 Welcome to my Nintendo Switch review of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. Is this a game that is worth buying or not? You are going to decide after you hear what I have to say. Now it has happened again. Nintendo has decided to shine some new light on older mainline Pokémon titles this time remaking Pokémon Diamond and Pearl originally released back in 2006 for the Nintendo DS. I happened to be around at that time and experiencing them at their fullest when they were new. This is my original DS version of Pokémon Diamond and I loved Pokémon Diamond and I had over 200 hours of playtime in that, going completely nuts with completing the Pokédex, even going so far as to order two really expensive guidebooks online. And this was before I knew what eBay was so these books were the first things that I ever ordered from a foreign website. I was obsessed to put it lightly. So how does the remake hold up for the Nintendo Switch? I will go over story, gameplay, graphics and music to then tell you how I feel on revisiting this nostalgia. Story. This is how I do my game reviews, everyone. Story. I'm going to explain this for people who are absolutely new to Pokémon as well by saying that it is a creature collecting RPG where you also use these creatures to do battles. You catch these small pocket monsters with Pokéballs which are devices to store these creatures. It is a funny concept when I say it like that but people love it. Pokémon has been around for quite some time now and I'm pretty sure most people have heard about Pokémon and they know the general idea. So Pokémon is an old and very established franchise by now. All of their games are very kid-friendly and also in my opinion easy to progress in. This time you are a brand new Pokémon trainer starting out in the region of Sino which is based on a real life Japanese island actually. You get to choose one of the three starting Pokémons and off you go on an adventure towards becoming the very best and catching them all. The more Pokémon that you collect the more you will fill out your Pokédex which is a little device for storing the information on the creatures that you find in the world. There are several gems across the land which will be equivalent to boss fights. The story revolves mainly around collecting all of these, the gym badges I mean, to then prove you are the best Pokémon master. You also have a ton of side plots around the evil gang called the Galactics and also around some legendary Pokémons. Most NPCs around the world they will tell you tips and tricks on how to play the game. They rarely portray much depth or say anything with a very deeper or profound meaning. It is a lighthearted game and its main purpose is just to make you escape reality for a while. Gameplay, the best section, but it plays like most Pokémon games. It actually does. You start off by choosing your gender, your name and your look. You can later customize your clothes though. You move from town to town, you collect the gym badges and collect Pokémons. But battling with other NPC trainers is a lot of the gameplay. You will be a lot in battle. It is a turn based battle with elemental weaknesses. That is the main concept of the battling in Pokémon games. And the Pokémon trainers they are plentiful and everywhere. It is a very easy game and I don't think I ever wiped out my party. Ever. The world is fairly big and you can later traverse by fast travelling, also known as flying, or by biking. You have a poketch gadget that back in the day was a bottom screen thing on the DS. Even though the Switch doesn't have two screens, it's nice to see that it is still present. But I don't use it. Pokémon walking behind you has returned. Finally, Pokémon walking actually behind you in-game. It's such a simple fun concept thing that they once upon a time gave it to us, then took it back and now we have gotten it again back again. I mean it's something that they started in Pokémon Yellow and then they quit doing it. And then they gave it back to us in Soul, Silver and Heart or something. The DS remakes of Silver and Gold. And then we didn't see it again, sort of thing. Until let's go Pikachu and Eevee and now it wasn't in Sword and Shield. But now it's so random. You get it or you don't. But you get it in this game. There are plenty of end-game content to delve into, even after you have collected all of the eight gym badges and defeated the Elite Four. Like completing the National Pokedex, which I know Tiny House is really into. Or really nerd out on Pokémon Breeding or Shiny Pokémon Hunting, which are the main projects for every serious Pokémon player. There is a grand underground where you can do some fun exploring using the Explorer Kit, which you will obtain fairly early on. Down here you will find a rare Pokémon, so this is a whole fun thing on its own. Customization is here and you can buy different clothes to wear, which is fun, always, I love that stuff. And there's also stickers that you can collect to customize how your Poké Ball animation will look for each Pokémon that you have in your party. An animation that pops up when you throw your Poké Ball. Fun. There are also even more gimmicks and gameplay style elements in here, like Puffin making, which are candies for your Pokémon. Also there's contests that you can partake in with a rhythm game. You can also trade and battle with other real players online. A lot of things to do. Graphics. Since this is a remake, the graphics are fully updated to fit a more modern graphical style. However, I don't feel the graphics knocks us out of the park or anything. They are simply okay. And the character models themselves, they look a bit on the simpler side with a chibi style to them. Personally, I would actually have loved to see more of a cel-shaded graphical style in a sort of Pokémon remake game like this. Cel-shaded. I enjoy cel-shaded way more than chibi style. But here we are. I do more like the original graphics, which are 2D sprites based. I also think Sword and Shield graphics look way better than these graphics. Sinoa is one of my favorite regions, because it is a very diverse world with all sorts of areas, like wintery mountains, caves, beaches, cities, big and small, music. All of the familiar tunes and soundtracks from the originals are found in this one, only remade and made more fun. And they sound a bit more modern. There are still no voice acting, but that isn't something that we are expecting either, since mainline Pokémon games has never had them. The startup sound made me feel very nostalgic, how to say. That is the thing with music, or even sound effects. They have the ability to whisk you away to another time. It's so nostalgic, it is so powerful. And I felt for some moments that I was back in 2007, or something. It was amazing. Battle music can be stressful. And sometimes when I'm doing a lot of battles, one after the other, the music gets so tiring that I end up lowering the volume and play with no music, no sound. Stressful battle music. That was like... There are no real differences between the Pearl and Diamond versions, except some exclusive Pokémon are found in one of them and not in the other, in case you were wondering. There isn't a big difference. And also, have to mention, this game is easy. Easy. Maybe a bit too easy. If this game is too easy for you, I recommend Shinra Gaomi Tensei 5. It's a harder Pokémon. Also, some things feel very slow, like the amount of time spent from entering a battle, until you can do your first move or select run. Feels like it is too many seconds. It's a lot of waiting. Same goes with planting the berries. It feels like it takes too long of a time to click on the tree and get the berry and it should have been more faster. So I ended up choosing not to replant the berries because of it. Another thing, it's just my biggest gripe is that it is too easy. I don't like that you can see which attacks are effective, not effective and super effective. I don't like that we can see that. That is something that I am used to, that we are to remember on our own, is just easy mode. Also, there are XP share, which means all of the Pokémon in your party gets XP. It's too easy. But I'm not hating it. I mean, I have so many games that playing a game that's super easy. It's such a big time saver in a way. That is such a terrible problem to have. But yeah, it is sort of time saving though, I guess. I mean, I'm just trying to see the positive into this. And another thing is that all HM moves, you know, fly, strength, surf, they are now automated. And that also makes things a whole lot more easier than I would maybe prefer even. For me personally, I am no longer in my biggest Pokémon hype as I was back in the day. But I can clearly see how this remake can recreate that magical feeling to someone else and get just as obsessed as I was in 2006 and 2007 with the original. I am giving Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pearl, Shining Pearl, Brilliant Diamond, a 7 out of 10 because they are solid games. This is my score. And for the love of God, don't take my scoreings too seriously. They are personal. This could just as well be a 9 out of 10 for someone else that gets super obsessed into the addicting nature of a Pokémon game because there are so many things that can make you super addicted. Like filling the Pokédex, shiny Pokémon hunting, being the best in the online matches. That is also a whole thing. People are so into that. Some people. Either way, I hope you will enjoy this game. Now, that was all for today from Isha Gaming. I'm signing off. That is not my usual ending. I usually say thank you. No way. I usually say thank you. Thank you so much for watching and I will see you later. Check out my podcast, Discord server, Instagram, Twitter. I am everywhere. Subscribe and hit like before you leave. And a comment. Thank you so much. I will see you later.