Nintendo is clearly excited about Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. The remakes just got a new trailer that showcases changes and upgrades that developer ILCA has made. For instance, the Poketch will return in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, bringing back many of the gadget's original apps and new functionality. The trailer also touched on Amity Square, a Hearthome City attraction that allows players to walk around with some of their cutest Pokemon. In Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, fans can cook Poffins with their Pokemon in Amity Square, which sounds like a delightful new activity.

The trailer also showcases characters that players will encounter, including the Eterna City Gym Leader and Grass-type Pokemon specialist Gardenia. Players got a glimpse of battling with Gardenia, but perhaps more importantly how her Gym looks in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. It seems the Eterna Gym in the remakes will use the puzzle concept from the original Diamond and Pearl rather than Platinum's mechanic. That's fairly disappointing, not just because Platinum's Gym concept was more dynamic, but also because it sends a message for the remakes' design philosophy. Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl may not borrow as many elements from Platinum as fans once hoped.

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Comparing Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum's Eterna City Gym

pokemon brilliant diamond and shining pearl line tracing graphics

In Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, Gardenia's Gym was pretty simple. The interior gym was designed as a forest maze made from trees. Although players could easily find Gardenia once they enter, she refused to battle the player until they found and defeated all the other members of the Gym. Once players completed their scavenger hunt and defeated every other Pokemon trainer in the Gym, they could challenge Gardenia for the badge. While it was a thematic design, wandering around the maze could be tedious, especially since finding each trainer wasn't difficult.

Pokemon Platinum, by contrast, opted for a more unique design. It got rid of the forest maze and replaced that puzzle with a large floral clock in the center of a room. Whenever players defeated a trainer in the Gym, the arms of the clock would rotate; players could then walk on the arms to access new parts of the Gym. Finally, the clock would point to Gardenia for the climactic final battle. In a sense, Pokemon Platinum's approach to the Gym made it significantly more linear, but its concept and aesthetic was more memorable.

Overall, the Platinum Gym was a significant improvement over the Diamond and Pearl Gym. After all, players challenging Gardenia had already gotten their fill of wandering around the woods in the maze-like Eterna Forest, meaning Platinum's clock mechanic was more unique and refresing. Even so, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are sticking with tradition. Fans should expect a lot of major aspects of the game to be based on Diamond and Pearl's ideas, rather than making use of Platinum's improvements.

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Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl Preserve History

Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl endgame.

If Gardenia's Gym design does reveal ILCA's development plan, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl may lose a lot of good content. Pokemon Platinum made some significant changes to the plot by introducing new characters like Charon and Looker, the latter of which quickly became a fan favorite. Platinum also introduced some fun alternative ways for players to get invested in the Sinnoh region. Once players visit the Resort Area, they can buy and furnish a Villa, which was a fun way to spend the player's hard-earned cash after becoming the Champion.

It's a little disappointing to think Platinum features like these probably won't appear in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, especially after fans learned the remakes do use certain Platinum features. For instance, the Diamond and Pearl remakes seem to make use of Platinum's extended Pokedex, adding significantly more Pokemon to the region. Additionally, fans think they've spotted an NPC in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl that gives trainers the Gracidea, a special flower associated with the Mythical Pokemon Shaymin that could only be found in Platinum.

Comparing these inclusions and omissions from Platinum seems to establish something of a pattern. On the one hand, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl seem to be including Platinum upgrades that enhance the way players interact with Pokemon. For example, beyond the Pokedex and Gracidea, BDSP's version of Amity Square seems to build on Platinum's Amity Square. However, the physical structure of the Sinnoh region and the plot of BDSP seems to focus on Diamond and Pearl's original concepts. While there's notes of Platinum in these remakes, they are callbacks to Diamond and Pearl at their core.

Platinum's Backseat Status and Potential Future

Pokemon Platinum distortion world girl on platform

There's some good reasons for ILCA to put Platinum in the background of Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. Fans are well aware that the BDSP introduce new features to the franchise that freshen up the Sinnoh region; the developers have created a vastly expanded Sinnoh Underground, which offers fans new ways to catch Pokemon and explore the region's underside. Platinum's limited influence on BDSP might stem partially from ILCA's new ideas. It'd make sense if ILCA was worried that integrating too many of Platinum's features would make fans appreciate the new ideas less.

It's for the best that Platinum isn't overwhemingly influential in these remakes. After all, if BDSP was mainly based on Platinum, they'd be Platinum remakes rather than Diamond and Pearl remakes. Fans will just have to hope that Nintendo has some other plans in store for Platinum. Some fans already wonder if BDSP will get Platinum DLC introducing the Distortion World and a postgame plotline involving Looker and Charon. Nintendo seems more comfortable with DLC for its core franchises nowadays, so maybe it has already asked ILCA to start work on that. For now, though, it seems fans should rein in their expectations when it comes to Platinum's influence on these Sinnoh region remakes.

Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl release on November 19, 2021 for Nintendo Switch.

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