Pokemon Brilliant DiamondandShining Pearlare only a few months away, and the general consensus is that, while the art style could have been improved a little bit, the game appears to be staying very true to its roots. For players wanting to relive that nostalgicDiamondandPearlexperience or for players joining the franchise for the first time,PokemonBrilliant DiamondandShining Pearlhave a lot to live up to.
There are several important features fromDiamondandPearlthat fans are hoping to see implemented into the remakes, but there is one feature of thePokemonfranchise thatBrilliant DiamondandShining Pearlshould make a priority: the National Pokedex. TheNational Pokedex was removed with the introduction ofSwordandShield,a decision that remains controversial in thePokemonfanbase. Not only does the absence of the National Pokedex mean that not every Pokemon is accessible in the game, it means that players can’t transfer all the Pokemon from old games into the new mainline titles. Whether or not this feature will make a comeback hasn’t been addressed yet.
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BeforeSwordandShield,most mainlinePokemongames were equipped with the National Pokedex. The National Pokedex essentially means that, while not every Pokemon is catchable in an individual game, players cantransfer old Pokemon from previous gamesinto their new one. It’s a fun idea that many enjoyed and saw as the definitive way to complete a Pokedex, because it’s more than catching every Pokemon in the game- it’s obtaining every Pokemon in existence. For a franchise whose slogan is “Gotta catch ‘em all,” it seems like an essential feature.
After completing the main storyline, completing the National Pokedex was one of the main reasons players kept playing the older games. It opened up a brand new goal to pursue and connected the previous games together in a unique way.Pokemon DiamondandPearlhave a feature called Pal Park, which enabled players to bring old Pokemon into their new game after completing the main story. At the time, there weren’t any major restrictions on which Pokemon could be transferred; they were all fair game.
The collection aspect is essential to the spirit ofPokemon,and it’s fun to collect Pokemon across several generations of games. Completing the National Pokedex is not a task for the faint of heart, and it’s entirely possible that it could take multiple generations for players to complete it. With new Pokemon being added with almost every new game, not having to start from scratch is very appealing.
However, the National Pokedex was removed withPokemon SwordandShieldand somewhat replaced byPokemon Home.Players might be familiar withPokemon Homeas a tool that can help transfer Pokemoninto newer games, however, not every Pokemon can be brought intoSwordandShield.What’s more,Pokemon Homeis not a free service and requires a subscription-based free to keep a collection of Pokemon.
Removing the National Pokedex Was Controversial, And Nintendo Doesn’t Plan to Bring it Back
Removing a feature that has been consistently present since the beginning of thePokemongame franchise isn’t something that was done lightly. ForPokemonfans who have been with the franchise since the beginning, removing the National Dex meant that they were no longer able to use the vast collection of Pokemon they’d probably spent years collecting. Sure, there are always the older games to go back to, but it’s not quite the same.
Even more controversial was the arrival ofPokemon Home,which put transferring Pokemon into new games behind a paywall. It’s not uncommon for fans to be unhappy about a previously free feature becoming paid, and whilePokemon Homeis a good tool and it is possible to create a National Living Pokedexwith it, a lot of players prefer the older methods and want to see those Pokemon in their games rather than just inHome’sdatabase.
Unfortunately for those fans, Nintendo doesn’t seem like it has any plans to revive the National Pokedex. The producer ofPokemon SwordandShield,Junichi Masuda, clearly stated thatfuturePokemongames will not include the National Pokedex. That doesn’t mean that all hope is lost, as minds can be changed and Game Freak might decide to take fan feedback into account, but it does make it seem unlikely.
As the cumulative number of existing Pokemon continues to grow with each new addition to the series, a National Pokedex would become even more difficult to obtain and might just end up being too much. Fans still dream of the ultimate game where every monster can be caught across all of the major regions in thePokemonuniverse, but as of right now Game Freak isn’t anywhere close to making that game. But as a remake for a game that did have theNational Pokedex,Brilliant DiamondandShining Pearlmight be in a different category.
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As a Remake, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl Have Options For the National Pokedex
Based on what’s been shown so far,Brilliant DiamondandShining Pearlwill be as faithful as possible to the original. This could be great news for the National Pokedex, even though it hasn’t yet been formally addressed. Although Nintendo claims it doesn’t plan to include the National Dex in future mainline games, areBrilliant DiamondandShining Pearlreally mainline games? They’re remakes, which means that there might be a little more leeway to include this feature.
Players don’t entirely agree onwhether or notBrilliant DiamondandShining Pearlwill include featureslike the National Pokedex, but there are a few different ways it could go. One, the Pokedex could be included just as it was in the original titles, updated to include all of the new Pokemon that have been added to the franchise since 2006. This is probably the least likely outcome, and may not be the most appropriate setup in the first place.
The second option is not including the National Pokedex at all. While it would be disappointing to see this feature from the original games not make a comeback, it probably wouldn’t be a huge surprise for most players. After all, Nintendo has made its intentions regarding the National Pokedex pretty clear andbringing it back toBrilliant DiamondandShining Pearlmight create even more confusion. It could also put pressure on Game Freak to continue including it in future mainline games because the removal was controversial in the first place.
The third option, which is the most interesting, is including the National Pokedex but only including the Pokemon that were a part of the franchise in 2006. In that sense, it wouldn’t be a true National Pokedex, but it would stay truer toDiamondandPearl’sPokedex. This option wouldallowBrilliant DiamondandShining Pearlto remain faithfulwithout adding in all 900 Pokemon, many of which didn’t exist whenDiamondandPearlwere released in 2006. Doing something like this would also keep players from expecting the National Pokedex to be included in future games- even though many still hope it will be brought back to the mainline series at some point.
Pokemon Brilliant DiamondandShining Pearlwill release for Nintendo Switch on November 19.
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