One of the most interesting things to witness in Pokemon games is that they often evolve over time just like the critters do when properly trained, and that happens through a process of trial and error. Most mainline Pokemon games introduce new mechanics to the series, and if they are good enough and praised by players, then usually they make their way into future games - at least, where it makes sense to do so. One of the best features in Pokemon Let's Go games was that players could run into wild Pokemon in the overworld, and they could immediately tell if they were Shiny critters just by looking at them, but this cool characteristic is missing from Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.
Truth be told, Shiny Pokemon in the overworld did not appear in Pokemon Sword and Shield as well, but one could argue that Generation 8 games were already in development when the Pokemon Let's Go series launched. However, Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl were released just recently, over three years later, and they would have been the perfect game to feature Shiny overworld critters once again due to how the Grand Underground works. Furthermore, Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl already have something similar built into the games, as players who go to Amity Square with their Shiny critters get to be followed around by the Shiny versions of their Pokemon.
How Shiny Overworld Pokemon Should Work in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl
In Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, the Grand Underground is made of the tunnels that players could find in the original Generation 4 games, but it also comes with a plethora of different caves - or biomes - where wild Pokemon reside. These areas function as the overworld from Pokemon Let's Go and Pokemon Sword and Shield, with the difference that there is no grass to find Pokemon in, and the only critters spawning there are those that players can see in the cave. Each different biome is host to several different species of Pokemon, and while most of the creatures found there are common overworld spawns in the Grand Underground, players also have the chance to encounter very rare Pokemon depending on their habitat.
Furthermore, the Grand Underground features a timed event that activates when players collect a total of 40 essence from Digletts and Dugtrios found in the tunnels. When the Diglett Rush kicks in, players have a few minutes to excavate Colored Statues at a higher rate or go inside the caves and battle the Pokemon found there in order to have extra possibilities to encounter a Shiny Pokemon, which normally are found in around one out of 4,000, whereas with this method the average threshold is halved. As such, because the Diglett Rush is already very short, ranging from four minutes if playing alone to five minutes if playing online, having Shiny overworld Pokemon encounters would be an amazing improvement.
This wouldn't take away from the excitement of finding a Shiny Pokemon in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, and it would instead be a great way to make the Diglett Rush even more enticing to engage with. Also, because the games do have the feature of differentiating regular Pokemon from Shiny ones in Amity Square, it would only make sense for it to be used in the Grand Underground as well.
Shiny overworld encounters did great for Pokemon Let's Go games, and the counterargument to the feature coming back in other Pokemon games is that players could potentially miss out on those Pokemon by not spotting them. Ultimately, the best solution would probably be to make Pokemon games have a short tutorial on Shiny Pokemon in the overworld, and add a little bit more of a sparkle to them to make them stand out in tall grass, which would take the best of both worlds moving forward.
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are available now on Nintendo Switch.