The original Sinnoh games are some of the fondest memories I have in gaming, and some of the very first video games that engaged me enough to care about the medium on a deeper level. Over the next several years I watched as every other beloved entry in the series received its long awaited remake. HeartGold and SoulSilver were fantastic entries that I would argue were so successful in their execution that they exceeded the quality of the original games. Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire could have done more in certain key areas, particularly with the upsetting lack of Emerald-based content, but they were still fun games that captured the spirit of the originals with some fun new ideas that gave the remakes merit to stand on their own. Naturally, when it was time for my favorite games in the series to get their turn in the remake spotlight, I was ecstatic to see the direction they would take in their reimagining efforts. The final product after years of eager anticipation failed to meet almost any of my expectations.

Unlike the remakes that came before it, Brilliant Diamond is basically a 1:1 adaptation of its original counterpart, proving that sometimes being /too/ faithful is a detriment to the final product. The game still operates on the square-based grid tile system the originals used when using the D-Pad, but the joystick allows for "free roam" that was thrown in with no regard for how it would break certain key puzzle sequences in the game that relied on the square-based grid's limitations. The game's delicate leveling balance wasn't accounted for in any respect, the mandatory EXP share giving no players no real incentive to ever switch off of their lead team member and creating a scenario where you can essentially solo the entire game with one or two mons at the helm and feel no repercussions. The affection mechanic works against the player as well, being another mandatory addition that decides that your lead party member can arbitrarily tank multiple attacks that would otherwise absolutely kill them and giving players even less of a reason to ever switch Pokemon or make any thoughtful plays. Follow Pokemon are scaled to the trainer jarringly, often off-proportion, and almost always lag behind the player character moving at modest speeds and resort to immersion-breaking teleporting around everywhere to compensate. Other returning features, like the Poketch app, were thoughtlessly added for the sake of inclusion and work on the absolute bare minimum level of functionality, completely disregarding convenience and general usability. The game's mysterious lack of touch screen in handheld mode could have been one such instance where the Poketch would have made sense in a modern setting, but alas.

More subjectively, the game's artstyle just doesn't click with me or recapture the sharp, pixel aesthetic it tries to replicate with those awkward chibi models. Everything looks "off" and its made worse because the game has a strange penchant for having these cinematic camera angles in cutscenes now that highlight how unflinchingly emotionless the characters are. Sinnoh deserved better, we all deserved better, and the only thing of note from these releases in my eyes is that it made the original games even more impressive. The remixed music slaps too, I guess.

forgot i played this until i beat violet lol..

left off right before the elite four and i don't see myself coming back but im basically done soooo
this game is the biggest kick in the balls ever!! i was so excited for sinnoh remakes and Bam.
its the same exact game yet it looks worse and is stripped of Platinum Content. yeah the grand underground is there but it feels like that was squeezed into the game the same way smash bros tosses in clones at the end of development except it stinks

in a vacuum this game isn't that bad but im kinda sick of having to look at this series that way in order to not absolutely despise the games

As someone who never played Gen 4 before (starting in Gen 5 myself), I was very excited to see what all the buzz about it was and I wasn't let down in the slightest. Having come in when the series started to take on a more linear approach to region design, seeing the relative freedom offered in Sinnoh was fantastic and the lore and world-building it provided as well through out-of-the-way nuggets of info such as the Canalave Library, Arceus's plates or simply talking to certain random NPC's kept me invested in exploring throughout.

The Grand Underground is also a fantastic addition to the core Pokemon loop and, while I lament the fact that secret bases had to be culled for it to happen, the sheer variety of Pokemon and items that can be found down there more than makes up for it and I can definitely see myself constantly going back down for a bit of mining or to try and get more rare mons (I cannot begin to tell you how hype it was to find wild Tropius, Absol and Houndoom before the 3rd Gym).

Another thing that I hold these games in probably the highest regard out of all the Pokemon games I've played is the difficulty. Knowing that EXP Share would always be turned on prior to the game coming out, I decided to have a rotating team so that way I'd never be overleveled for the fights to come. This turned out to be the best decision I could've made because they absolutely cranked the trainers in this game up to the max. This was probably the first time I've ever lost to a Gym Leader before in a Pokemon game.... and it happened TWICE (once to Maylene and again to Fantina). Even besides that though, the trainers (especially Gym Leaders) had genuine competitive movesets which, as someone who's used to simple AI in Pokemon games, was one hell of a surprise. However, it just made beating them all the more satisfying and I don't think I'll ever forget moments like beating Candice with only Toxicroak left standing after her Abomasnow decimated my entire team or tag teaming Cynthia's Milotic with my Toxicroak and Glaceon over the course of 15 turns.

However, that isn't to say the game's perfect. The variety of Pokemon available without the Grand Underground is still disappointingly low (I personally believe you should've been able to obtain Pokeradar before beating the game so that way the variety would be far greater but that's just me). The music is quite weird where I prefer the og versions of the songs that I adored from the originals (Snowpoint City, Route 216 and Amity Square) yet absolutely love the ones that I didn't care at all for in the originals (Route 203, Eterna City and ESPECIALLY Solaceon Town). And of course, there's no point in ignoring the Phanpy in the room: the graphics. I personally liked them for the most part and where they look good they REALLY look good (like the trainer battles, water or sunset). However, the same is equally as true for when they look BAD. For example, the bottom half of Route 212 can be genuinely sore on the eyes and some characters are almost impossible to take seriously when chibi-fied (poor Cyrus and Volkner....).

Despite all this though, I still had a great time with BDSP for it's refreshingly challenging campaign, brilliant additions in the Grand Underground and such and simply being able to use some of my favourite Gen 4 Pokemon in a Gen 4 game. It has faults that are definitely hard to ignore but overall, I very much enjoyed my time in Sinnoh.

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond encompasses the meaning of a true JRPG. A highly-esteemed classic franchise that has rightfully claimed its place in mainstream and gaming cultures alike. Many gamers begin their JRPG journey with the nostalgia of playing Pokémon in their childhoods, but Final Fantasy VI was actually my first introduction to the genre.

This remake of the original 2006 DS Diamond was the first Pokémon game I've ever played as someone in their mid-20’s. I’ve played this for 200+ hours in the two months following its release. In less than a year, I have already completed four Pokémon games, currently playing my fifth, and Violet will be my sixth. The franchise stole my heart and makes me feel nostalgia for something I never had in my childhood; it fills a hole in my heart I didn’t even know needed to be filled.

The story is always meh, but the gameplay is what makes this great. The gameplay itself is not challenging by any means. In fact, I'm constantly reiterating how Pokemon games are "for kids," and the ease of play makes this inherently obvious. Traditional turn-based combat is simplified (suitable for a child's first JRPG), resistances/weaknesses are practical, the inclusion of status conditions, and everything else that comes with a typical JRPG. Pokémon are cute, the chibi art style is absolutely gorgeous, quality of life updates not found in most older titles are present here and make the game feel much more streamlined (eg. no HM slaves, fast travel unlocked from the beginning, move relearning is infinitely free after succeeding ten heart scales, etc).

The concepts of nature, EV’s, and IV’s are easy to grasp, and these provide much more depth beyond the surface-level gameplay for casual players. Finally, building various teams for competitive, moving up the ranks in the battle tower, and collecting all of the post-game legendaries gives the game a fair bout of post-game content. I also like how the game allows for multiplayer co-op (local & via internet) in the Grand Underground. Overall, a fantastic introduction to the franchise.

0 words for how disappointing this felt. To date I have never regretted buying a game more. Until this atrocity, every mainline game remake was a success that added and expanded to the base game, that recreated important moments while adding new ones and shaking up others to make a new game that felt worth playing. Alpha/Omega Sapphire/Ruby brought the games into a 3D style radically different from their beginnings, added new forms and a functionality that let you ride the legendaries, a cute expanded relationship between the player and the rival, included the additions made in Emerald as a post-game story, etc; these kinds of things that were consistent and set as a standard for remakes. The remake brought an older game up to the current standard of the newest mainline game, usually establishing a kind of relationship between the two so they could be played simultaneously, as seen with HGSS and DPPT or ASOR and XY. BDSP did absolutely none of these. It was a 1 for 1 copy of the original basegame, in a deeply hideous 3D style that lacked any sort of consistency with established Pokemon visuals and instead brought to mind a melty plastic off-brand figurine. Down to every single NPC line, tuft of grass, jagged edges of lakes and landmasses, it was the same as the original. These games came out in 2021, era of Arceus Legends and SWSH, and yet they have nothing in common with the graphics, gameplay or mechanics of either. It was a reskinned game from 2008 released in 2021. They added nothing, did nothing original or even reflective of the generation they were released in; they were essentially a 3D switch port. The only caveat is that they didn't include anything from Platinum, and so in a way actually had less content than the originals. Not to mention Poketch functionality was destroyed by the Switch and the Underground is basically vestigial and pointless, with secret bases now just being ugly display rooms for monochrome versions of Pokemon 3D models. The soullessness of these entries beggars belief.
The entire time I played through it, all I could think was 'why the hell did I buy this? It's uglier, emptier, less functional, and twice the price of the original.' (And for people who argue that Arceus Legends was the true Gen 4 remake, sure - but then why did they release this at all? Why not just market it as a port and not a remake, with a price that reflects just how little effort actually went into this game? We know why! It's Nintendo!)
It felt like a bootleg Pokemon game. I was waiting for this remake for 10 years and every mainline game that got released had me more and more excited for how good this was going to be. Needless to say my disappointment is immeasurable and my day is and continues to be ruined by the existence of this dogshit. I seriously lack words for how much these games made me despise Nintendo. The bar is clipping into the floor.

Beaten: Nov 29 2021
Time: 28 Hours
Platform: Switch

Pokémon Diamond was the first Pokémon game I played, and one of the first games I got into. I’ve got a lot of nostalgia for it, even with some of the admittedly weaker aspects of that generation (the engine is sooooo slooow). I never quite played the wheels off it, but I spent a lot of time chasing legendaries around the map in the post game for sure, which I plan on doing again here. What I was honestly surprised by is how much of my love for this game wasn’t simply nostalgia, but a really triumphant style of world building and (very hot take) a dope pacing curve!

Now, as they all generally are, this remake is a mixed bag. The most obvious point is the art style, but honestly I don’t have a problem with it? Sure it’s a little cheap looking, and uh the character’s legs are way too big and they just look like toddlers when they walk sometimes, but I thought it was generally very charming and pretty accurate to the original, for better or worse.

More of a drag for me was the experience curve. You see, when you battle in this game, experience is awarded to every Pokémon in your party. That’s all well and good, and a huge qol feature for all but the more hardcore fans, but this game really wasn’t designed around a level curve like that. If you keep the same team all game, you’ll be massively overpowered until the very end. Not that it’s the hardest game in the world originally, but this really makes it a cakewalk, and not in the best way. The only saving grace is that it seems like they adjusted the elite four to be muchhh more difficult, so they’ll be just as hard as before!

Other changes are revelations. The best one is being able to access your PC at any time. You can keep a rotating team (which makes the level curve much more sane) real easily, and fill out your evolutions in your Pokédex effortlessly as well. Raising Pokémon has honestly never been this fun! (in the ones I’ve played at least)

The other change and probably the best part is YOUR POKÉMON CAN WALK BESIDE YOU NOW!!!! And they move so naturally and ahhh I love it so much! Hell in the square in Hearthome city you can take YOUR ENTIRE PARTY ON A WALK AT THE SAME TIME. THATS SO NUTS. AND SO VIBES.

And honestly that’s what this remake really gets right for me, despite the missteps. It still feels like Diamond, with all its deep mythology and real lived in world, just with the coziness factor cranked up. As long as you don’t actively hate the visual style, I’d say this is worth picking up!

When people talk about this game, one of the first words mentioned always seems to be 'nostalgia'. But playing through this remake, I didn't really get a sense of nostalgia at all. With the way they interpreted the original game's style, it kinda feels like looking at a game I've already played through a microscope and seeing all the dirt on it. On the bright side, Sinnoh is still Sinnoh, the most atmosphere-rich Pokemon has ever been, with authentic references to folklore and religion, and the villains are still pretty cute new world order obsessed 2000s cult analysis parodies, and some of those bigger routes are still a joy to explore! The game's quality is preserved, at the very least, although there are some places that feel like direct downgrades, like the visuals, the contests, interacting with the poketch, and especially the music, but there are some upgraded spots too. Being able to experience the game's online in 2021 without hassle is also pretty nice. And I think the Grand Underground is pretty cool, it's like if you split up the Wild Area into being shaped like a Zelda dungeon. They also gave a lot of important trainers really good AI and movesets, fighting competitive strategies in the middle of my campaign made me feel like I was playing a ROM hack. But the real kicker is this game's dedication to be faithful to Diamond and Pearl specifically. Even field encounter sheets and trainer teams are copied straight over, only with movesets edited. I didn't realize how much better Platinum was until I played this game, and I don't even really understand why the developers were so dedicated to avoid that game. Going into it, I assumed it was a budget cut decision, but the way it was ignored, even for simple lines of script like route encounters, confused me so much I didn't even realize the Pokemon I wanted to use weren't in the main-story campaign until I read through Serebii. Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are remakes dedicated to not being the best version of Sinnoh. What's the point of a remake if the game is too scared to even be the best version of the game it's remaking?

I ended up settling on the number 3.5 as my rating because it's what felt fair to rating the game as a video game, and not a remake. Sinnoh is a really good place, with a lot of really good content. This is reasonably still the biggest Pokemon region ever, even with the engine cleaned up so exploring it doesn't feel so slow. The only thing I'm left to say about it is that this game is only really worth playing if you want to feel involved in the Pokemon community's current online networks, or if you physically cannot play Pokemon Platinum. If you missed some aspects of modern Pokemon, I'd recommend playing Renegade Platinum, the definitive quality-of-life cleanup ROM hack. I know comparing fan works and real games sounds sketchy, but a fanmade remake largely made out of minor script changes shouldn't be so uncontestable from a huge company's retail price product. I can't say I didn't enjoy my time with the game, at the very least. And I'll probably play a bunch more, just because I like Sinnoh's post-game that much. I've even seen this game turn some heads that previously weren't as receptive to the Gen 4 games, due to its faster gameplay. Though, on the other hand, these games were made in Unity, which means that they remade the Pokemon engine in Unity as fast as possible to get this game finished. They're the glitchiest Pokemon games since the first Pokemon games. But with Sinnoh's retained quality, they're also the best Pokemon games since the good Pokemon games. Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are the most confusing remakes I've ever played.

EDIT 2 MONTHS LATER: i think i was way too nice to this game, it's just so redundant in comparison to other games it has no reason to exist. Sorry Brilliant Diamond I will never play you to completion again

This has to be one of the worst remakes for a game ever.
It shipped as a horribly buggy mess without a title screen, finished music, online, cutscenes, or a postgame. It forces an update on the person that just paid $60 for it (the originals on DS were $40) half the size of the game so they wouldnt have to pay to ship cartridges with more storage which also means it will be impossible for someone to buy this game complete when Nintendo stops supporting the Switch's online services.
The art style is in my opinion lazy and uninteresting excused by it being a "faithful remake" despite it not being faithful to the original underground, contests, or game's fucking balancing. BDSP is soooo """"faithful"""" to the point that they just copied over Diamond and Pearl's code to use as a base, but also somehow managed to introduce even more glitches into it too. Also i guess just fuck every single thing Platinum did to make Sinnoh an actually good region because all they include from Platinum is the new Pokemon, but only in the new areas of the underground. They spit in the face of one of my most beloved Pokemon games, taking out any of it's many improvements to the story, characters, post game, and balancing for the sake of faithfulness to the versions of Sinnoh that nobody prefers.
This game is what happens when you barely pay an outsourcing studio to make a whole Pokemon level remake in only 19 months. A complete waste of time for both the developers and players. It hurts me to think that this game sold over 14 million copies, worst case scenario they'll do they same fucking song and dance for Black and White because they know it sells.