Nintendo recently unveiled the map for Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl's Grand Underground, an area located below the game's Sinnoh region. The announcement follows a slew of new information on upcoming Pokémon games highlighted during the franchise's recent Pokémon Presents livestream.
The Grand Underground is a major expansion to the Sinnoh underground from the original Nintendo DS games. It still includes the same features from the original Underground, such as digging treasure and customizing secret bases. However, the upcoming remakes will include Grand Underground Pokémon hideaways, areas where Pokémon roam freely in the open. The types of Pokémon that can be encountered in these hideaways will change depending on the statues found in the secret base. These new features make Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl's Grand Underground one of the most notable additions to the remakes.
Nintendo's recently unveiled map of the Sinnoh region Grand Underground reveals several noteworthy landmarks, in addition to what appears to be the area's Pokémon hideaways. The map is divided into six different regions based on a handful of the game's elemental types, with each area having an open, Pokémon-inhabited space that is likely a hideaway. That being said, the map shows some Pokémon in areas outside of these spaces, as well. The Grand Underground graphic also has a seemingly explorable portion in the top right corner, but it appears to have no pathway leading to other areas in the map.
The Pokémon Presents livestream showed Grand Underground footage that indicated Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl will use an enhanced Pokédex from Pokémon Platinum. In the video, Pokémon like Houndoom and Slugma - which weren't available in the original Pokémon Diamond and Pearl games - can be seen wandering around the underground area. However, the presentation did state that some Pokémon will be exclusive to these hideaways, so it’s still plausible the Pokémon featured in Pokémon Platinum are unique to the Grand Underground.
This map raises more questions about how Pokémon hideaways will work and what new features players will experience, but one thing is for sure: the Grand Underground is big. The Sinnoh underground was a massive, sprawling map even in the original games. But this new underground area looks just as big, if not bigger, and is seemingly packed with even more activities and opportunities for exploration. Along with its updated versions of old features from the original Pokémon games, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl's new additions will freshen up its gameplay and story.
Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl will be available for Nintendo Switch on November 19, 2021.
Source: Nintendo/Twitter