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Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl (2021)

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Pokémon Brilliant Diamond was released on November 19th, 2021, and is a remake of Pokémon Diamond. Is Pokémon Brilliant Diamond the worst remake ever made? Or does it pay homage to the 06 classic? I decided to replay this gen 4 remake and see if it still holds up today. Let’s find out and get into it.
Playing Pokémon Brilliant Diamond was a trip down memory lane. It’s practically a 1 for 1 remake of the original. Depending on how you look at it, if you wanted to re-play the Sinnoh region, in all honesty the best way to play it is of course by playing Pokémon Platinum. It's the definitive edition for a reason. Quick note, shoutout to Marko Nikolic who commented on my Pokémon Soul Silver review. I plan on reviewing Pokémon Platinum in the future so stay tuned.
Unfortunately, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond doesn't carry any of Pokémon platinum's features. Like I said it’s practically a 1 for 1 faithful remake. Mind you with a few additional upgrades. With that said, I personally enjoyed Pokémon Diamond when it was first released in 2006. So getting to replay my childhood memories all over again, I am all for it.
What might surprise you however, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond was Developed by a company called ILCA. Not by Game Freak. Which is why Brilliant Diamond has a different artistic style. Visually, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond maintains the top-down perspective of the original game, transitioning from pixelated sprites to this chibi Funko art style. This is where some controversies take place. Some people absolutely hate the new art style while others liked it. I personally didn’t mind it. But I do prefer the pixelated sprites a bit more than this. But this is something different.
One of my favorite things about replaying The Sinnoh region was seeing how it was reimagined with vibrant colors and attention to detail. One of the highlights of Brilliant Diamond is the inclusion of the Grand Underground. It’s an expanded and improved version of the original Underground feature. What I never understood however, while you’re exploring the grand underground, you are able to see the Pokémon roam around the over world. But that's just it. They're only in the grand underground. It really does feel like a missed opportunity for ILCA for not including it for the entire sinnoh region such as in Pokémon Lets Go. But that's for a different review for another day.


Another thing I forgot to mention was the soundtrack. Hearing Pokémon Diamonds music remastered brought back childhood memories. Pokémon Diamond music was great and hearing it again in Brilliant Diamond was fantastic.
On top of that some players may find the pace of the game a bit slow, especially during the early stages. As well as EXP sharing. This is another controversial topic. Some people like the exp sharing while others do not. I wished ILCA included an option for the players to decide whether to turn on or off exp sharing. After playing from start to finish, I personally really didn't feel like I was over-leveled. Then again, I didn’t go and do any extra tasks. After beating the Elite Four and finally reaching the Pokémon champion, Cynthia, my goodness she is still tough as ever. It took me roughly 17 hours to complete the game, including completing the Pokedex and receiving the national dex. My final team ended up being Staraptor, Gyarados, Infernape, Graveler, Kadabra, and Luxray
Pokémon Brilliant Diamond runs great. Whether you're playing Dock mode or handheld mode. It runs fine both ways. With that said, I don’t understand why Pokémon games save directly to your console instead of on the cartridge or the cloud. I found out the hard way because I decided to play Pokémon Brilliant Diamond on my switch Lite and when I placed the cartridge on my docked Nintendo Switch to record gameplay, I was greeted by a new save file. So, I decided to finish playing it on my switch lite instead.


With all that said, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond is a faithful remake of Pokémon Diamond. It does have some flaws but if you're able to look past them you’re really going to enjoy playing Pokémon Brilliant Diamond. It’s not the worst remake in the world. After replaying Pokémon Brilliant Diamond, I would have to rate it a final score of 82 out of 100. It is a good Pokémon game and a great way to relieve playing the sinnoh region in HD. I hope you enjoyed this video, please leave a comment below on what game I should review next. I'm FGB and i'm out.

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