Pokemon Crazy Diamond and Pearl Jam

 Oh wait, that's 'Brilliant Diamond' and 'Shining Pearl'. Don't know what went wrong there...

No, as much as I might desperately wish that this was the surprise journeys of some innocent new Pokémon protagonist's life in the crazy noisy bizarre town of Morioh, this is merely that remake that everyone has been going on about pretty much ever since Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby. Being around the Pokemon community for as long as I have, I can tell you all rather definitively that whilst everyone might be labelling that other project with the lofty title of 'The game which fans have been waiting for' you shouldn't believe a word of it. This is literally the game that fans been asking from the Pokemon Company year after year for the past 7 years, that's right, Pokemon fans could care less about reaching beyond the confines of the series and pushing the game in new directions, all they wanted was their Diamond remake and now they've got it. (Happy now?)

To be fair I can kind of see the appeal. Being an Emerald fan myself, I really was blown away when the Alpha Sapphire and Omega Ruby games were released for the way in which they took an original game which I adored so much and turned everything up to eleven. You explored the same areas, caught roughly the same Pokémon, all to ostensibly the same story, but almost all those levels were just the backbone of the remake and new details supplemented them. We got our hands on whole new story lines, more Legendries than we could shake several sticks at, a brand new combat system and just so much more that felt these games feel like a brand new entry. And in a way it absolutely was, because these games told of a new Pokemon cannon that is now fully within effect throughout the mainline games. (A cannon which makes ever generation has it's very own gimmick system) So it makes sense in my eyes that Pokémon Diamond and Peral fans would want that same kind of treatment.

In fact, there have been fans begging for this remake for what seems like ever now. I've heard stories about how Diamond was the only game in the series that felt like a challenge, or the way in which Pearl bought that something special which no game has been able to capture sense. To be honest with you, I never played Diamond or Pearl back in the day so all of this is news to me, but given the widespread appeal I can only assume there most be at least some validity to these rampant claims. (Where there's smoke- as they say) And, I have to be honest, I've been won over a bit by all this talk. I want to see what all the fuss was about, preferably in a remake environment that takes advantage of all the advances that the Pokemon games have made. (Such as easier end-game Pokemon training. That would certainly be nice.)

Unfortunately, it seems as though that might not be the case this time around, at least not entirely. For you see, whilst the other remakes that Pokemon has done have essentially made that game their entry for the generation, it appears as though that won't be the case this time around. In fact, it's quite questionable whether or not any of the new games are going to count as a jump to Generation IX or if instead this is going to be an extension of Gen VIII. In relation to Shining Pearl and Brilliant Diamond in particular, Gamefreak seem to have opted for a more nostalgia driven approach similar to what was done for Link's Awakening. Rather than 3D free camera gameplay, we're going back to chibi sprites with an almost 3DS post rendering effect over everything. (Honestly, I'm not loving how it looks.)

Though I accept that I might be in the minority there. The Original Diamond and Pearl did come around back when Pokemon were still doing their more traditional game layout, thus maybe it make more sense for this remake to emulate that style as much as possible. (Still would have loved to see that turned on it's head, however.) The style is notably different from the original, I just happen to think it resembles an ungodly hybrid between old and new rather than a step forward, but hopefully everyone else finds it adorable or whatever the team where going for. Whatever the case it will at least be a trip to go back to characters like Dawn especially considering that now she's been in the Anime and has an established voice and personality. I'd imagine that's probably why there doesn't appear to be character customisation this time around, we're no longer playing an avatar of ourselves but stepping into the shoes of a character. (Funny how perspectives can slightly alter, no?)

Of course, customisation isn't the only thing that this remake has neglected to add. In fact, from the wording of the trailer they seemed to have announced this as a 'completely faithful' adaptation, which would seem to imply that there's been actually no changes. That's odd to say the least. Pokemon games have always been about moving forward to me, building the new Pokedex and mastering the new gameplay additions each and every entry, whereas it seems that this game is firmly stepping back into the past and is happy to remain there. A static entry that stubbornly refuses to throw in any of the details which might make this game appealing to new comers and old souls. What about new Pre evolutions, remixed story moments, new Pokemon; heck, even the lack of a gimmick system seems out of place. Like this is a static entry in the franchise that'll stick out like a sore thumb whenever we look to the series catalogue. Then again, I suppose that is somewhat inkeeping with the Nintendo model; "Sell them old games for full price. We're so generous..."

Once more this sounds like it could be a juggle of two views, both for and against, when it comes to the faithfulness. Some people absolutely adore Diamond and Pearl to reverence and must be eager to return to that world in any form, but purely mechanically I find this to be a very regressive approach to remake design. The modern remake mentality to throw together so much in the way of reimagining's and updates to the old content that someone could pick up the game and not realise there was an original this was feeding from. Take a look at the Resident Evil 2 Remake, which is still one of the best games of it's year, Final Fantasy VII, which looks to from a whole cult around this one FF entry; both games which take the word 'remake' and give it immense value. Instead we've got something that seems safe, which I guess is what Pokemon is sort of known for, now isn't it.

But let me be clear; I'm all aboard for this game provided that nothing ridiculous happens regarding pricing points. (£50 and I'm out, Nintendo.) I just don't think it's going to be worth it. Then again, maybe Diamond and Pearl really is that good, to the point where I'll be blown away about how ahead of it's time that the game was. Or, third option, maybe Gamefreak totally suck at marketing and there really is a whole bunch of new stuff coming to this game that they somehow completely forgot to even mention during the reveal. (That last one would be really stupid of them.) At the end of the day, however, this was an announcement that made no sense within a vacuum. Putting it in perspective with the next game they announced, however, is enlightening. But we'll talk about that series upset tomorrow...