For the months leading up to 2021, Pokemon fans were more than eager to learn about the next entry in the series, with many supposed leaks and rumors floating around about remakes of the 4th generation titles, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. Finally, in a Pokemon Presents livestream in celebration of Pokemon Day back in February, the faithful remakes Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl were revealed.
The games were met with incredibly mixed reactions, with some fans excited to see a return to form for the franchise with a more faithful-looking 1-to-1 recreation of the Nintendo DS games. However, some fans expressed disappointment, as they hoped to see a complete overhaul of the Sinnoh region. Now, some new Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl screenshots seem to show graphical changes to the upcoming games.
Over on Twitter, popular Spanish Pokemon news account PokeXperto tweeted images showing changes to the 4th generation remakes as seen in new screenshots posted on Nintendo's Japanese eShop page. One image comparison at Lake Verity looks to show a very minor change in the graphics' overall color saturation, while another comparison seems to show big changes to the games' battle screen.
In the second comparison, it seems that the male main character is now represented by a completely different model when in battles. The main character now looks much smaller than in the initial February reveal trailer for Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. The colors in the new screenshot also seem to be more slightly more saturated than before. Additionally, fans can tell that this is an entirely new screenshot and not an altered version of the old one, as the new image features the trainer battling a male Shinx as opposed to a female Shinx, which has blue feet and a shorter tuft of hair.
It is unclear why a change like this would be made, perhaps the games' developer ILCA wanted to shrink the size of the main character to show more of the battle screen. These changes have of course been met with mixed reactions by Pokemon fans as well. Some have expressed that the changes seems completely unnecessary, while others are holding out hope for other graphical changes in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.
Many expected the Pokemon remakes to show up at Nintendo's E3 presentation in some form this year, however, they were ultimately a no-show. As a result, fans have begun speculating on whether a Pokemon Presents could be announced soon, divulging more details on Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl as well as Pokemon Legends: Arceus.
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl will release on November 19 for Nintendo Switch.