Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are examples that nostalgia sells, even if they may not have everything that fans remembered. This has been proven time and time again with remakes of generations 1 through 3, with the 4th generation being the latest to receive the remake treatment. These new remakes are of classics Pokemon Diamond and Pearl. Originally from 2004, the remakes will be close to the original in terms of story cutscenes and the scale of the towns and cities. Fans have wondered if that also includes all of the features that Pokemon Diamond and Pearl introduced, as many of them are now obsolete in the mainline series.
It might be safe to say that any of the gameplay elements introduced in Pokemon Diamond and Pearl may not make a return or will be completely reworked for today's standard of Pokemon games. This includes the infamous Global Trade Station, which was the first iteration of global trading for Pokemon games. Though it was an important feature for completing the Pokedex, it has since been removed from mainline Pokemon games in favor of the Pokemon Home mobile app. This new generation of Pokemon games do not include every Pokemon anymore, and so perhaps that is a big reason the GTS isn't included in mainline entries.
Pokemon Diamond and Pearl's Global Trade Station
From what has been revealed so far, Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl will be quite faithful to their source material, as even the graphical direction is a nod to how the older Pokemon games looked. The worry among fans that these remakes will strictly be one-to-one to the originals still remains, though, and it introduces many questions in its own right. With the lack of a second screen, it's tough to know how features such as the Pokemon Watch, dressing up Pokemon with accessories, and fossil digging will be implemented. Though that can all be reworked for the Nintendo Switch, the Global Trade Station seems like it may not be included at all.
Pokemon games before Pokemon Diamond and Pearl required players to be within proximity to trade with each other, usually requiring a Link Cable. Since the introduction of the Global Trade Station in generation 4, there has always been some way to trade with other players wirelessly and globally. This feature originally allowed players to deposit a Pokemon for another under specific parameters that the player set themselves. Alternately, the player could search for Pokemon and see what was available. This functionality was available all the way until Pokemon Sword and Shield removed this feature, but kept the other social trading features.
Pokemon Diamond and Pearl's Global Trade Station did not only allow players to exchange Pokemon, but the facility that housed this feature allowed players to take part in other social activities. This included the ability to upload the VS Seeker's saved Battle Videos so that players around the world could access the most popular Pokemon battle replays. On the second floor of Jubilife TV players can dress their Pokemon up and save pictures, which can also be uploaded in the Global Trade Station for other players to see. As these features no longer exist in Pokemon Sword and Shield, it is hard to predict if they will make a return in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.
The Pokemon Home Conundrum
In Pokemon Sword and Shield, players could no longer globally deposit a Pokemon or seek a specific Pokemon for trade. Instead, they could use Surprise Trade for a random exchange. Alternatively, players could match up with a random player and decide to trade directly, with only a small number of emotes to communicate with usually leading to a fruitless effort. The ability to trade for a specific Pokemon now only exists as its own app on the Nintendo Switch or as a mobile download for smartphones known as Pokemon Home. This application also allows players to store up to 6000 of their Pokemon for a monthly fee, though this carries some drawbacks of its own.
Ever since generation 3 of Pokemon games, Game Freak has given players the opportunity to bring their cherished Pokemon from the past forward to the newest games. In this day and age, it would be too much trouble to bring a Pokemon from say, Pokemon Ruby all the way up to Pokemon Sword, though it is still possible. Even though there is a hub where players can store up to 6000 of their Pokemon all in one place, this could also bar players from ever using some of their Pokemon. Depending on the Pokemon game, players may not be able to transfer specific creatures, as many Pokemon still do not exist in Pokemon Sword and Shield.
Currently, Pokemon Home only allows the player to move Pokemon forward to Pokemon games on the Nintendo Switch. The only Pokemon games on the Nintendo Switch that are available currently are Pokemon Let's Go Pikachu and Eevee, and Pokemon Sword and Shield. The problem is that the former only have around 153 Pokemon, which is acceptable as a spin-off title, but the latter mainline series is still missing 231 Pokemon. This means if a player's favorite Pokemon isn't included in Pokemon Sword and Shield, then they will have to wait until a new Pokemon game comes out where that Pokemon exists. It is currently unknown if Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl will have a larger Pokedex or not.
How Pokemon BDSP Could Handle Global Trading
Game Freak likes to cut old features, only to sometimes bring them back again later in a newer way. In Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, they brought back the PokeNav and added old features in a new way to the device, such as a TV channel so that players didn't have to check a TV in houses, and the Global Trade Station. If Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl decide to omit the Global Trade Station as a building that players need to visit, they could implement it into the Pokemon Watch or in another quick access menu. Still, it is highly likely that this would just contain the same trade methods that exist in Pokemon Sword and Shield, as Pokemon Home charges a fee to use the Global Trading and Pokemon Storage System to its full potential.
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl will release on November 19, 2021, for Nintendo Switch.