User Score
5.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 917 Ratings

User score distribution:
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  1. Nov 21, 2021
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Very poorly made remake. While the expansions to old features are nice, forced exp share on from the start, several gamebreaking bugs, sluggish battles, and softlocks in places such as Snowpoint Gym make for an awful experience. You're better off playing Pokemon Platinum than this rehashed "remake" trash. You don't even get to customize your character until way later into the game, and Platinum outfits are locked behind paid internet for Mystery Gift. These games have the same problem as the last three gens have had; too much lenience in the direction of newcomers, and almost nothing for veterans to sink their teeth into. Not to mention how awful grid-based movement and stiff turns look in a completely 3D environment.
    The few good things are mostly expanded on in postgame, such as rematches, the new Park, and more stuff to catch in the Underground.
    Otherwise, save your money. The worst part is that these games can have their versions changed with a single flag of its code being changed, so anyone who paid for the double pack was ripped off big time. Play Platinum, Renegade Platinum, or just old DP. The "National PokeDex" doesn't really contain anything beyond Gen 4, and Leafeon/Glaceon/Gliscor/Dusknoir (fanfavorites) are all stuck in postgame because they used the DP item distribution.

    Complete waste of money, save yourself some sanity, please.
    Expand
  2. Jan 30, 2022
    1
    They sold us an incomplete and nerfed game for the absurd price of 60 eruros.
    Some functions months after the release of the game are still missing. On top of that platinum version is still way better compared to this sloppy port.
    Uninspired cheap work with no new additions unlike omega ruby and alpha zaffire. Reason my score is 2 and not 1 is because pearl was a great game with a
    They sold us an incomplete and nerfed game for the absurd price of 60 eruros.
    Some functions months after the release of the game are still missing. On top of that platinum version is still way better compared to this sloppy port.
    Uninspired cheap work with no new additions unlike omega ruby and alpha zaffire.

    Reason my score is 2 and not 1 is because pearl was a great game with a good map... somehow the remake ruin it for me.
    There are way better games to play compared to this uninspired work.
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  3. Jan 15, 2022
    1
    Incredibly buggy. The graphics also seem to be a prototype version. Shouldn't have been sold.
  4. Nov 22, 2021
    1
    This game is literally the minimum of a pokemon game. It only has the base content a pokemon game should have, thats it. After 1 hour, the gameplay just repeats itself. Go there-beat gym leader-go there. On the way of your adventure, you literally chase the same 3-4 wild pokemon every single time. Its always either geodude, ponyta, kricketune or bidoof.

    The graphic style can of course
    This game is literally the minimum of a pokemon game. It only has the base content a pokemon game should have, thats it. After 1 hour, the gameplay just repeats itself. Go there-beat gym leader-go there. On the way of your adventure, you literally chase the same 3-4 wild pokemon every single time. Its always either geodude, ponyta, kricketune or bidoof.

    The graphic style can of course not please anybody, but that is not the bad thing. The bad thing is, how they implemented it. I like chibi art style, bot those character models in combination with those bad animation, is just ugly. There are many frame issues also.

    Next: The game is just too easy. I know, pokemon games are not popular for their difficulty, but this is a nightmare. their decision to force the player to use the exp. share, does make it even worse. Battles arent fun anyomore, because you already know you win, easily. Even though I tried to avoid as many battles as possible, I still was overleveled with at least 4 levels.

    Now it gets to the worst of all: The connex club. Wtf is this. It doesnt even work right. In comparison to the online systems of the last decade, this is a joke. You can only battle and trade, and thats it. If you join a room, there is literally one person, that isnt even moving. No one can accept your requestions and thats just pretty dumb. Connex club was not a bad idea back then: But it isnt anymore. I cant understand why the implemented this it didnt age well.

    In conclusion, this is not a good remake. Its more like a remaster. Which has definetily lower requierments than a real remake.
    Expand
  5. Nov 28, 2021
    1
    Wanted Shin Megami Tensei V but was SOL, so I picked this game up instead since my sister also wanted to play it and we could share the game.

    The art work is HORRENDOUS. Whoever thought chibi characters where a good idea should've been fired. The game holds your hand WAY to much, and each enemy attack is pretty much predictable to the point you use maybe 1 or 2 moves per Pokemon. Hitting
    Wanted Shin Megami Tensei V but was SOL, so I picked this game up instead since my sister also wanted to play it and we could share the game.

    The art work is HORRENDOUS. Whoever thought chibi characters where a good idea should've been fired. The game holds your hand WAY to much, and each enemy attack is pretty much predictable to the point you use maybe 1 or 2 moves per Pokemon. Hitting enemy weaknesses isn't as rewarding/satisfying as they are in Shin Megami Tensei because while they do slightly more damage they only do that, slightly more damage.

    You can, quite literally, complete this game with just your starter. Pitiful.

    The online portion of the game is absolute garbage. In the middle of an online battle? Well now your not because in 2099 you could have terabit internet and the game would still drop your connection to your opponent like a freaking hot potato. My sister can have this game since she wants to play it... I'm never buying a Pokémon game again, and I'm gonna stick to Shin Megami Tensei
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  6. Jan 3, 2022
    1
    The original has more charm than this weeb slop port job. There are basically zero quality of life improvements besides the thing that gives your whole party experience (which puts the game in easy mode) and the ability to use HMs without making a slave. The worst part of this pos is the CHARACTER MOVEMENT. The game lets you use an analog stick to roam freely while still using a gridThe original has more charm than this weeb slop port job. There are basically zero quality of life improvements besides the thing that gives your whole party experience (which puts the game in easy mode) and the ability to use HMs without making a slave. The worst part of this pos is the CHARACTER MOVEMENT. The game lets you use an analog stick to roam freely while still using a grid system, so you're constantly running into doorframes instead of a door, or moving around in a complete circle while trying to move between two rocks. This, mixed with the fact the game throws low level time wasting pokemon encounters at you every 5 steps makes this game an unbearable turd. I literally spent all my money on repels because I couldn't take it anymore. DO NOT BUY, buy or emulate the original. Expand
  7. Nov 26, 2021
    1
    Keine Liebe im Spiel. Nicht mehr genacht als nötig. Das was verändert wurde ist nix was das Spiel verbessert. Vor allem mal wieder keine einstellbaren schwierivkeistsgrade
  8. Jan 30, 2022
    1
    Low effort remake of a classic that defined a lot of people's childhood. Embarrassing.
  9. Feb 16, 2022
    1
    Actually **** this game.
    You already know why.
    I'm just happy we got Legends Arceus in the state we did, most likely cause gamefreak didn't need to split they're dev team to make both games.
    As long as gen 9 follows in legends footsteps were in a good place, otherwise it's back to soulless **** :(
  10. Dec 12, 2021
    1
    Just so sick of the same old pokemon stuff. Gamefreak will literally never listen to us. I know this is a remake, but you can still feel the 0 effort they put into this. They don't even have the Vs recorder in the game which was oringally in Diamond and pearl. They don't even have a rank mode for this game :/. They left that on Sword and Shield.
  11. Nov 21, 2021
    1
    Nothing new, the same old copypaste, disappointing as always. Don't pay attention to the fanboys review, this game is made with the minimum effort and doesn't deserve your money.
  12. Nov 26, 2021
    1
    Нет русского языка! Это просто стыдно, сейчас у многих малобюджетных инди игр(в которых иной раз текста больше чем в покемонах) есть локализация с русскими сабами, а у nintendo с game freak денег не хватило? Нинка позиционирует себя как друг семьи, но мой ребенок должен страдать играя на неродном языке.Нет русского языка! Это просто стыдно, сейчас у многих малобюджетных инди игр(в которых иной раз текста больше чем в покемонах) есть локализация с русскими сабами, а у nintendo с game freak денег не хватило? Нинка позиционирует себя как друг семьи, но мой ребенок должен страдать играя на неродном языке.
  13. Nov 22, 2021
    1
    Bad Graphics or better, similar in some way to 3ds graphically, rushed, and plus, incomplete unless you download update day one, without platinum content and has few current gen improvements, different than HGSS and ORAS, all of this for $60. And sorry for my bad English.
  14. Nov 20, 2021
    1
    This is not a good remake.
    Why doesn't this remake have platinum content or any original content? When Heartgold Soulsilver had crystal content and Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire had some Emerald content. No story changes, graphics looks like something came out the PS2 GameCube era. ILCA and Junichi Masuda should be a shamed of themselves! This not worth $60!!!
  15. Nov 20, 2021
    1
    Small nitpicks like Amie boosts and untoggleable exp. share aside, the game simply fails to meet the graphical standards that would be expected of a 2021 Switch game. The game may be useful to those people who hadn't played the originals, but it fails to add enough content to justify its price tag and elicits profound sense of déjà vu for players of the original Diamond and Pearl versionsSmall nitpicks like Amie boosts and untoggleable exp. share aside, the game simply fails to meet the graphical standards that would be expected of a 2021 Switch game. The game may be useful to those people who hadn't played the originals, but it fails to add enough content to justify its price tag and elicits profound sense of déjà vu for players of the original Diamond and Pearl versions that released in 2007. Expand
  16. Nov 21, 2021
    1
    It is my favorite game of the franchise, at the time in the DS I spent hours and hours playing, transferring my Pokémon from LeafGreen.

    With the graphics I have no complaints because they wanted to do something different, but the fact that it does not add anything new to the saga is a joke. Sadly I bought it expecting something new but it is only a remaster. How to ruin my hype in
    It is my favorite game of the franchise, at the time in the DS I spent hours and hours playing, transferring my Pokémon from LeafGreen.

    With the graphics I have no complaints because they wanted to do something different, but the fact that it does not add anything new to the saga is a joke.

    Sadly I bought it expecting something new but it is only a remaster.

    How to ruin my hype in a long time.

    I give it a 1 just for nostalgia
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  17. Nov 21, 2021
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Pros: Some song remixes are pretty good (but even the worst Pokémon games tend to have decent music), some battle backgrounds look nice.

    Cons: -Awful chibi style in the overworld that makes some scenes that are supposed to be tense into jokes (Cyrus awkwardly waddling around the edges of the carpet before talking about putting an end to everything)
    -Little to no Platinum features (no Charon, Looker, or Villa for example)
    -Costs about 9-6 more dollars (assuming you bought DP/Pt when they released for $40) than the originals when accounting for inflation and not including a NSO subscription
    -Forced EXP Share, regardless of if you hated grinding or not
    -OP Amie buffs upon reaching 100% friendship
    -Scuffed following Pokémon mechanic with the same exact issue SwSh had with some Pokemon being incredibly slow even though they literally got it correct in LGPE
    -Overworld Pokémon scaling so bad it’s hilarious
    -Only the original 493, not even any regional forms which even LGPE had (the same game that also cut cross-gen evos)
    -Still has many issues that plague the Pokémon series (Clunky and slow battle system with text boxes for everything, bad in-battle scaling, static/boring idle and attacking animations, lack of difficulty options)

    Basically, just play Platinum or some ROMHack if you want to play a Sinnoh game.
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  18. Nov 21, 2021
    1
    This game is almost literally a carbon copy of the original pokemon diamond and pokemon pearl. As such, it is hard for me to give this game anything more than a 1, because no game was "made" here, everything is just copied. But, I will give it a 1 instead of a 0 because it is an actual game that turns on and that you can win. Considering the 60$ price tag though, to anybody that reallyThis game is almost literally a carbon copy of the original pokemon diamond and pokemon pearl. As such, it is hard for me to give this game anything more than a 1, because no game was "made" here, everything is just copied. But, I will give it a 1 instead of a 0 because it is an actual game that turns on and that you can win. Considering the 60$ price tag though, to anybody that really wants to play this: I recommend playing pokemon platinum from 2009. Pokemon platinum is this game but better, because it has more content and it has pixel art instead of the visuals of this game, which unfortunately don't look good and are very reminiscent of a mobile game. Pokemon platinum is also a more challenging experience as there is no mandatory "Exp share" item to boost your pokemons' levels beyond your opponents'. Pokemon games are notoriously braindead-easy, so any possible increase in difficulty is a plus in this franchise. Expand
  19. Dec 3, 2021
    1
    I want to say that first of all I do not blame ILCA, they have absolutely to no experience with game development. Probably they done what Nintendo wanted them to do, the bare minium. To milk money from all the nostalgic players. But this is not okay in year 2021. To take the same game with no new mechanics, and simply reskin it. In this case faithfull remake means lazy one. So what do youI want to say that first of all I do not blame ILCA, they have absolutely to no experience with game development. Probably they done what Nintendo wanted them to do, the bare minium. To milk money from all the nostalgic players. But this is not okay in year 2021. To take the same game with no new mechanics, and simply reskin it. In this case faithfull remake means lazy one. So what do you get for 60$? Questionable graphics and the same old game from year 2006. That's all, really. I would rather play platinum version, or diamond pearl. Those games are from the era when Nintendo/Gamefreak actually cared about the quality of games. I suggest that with the death of Satoru Iwata, we lost passion in pokemon games. But I refuse to enjoy this cashgrabs, even though gen 4 is one of my favourite. Expand
  20. Nov 22, 2021
    1
    The game is fine, it maintains the essence of the original diamond, with pleasant graphics to see.
    The big problem is in the difficulty, it is null.
    I don't see any point in the exp being active for all the pokemons on the team, it should at least give the option to deactivate it, that added to other small things that make it too simple an adventure
  21. Nov 22, 2021
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Its a failed chance. The missing of Platimum content, the EXP share system and the friendshipsystem are more than garbage. Its sad to play the game and constantly skip routes because the next gym is everytime under youre level. If you go to the gym and youre the same level youre pokemon constantly avoid attacks ad crit everythin into the ground. Pokemon hasnt to be hard but a bit more challenge than onehit everything is more than needed for a good game . Expand
  22. Nov 24, 2021
    1
    One point for the new graphics. The remake has no a sincerity, I’m even missing ORAS on 3ds. It hardly has any new contents being a new game in 2021 selling for 60$. All I want now is a National Pokédex, I have even put away my wild wish for the return of mega evolution.
  23. Nov 24, 2021
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Don't waste your money on this. I was never a fan of Pokémon going 3D, but I told myself the 3DS was holding it back. So how do these games look worse than Sun/Moon? The chibi artstyle on the overworld might be faithful to the originals, but it doesn't look that good. The entire game has no character, compared to the DS originals which, while being limited to being almost entirely 2D, where extremely charming. Compared to other 3D Pokémon games, the problem is probably best summed up as, the colors just don't pop. The games look very flat, compared to even the 3DS games. The games are laughably easy. They included every new thing that made the last games easier (EXP share for the entire team always on, Pokemon critting more often and surviving hits that should have KOed them if the friendship is high enough) and then decreased levels compared to the originals? The only exception is Cynthia which ramps the difficulty up to 11 with a competitive team. The story is a carbon copy of the originals with no notable changes. Post-game is non-existent and every change Platinum made is also cut completely. What did they improve? The new underground is a very nice addition, as well as the removal of HM's. Don't get me wrong you will have fun playing these games, but only because the originals where good games and you know what Platinum was better in every way. It feels like Gamefreak doesn't know what we like about Pokémon or what the fans want. They copy pasted the originals, made them 3D, made them easier and called it a day. They couldn't even be asked to include any Pokémon that weren't in the originals, even though the 3D aspect should make that an almost trivial task, by just doing what they did for the entire game, CTRL+C -> CTRL+V. No new features like Mega-Evolution, Z-Moves or even Dynamax are here. Additionally the games are already so bugged, that glitches similar to the original DS games where discovered. While these generally don't happen during a normal playthrough, they show a lack of polish. TLDR play a patched version of Platinum that removes some of the kinks or even just the vanilla version and you will have a better experience. If we call out EA for copy pasting the same game every year I. The Fifa series, Gamefreak shouldn't get any other treatment for doing the same, even if the games are 15 years old at this point. Expand
  24. Nov 24, 2021
    1
    I'm just going to be up front here when I say this; this game does nothing new. There is almost zero attempt at actually being better than the originals. Hell, even some content from Platinum is cut entirely when it would've benefitted the game heavily. The game is an absolute breeze to go through, even when up against endgame foes. This is because of two reasons:
    A) The EXP Share is
    I'm just going to be up front here when I say this; this game does nothing new. There is almost zero attempt at actually being better than the originals. Hell, even some content from Platinum is cut entirely when it would've benefitted the game heavily. The game is an absolute breeze to go through, even when up against endgame foes. This is because of two reasons:
    A) The EXP Share is constantly on, thus meaning with just one party you can easily level your Pokemon to the point where they could defeat any opponent.
    B) If you have save data from Sword and Shield, you can get a Jirachi (an actual Mythical Pokemon) around the first few towns. The same applies for Mew.
    Meanwhile, the games keep negative features from the originals. Cyrus isn't even referred to by his real name, he's called "Boss" like in Diamond and Pearl. TMs are back to being temporary and one-use, a feature which everyone despised.
    The one positive change I can note is the decision to do something similar to Sun and Moon where HMs are restricted to Pokemon that you don't need to waste HMs on.
    All around, I wish it was something similar to Heart Gold/Soul Silver where the game keeps everything from Crystal, while still adding new things in as well.
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  25. Nov 25, 2021
    1
    A “faithful” remake doesn’t mean a good remake. Ever since Sword and Shield dropped, I’ve taken notice of the lack of quality in the games Gamefreak has been putting out. Now, the lack in care, quality, or even effort has been put on full display with these two titles. There is absolutely ZERO effort put in to make the Sinnoh region from the original games shine. The original Diamond andA “faithful” remake doesn’t mean a good remake. Ever since Sword and Shield dropped, I’ve taken notice of the lack of quality in the games Gamefreak has been putting out. Now, the lack in care, quality, or even effort has been put on full display with these two titles. There is absolutely ZERO effort put in to make the Sinnoh region from the original games shine. The original Diamond and Pearl has been ripped straight from the Nintendo DS with Gamefreak only painting over it with 3D models instead of pixel art and only a handful of quality of life changes that aren’t necessarily a “welcome edition” but rather a necessity. The game, like all modern Pokémon games are way ok easy. I’ve been playing Pokémon for 15 years and I really wish the games grew up with me but they sadly haven’t. If you are at all interested in buying this game, go out and purchase yourself a used copy of Pokémon Platinum and enjoy a time when Gamefreak actually cared enough about their franchise. I hope this is just a side project and Legends: Arceus will actually have real effort put into it but from what I’ve seen as of late, it’ll most likely be just a shameless low effort cash grab and that depresses me. Expand
  26. Nov 30, 2021
    1
    Nintendo still sits on their success and the knowledge that everyone will buy the new title, no matter how bad it is. You can again see how they didn't listen to the community nor to pro players.
  27. Dec 2, 2021
    1
    Isso não se deve ser chamado de Remake e sim de Remaste, pelo simples fato de que é exatamente igual os primeiros jogos, como assim? Não tem funções novas como Megas ou até mesmo Z-Move.
    Mecânica dos TM não sumirem da sua BAG agora não existe mais, eles somem igual aos jogos antigos, Pokémon agora não aprender outros golpes das outras gerações, exemplo disso é Zaptos que desde os jogos de
    Isso não se deve ser chamado de Remake e sim de Remaste, pelo simples fato de que é exatamente igual os primeiros jogos, como assim? Não tem funções novas como Megas ou até mesmo Z-Move.
    Mecânica dos TM não sumirem da sua BAG agora não existe mais, eles somem igual aos jogos antigos, Pokémon agora não aprender outros golpes das outras gerações, exemplo disso é Zaptos que desde os jogos de Black/White aprende o movimento "Hurricane" e nesse REMASTE não e isso se aplica aos itens também por exemplo EVIOLITE todo mundo conhece esse item chatão, pois é ele nao faz parte desse jogo porque esse item só foi implementado na Quinta Geração.

    Reclamaram tanto da Pokedex de SW/SH que nao tinha todos os pokemon, essa aq nem se fala porque a nacional só chega ate os pokemon da Quarta Geração.

    Se é para pagar 300,00 reais na midia digital ou 480,00 reais na midia fisica ( EM UM JOGO DE SMARTPHONE) é melhor comprar o SW/SH ja que tem as mecânicas novas e sem tirar o fato de ter as batalhas ranqueadas que nesses jogos ele removerão.

    Questão de graficos eu nao me importo se é chibi ou cartoonizado ( poderias ser igual de LETS' GO), porem o jogo é sem polimento, quando começa as batalhas simplesmente o campo some e fica um local todo branco, não é vivo igual do X/Y ou de SW/SH, Pokemon te seguindo fora da PokeBola ridiculo até HG/SS consegue fazer umas dimensões de tamanhos melhor que esse REMASTE.

    Eu aconselho esperar o ARCEUS ( nao que seja bom, grafico pior q SW/SH), já que vai ser um jogo de pokemon com mundo semi aberto.

    Se fosse para da uma nota 0 a 10 para esse REMASTE eu daria sem duvida um 4 só pela nostalgia e por cauda do UNDERGROUD.
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  28. Dec 6, 2021
    1
    ILCA ruined everything but the soundtrack. +1 for Soundtrack.
    I've played Platinum every year since it came out. Super hyped for this game. I made a metacritic account just for this. Affection RUINED this game. Over Leveled Pokemon the entire way through even while skipping a third of the trainers and repel on the entire time. not even the Competitively built elite 4 could save this game
    ILCA ruined everything but the soundtrack. +1 for Soundtrack.
    I've played Platinum every year since it came out. Super hyped for this game. I made a metacritic account just for this. Affection RUINED this game. Over Leveled Pokemon the entire way through even while skipping a third of the trainers and repel on the entire time. not even the Competitively built elite 4 could save this game from the affection system. Plus I don't like the art. but thats the least of the problems. I don't even care that it was going to be an exact duplicate of DP. If it was. It would have been A LOT better. Yet another Trash game from pokemon.
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  29. Dec 11, 2021
    1
    This game is uncomplete as hell, the took pokemon pearl as the base instead of platinum, the graphics are horrible, the entire game is a copy-paste of the original, 0% innovation, 0% new content, 0% easter eggs, and on top of that, people look like pinipongs, the could have done much better than that.
  30. Dec 28, 2021
    1
    Mediocre en todo los sentidos y el peor Remake de todos sin duda. Ya fuera de la estética que te puede gustar más o menos el juego es horrible y todo el rato da la sensación de que los desarrolladores no sabían que hacer con el.
    Una perdida de tiempo y dinero.
Metascore
73

Mixed or average reviews - based on 89 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 38 out of 89
  2. Negative: 0 out of 89
  1. Sep 9, 2022
    70
    Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are faithful remakes of the 2006 Nintendo DS games. They probably lean too much on the safe side, not achieving an awful lot to improve on the originals other than a few quality-of-life improvements. The improved Underground sections are a welcome addition, but the missing features from Pokémon Platinum are a big let-down. All in all, though, the Sinnoh region offers just as brilliant of an adventure as it was 15 years ago and the formula that worked back then (and then some) is still as addictive to this day. If you are a fan of classic Pokémon titles, this is a no-brainer.
  2. Nintendo Force Magazine
    Mar 7, 2022
    65
    I honestly think ILCA's decision to play it safe was the biggest thing that hurt Brilliant Diamond. Maybe if it had included a few more of the story beats and improvements that were introduced in Platinum, I'd be giving it a higher grade. [Issue #57 – January/February 2022, p. 66]
  3. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Feb 18, 2022
    60
    Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl is a decent remaster transferring the fourth generation from Nintendo DS to Switch. The authors handled well the absence of the second screen, but in the case of game mechanics they could go a bit further.