Even though Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl were generally well-received upon release, they also got a lot wrong, which has led to their reputations declining in the months since. These Sinnoh remakes have been one of the most controversial additions to the franchise for many reasons. Generation 4 remakes were long-awaited by Pokémon fans since the Sinnoh games are so beloved, especially Platinum, but Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl did not seem to quite meet the bar of expectations.
Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl were Nintendo Switch remakes of Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl, which were originally released on September 28, 2006. Generation 4 and Sinnoh marked a seminal moment in the history of the franchise, and were followed by Pokémon Platinum, a remake of Diamond and Pearl with extra content, which was released two years later. BDSP was meant to mark a triumphant return to Sinnoh, but the further it's gotten from release, the less staying power it's had.
The HD remakes, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, were greatly anticipated by many fans, especially after the success of previous remakes, Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver as well as Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. However, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl had lots of problems, which meant that they were unable to live up to the promise of the original games. Now, BDSP seems to have been completely eclipsed by the release of Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
BDSP Was Missing Pokémon Platinum Content
Since the initial reveal of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, GameFreak had repeatedly said that the remakes would be faithful to the originals, which could have been construed as there being as few changes as possible from the original Pokémon Diamond and Pearl games. This ended up being true, as the game was released with no Pokémon Platinum content. No Distortion World with Giratina, no Battle Frontier, and most egregiously, no Platinum Pokédex.
Pokémon Platinum was an excellent expansion on the Diamond and Pearl games, adding new content as well as a bunch of quality of life updates. Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are games that seem to lack content in comparison. There are fewer things to do, and a lot fewer Pokémon to catch.
Pokémon Platinum had also expanded upon Diamond and Pearl's Pokédex, meaning that there was a larger variety of Pokémon to be caught in the game without needing to trade from other games. Pokémon BDSP didn't include Platinum's Pokédex, meaning that the games included the smaller, more limiting Pokédex from Diamond and Pearl. While some new Pokémon could be caught in the game's Grand Underground, the selection is nowhere near as vast as Platinum's selection, leaving the games feeling limited in selection for playthrough teams.
Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl Were Buggy At Release
Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl had a mountain of bugs and glitches upon release. There were various reports of players getting completely soft-locked and needing to restart their entire game. There was a huge issue with glitch cloning in Pokémon BDSP as well. There was also various out-of-bounds wall walking glitches, allowing the player to completely skip large portions of the game (the fastest speed run was in mere minutes). There were also a lot of bugs with following Pokémon behaving oddly or not working at all. While not all of these bugs were game-breaking, the sheer amount of them is almost baffling, and to a selection of people, the game was almost unplayable before a lot of bugs were patched out.
The Following Pokémon System Was Disappointing In BDSP
When the following Pokémon system from Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver was announced to make a return in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, many fans were excited. Making Pokémon follow the player has been a beloved feature since its first debut, and has been a want for every Pokémon game since then. However, the execution of it in the Sinnoh remakes was disappointing.
Firstly, the following Pokémon were given their own hitboxes and collision. This means that the player cannot walk through the Pokémon that is following them like in HeartGold and SoulSilver. If their following Pokémon traps the player in a narrow corridor, they would have to slowly push them back out with their own collision, which got annoying fairly quickly.
Secondly, the sizing of the following Pokémon in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl is very disproportionate. Even though the sizing is taking into account the chibi-like art style of the game, it still feels off. Large Pokémon, like Wailord, Dialga, and Palkia, seem extremely small next to the player and ruins some of their majesty, which comes from their size. Some other Pokémon in BDSP, like Ekans, don't even have walking or following animations and simply slide across the ground behind the player.
The Pokétch Was Lacking In Pokémon Diamond And Pearl
While it was nice to see the return of the Pokétch in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, it was not executed as best as it should have. While the way to control it was slightly awkward, it was not the biggest issue of the Pokétch. A huge issue was that the Pokétch had gone back to having a singular button, instead of two buttons like in Platinum. The singular button meant that players could only go forward through the apps on the Pokétch, and if they scrolled too far, they would have to cycle all the way back around to the app they want. Pokémon Platinum added a back button to the Pokétch to make this much easier, but this button is missing in the Sinnoh remakes, making the navigation of the Pokétch fairly tedious.
While there are a few things that Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl did right, like some nice battle music themes, a tough Elite Four and Champion, and the addition of Ramanas Park to catch legendaries, the game has a heavier weight of cons than pros, making it a controversial release. Hopefully, the inevitable Generation 5 (Black and White) remakes are held to a higher standard so that the mistakes of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are not repeated.