Pokémon Brilliant Diamond And Shining Pearl: Everything You Need To Know


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We're heading back to Sinnoh, folks! Yes, Pokémon fans across the world are looking forward to the Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl release date, as we learn more about the highly-anticipated Gen 4 remakes.

After years of rumours and speculation, we'll finally be able to revisit Diamond and Pearl in the Sinnoh region with Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. Release dates and gameplay trailers are already out in the wild, but the closer we get to November, the more information we get.

Will Cynthia still be fearsome with Fairy-types in the game? Will her Garchomp learn Iron Tail as a tech move? Will the game be completely faithful to the originals, or will they tease and hint at some things to come when the Pokémon Legends Arceus release date rolls around?

The Pokémon Brilliant Diamond And Shining Pearl remakes will offer faithful recreations of the original games, but with a stunning new design.

Here's everything we know about Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl: release date, gameplay trailers, and everything else we see so far.

Be sure to bookmark this page and check back regularly for the latest news.

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond And Shining Pearl Latest News

A special Switch Lite which is black with the gold and silver outlines of Dialga and Palkia on it.
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Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl Switch Lite

A brand new Switch Lite is being released with the new Switch games, featuring Dialga and Palkia in a stunning gold and black scheme. The design harks back to the classic Nintendo DS, and to be honest it looks pretty suave.

You can check out all the details for the Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl Switch Lite here.

Pokémon Home

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl will have full Pokémon Home integration in 2022.

Pokémon Presents Reveals Character Customisation And Hideaways

The Pokémon Presents livestream, which you can watch in full below, revealed that a few new additions will be coming to the Pokémon Diamond and Pearl remakes.

You can read the full rundown of new features for Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl in our guide, but if you're a fan of the Underground, character customisation, and Pokémon appearing in the overworld (sometimes), then you're in luck.

New Event Confirmed - August 13th

Fans will get to hear more about the Gen 4 remakes at an event next week.

You'll be able to watch the Pokémon Presents on the official Pokémon YouTube channel, and we'll pop a link in here when it's live, as well as updating all of our guides with the latest information.

Gameplay from Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, showing the female protagonist in a chibi style watching the television.
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Pokémon Brilliant Diamond And Shining Pearl Release Date

The Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl release date is November 19, 2021. This is just in time for Christmas, and months before Pokémon Legends Arceus graces our Switch screens.

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond And Shining Pearl Pre-Orders

You can pre-order Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl right now, so you're ready for November 19.

What Are Pokémon Diamond And Pearl?

Pokémon Diamond and Pearl were classic entries in the creature-catching franchise, still regarded by many as one of the best.

Set in the region of Sinnoh, an island based on the Japanese island of Hokkaidō.

The game sees the adventures of a new Pokémon trainer, controlled by the player, who strives to become the Pokémon League Champion by collecting and training Pokémon.

Players are tasked with collecting eight gym badges in order to Challenge the Pokémon League, which spreads across the region of Sinnoh.

Diamond and Pearl, as well as its Platinum expansion, featured 210 Pokemon.

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond And Shining Pearl Platforms

The game will release on the Nintendo Switch exclusively.

With games no longer being produced for the 3DS, it would be a surprise to see the game launch on this console.

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond And Shining Pearl Trailer

Check out the stunning trailer below:

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond And Shining Pearl Gameplay

These remakes will offer a new toyetic, chibi design, which looks similar to The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening remake. 

Starter Pokemon

The three starter Pokémon in Sinnoh are:

  • Piplup (Water)
  • Chimchar (Fire)
  • Turtwig (Grass)

Read More: Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Remake Starters: Turtwig, Chimchar and Piplup 

Piplup, Chimchar, and Turtwig jump in the air
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These three Pokémon featured heavily in the anime series and are arguably some of the best in the Pokémon franchise.

Piplup, the Penguin Pokémon, evolves into Prinplup and finally Empoleon where it becomes dual-type water and steel Pokemon.

This Pokémon has the ability 'Defiant', meaning if a stat is lowered by an opponent, its Attack is increased by two stages.

Chimchar, the chimp Pokémon, evolves into Monferno and becomes a dual-type fire and fighting Pokémon before finally evolving into Infernape.

This Pokémon boasts great speed and firey attacks, as well as having the ability 'Iron Fist', which causes the power-punching moves to increase by 20%.

Turtwig evolves into Grotle before evolving into its final evolution Torterra, where it becomes a dual-type grass and ground Pokémon.

Despite suffering a major reduction in speed as it evolves, its power grows immensely. This Pokémon features the ability 'Shell Armor', preventing it from receiving a critical hit.

Legendary Pokémon

The cover stars and mascots for this game are:

  • Dialga (Steel/Dragon)
  • Palkia (Water/Dragon)

Read More: Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Remake Legendaries: Dialga, Palkia, Giratina and Everything We Know

Dialga and Palkia stand side by side.
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The game also includes a few other legendary and mythical Pokémon including:

  • Uxie (Psychic)
  • Azelf (Psychic)
  • Mesprit (Psychic)
  • Heatran (Fire/Steel)
  • Regigigas (Normal)
  • Giratina (Ghost/Dragon)
  • Cresselia (Psychic)
  • Phione (Water)
  • Manaphy (Water)

Pokédex

The Pokédex included 151 Pokémon and did not even include all of the new ones that were created for the Sinnoh region.

This included 106 new Pokémon, later extended to include the entire National Pokédex.

However, in order for it to be compatible with Pokémon Home, as well as Sword and Shield, it is unlikely to feature the National Pokédex this time.

Mega Evolution

Will Mega Evolution feature in the Diamond and Pearl Remake?We haven't heard anything yet, but it's always possible.

That's everything we know about Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl so far, but be sure to check back as we'll update this guide with all the latest news as soon as we hear it.

For more articles like this, take a look at our Pokémon and Gaming News page.