Pokémon Diamond and Pearl

• 1. Introduction

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  Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, a pair of role-playing games for the Nintendo DS, helped players complete more than 10 million Pokémon trades over Wi-Fi. Game Freak developed them for the Nintendo DS and released them in 2006, the 10th anniversary year of the franchise.

  The series had a reputation for keeping its formula steady from one generation to the next. So what did the developers change this time? Why did a handheld console get a hidden underground world and a smartwatch on its lower screen? And how did a pair of games that critics called familiar end up outselling the generations that came before them?

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• 2. Sinnoh and Team Galactic

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  Mt. Coronet cuts the region of Sinnoh into two halves. Diamond and Pearl take place on this fictional island, which is based on the Japanese island of Hokkaido and connects to no other Pokémon region. It is the first region with snow-covered routes, which gives it a northern feel. Three lakes named Verity, Acuity, and Valor form a triangle across the land. Only 30 percent of the landscape is waterways, unlike Hoenn, where most routes ran over water. Below the surface lies the Sinnoh Underground, a large maze of caves and tunnels.

  A television report about a red Gyarados, spotted at a faraway lake, sets the story moving. The young Trainer and a best friend, named Barry by default, go to check the local lake for a similar Pokémon. There they spot Professor Rowan, a Pokémon Evolution Researcher, and his assistant. The assistant is whichever of Lucas or Dawn the player did not choose. The two adults leave and a briefcase stays behind. A wild Starly attacks each of the friends, so they open the case. Inside are three Pokémon: the Grass-type Turtwig, the Fire-type Chimchar, and the Water-type Piplup. The player picks one and fights off the Starly. Rowan sees the bond that has formed, lets the young Trainer keep the Pokémon, and asks them to fill their Pokédex.

  Eight Gyms, each led by a Gym Leader who specializes in one Pokémon type, hand out the Badges that move the plot forward. Meanwhile a crime syndicate called Team Galactic plans to use Pokémon to build a new universe for itself and destroy the current one. The player first meets its thugs while rescuing Rowan, though their motives stay unclear. Later the group takes over a wind farm, sets up a base in Eterna City, and seizes the three lakes to capture the Mirage Pokémon Uxie, Azelf, and Mesprit.

  Shortly after the player earns the seventh Badge, Team Galactic imprisons the trio in the laboratory of its headquarters building. Crystals extracted from them are used to forge the Red Chain, an object that can control Palkia in Pearl or Dialga in Diamond. Once the player frees the trio, the Spear Pillar opens. This ancient ruin sits atop Mt. Coronet, and the Team Galactic leader summons the Legendary Pokémon there. Its power begins to overwhelm Sinnoh, and the freed trio try to stop it. The player battles Palkia or Dialga, defeats or captures it, and Sinnoh returns to normal.

  The Elite Four then stand between the player and the Sinnoh League Champion, Cynthia, a blonde woman who has already appeared earlier in the game. Beating her makes the player the new Champion and ends the main story. The post-game adds an island with Pokémon not found in the main game, new stores, and a tournament center, where an old friend waits to challenge the player one more time.

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• 3. Catch and Battle

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  Nobody begins these games with a Pokémon or a Poké Ball. The story hands over a first Pokémon, and Poké Balls arrive later, after which the player can capture more. The view is third-person and overhead, and play moves between three screens: a field map, a battle screen, and a menu for the party, items, and settings.

  Whenever the player meets a wild Pokémon or is challenged by a trainer, the game switches to a turn-based battle. The player can use a move, use an item, switch the active Pokémon, or flee, though fleeing is not allowed against trainers. Every Pokémon has hit points. When they reach zero it faints and cannot fight until it is revived at a Pokémon Center or with an item. Winning earns experience points, and enough of them raise the Pokémon's level, which improves its stats and teaches it new moves. Most Pokémon evolve into a new species at a certain level. One quirk is that a Pokémon prevented from evolving learns new moves faster.

  Capturing wild Pokémon is the other pillar. The player throws a Poké Ball during battle, and a success adds the Pokémon to the party of up to six or stores it if the party is full. Other trainers' Pokémon can never be captured. Chances improve when the target has low HP and the ball is a strong one. Inflicting a status effect such as sleep or paralysis adds a multiplier, and each species also has a capture rate of its own.

  The biggest rule change came in how moves are sorted. In earlier generations a move was physical or special according to its type, so all Fire-type moves were special and all Ground-type moves were physical. Diamond and Pearl sorted moves into three groups instead. Attacks that touch the opponent are physical, attacks that do not are special, and moves that deal no damage are status moves. Competitive battling became much more popular as a result. Gengar and Gyarados could suddenly use their higher attacking stat, and some formerly all-physical or all-special types gained coverage moves of the other kind.

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• 4. Built for Two Screens

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  On the bottom screen of the Nintendo DS sits the Pokétch, a simulated smartwatch. It hosts applications including a clock, a calculator, a map, a counter, and a drawing pad, and the player collects these apps over the course of the game.

  Time of day matters more than before. The day-night cycle returns from Gold and Silver, where it had three periods, and now has five: morning, day, afternoon, evening, and night.

  Beneath Sinnoh runs the Underground, built for wireless multiplayer. Players dig there for items that can be moved into the bag in the main game. They also create and decorate secret bases, a feature that first appeared in Ruby and Sapphire, and they take part in minigames.

  Contests are shows in which Pokémon compete for ribbons, and here they have three stages, two more than in the Game Boy Advance games. The Visual Competition uses the touchscreen to place accessories on a Pokémon and boost a trait such as Cool or Cute. The Dance Competition asks the player to tap buttons in rhythm with the music. The Acting Competition resembles the older Contests, with moves used to appeal to the judges and crowd. To prepare, the player bakes Poffins from berries and feeds them to a Pokémon to raise a particular trait. They are the successors to the Pokéblocks of the third generation.

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• 5. Trading Worldwide

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  Art director Ken Sugimori said the Global Trade Station was the new feature he was most pleased with. The system lets a player search for any Pokémon they have seen in the game and offer one of their own in return. If another player is offering the requested Pokémon and wants the offered one, the trade happens at once. A player can also leave an offer for others to find while offline. Certain species traded internationally gain a Pokédex entry in the language of the game they came from.

  The Global Trade Station ran on the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, which has since been discontinued. The same service allowed voice chat and online battles. Trading is also required within the games themselves. The two versions are independent, but the Pokédex can only be completed by trading between them.

  The DS could also reach back to older hardware. Diamond and Pearl work with Ruby and Sapphire, Emerald, FireRed, and LeafGreen. After earning the National Pokédex, a player inserts a Game Boy Advance cartridge into the DS cartridge slot while Diamond or Pearl sits in the DS slot, then chooses to Migrate. Once six Pokémon are uploaded they arrive in the Pal Park, where the player must capture them. Each cartridge is limited to six uploads every twenty-four hours, and the player must capture the uploaded Pokémon before the next transfer. Nothing sent this way can go back to the cartridge.

  Other games connect as well. A special mission in Pokémon Ranger lets the player send a Manaphy egg or Riolu to Diamond or Pearl. Pokémon can also be uploaded wirelessly to two Wii games. Pokémon Battle Revolution is the first Wii incarnation of the series. My Pokémon Ranch is a WiiWare download developed by Ambrella that cost 1,000 Wii Points, equal to US$10.00. In the Ranch, visiting Pokémon appear in 3D and interact with the player's Miis.

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• 6. Design Choices

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  Junichi Masuda served as game director, and the music was scored by Hitomi Sato and Masuda under the supervision of Go Ichinose, with a few fanfares by Morikazu Aoki. Tsunekazu Ishihara of The Pokémon Company said the games were designed around the DS's unique features, such as its Wi-Fi capabilities and its slot for Game Boy Advance cartridges.

  Some decisions were about who might be playing. The command buttons on the battle screen are large and color-coded. Masuda said this would help players who cannot read. The touchscreen was likewise designed to encourage fingers rather than the stylus.

  The graphics drew complaints. Most of the world is 2D with a few 3D background elements, and critics disliked the choice. Ishihara answered, "we wanted to maintain the original idea of Pokémon being a game that you played on this big map." He added that the world was physically three-dimensional but meant to keep the original feel. Friend Codes drew criticism too. Ishihara described them as a security measure so that players could not chat with strangers over Wi-Fi.

  The Japanese release also shipped with faults. Nintendo issued a statement about glitches that could trap players in an in-game wall or wipe their saved data, and it sent patches to certain retailers in Japan.

  Years later, in mid-2020, dataminers leaked the source code. It revealed unused sprites and scrapped designs for new Pokémon. The material first appeared on ResetEra as part of a series of Nintendo leaks of unfinished game builds.

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• 7. Launch and Sales

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  A Nintendo press conference in the fourth calendar quarter of 2004 first announced the games, alongside Pokémon Dash and details on the Japanese launch of the DS. Masuda promised a game that would "become a new type of game that offers a number of new forms of play" and said he was determined to make "the ultimate Pokémon version". The games were expected in Japan in 2005, but Nintendo said the developers were still working on gameplay. Full details came only in mid-2006, when Nintendo President Satoru Iwata mentioned that Pokémon Battle Revolution connectivity was still in development. The announcement had also promised full use of the DS's Wi-Fi, letting 16 players communicate wirelessly at once.

  Japan received the games on the 28th of September 2006. To mark the day, Nintendo sold a limited-edition DS Lite through Japanese Pokémon Center stores and by mail to fan club members. It had a metallic black finish with Dialga painted in silver and Palkia in gold. A two-disc soundtrack, Nintendo DS Pokémon Diamond & Pearl Super Music Collection, followed on the 22nd of December 2006. It peaked at number 253 on Japan's Oricon charts and stayed for one week.

  On the 20th of December 2006, Nintendo of America set the North American release for the 22nd of April 2007. Anyone who pre-ordered received a special stylus branded with some of the new Pokémon. Shortly before launch, The Pokémon Company showed a limited demo at Nintendo's booth at the Game Developer's Conference. A release party followed at the Nintendo World Store in Rockefeller Plaza in New York City. Australia received the games on the 21st of June, with a nationwide Nintendo DS Connection Tour 07 offering Pokémon Trading Card Game competitions and trivia. Europe followed on the 27th of July 2007. A launch event at GAME stores in Hamleys on the 26th of July let buyers purchase a day early, and the band McFly appeared.

  The games' success revived the Pokémon brand. George Harrison, then Nintendo of America's vice president of marketing, said they attracted "players of all ages", from young children to grown men and women. Pokémon USA opened a temporary boutique in the Times Square Toys "R" Us selling only licensed merchandise, including Jakks Pacific action figures. Ronald Boire, president of Toys "R" Us, said the chain planned temporary boutiques in all 585 of its domestic stores. A BattleDome Playset and a talking Pokédex were also sold. In 2008, from the 7th of July to the 3rd of August, Burger King put exclusive Pokémon trading cards and accessories in Kids Meals in the United States.

  The sales were remarkable. Japan saw the series' most successful launch week and the best launch week of any DS game in that country. Three million units sold within forty-six days, the fastest for DS games. Nearly three months later, five million had sold. In the United States, pre-orders passed 533,000, almost twice those for FireRed and LeafGreen, and about one million copies sold within five days. They became the seventh-best-selling video games of 2007 with around 4.27 million units, and 5.3 million by early 2009. The games spurred 471,000 DS hardware sales, and video game sales in April 2007 rose 20% above April 2006. Europe saw around 1.6 million units in seven weeks, topping charts in Spain, Germany, and the United Kingdom. As of the 30th of September 2017, the pair had sold 17.67 million copies worldwide, around six million more than FireRed and LeafGreen.

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• 8. Critics and Legacy

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  Ryan Davis of GameSpot gave the games 8.5 out of 10, "Great", and called them "the most well-rounded Pokémon games to date." IGN and GameZone matched the 8.5, and GameSpy gave 4.5 out of 5. The highest score was 92 from UK Official Nintendo Magazine and the lowest was 67 from Game Revolution. 1UP.com awarded an A-, up from the B- it gave Ruby and Sapphire. ComputerAndVideoGames.com scored them slightly lower than Ruby and Sapphire.

  Most reviewers found the gameplay and story little changed yet still engaging. Davis wrote that it was surprising how well the formula holds up, calling this a testament to the series' strong fundamentals. The Wi-Fi features drew the warmest praise. 1UP.com named wireless connectivity the games' biggest improvement, and GameSpy and GameSpot called online play robust. ComputerAndVideoGames.com wrote that Pokémon felt "properly alive for the first time since playgrounds were abuzz with monsters in the late '90s."

  The graphics split opinion. GameSpot liked the blend of 2D and 3D, while GameZone said, "a Pokemon title hasn't ever looked this good on a handheld." ComputerAndVideoGames.com called the so-called 3D "just a viewpoint shuffle." Audio fared worse. IGN felt the cries "still screech with the flair of the original Game Boy", and GameSpot cited recycled sounds as a negative.

  The awards followed. At G4's G-phoria 2007 the games won Best Handheld Game and were nominated for Best RPG. IGN's Best of 2007 named them best Nintendo DS online multiplayer game and best DS RPG. In 2008 they were nominated for a British Academy of Film and Television Arts Children's Kids Vote Award. Back in 2006, the Famitsu Game Awards gave them Best Hit and a tie with Final Fantasy XII for Game of the Year.

  Pokémon Platinum, the third version, reached Japan on the 13th of September 2008, North America on the 22nd of March 2009, Australia on the 14th of May 2009, and Europe on the 22nd of May 2009. It holds aggregate scores of 84 at Metacritic and 83.14% at GameRankings. IGN ranked it the ninth-best DS game ever made. It sold 7.6 million copies and became the fastest-selling game in Japan at the time.

  The Sinnoh region returned on the Nintendo Switch. Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, produced by ILCA, arrived on the 19th of November 2021 as faithful remakes with mechanics from later titles. They received mixed reviews and had sold over fourteen million copies by May 2022. Pokémon Legends: Arceus followed on the 28th of January 2022. It is a prequel set in the older Hisui region, where players roam five biomes and can battle from the overworld. It earned a Best RPG nomination at The Game Awards and over twelve million copies by May 2022.

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