing Legendary Pokemon have rather small overworld sprites that are not much bigger than those of regular critters found in the Grand Underground is not exactly living up to the standards ofPokemon DiamondandPearl. Some ofPokemon Brilliant DiamondandShining Pearl’s animations are great, with slightly smaller sprites than one would expect, but still well done.
This makes it all the more infuriating to some players that beloved Pokemon like Giratina, Rayquaza, Groudon, and Kyogre all look more akin to pets than creatures of legend.Pokemon Let’s Go, Pikachu!andPokemon Let’s Go, Eevee!players could even ride some of the bigger Pokemon in the games, such as Persian, Charizard, and several more.
Drawing inspiration from those games could have been beneficial forPokemon Brilliant DiamondandShining Pearl, even though Sinnoh would have needed to be a bit bigger, and the visual style adapted to different standards. Ultimately,Pokemon Brilliant DiamondandShining Pearlare not bad games and they bring new, interesting things to the table, but they are also imperfect remakes.
Pokemon Brilliant DiamondandShining Pearlare available now on Nintendo Switch.
MORE:Image Compares Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl Pokemon to Their Original Sprites
