Officially revealed back in February this year, the chibi-style pair of remakes Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are scheduled for release on Switch on 19th November. While many fans were delighted to see these games return on Switch, it's fair to say that a portion of the Pokémon fanbase were a little underwhelmed by some of the visual elements of both these games and Pokémon Legends: Arceus, which is due in 2022.
As pointed out by Pokémon Master @JoeMerrick on Twitter (who references the opinions of fans who worried that what we saw in the reveal trailer was indicative of the quality we'd see in the final game), various subtle alterations are now visible when you compare the game's initial reveal footage to the glimpse seen in yesterday's Switch OLED Model reveal trailer:
As you can see, a host of changes have been made in the interim since the initial reveal of the games, including tweaks tolighting, background elements (trees and foliage), textures (check out the increased detail on the backpack), and an apparent change in the battle camera position.
If you're having trouble spotting the differences, @BubblegumFoxxo on Twitter (replying to our very own Jon-from-Nintendo-Life-here) handily changed the perspective on the new screens and increased the saturation for another comparison:
It's been months since the reveal, so it's only natural to see changes and improvements made throughout development. We'd love to see these multi-million-selling games given absolute top-tier visual treatment — Pokémon Sword and Shield is a fine game, but a technical tour de force it is not — and we certainly understand the concern of fans who want to see the best for the franchise in all respects.
As these subtle improvements show, though, game development is a long process of refinement right up until release (and usually past release with most games these days) and there's still a long way to go until November. Concerns based on evidence are valid, but the proof will always be in the pudding final release.
You can check out the original reveal trailer for the remake below to jog you memory, and compare it to the Switch OLED reveal trailer for yourself:
Let us know below if you're happy to see these tweaks and alterations to the previous WIP footage. And let us know if you sympathise with PokéGymDad as he avoids heading into the living room and sneaks in a cheeky extra battle before the kids kill his gaming time.
[source twitter.com]
