Josh's Review: Diamond and Pearl Versions
These games are some of the best that Nintendo and Game Freak have created. Okay, sure the making new Pokemon thing is getting really old, I mean do we really need 493 Pokemon? But that's besides the point. Pokemon Diamond and Pearl came out in America April 22nd, 2007, and featured many new things. So many things in fact, that I think they deserve a list.
- Male and female sprites, so now you can actually tell the difference of the Pokemon rather than just the gender symbol located next to their name. (No, there is nothing nasty with the sprites, they just may have different markings or colors.)
- The Poketech, slightly like the Pokegear of G/S/C, but with many more features, like a step counter, a calculator, and even a happiness screen!
- The return of real-life time. But now, not only can you encounter certain people and Pokemon depending on the time, the light of the screen changes. At sunset, the screen color is dimmed, and in the middle of the day, the color is brighter.
- Like mentioned before, 493 Pokemon to capture and train, (but you have to trade with all compatible games to gain all 493 Pokemon.)
- The Wi-fi system allows you to talk and battle with people all the way across the world or even just down the street through friend codes and wireless internet access.
- The GTS, or Global Trading System, is kind of like the eBay of the Pokemon World. You can put up Pokemon for trade, and if people have the requirements and want to trade, they can trade their Pokemon for yours. You don't even have to be in the trading system at the time the trade is made. You can log on anytime you have wireless internet/wi-fi access and see if your Pokemon was traded.
- A whole new region to run around in: Sinnoh.
- The ability to transfer your Pokemon from your old games onto Diamond or Pearl through 'migrating'. The games must be compatible with each other (this means no trading with Yellow or Silver Version or something), you cannot get your Pokemon back, and you've need to have beaten the Elite 4, and filled up your Sinnoh Pokedex, though.
Battle against the evil Team Galactic to save the universe and all of time with Dialga and Palukia. Compete in different kinds of contests to have your Pokemon rank up well around others. Take your 'cute' Pokemon for walks in parks to gain their happiness and trust. Discover Pokemon running around in the wild that were once rare in other games or not even catchable in earlier games, (like Chansey and Steelix.) This has got to be Nintendo and Game Freak's best. Props to Ken Sugimori, as well, seeing as some of the best graphics out of all of the Pokemon games have finally come.
Since there's nothing to really compare these games to, I'd rate them with 5 stars. In the future, though, I'm sure the games will be even more advanced than this generation, ranking these games with only a 4 or so. But for now, these are the top of the top and I'm glad I've gotten to play them.
