Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are an interesting duo of games. Being the franchise’s first venture into the Sinnoh region since the originals’ sister game, Platinum, they also continue the now-expected streak of remaking a generation around a decade after the originals’ release. Despite Platinum’s additions being beloved by Pokemon fans and being a source of many requests, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl tried to be as faithful to the original Diamond and Pearl as possible.
Similar to Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl tried modernizing the Gen 4 games while preserving their status as “old” games for Pokemon standards. For example, while the games incorporated the modern HM mechanic that rendered pre-Sun and Moon HMs obsolete, they also try to offer a roster of Pokemon that is as comparable to the Gen 4 era as possible. Mega Evolutions in particular, despite their potential, were removed with Sun and Moon. This prevents Sinnoh Champion Cynthia’s signature Pokemon, Garchomp, from Mega Evolving during her fight in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, which is a missed opportunity.
Breaking a Potential Pattern With BD/SP
Cynthia using a Mega Garchomp in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl would not be a first in the series. Taking advantage of their generation’s staple gimmick, Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire introduced both Mega Metagross and Mega Gallade. It respectively made them the signature Pokemon of two bosses, the Champion Steven, and Wally, in an updated version of his original fight. While the claim that the Hoenn remakes were harder than their original counterparts, the addition of a more powerful form of already powerful Pokemon, especially a pseudo-legendary, will definitely make a boss more threatening.
Cynthia’s Garchomp is one of the series’ most famous signature Pokemon in the mainline Pokemon games. Garchomp itself is Sinnoh’s equivalent to Dragonite and Salamence, and its impressive attack and speed stats make it a terrifying opponent to any Pokemon that cannot withstand its moves and knock it out with a strong enough Ice move. Bringing back Mega Evolutions in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl would made the remakes more consistent and interesting.
Mega Garchomp Would Have Added Difficulty
Cynthia’s fight in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl is initially comparable to the original in terms of difficulty. While she is still ruthless, the lack of a part Fairy-type Togekiss that Platinum fans might have expected, and toned down difficulty of modern Pokemon games, tend to make the Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl version reasonably easier.
This changes with new postgame teams that prominent NPCs get in the Sinnoh remakes. Usually, postgame rematches give previous opponents fully evolved Pokemon, higher levels, new moves, and sometimes even new items, like in HeartGold and SoulSilver. Sometimes, like in Black and White 2, the prominent NPCs are part of a tournament-style mode that emulates competitive battling, down to their Pokemon being EV trained and having moves and items tailored to multiplayer.
In Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, the postgame rematches are a mix of both, especially the Elite Four and the Champion. Cynthia’s team is the strongest in-game team with strictly pre-picked levels in mainline Pokemon games, beating even Red in HeartGold and SoulSilver. Her Garchomp shares its level with his Pikachu, and her weakest Pokemon, her Spiritomb, being at a higher level than Red’s weakest Pokemon, Lapras.
While her Garchomp’s Yache Berry is an excellent held item for negating its Ice-type weakness, one cannot help but wonder how stronger her Garchomp would have been if it were allowed to Mega Evolve. Given the postgame rematches are genuinely challenging compared to much of what modern Pokemon had to offer, giving Cynthia’s postgame team a Mega Garchomp would represent how intimidating her already scary team ended up becoming compared to the original Diamond and Pearl.
Mechanical Consistency in Pokemon
The Pokemon franchise is in a weird spot nowadays. Pokemon X and Y offered a promising future as the online was the best it had ever been, 3D became the norm, a new type was introduced, several Pokemon and moves got buffs, and Mega Evolutions were hugely popular. They gave new life to older Pokemon, weak and strong, and contributed heavily to the shift in priorities in competitive battling.
While these changes were kept when Gen 6 ended, Mega Evolutions stopped being relevant. Although they were available in Gen 7, that generation introduced Z-Moves, a set of pseudo-finishers, and resorted to importing the Gen 6 Mega Evolutions without doing anything new with the concept. Gen 8 introduced Dynamax, another method of giving Pokemon new forms without doing much to permanently improve upon the battle capabilities of certain Pokemon.
The exclusion of Mega Evolutions, and Dynamax being exclusive to Galar, prevented Cynthia’s Garchomp from getting any stronger form. If Pokemon focused on polishing new features rather than experimenting with new gimmicks every generation, an improved version of Mega Evolutions might have been in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. Additionally, seeing Cynthia with a Mega Garchomp would have been the logical endpoint of a modernization of older games in the series.
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are available now on Nintendo Switch.