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5.5

Mixed or average reviews- based on 430 Ratings

User score distribution:
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  1. Nov 20, 2021
    0
    A cheap and rushed "remake" that is inferior to Platinum, a game from 12 years ago. Bravo ILCA, you managed to outdo GF and lower the bar right down to the ground. Where is the national dex? it's been 2 years and we're still limited, despite the other remakes including it. Why does the day one patch have to add the Battle Tower? Where is the Battle Frontier?

    How can they charge full
    A cheap and rushed "remake" that is inferior to Platinum, a game from 12 years ago. Bravo ILCA, you managed to outdo GF and lower the bar right down to the ground. Where is the national dex? it's been 2 years and we're still limited, despite the other remakes including it. Why does the day one patch have to add the Battle Tower? Where is the Battle Frontier?

    How can they charge full price for this? The only good thing they added is the new Underground, which lets you catch Pokemon not in the regional dex. That's nice, but it does not make the game worth playing. Just play the originals on your phone and save your money!
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  2. Nov 20, 2021
    0
    A terrible looking, mediocre "remake" of Pokemon Diamond/Pearl. There is no national dex or any major new features to put it above the originals, and there is little to no content from Platinum.

    Why does this game even exist? To make money and to fulfill the obligation of remaking each gen. It's too bad because the first three remakes were actually good and had effort put into them,
    A terrible looking, mediocre "remake" of Pokemon Diamond/Pearl. There is no national dex or any major new features to put it above the originals, and there is little to no content from Platinum.

    Why does this game even exist? To make money and to fulfill the obligation of remaking each gen. It's too bad because the first three remakes were actually good and had effort put into them, unlike this one.
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  3. Nov 20, 2021
    0
    easily the worst of the pokemon remakes (aside from let's go). they won't even use the platinum dex. the purposely keep problems from the original in order to be "faithful remakes". pokemon remakes shouldn't be faithful. they should try to improve and make it feel fresh. BDSP refuses to do that. it continues the pokemon companies trend of making all the switch pokemon games awful.
  4. Nov 20, 2021
    0
    This is a joke compared to Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. How is this acceptable in 2021?!? And these pokemon youtubers are sucking off these incomplete pair of games. Pokemon should have never went 3D!!
  5. Nov 20, 2021
    0
    I loved the original games when they first came out on the DS, and this doesn't do them justice at all.
    Pitiful overworld art style, screwed up balance because of gen7 movesets and forced exp share, while at the same time providing almost no new content or any platinum content for that matter. They consciously decided against it too. Not just that, Gamefreak looked at gen 4 and was like
    I loved the original games when they first came out on the DS, and this doesn't do them justice at all.
    Pitiful overworld art style, screwed up balance because of gen7 movesets and forced exp share, while at the same time providing almost no new content or any platinum content for that matter. They consciously decided against it too. Not just that, Gamefreak looked at gen 4 and was like "this isn't worth our time" and made some random mobile game company create the game for them. It looks like a joke in comparison to Alpha Saphire which released 7 years ago. Please do not support this. Show Gamefreak that you don't just gobble up anything they shove down your throat. Collapse
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  6. Dec 1, 2021
    4
    Remakes are supposed to take the best gameplay elements of the old games while brushing up on gameplay mechanics that didn't age well to deliver a fulfilling, up-to-date experience. However, Gamefreak once again demonstrates their utter inability to design decent videogames by selecting the least liked mechanics from old and new Pokemon games, stitching them together in to a misshapedRemakes are supposed to take the best gameplay elements of the old games while brushing up on gameplay mechanics that didn't age well to deliver a fulfilling, up-to-date experience. However, Gamefreak once again demonstrates their utter inability to design decent videogames by selecting the least liked mechanics from old and new Pokemon games, stitching them together in to a misshaped chimeric mess and bold-facedly masquerading it as a "faithful remake". Concepts such as 8 directional run are carelessly implemented to create a glitchy, softlock prone game that really makes you feel like you're playing Gen 1 again, while the chibi style is horribly leveraged to create some of the ugliest cutscenes in the series. TMs somehow are one-use again, while the unpopular mandatory EXP share makes a comeback, illustrating Gamefreak's tone deafness and general inability to sift good mechanics from bad ones. The long-requested feature of Pokemon following you makes a return, but the Pokemon scale awkwardly, follow you clumsily (often ending up just warping to your position due to their slow follow speed) and mesh poorly with the aforementioned ugly chibi character sprites. Affection and friendliness are now collapsed into one mechanic in a classic hallmark of Gamefreak laziness, and much like the EXP share, reduce your options to control how you play the game. The Poketch has been forced in without any consideration for how well it works in docked mode. And of course, your national dex is still stuck in a reduced capacity while battle animations remain as lazy and uninspiring as ever.

    If you are a child or parent of a child, this of course doesn't matter to you, you're still playing Pokemon because it's designed for kids. But if you consider yourself someone who enjoys well-implemented game mechanics, I advise you to turn away from this title. Gamefreak demonstrates yet again it has no idea what good game mechanics are and are instead throwing everything at the wall, not even caring whether anything sticks because they are in charge of the biggest videogame franchise in the world and they know it'll sell well no matter how little effort they actually put into it. As someone who has played every generation since Gen 1, I cannot in good faith recommend this Pokemon game.
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  7. Dec 1, 2021
    2
    The new style looks very ugly, but everyone can decide that for himself. The optics on the other hand are just bad, plain bad, just go to YouTube and look at a comparison between this game an Pokemon let's go, which was released 3 years ago! The are worlds between, this game just looks ugly. Plus, why on earth would you not include all the improvements the Platin edition already did?? PLUSThe new style looks very ugly, but everyone can decide that for himself. The optics on the other hand are just bad, plain bad, just go to YouTube and look at a comparison between this game an Pokemon let's go, which was released 3 years ago! The are worlds between, this game just looks ugly. Plus, why on earth would you not include all the improvements the Platin edition already did?? PLUS they actively made the game worse, for example by adding a global exp share that you CANT disable. All in all, the game is very ugly and you can feel how lazy the devs/Nintendo was to release this poorly made cash grab. This game and the Pokemon series deserve so much better. Expand
  8. Dec 7, 2021
    1
    It's so lazy it looks like a remaster! Justified the dexit to enhance the "graphics improvement", but tell me what this remake has graphically to bring only the pokemon of the original game?
  9. Dec 2, 2021
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Fans have been pleading for Diamond and Pearl remakes ever since generation 7. But what we got was something quite abysmal. Calling this the definitive way to experience the Sinnoh region is like giving a kid too much sugar before bed. I wasn't expecting this game to be ground breaking like Heart Gold and Soul Silver, but this game just made my nightmares come true. I have been a die-hard fan of Pokemon for as long as I can remember. I understand that Pokemon games may not be as amazing as the used to be, but at least there was some form of effort made to inspire the next generation of players. But this game has let me down HARD. This game has unbalanced difficulty spikes, brings back old problems, creates new problems, and has a handful of glitches. The main game had left me so mentally exhausted that I felt broken after the credits rolled. Many people praise how great the new challenges are, but they're all pointless if you ask me. For one thing, Unova, Kalos, Alola, and Galar are unavailable to obtain. It's nice that you to stick to a classic Pokemon selection theme, but you're not taking full advantage of it since only Pokemon from the original Sinnoh Pokedex are available. And the only way to obtain Pokemon from regions is by getting lucky with rare spawns or getting the National Dex in the post game allowing more Pokemon to appear in the Grand Underground. It feels unfair that I have build a team with these limited options. It's like how the monster Houndour is only available in the Kanto post game in the Johto region titles despite being a Johto Pokemon. One detail that makes Pokemon Platinum so great is that it's the first title to have Houndour available in the main game. Not only did the developers fixed the lack of fire type Pokemon in Sinnoh, but it made a lot of players smile. But nope! Someone thought it was a good idea to leave all the good stuff from Platinum out. So I can't build a decent team to fight the super version of Sinnoh's Elite Four. While they're a lot stronger thanks to their boosted EV stats, this is the only real challenge in the main game. Since everyone was a pushover I've been dead bored throughout most of the game. My rival somehow used a level 26 Starly, to win 4 gym badges!? I don't get it. I didn't have one drop of joy while facing the Pokemon League. I like a good challenge but this is a really high difficulty spike compared to the rest of the trainers I've fought. Their final teams in the post game are level 85, are equipped with good items, and have crazy high stats. Challenges like these are what Pokemon fans have been waiting for! But then why do they feel so empty? Look, we've fought Cynthia before in Sun and Moon. The difference there is that she uses Mega Evolution a new mechanic introduced in X and Y. X and Y was a generic game but the Mega Evolution mechanic it introduced has been fleshed over the years. Cynthia's final team is powerful, but since none of the new battle mechanics are available in this game, it has locked potential. The teams in this game are powerful, but it's nothing I haven't seen before. This whole game feels like a Pokemon mod, meaning anyone could have designed this game. Only tweaked mini games are introduced everything else just feels unoriginal. You have to go through hours of training, planning, and patience to be able to stand a chance against the difficulty spikes. And because the main game is so long and tedious your Pokemon skills will get worse before they get better. Even the main story feels lackluster, hell the original games did it better! The originals designs don't show the over world characters mouths, so you can imagine how they feel with the given dialogue and theme of the area. It's like how people us more imagination while reading. But thanks to the modern art style Pokemon characters can be more expressive. But even if I don't mind the Chibi art style it just looks wrong. Characters will rarely mouth animations making emotional scenes feel empty. And what's this? Ever since I got my coin toss app, my game will start to glitch out every time I turn on my Poketch! That's just PEACHY! There's not much enjoyment to be found because you have to wait to find it. Even the little things bother me immensely. The colors are slightly washed out, making the game even look unappealing. This game is a filthy reflection of the originals. Even if new content is added in to make the game better, the damage has been done. At least Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire introduced new abilities. At least Let's Go recreated the Kanto experience with elements of freedom. Hell, Pokemon X and Y at least didn't screw my progress with glitches and errors. If you want to experience the beauty of Sinnoh go play Pokemon Platinum. Generic Pokemon games usually just make my eyes roll, but I just hate this game. Now I know how Cyrus feels. This game was a waste of my time. I hope that Legends Arceus can save this franchise. All I feel now is rage. Expand
  10. Dec 7, 2021
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. This is the rubbish game. I won’t spend any to buy this game. GF only want to make money and no heart to remake the game. If you compare heart gold/omega these remake game. This one is really disappointed. Expand
  11. Jan 4, 2022
    4
    Long story short just play Platinum

    a "faithful" remake no one asked for Pros - Underground rooms - updated moves Cons - removed quality of life Platinum changes(consist of too many things to list) - no online multi battle - killed underground base decoration and traps for player interaction - bland team galactic - less emersion like less detailed and bland places fixed in
    Long story short just play Platinum

    a "faithful" remake no one asked for
    Pros
    - Underground rooms
    - updated moves
    Cons
    - removed quality of life Platinum changes(consist of too many things to list)
    - no online multi battle
    - killed underground base decoration and traps for player interaction
    - bland team galactic
    - less emersion like less detailed and bland places fixed in platinum
    and many more problems
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  12. Jan 15, 2022
    0
    Shameless budget cash grab. A rushed project cutting as many corners as possible. Maximum profit, no passion.
  13. Feb 3, 2022
    2
    This game is hilariously bad. They do not include the additions from platinum( which already greatly diminishes the quality of the game) there are slight new additions that add basically nothing to the game itself, and the graphics are sub-par at best (aside from the water which looks pretty good) if you want to play these games, just play Pokémon platinum.
  14. Mar 13, 2022
    2
    This remake tries to be a faithful adaptation of the original, but they somehow managed to make it worse with the few quality of life additions they chose to include. The worst offender is the always on XP share. It took what was one of of the closest Pokémon games to being a traditional RPG experience and turned it into a mindless slog through the antiquated design of the games unchangedThis remake tries to be a faithful adaptation of the original, but they somehow managed to make it worse with the few quality of life additions they chose to include. The worst offender is the always on XP share. It took what was one of of the closest Pokémon games to being a traditional RPG experience and turned it into a mindless slog through the antiquated design of the games unchanged original map. The change to the HM system was nice. I no longer needed to keep a Bidoof with me at all times in the overworld, but, for some reason, they decided to revert back to TMs breaking. The graphics, while trying to be a chibi reproduction of the original, somehow managed to be worse. The pixel art of the original, while probably a bit behind the times for the DS, was still elegant. I really thought the graphics of the Let’s Go games was going to be Nintendo’s low point for the series, but they proved me wrong. Even the movement feels bad. How they took a grid based top down game and made the movement feel bad is mind blowing to me. The controls feel imprecise and I was constantly colliding with environmental objects. The whole game just feels cheap, and yet it costs more than the original did. It just feels like they cut every corner possible to get the game out quickly. A good old fashioned cash grab. Thankfully the game was at least mostly bug free, but that’s really the only praise I can give it. I regret buying this game, but not nearly as much as I regret the 24hrs I spent beating it. Expand
  15. Jan 18, 2022
    0
    Questo è il peggior gioco pokémon. Non si può definire remaik visto i precedenti giochi.
  16. Nov 25, 2021
    4
    Solo fue un port a Nintendo switch transformado a 3d , no hay grandes novedades , en estos juegos hubo un retroceso en vez de un avance en los juegos .

    No existe en frente batalla, no se maneja en el competitivo esta llena de buscar y en lo personal prefería jugar la versión platino de ds
  17. Nov 24, 2021
    0
    Quick reminder that this is the largest media property in the entire world. How are they expecting us to accept a "remake" that is actually worse than the original game in almost every aspect? And for 60 USD? The developers should be ashamed of delivering that mess and the fans should feel ashamed of defending this scam.
  18. Nov 25, 2021
    2
    This is a classic pokemon game with new mechanics that makes it worse. If you skip every trainer in your path you will still be 10 levels over your opponents. Just smash your head on your pad and you'll complete the game easily. Just play pokemon emerald, more content post game, less easy, simply a better game!
  19. Nov 27, 2021
    0
    tooooooooo much easy :( even to be a pokemon game, If the game had automatic mode it would end by itself
  20. Nov 25, 2021
    0
    Imagine you're the biggest multimedia franchise of all time and you just don't give a F#&! about your flagship videogame, so you just outsource and make it the worst of all released Pokémon games (till now :'))
  21. Nov 28, 2021
    0
    This is literally a disaster. I cannot believe they have done this low-quality remaster witch is not comparable with other remake series. I admit that they have done a certain level of work, witch may satisfy some of people. However, it still can't be qualified for official remake series with such an expensive full-price. The level of satisfaction of this game is very similar to originalThis is literally a disaster. I cannot believe they have done this low-quality remaster witch is not comparable with other remake series. I admit that they have done a certain level of work, witch may satisfy some of people. However, it still can't be qualified for official remake series with such an expensive full-price. The level of satisfaction of this game is very similar to original diamond and pearl so that this is not valuable as a remake. Expand
  22. Dec 1, 2021
    4
    tl:dr Pokemon SP failed to give you a reason to play their remake instead of going back to your Nintendo DS. Every remake achieved this, but this time they failed to validate it. You aren't missing much.

    Excited at it's first reveal, I was optimistic about the team behind it and how they were taking it. However as the months went by, reality comes knocking my door. Outside Legends of
    tl:dr Pokemon SP failed to give you a reason to play their remake instead of going back to your Nintendo DS. Every remake achieved this, but this time they failed to validate it. You aren't missing much.

    Excited at it's first reveal, I was optimistic about the team behind it and how they were taking it. However as the months went by, reality comes knocking my door. Outside Legends of Arceus, this will be the only time you will get to explore sinnoh again for a long time. Besides the questionable gameplay changes and other issues, the remake does the acceptable job of releasing Sinnoh to the Switch. But it's underwhelming for one of the longest and anticipated remakes, in comparison to how Pokemon Company handled their previous remakes. Traditionally, a pokemon remake is done with current technology in mind of it's recreation to show how hardware progressed and what it would've looked like if it were made at that time instead. You saw this with HeartGold / SoulSilver and FireRed/LeafGreen. BDSP misses that mark by not taking advantage of it's hardware and did not add much new additions to this remake. The soundtrack wasn't done much justice, did not take full advantage of Platinum improvements, and the legendary park is cool to a degree till you realize you could already do this in many of their previous games. Platinum DLC is off the table too as you can unlock the alt form in the game, it's also hard to call this a faithful remake when there's things they've forgotten, failed to capture the same atmosphere or color palette, or just changed something for no good reason.

    BD/SP works to introduce new players to the region of Sinnoh, but to people who played it when they were younger, they will be underwhelmed. Is it a terrible pokemon game? No, but it failed to meet expectations and it's not like they didn't know as they've been aware of how much people wanted this for a long time.
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  23. Nov 25, 2021
    0
    Pura mierda, como todos los juegos de Pokémon desde los Let's Go. Desde la sexta generación eran simplemente malos, antes aún, tenían algunos problemas (rejugando blanco y negro, son peores de lo que recordaba). Pero desde que pokemon llegó a switch esto es un desproposito, se ríen el cara de la gente y se cagan en una obra que nació como un proyecto verdaderamente apasionado. Pokemon estáPura mierda, como todos los juegos de Pokémon desde los Let's Go. Desde la sexta generación eran simplemente malos, antes aún, tenían algunos problemas (rejugando blanco y negro, son peores de lo que recordaba). Pero desde que pokemon llegó a switch esto es un desproposito, se ríen el cara de la gente y se cagan en una obra que nació como un proyecto verdaderamente apasionado. Pokemon está muerto, y Gamefreak no lo va a resucitar. Hay dos opciones: O Gamefreak, por dignidad, asume su incomptencia y deja la franquicia en manos de buenos diseñadores, o simplemente asuman los seguidores de estos juegos que Sol y Luna fueron los últimos juegos de Pokémon en los que, aunque fuesen mediocres, aún había una pizca de ambición (atrozmente llevada a cabo). Lo que quiero decir es que, aunque Sol y Luna, X e Y u ORAS no merezcan el tiempo de los jugadores y jugadoras, al menos había aún un mínimo esfuerzo por crear algo nuevo con esos juegos, que repetía la fórmula, sí, pero con matices. Ahora ya no quedan matices, la peña se come el mismo juego desde X e Y una y otra vez, pero cada una de las veces más mediocre que la anterior, con menos razón de ser. En fin, que Pokémon murió hace tiempo, solo vengo a recordárselo a algún despistado. Haré lo mismo con el Leyendas Arceus, que va a ser una mierda igual. Expand
  24. Nov 26, 2021
    0
    This game is exactly the same as Brilliant Diamond and the only thing that's even remotely "brilliant" about that game is the unfortunate misuse of the word in its name because there is nothing brilliant about these two. Bad graphics, endless performance issues and bugs, lack of improvements, etc. I haven't seen a game this bad at this price point in a while.
  25. Dec 11, 2021
    0
    horrible game, copy-paste of original pearl...........................................
  26. Dec 6, 2021
    0
    This game is an obvious lazy cash grab. While claiming to be a “faithful” remake, they gut the Grand Underground, removing traps and being able to decorate secret bases. They gut the contests and remove dressing up, dancing, and judges to replace it with a boring one button, one line rhythm game. They don’t allow Exp share to be toggled off so the game is incredibly easy. You don’t evenThis game is an obvious lazy cash grab. While claiming to be a “faithful” remake, they gut the Grand Underground, removing traps and being able to decorate secret bases. They gut the contests and remove dressing up, dancing, and judges to replace it with a boring one button, one line rhythm game. They don’t allow Exp share to be toggled off so the game is incredibly easy. You don’t even have to try to win any battles, you can just mash A. The expressionless chibi models are laughable and so are the cutscenes. There are bugs and glitches. The game just feels so bland and lazy. The 2006 games made 15 years ago are more enjoyable. We should have better pokemon games made in 2021, especially when Nintendo has so much money and has made incredible new LoZ and AC games. If you want a nostalgic, challenging game, don’t waste your money. Use an emulator or drag out your DS. This game can only be recommended for young children. I suppose that’s who Pokemon is geared towards nowadays instead of working more towards their audience that has grown up playing the games. Expand
  27. Nov 22, 2021
    0
    Biggest problems were the graphics/models and the movement. Chibi models, trees, grass etc just didn't look good. Movement in this game felt weird too
  28. Nov 22, 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)
    -Instead of Secret Bases you have rooms that you place uninteresting statues inside of and nothing else
    -So faithful that it contains many of the problems that DP had that Pt actually fixed/improved, the only problem that was technically improved in BDSP is Pokemon distribution
    -Just generally lazy and an obvious cash-grab since TPC knows that they’ll still sell

    Basically, just play Platinum or some ROMHack if you want to play a Sinnoh game.
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  29. Nov 22, 2021
    0
    This game sucks. Everyone defending this game is brainwashed by a company that's a former shell of itself. Easily not worth the 60 dollars. You're better off playing the original DS games. Don't listen to all the brainwashed idiots defending this.
  30. Nov 22, 2021
    1
    This is not a remake. This is a simple reskin of an old game. Nothing have changed besides graphic. What was the point to release pokemon shining pearl? Ah yes, to get 60 $ from silly and nostalgic people. Gen 4 is one of my favourites, but I won't buy the game.
Metascore
73

Mixed or average reviews - based on 88 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 37 out of 88
  2. Negative: 0 out of 88
  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
    60
    If you're a Switch owner looking to play a Pokémon game, this pair should be your third choice after the Let's Go games and Sword & Shield. [Issue #57 – January/February 2022, p. 67]
  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.