Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl were recently featured in a special Pokemon Presents that revealed more detail on the upcoming Pokemon Diamond and Pearl remakes. Originally, not much was known about the plethora of features that Pokemon Diamond and Pearl were introducing, and whether they were going to be added, reworked, or excluded, but now fans have a better idea of what is included. Along with the newly reworked features and game mechanics, a couple of important mechanics from the original weren't mentioned, such as the Pokemon Watch and the Global Trade Station.
It's a little surprising that the Pokemon Watch, also referred to as the Poketch, wasn't revealed or even talked about in the Pokemon Presents. This is because the Poketch was integral for the player in how they managed progression, and was always accessible to the player on the Nintendo DS touch screen. With the lack of a second screen, fans are curious just how it might be implemented in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, on top of all the applications that it carried along with it. The Global Trade Station is another important feature that many players took advantage of, and its exclusion in Pokemon Presents might mean that it has also undergone a rework.
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Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl's Poketch
In the original Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, the Poketch is given to the player quite early during a campaign that Jubilife City is promoting. Initially, the player has access to a small number of applications such as a Calculator and Pedometer, but over time, the player can earn upwards of over 20 different applications. While some applications might seem redundant, such as the Digital Clock and Analogue Clock, others were integral to the gameplay experience. Applications like the Item Finder, Day Care Checker, and the Move Checker were important for trainers in Pokemon Diamond and Pearl and so it is unlikely that these functions would be removed.
In Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl's latest trailer, the protagonists are seen wearing the iconic Poketch, which means it should be available in some form. Though it begs the question of why the Poketch, an integral feature of the original Diamond and Pearl, was not mentioned once throughout the entire presentation. It could be that the developer is saving it for when players get their hands on the game, or maybe its functionality will be quite different from how it worked previously. What fans are curious about is if the Poketch will return in a reworked state or not, and whether it will be as easily accessible like in the original Diamond and Pearl.
The original Pokemon Diamond and Pearl had the Poketch always available on the Nintendo DS bottom screen, but with the lack of a second screen, the Poketch will certainly need some tweaking if it is to be as easily accessible as it was before. One likely implementation could be with the press of a shoulder button, the Poketch slides on or off the screen in the corner, like a mini-map of sorts, with quick buttons for swiping through applications while still being able to move around the overworld. However ILCA decides to implement this key Trainer tool, one thing is for certain and that is some applications will definitely need a rework.
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The Importance of Online Trading
Along with the lack of news for the Poketch, another feature that wasn't brought up was the ability to deposit Pokemon and trade them worldwide. In the original Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, players had access to the Global Trade Station, allowing players to deposit and search for Pokemon worldwide. This was a first for Pokemon games at the time, and an important feature for players looking to complete their Pokedex. Each version has access to exclusive Pokemon, so if a player did not know someone with the other game version, they couldn't finish their Pokedex. With the GTS, players could search for the missing Pokemon or offer their own for what they were missing.
In Pokemon Platinum, the Global Trade Station in Jubilife City was upgraded to the Global Terminal, and included an array of new features that focused on sharing the player's experiences with others around the world. This included sharing picture of their PC boxes, Pokemon Dress-up data, and battle replays. The Global Terminal looks very different from the GTS, and the map of the Sinnoh region that's shown on Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl's website shows the building in Jubilife City to be the GTS, not the Global Terminal. It stands to reason that fans will not be getting the Pokemon Platinum iteration but the original Diamond and Pearl version.
One returning feature is the Union Room, a room that connects players who are nearby to trade and battle. Before, the Union Room was mainly for players who were within the same vicinity as each other, but in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, the Union Room will allow for both local and online communication. The Union Room is comprised of two rooms: the Local Room or the Global Room, both dependent on how players want to connect. Being able to trade globally within the Union Room is a first for Diamond and Pearl, but it's not known yet whether this will allow players to trade with random people or only their friends.
The Global Trade Station's main feature was the ability to offer a Pokemon up for trade for another specific Pokemon. This feature is the main feature of Pokemon Home, a mobile Pokemon storage service that offers more features with a paid subscription service. As Pokemon Home is still a relatively new service that will support Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, it isn't clear yet whether the GTS in the Pokemon Diamond and Pearl remakes will offer the same functionality as before.
It's still too early to tell if the Union Room's Global Room will allow players to trade with random strangers or only those on the player's friend's list. Hopefully, players will have access to trading for the Pokemon they need freely without the need for Pokemon Home, a service that will only begin supporting Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl in 2022.
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl will release on November 19, 2021, for Nintendo Switch.
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