So Pokemon released their 25th anniversary direct about a few weeks ago and in my opinion, gave us everything we asked for and more – let’s talk about that.
For anyone who has been keeping up with the pattern of Pokemon main series titles ever since sixth gen, you’ll know that generation four remakes were a very likely candidate for the next main series games after Pokemon sword and Shield. With some of the tweets from both some of the directors of Pokemon and even Pokemon itself, it seemed that the remakes that everyone hoped and prayed for since the release of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire were becoming an extremely true reality for Pokemon fans everywhere. Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl was announced on February 26th of this year as a way to release its biggest news in regards to Pokemon’s 25th anniversary.
Along with these new additions to the Pokemon series, a new open world game was also introduced – Pokemon Legends: Arceus. As a Pokemon master herself it would be extremely out of character to review and talk about these games centered around my favorite generation, so get some water and potato chips while I tell you all the opinions I have about these games.
First and foremost, the Diamond and Pearl remakes. Now, Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire were solid remakes to the original Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire, but these games were released as the new 3D modules were becoming the new art style of Pokemon along with some changes to the games as a whole. Most people who have put their two cents in their opinion on these remakes usually say the same thing, as do I: the new changes from generation six and onward have negatively impacted the difficulty, characters, and plot of the newer Pokemon games. There are so many retrospectives to find on YouTube about these so I won’t digress into them. If you’ve played these games then you most likely know what I mean by my previous statement as well. While we don’t know exactly how much is going to change with Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, I don’t believe that Nintendo will make too many changes to the original story.
I don’t have too much evidence on my side, but instead of finding in a way to insert the new Wild Area feature within the remakes and instead creating a new title gives me hope that Nintendo has heard the criticisms about the past main series titles, so therefore I believe that we shouldn’t write off the potential for these games yet. I’ve heard a few comments about the Fisher-Price style of Dawn and Lucas and in my opinion it’s adorable. Of course it’s not like the modules in Sword and Shield, but I’ll talk about the new modules in Pokemon Legends in a minute. Growing up with Diamond and Pearl as a child I see the artstyle as even more nostalgic and charming. In the trailer, we also see a bit of the Underground, which makes me think that could possibly be the new multiplayer feature that we will be advertised the most for these games. My only real hopes for these games is that Nintendo will keep the game as closely mirrored to the original as well. Do I want Pokemon from the newer introduced games to appear? Actually, no. Pokemon’s fourth generation Pokedex has so many amazing Pokemon and in my opinion, there’s no need for newer Pokemon except in the post game. I would absolutely love to see the new routes and Battle Frontier, that were featured in Platinum with all of my heart but it doesn’t seem likely. I also don’t believe that the Distortion World will make a comeback unfortunately, but I do have higher hopes for this area being possibly featured in Pokemon Legends.
I think everyone and their mother can agree that Pokemon Sword and Shield had so many failures in terms of story, characters, animations, and honestly I could go but I really wanted to bring home the point that the Wild Area was also an incredibly big disappointment. The amount of frame drops, horribly detailed trees, and bland fields in the Wild Area didn’t leave a good impression on fans. Luckily, it doesn’t seem like we’ll see the Wild Area in the new remakes but Pokemon fans are already criticizing the open world in Pokemon Legends, even though this is exactly what we wanted since the release of Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Of course, Breath of the Wild is a beautiful game, but because there are different people that worked on the game, and Pokemon Legends is still in development, it’s difficult for me to be so judgemental to this game regardless of the frame drops we saw in the direct. I think the modules are an improvement from Sword and Shield and I don’t mind that if we end up not being able to customize our main characters – they already have more character than the Sword and Shield protagonists. I love the concept of having to catch every Pokemon you find in the open world now; it makes completing the Pokedex actually feel more exciting and less of a chore.
I don’t really have much to say for an ending of my thoughts except that if you are a Pokemon fan who’s been expecting these games for a while, please don’t keep your expectations too high. Of course, there are changes that can easily be fixed, but overall, I don’t believe that there will ever be a Pokemon game that truly exceeds my expectations – and to be honest I don’t even know what would be the ‘perfect’ Pokemon game for me. I’m just super grateful that we are getting these remakes and that the Pokemon franchise is taking a chance at creating an open world. And of course – having some really promising remakes for my favorite generation.
