Pokémon Presents dropped a new video event today, and in the half-hour presentation, we got tons of exciting news for the Pokémon franchise.
Perhaps the most exciting for some fans is the confirmation that the company is releasing faithful remakes dubbed Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, as was rumored earlier this year.
This is far from the first time we’ve seen The Pokémon Company tackle remakes, with FireRed and LeafGreen beginning this trend all the way back on the Game Boy Advance.
They’ve followed suit in the following years by remaking Gold and Silver, and later Ruby and Sapphire, which makes it only fitting that these Generation IV classics are next in line.
Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl will be faithful remakes with a new developer
One of the things that they made sure to state throughout the video presentation is that these new titles will be “faithful remakes.” As such, they’re not looking to change-up the games in a major way. There will likely be quality-of-life tweaks and other things now that technology has advanced, but the story and gameplay look to be the same.
This is the same process they’ve used for previous remakes, but there are some changes in the way they’re handling this one. All of the past remakes, and core Pokémon games, have been developed by GameFreak; that’s changing this time.
For Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, they are being developed by ILCA Inc., which is the same company that worked on Pokémon Home. That’s an exciting connection, as it likely means that they will work to make these new versions compatible with Pokémon Home, but details on that aspect have not been revealed just yet.
Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl have two directors. The first is Yuichi Ueda of ILCA Inc., and the second is Junichi Masuda of GameFreak. Masuda is a key figure to get involved, as he was the original director of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl on the Nintendo DS.
New developer shows off chibi-style graphics, but keeps camera and scale
Many will likely have noticed that these reveals show gameplay in what is being described by most as chibi-style graphics. It’s a slightly different look to what we’re used to for classic Pokémon games, but not a bad one by any means.
While the graphics take a slightly different style, the overall look and build will be a proper remake. They specifically state in the video that the sense of scale in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl is being carefully preserved for Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.
Gameplay footage showed that the various towns and the top-down fixed camera of old is back. This is a change from the various camera styles used in their most recent release, Pokémon Sword and Shield.
Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are slated to have a worldwide release in late 2021, but an exact release date was not revealed.
We’re sure to get more information as that potential release window nears, but as of now, the excitement is palpable for this return to the Sinnoh region.
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