Pokemon remakes are about as expected as new titles introducing regions and their colorful cast of monsters. Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen released in 2004, updating the original Kanto region games using the style of Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald. That established a pattern to be replicated by 2009's Pokemon HeartGold and SoulSilver, as well as 2014's Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are the first true remakes to really deviate from this idea.
While 2018's Pokemon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! also remade the original Kanto games in a unique style, they felt like spin-offs taking advantage of Pokemon GO's mechanics following the mobile title's success. They also came out before Generation 8's official debut in Sword and Shield, which introduced the Galar region and a classic Pokemon adventure updated for the Switch hybrid console. Still, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl - developed by Pokemon HOME creator ILCA rather than Game Freak - elected to be more "traditional" revivals of Sinnoh rather than updating it in the style of Sword and Shield.
Many new features were added to this year's remakes, such as Pokemon following or revisions to the now-Grand Underground. However, what garnered perhaps the most attention prior to launch was Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl's aesthetics, which are split into a toy-like chibi style in the overworld and full-scale HD models during battle. Taking this approach certainly gave Diamond and Pearl remakes a flair all their own, but the project likely could have been stronger if it chose one of those paths and really committed.
A More 'Traditional' Diamond and Pearl Remake
The path many fans of the franchise will undoubtedly jump to is a Diamond and Pearl remake in the vein of its predecessors. It's easy to see where ILCA's split aesthetics came from, as this style emulates the division between blocky tile-based overworld sprites and detailed battle pixel art in the original games. However, prior Pokemon remakes have chosen to innovate upon their source materials' styles rather than replicate them so faithfully.
Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen, as well as HeartGold and SoulSilver, are obvious examples largely due to the technical limitations of the games they remade. Generation 1 and 2 may be beloved, but the original Game Boy hardware held back their visuals (even if the handheld console established an aesthetic all its own). Using the templates of Ruby and Sapphire, and then Diamond and Pearl, meant the Kanto and Johto regions could be brought to life in a new way. Characters and locales were all updated, and in many ways these remakes established modern conceptions of what their worlds looked like in hindsight.
Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire are a slightly different case, as they brought Ruby and Sapphire into the 3D age wrought by Pokemon X and Y while more radically redesigning Hoenn to match. The differences between redesigns of a character like Falkner in Gold and HeartGold versus Roxanne in Ruby and Omega Ruby are stark, and the same can be said for locales like Mauville City. Either way, the classic-styled Gen 2 remakes and more radical Gen 3 remakes both succeeded in updating their source materials to the standards of contemporary Pokemon adventures.
Battles in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl offer a glimpse into what full HeartGold and SoulSilver-style reimaginings of Sinnoh region games might have looked like. Trainer models are beautifully updated into HD based on their solidified appearances from the DS pixel art, and the way they emote before and after a battle is compelling. Special kudos go to the diverse battle environments based on almost every indoor and outdoor locale that all maintain a warm, painterly style in contrast to the original DS games' abstract battlefields. Many of them have Mt. Coronet looming in the distance, a reminder of the region's most important landmark. One could easily imagine this aesthetic replicated with the scale of Galar's overworld; a Sinnoh that feels more natural and realistic to walk around in.
A Charming, Toy-Like Diamond and Pearl Remake
With all that being said, there isn't a lot inherently wrong with the idea of making a more toy-like overworld that stays true to the original vision of Sinnoh. As far as remaking older games go, the success of 2019's Link's Awakening shows it's a compelling idea. Fans can, in a sense, have their cake and eat it too: Explore a Sinnoh that's familiar to their childhood memories without the same performance issues.
Though Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl have their own share of bugs, what really holds them back is a lack of commitment to this potentially unique idea for a remake. If ILCA had dug its heels in and only worked on a toybox version of Diamond and Pearl - one that was perhaps offered at a discounted $40 - some issues people have with the chibi aesthetic such as a lack of expression on the models or stilted grid-based movements could have been polished up.
With regards to battles, switching to HD characters does replicate the more complex pixel art of the originals, but it's a little more jarring to transition between the two styles in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. Perhaps these remakes could have taken a page from Let's Go, Pikachu! and Eevee! by turning battles into their own kind of toy-based brawls - something reminiscent of the Pokemon Rumble series that recently saw its developer Ambrella dissolved.
A complete HD reimagining of Diamond and Pearl or a cutesy, experimental (and cheaper) return to Sinnoh as an appetizer for Pokemon Legends: Arceus could have worked equally well. The approach ILCA took is fine, but neither of its aesthetic styles truly have the chance to shine because they don't get all the attention they need. This is especially a shame given the games are one of Nintendo's big holiday releases the same year as its Switch OLED model released. On the bright side, now that The Pokemon Company has shown its willingness to outsource mainline titles to developers outside of Game Freak, there's potential for Pokemon Black and White to do something more radical like Dragon Quest 3's upcoming HD-2D styled remake.
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are available now on Nintendo Switch.
