This year has been busy for Nintendo and the Pokemon Company, with the Pokemon franchise celebrating its 25th anniversary since the release of the first games in 1996. Among the releases for this anniversary, long-overdue remakes of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl are coming, though Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are different in terms of graphics from recent Pokemon games like Sword and Shield. Regardless, these remakes are the perfect opportunity to reintroduce beloved features from the originals and Pokemon Platinum, such as the WiFi Plaza, the Battle Frontier, and the Poketch.
The Poketch, short for Pokemon Watch, was a tool available in all three Generation 4 games, with Pokemon Platinum featuring an improved version. Unlike the WiFi Plaza or the Battle Frontier, however, the Poketch was designed specifically for the Nintendo DS console, which won't be the system on which Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl will release. The Poketch was found used in the bottom screen of the Nintendo DS, and this needs to be changed according to the design of the Switch if the remakes are to retain them.
The Best Poketch Apps that Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl Should Keep
With no bottom screen on the Switch, Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl need to change the way the Poketch is used and viewed, even though there is no official confirmation this will be in the game. The Poketch was unique and entertaining thanks to all the different apps it featured, including basic stuff like the Digital Watch and the Calculator, making a sort of early Pokemon smartphone. However, what made the Poketch great were other apps it had, like the Friendship Checker, the Move Tester, and the Day-Care Checker, which all were quality-of-life features great to have in such early Pokemon games.
The Friendship Checker was a very useful app that allowed trainers to have a direct, quick, and effective way to take a look at how friendly their Pokemon really were. The Move Tester was a way for more inexperienced trainers to learn which moves were effective or not effective against specific Pokemon types, using exclamation marks on the screen to tell players if the chosen types were good to use. Then, the Day-Care Checker was another useful tool for players to keep an eye on their Pokemon currently residing at the Day-Care to see if they produced an egg, and it also showed the Pokemon's genders.
While these things may seem elementary, at the time they were incredibly avant-garde features to have in Pokemon games, where players previously had to check in person if their Pokemon had an egg at the Day-Care, for example. Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl skipping the inclusion of the Poketch would be sad, and it would also have an impact on the actual feeling of the remakes, which thus far are described as being faithful to the originals. If they do not retain the Poketch as it was in Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum, Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl should at least include a modernized version that's more in line with the current standards set by Pokemon Sword and Shield.
How The Poketch Could Return in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl
If Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl were to include the Poketch, there is the matter of how. Part of the allure of the Pokemon Watch was to have useful stuff happening on the bottom screen of the Nintendo DS while doing other activities, but for the Switch this would need to be changed in significant ways. The Poketch could simply be included in another menu, rather than having its dedicated space, and players could toggle it on or off depending on what they want to do.
This change would also alter the way the Poketch is used, as it would become much more of a secondary feature, especially for checking useful information in the game. For example, if players want to look for specific berries and where to pick them, that's when they'd use the Poketch in Brilliant Diamon and Shining Pearl so they can launch the Berry Searcher feature from the original gen 4 Pokemon games. In Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum, this would be sort of a companion app to check from time to time, even if not looking for anything in particular.
Then again, the reintroduction of the Poketch could happen for nostalgia rather than actual use, at least if the feature is going to stay the same as in the original titles. This leads to the idea that the best way to handle the Poketch in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl would probably be to adapt it based on the menu options from Sword and Shield, having the main hub with a few options to select from. Whether this is going to be the case or not, players shouldn't expect the Poketch to return to Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl as they knew it from the original games.
Overall, the possibility that this feature comes back is not slim, but it will need to have structural changes that allow for both easy navigation within the Poketch, and adaptation to the standards of the newer installments in the series. Here's to hoping the Poketch will not be gone forever, but instead find a new home in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl will be released on November 19, 2021 for Nintendo Switch.