WikiPortallus: Pokémon Diamond and Pearl.html

Pokémon Diamond (ポケットモンスターダイヤモンド Poketto Monsutā Daiyamondo^?, Pocket Monsters Diamond) and Pokémon Pearl (ポケットモンスターパール Poketto Monsutā Pāru^?, Pocket Monsters Pearl) are both the fourth installments of the Pokémon series of role-playing games, succeeding Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald. They were developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS, and first released in Japan in 2006. The games were later released to the rest of the world in 2007 (North America, Australia, and Europe). Pokémon Platinum, a special edition version, was released in September 2008 in Japan. These three games (Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum) form the fourth generation of the Pokémon video game series.

The games are set in the fantasy world of Sinnoh, which is the habitat for 493 different species of Pokémon, some of which are exclusive to this region. The games cover the adventure of a single protagonist embarking on a quest to capture and train Pokémon while simultaneously thwarting the agenda of the criminal organization Team Galactic. The games add an extensive amount of new features, such as Internet play over the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection,¹ while building on older game concepts such as Pokémon Contests.² Both games are independent of each other but feature largely the same plot and, while both can be played separately, it is necessary to trade between them in order to fully complete the games' Pokédexes. The Sinnoh Saga of the Pokémon anime is based on the games' plots.

Diamond and Pearl received generally favorable reviews by critics, and sold enormously well, selling five million units in Japan alone, in just under three months. The games went on to jointly sell a total of just under 15 million copies worldwide.

Setting and plot

Diamond and Pearl are set in the region of Sinnoh, which is based upon the Hokkaidō prefecture of Japan. Sinnoh is mainly characterized by both mountainous and snow-covered areas, and contains new Pokémon central to the plot.

The game contains 107 new Pokémon and chronicles the adventures of a new Pokémon trainer who strives to become the Pokémon League Champion, collecting and training various species of Pokémon along the way.³ As do most games in the series, Diamond and Pearl feature eight Pokémon gyms led by Gym Leaders, professional trainers whose expertise lies in a particular Pokémon type. Gym Leaders serve as bosses and reward skilled trainers with badges of merit, key to the advancement of the plot.

The game begins in Twinleaf Town. After viewing a television report about a media-conducted search for a Red Gyarados spotted at a far-away lake (Johto's Lake of Rage), the protagonist and his/her best friend travel together to check the local lake for a Pokémon like it. They spot Professor Rowan, an expert in Pokémon evolution and studies and his assistant, who is the playable character not selected in the game: Dawn (girl) or Lucas (boy). After a short discussion the pair exits from the lake, leaving a briefcase behind. When they are attacked by wild Starly, the protagonist and his or her rival examine the case. The player is then given a choice between three Pokémon found in the briefcase, Turtwig, Chimchar, or Piplup. After defeating the Starly, Dawn or Lucas retrieves and returns the briefcase to the professor. Noticing that a bond has been forged between the young protagonist and his/her chosen Pokémon, Rowan offers it to him/her, asking that he/she embark on a journey and fill his/her Pokédex.

As the plot continues, the protagonist encounters the main antagonist, Team Galactic, although their motives are unclear until later. Team Galactic captures Uxie, Azelf and Mesprit, of Sinnoh’s three lakes, and imprisons them, making it the player’s responsibility to free them. Upon releasing the trio, he/she is able to travel to the sacred shrine atop Mt. Coronet and enter the cave, where the leader of Team Galactic awakens either Dialga in Diamond, or Palkia in Pearl. Dialga or Palkia’s powers begin to overwhelm Sinnoh, causing the newly free Uxie, Azelf, and Mesprit to attempt to stop it. It is then that the player is able to engage in a battle with (and has a chance to capture) the version-appropriate legendary Pokémon.

Having completed this, and after meeting requirements set by the Elite Four, the player is able to contend with them, fighting its members and then the Pokémon League Champion, Cynthia.

Pokémon

As with all generations of Pokémon games to date, new species of Pokémon have been gradually introduced, bringing the total number of Pokémon to, as of Diamond and Pearl, 493 species (the last 3 being available by event (Darkrai) or only in Platinum (Arceus and Shaymin). The only differences between Diamond and Pearl are some of the Pokémon readily available to the player; for example, Murkrow only appears in Diamond while Misdreavus will only appear in Pearl. Players can trade between different versions of the games to attain these species.

Early in production, it was intended that Pokémon introduced in previous generations of the series would receive new, pre-evolved forms; Pokémon available from as far back as Pokémon Red and Blue can be bred to produce new species of Baby Pokémon, such as Mr. Mime who is preceded by Mime Jr., Chansey by Happiny and Roselia by Budew. Pokémon have been given new, further evolved forms; for example, Electabuzz can now evolve into Electivire and Roselia can now evolve into Roserade.

As in Pokémon Crystal and Emerald, opposing Pokémon each have a short animation (e.g., a Geodude will flex its arms, Golduck will jump around) when entering battle. New abilities, such as "Rivalry" and "Unaware", have been added. Baby Pokémon in Diamond and Pearl, such as Clefairy’s pre-evolution Cleffa, can be found in the wild, whereas in previous generations attaining one usually required breeding. Starting from these games, certain Pokémon have cosmetic differences between gender. For example, a female Pikachu has a dent in its tail giving it a heart shaped appearance.

Gameplay

The gameplay of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl is very similar to that of previous Pokémon role-playing games (RPGs), with several changes and additions. In previous generations, Pokémon attacks were deemed "physical" or "special" based on their type (for example, all Fire type moves were special and all Ground type moves were physical). Starting with Diamond and Pearl, moves are now categorized into three groups based on how they are executed.⁴ Examples of this include the move Fire Punch now being Physical, Gust being Special, and moves that do no damage are now in a new group called Status, or Other.⁵

Pokémon Contests, events where one’s Pokémon compete in a show of sorts to win ribbons, return from Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire as “Super Contests”, with similarities and differences.² Super Contests consist of three rounds. In the Visual Judgment round, players utilize the Nintendo DS’s stylus to place accessories and objects on their Pokémon to appeal to a particular trait, such as “Cool” or “Cute”, and earn points.⁶ In the Dance Judgment round, Pokémon compete with opponents in a test of rhythm and balance. The final round, Performance Judgment, is identical in premise to Pokémon Contests of the third generation of games; Pokémon use their techniques strategically to appeal to the judges and crowd. Assuming the same role as Pokéblocks in the third generation, baked goods called Poffins⁷ can be made through use of the touchscreen and fed to Pokémon in order to increase certain traits and, consequently, the likelihood of success in a relevant Contest.

First introduced in Pokémon Gold and Silver, Diamond and Pearl feature sensitivity to the time of day and day of the week, which is reflected in a number of facets, such as the lighting of the overworld and locations of non-player characters, the availability of certain species of Pokémon (Murkrow and Misdreavus can only be found at night, while Drifloon is only available on Fridays), and even the lighting during battles. The scale of the day and night cycle has grown from the original cycle of morning, day, and night; Diamond and Pearl's cycle features five different time periods: morning, day, afternoon, evening, and night.⁸ Also, a new device called the Pokétch, resembling a wristwatch, can be obtained and plays host to a wide variety of features, including a time management system, a calculator, a map, a counter, a wireless link up search, and a drawing pad.⁹¹⁰

Below Sinnoh is a large underground area, used for multiplayer gaming.¹¹ Players can create and decorate secret bases (first featured in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire) and participate in minigames, one of which will allow the player to unearth fossilized Pokémon such as Cranidos and Shieldon, Shieldon only in Pearl, and Crainidos in Diamond. These Pokémon, as well as Spiritomb, can only be obtained by exploring this underground area.

Diamond and Pearl employ support for the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, allowing players to trade, battle and communicate through voice chat online. The basement of all Pokémon Centers provides access to a list of a player's Friend list to engage in these activities.¹ The main system for trade is the Global Trade Station trading system. This allows players to search for any Pokémon they have seen on a worldwide scale, with the resulting list showing people around the world who are willing to trade that Pokémon, as well as the Pokémon they want in return for it.¹²¹³ The trade does not have to be instant and an offer can be left for other players to browse and complete, even while the player is offline.¹⁴ Certain species of Pokémon traded internationally will have a Pokédex entry in the language of the game it originated from.¹⁵

Along with the fifty existing Technical Machines (TMs), which teach Pokémon a new move, forty-two new TMs have been added to the game while the previous fifty have been retained, bringing the total to ninety-two. This marks the first time an entire fifty-TM set has been left intact between generations, and the first time the total number has exceeded fifty (fifty-eight counting HMs). Two of the eight Hidden Machines (HMs), which, like TMs, teach Pokémon a new move (but permanently), have also been changed (Note:Flash has changed from an HM to a TM). This gives the games a total of 100 machines from which to learn moves.¹⁶

Nintendo released a statement detailing glitches found in Japanese releases of Diamond and Pearl.¹⁷ The glitches led to players being stuck in a wall in-game, or reaching previously unreachable areas only thought to be accessible with a Nintendo event, which may lead to the loss of saved data. Nintendo has officially released patches to certain retailers in Japan to fix these glitches.¹⁸

Connectivity to other devices

Diamond and Pearl boast compatibility with many other Pokémon games. They can connect with the Game Boy Advance Pokémon RPGs after earning the National Pokédex, when the Pokémon Game Boy Advance cartridge is inserted into the Game Boy Advance cartridge and accessory slot of the Nintendo DS while Diamond or Pearl is in the DS slot. After uploading six Pokémon from the cartridge, the Pokémon are sent into the Pal Park located southeast of Sandgem Town.¹⁹ Pokémon uploads are restricted to six every twenty-four hours per GBA cartridge. The player will have to re-capture such transferred Pokémon in Pal Park by means of a special Park Ball that has 100% chance of capture, before performing another transfer. If you have a different language GBA game and the DS chip, it does not matter. But Pokémon that know HM moves cannot be transferred, and the player cannot transfer any Pokémon back to the GBA cartridge once they are transferred to Diamond or Pearl. However, Pal Park cannot be accessed while playing either Pokémon Diamond or Pearl on a Nintendo DSi, since the DSi is not backward compatible with Game Boy Advance cartridges.²⁰

In addition, Diamond and Pearl are able to connect to Pokémon Ranger, the only Pokémon games to do so. Using this feature, a player will be able to send a Manaphy egg from Pokémon Ranger to Diamond or Pearl after completing a special mission in Ranger.²¹ Diamond and Pearl also feature wireless connectivity with the Wii Pokémon titles Pokémon Battle Revolution and My Pokémon Ranch, allowing players to upload Pokémon into the games wirelessly via the Nintendo DS.²²

Development

Along with the announcements of Pokémon Dash's release and the release date of the Nintendo DS, the development of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl was announced at a Nintendo Press conference in the fourth calendar quarter of 2004.²³ Junichi Masuda, one of Game Freak's music and game developers, took on the development of the titles, stating "It will become a new type of game that offers a number of new forms of play."²⁴ The games, originally slated for a release during 2005, were delayed until 2006, due to Nintendo's extra effort in making the games innovative. It was revealed that Diamond and Pearl would be able to communicate with older Pokémon games for the Game Boy Advance, allowing players to transfer their Pokémon to the new games. Other features were also brought to light, including additional Pokémon skills and combination types. Nintendo also announced that the games would make full use of the Wi-Fi capabilities of the DS, allowing 16 players to communicate wirelessly at one time.²⁵ It was not until mid 2006 when further information about the games would be given - Nintendo President Satoru Iwata mentioned connectivity with Pokémon Battle Revolution, a next-generation Pokémon Stadium for the Wii that was also still in development.²⁶ New features such as the Pokétch and the inclusion of the time sensitivity were also revealed.²⁷²⁸

Nintendo DS Pokémon Diamond & Pearl Super Music Collection is a two-disc soundtrack featuring music scored by Hitomi Sato and Junichi Masuda under the supervision of Go Ichinose, with a few other fanfares composed by Morikazu Aoki.²⁹ A two-disc soundtrack featuring music from the games was released on December 22, 2006.³⁰

Reception

Pokémon Diamond and Pearl has an 88 out of 100 on Metacritic and an 85% on Game Rankings, which means "generally favorable reviews." The highest score given was a 92 by UK Official Nintendo Magazine, while the lowest is a 79 by NGamer UK. However, this was an import review of the Japanese version; the score was later revised to 81% for the western version.³¹ Ryan Davis of GameSpot gave the games an 8.5/10 (Great) and stated "[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl are] the most well-rounded Pokémon games to date."³² IGN's review on Pokémon Diamond and Pearl was mostly positive, citing the core gameplay as holding up "incredibly well a decade later." Criticisms included the graphics and audio they believed did not fully capitalize on the capabilities of the Nintendo DS. Despite this, the game ended up with an 8.5 score which is classified as "Great" under their game tier system.³³ The UK Official Nintendo Magazine gave the game 92%, praising the game for having loads to do and the same addictive gameplay as the originals, but also criticized the game for being a bit too similar to the original in terms of elements such as some of the Pokémon's battle cries, which still resembled the electronic sound effect that they played when they originally appeared on the Game Boy.³⁴

Since its release, there have been more than 10 million Pokémon trades over the Wi-Fi.³⁵ At G4's G-phoria 2007, the games won "Best Handheld Game", and were nominated for "Best RPG".³⁶ In 2008 Pokemon Diamond and Pearl were nominated for the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Children's Kids Vote Award.³⁷

Sales

Pokémon Diamond and Pearl were released along with the Nintendo DS Headset, supported by the game's voice over IP functions (however, using the headset is not necessary for voice chat, one can also use the DS's built-in microphone.) First released late 2006 in Japan, two million copies of the games were shipped for Japan alone, though there were still shortages in response to a large demand.³⁸ Pokémon Diamond and Pearl had the most successful launch week of games in the Pokémon series, and the best launch week for any Nintendo DS game for the country alone.³⁹ Within forty-six days, the games sold three million units, becoming the fastest DS games to do so, and by the end of the year, the number increased to five million units in just under three months.⁴⁰

The games' American release in late April of 2007 saw over 500,000 pre-orders of Diamond and Pearl in the United States,³⁴¹ topping almost twice the pre-sale numbers as Pokémon FireRed and Pokémon LeafGreen.⁴² It went on to sell one million copies within five days of sales.⁴³ As of the end of May 2007, Pokémon Diamond sold the most units of any video game for the year, with Pokémon Pearl coming in fourth.⁴⁴

As of March 31, 2008, Pokémon Diamond and Pearl combined have sold 14.77 million copies worldwide.⁴⁵

Pokémon Platinum

Pokémon Platinum, released in Japan as Pocket Monsters Platina (ポケットモンスタープラチナ Poketto Monsutā Purachina^?), is an enhanced remake of Diamond and Pearl⁴⁶ in the same vein as Pokémon Yellow, Crystal, and Emerald.⁴⁷ It was released on September 13 in Japan although release dates for other regions are unannounced.⁴⁸

Pokémon Diamond and Pearl.html

Contents