I never played the originals and was hoping for a proper remake in the Gen 8 style so this isn’t what I was hoping for but it was mostly fine. Not a huge fan of this Pokédex since there aren’t a whole lot of some types before the Elite Four. The game itself was pretty easy until you face Cynthia which was the only time in the entire game that I lost a battle. The controls were a bit slippery, I found myself getting stuck on corners and walls while running or riding the bike. There were a couple times while exploring caves that I couldn’t even take a single step without being ambushed by a wild Pokémon 3 to 4 times in a row. Overall it’s a classic Pokémon experience with improved graphics but kind of a letdown playing after Sword/Shield.

Ok, I'll try to make some fair criticisms instead of just repeating "I don't like how this looks".

First off-ILCA. ILCA has no experience making a game from scratch. If you try to google their track record you'll see some big names like Yakuza 0, Nier: Automata and even the Domino's app feat. Hatsune Miku. But they didn't MAKE those games, they only helped polishing them and stuff.

Actually, they probably had the opportunity to create Miku's model on Domino's app from scratch. But what they did instead was borrow and slightly edit one of the official models for MikuMikuDance, wich is a FREE program. Literally anyone can borrow this model and edit it (with due permission).

Nintendo looked at this company, looked at the hype for gen 4 remakes, and went "yeah, you can handle it". Despite, again, ILCA having no previous experience doing anything from scratch, and seemingly refusing to do so in the past.

Then we have the game's color palette. Any artist can tell that it sucks. The hues don't change much from one color to the other, so a lot of things blend in together. And the fact that the game doesn't have outlines only makes it worse. That's the reason why Barry's hair looks weird: It fades into his skin and you can't tell where it starts and where it ends unless you squint your eyes.

I know we only have one trailer, but this is already looking like a recipe for disaster. This is not the gen 4 remakes we wanted, much less the ones we deserve after putting up with Pokémon's crap for so many years. Do better, Pokémon Company.

but seriously now,this is not a good remake.at all

interesting!! coming back to Pokémon properly for the first time since i was...ten?...was an illuminating experience. small qualms aside, the overall addictive quality, the fun of it all is still absolutely there. i suppose if anything big got in the way of that, it's my own intelligence now...my tendency to look at stats and analyze details to determine what i do, rather than just pick cool/cute shit along the way haha

that naïve joy isn't there anymore...but it was still a good time. a welcome place to mindlessly sink into something not too demanding and without a whole lotta stakes. will definitely come back to the series soon, maybe try out one of the variant games (Arceus perhaps??)

Ok I'm a bit late writing this so my memory is a bit fuzzy but I'll try and summarise the best I can.

I can't exactly say much on the originals, nor platinum, as I've never played them, so this is solely going off bdsp, and honestly I thought the game was decent.

It's your standard Pokémon experience so ya know what your in for as soon as ya start, while I enjoy Pokémon I have noticed I tend to get bored towards the later half, as the game doesn't really change all that much.

Bdsp brings over most of the modern qol updates, xp share, HMs etc. Which some people don't like but I appreciate, and will make me always prefer remakes over the originals, as I can't stand the originals and their clunkiness lol

I found the story to be ok, stop the evil team and get the gym badges.

The gameplay is fine, I found sinnoh fun enough to travel, if a bit awkward at times, the music is great and visuals are hit or miss, sometimes the game looks nice, and other times looks pretty bad.

Unfortunately I can't exactly remember much as I played it a while ago at this point, though I suppose that means the game isn't very memorable.

Overall, a decent time, I really don't know what else to say lol.

Not going to give this a "real" review: I'll save that for when I dig into Platinum one of these days.

What I will say is that this isn't outright bad, simply by the virtue that, at its core, this is still Sinnoh Pokemon and Sinnoh Pokemon is good. They also made one very solid change: the new Pokemon in the Underground remedy the original's Dex issue. No longer do you have to pick Chimchar or get saddled with Ponyta if you want a fire type: get yo ass a Houndour. Cool (ignoring the fact that if you really care, you can set up trades).

BUT: secret bases are ruined. Contests are ruined. There's no Battle Frontier. The graphics are ASS. No, I don't hate chibi on principle, this is just really bad chibi. You can argue whether or not it was good to not choose to incorporate newer mechanics such as Mega Evolution or Z-moves, but at least the former's inclusion in Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire made the game a different experience than the originals.

The worst thing that can be said about Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl is they don't have any real reason to exist beyond Platinum being a bit expensive on the secondary market now. Sinnoh but worse is still Sinnoh, but what is the point in playing this when there are better alternatives?

I agree that it's the worst remake out of the series so far for the fact that it is a "1:1 translation" of the original game rather than a genuine remaking of the game where the region is pretty much reimagined. One could argue it feels more like a port than a remake. I am personally more bothered than normal about the soundtrack. The music to me feels like the weakest recreation of the Diamond/Pearl games that we get with these games.

That being said, I still had a grand time playing this title with my girlfriend and going through the Sinnoh region again. Although not original, it was a classic Pokemon adventure that I got to enjoy on Switch. I would go as far to say matched the feeling I get playing the original version on DS, which I still do to this day a couple times a year.

Ughhh...

They should've just remastered Platinum and added new features. I get you want a faithful remake but god damn the OG D/P games were not great mechanically! Platinum fixed the issues with the Sinnoh games and they decided to not remake that game?

The game is sleeper. I guess I'm biased because I prefer Platinum, but it's true. Platinum is a 15 year old game now and has better features and is mechanically more sound than this game is despite better hardware and more reference material available. I basically forced myself to finish this despite shelving it for a few weeks. I grinded it hoping I'd have fun with it, but I was happier to be done with it more than anything.

The only thing this game provides is a new base for ROM Hacking. People mod the SHIT out of these games now and they can use them the way people used Gen 3 games to make ROM Hacks back in the day.