A game is very special when it’s something that’s near and dear to my heart, yet lets me find new ways to approach and enjoy it or new details that I’d notice. Pokemon Platinum is that. Diamond and Pearl had a very interesting region with excellent lore, but it was tied to poor pacing and a ridiculously slow engine, along with a small Pokedex with limited variety. Platinum saw all of these flaws, and fixed them. Yes, it still runs somewhat slow as a product of being on the generation 4 engine, but it’s infinitely faster than what DP was. And adding 59 more Pokemon to the regional dex while tweaking others’ learnsets? It’s fantastic for replayability and variety, and improving the game’s pacing in terms of story and badge progression, on top of adding more dialogue really helps to build the world and make the characters feel tangible. Small things like visual tweaks, be they shading changes or additions of snow in some areas, or making the Lost Tower more haunted looking, to outright redoing some maps helps the game stand out, both in an individuality sense and also visually. It’s a treat to look at, and it’s fun seeing the same, good lore get expanded upon in a game that structures itself in a way that can hold my attention. It’s filled to brim with sidequests, and ensures that you will encounter the entire Pokedex’s worth of Pokemon in a regular run if you simply engage with its content, and that’s extremely rewarding to me. I took it at my own pace this run, engaging with daily content, fighting morning/night specific trainers and catching Pokemon that spawn only at specific times, and felt a stronger connection to the game for it. It’s a game I can always escape to, as Sinnoh fundamentally reminds me of growing up in the middle of nowhere in North Georgia, and staying with my grandparents on native land in North Carolina. It’s a mountainous, chilly region with a lot of myth to it, but that’s what makes it feel so much like a home to me. Coupled with the brilliant soundtrack, which changes depending on the time of day, it’s really easy for me to find myself immersed with the game, engrossed wholly. As characters are expanded upon dramatically, and the game’s pacing no longer feels like a slog which lacks in Pokemon variety, a game which is built upon a rather weak foundation emerges as frankly, one of the best in the series. There is a strong commitment to variety in enemy teams and movesets, and ensuring that the game’s areas all stand out in fresh and memorable ways, and the game oozes with charm for it. Playing for the first time as a child, and seeing the expanded Pokedex was mindblowing. Hell, seeing some trainer sprites move blew me away. As an adult, the game remains a “comfort” media of sorts, which I’ve replayed annually for the past four years. In 2021 and 2022 it was an escape from my father’s cancer diagnosis, and my own chronic illness, respectively. This year, playing it on a break of sorts from school, I’m unfettered and able to experience it purely as it is, and that is so precious and blissful. I cannot stress how much this game means to me.