Pokemon Brilliant DiamondandShining Pearlare an interesting duo of games. Being the franchise’s first venture into the Sinnoh region since the originals’ sister game,Platinum, they also continue the now-expected streak of remaking a generation around a decade after the originals’ release. DespitePlatinum’s additions being beloved byPokemonfans and being a source of many requests,Brilliant DiamondandShining Pearltried to be as faithful to the originalDiamondandPearlas possible.
Similar toOmega RubyandAlpha Sapphire,Brilliant DiamondandShining Pearltried modernizing the Gen 4 games while preserving their status as “old” games forPokemonstandards. For example, while the games incorporated themodern HM mechanicthat rendered pre-SunandMoonHMs obsolete, they also attempt to offer a roster of Pokemon that is as comparable to the Gen 4 era as possible. Mega Evolutions in particular, despite their potential, were removed with Sun andMoon. This prevents Sinnoh Champion Cynthia’s signature Pokemon, Garchomp, from Mega Evolving during her fight inBrilliant DiamondandShining Pearl, which is a missed opportunity.
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Breaking a Potential Pattern With BD/SP
Cynthia using a Mega Garchomp inBrilliant DiamondandShining Pearlwould not be a first in the series. Taking advantage of their generation’s staple gimmick,Pokemon Omega RubyandAlpha Sapphireintroduced both Mega Metagross and Mega Gallade. It respectively made them the signature Pokemon of two bosses, the Champion Steven, and Wally, in an updated version of his original fight. While the claim that the Hoenn remakes were harder than their original counterparts, the addition of a more powerful form of already powerful Pokemon, especially a pseudo-legendary, will definitely make a boss more threatening.
Cynthia’s Garchomp is one of the series’ most famous signature Pokemon in the mainlinePokemongames. Garchomp itself isSinnoh’s equivalent to Dragonite and Salamence, and its impressive attack and speed stats make it a terrifying opponent to any Pokemon that cannot withstand its moves and knock it out with a strong enough Ice move. Bringing back Mega Evolutions inBrilliant DiamondandShining Pearlwould made the remakes more consistent and interesting.
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Mega Garchomp Would Have Added Difficulty
Cynthia’s fightinPokemon Brilliant DiamondandShining Pearlis initially comparable to the original in terms of difficulty. While she is still ruthless, the lack of a part Fairy-type Togekiss thatPlatinumfans might have expected, and toned down difficulty of modernPokemongames, tend to make theBrilliant DiamondandShining Pearlversion reasonably easier.
This changes with new postgame teams that prominent NPCs get in the Sinnoh remakes. Usually, postgame rematches give previous opponents fully evolved Pokemon, higher levels, new moves, and sometimes even new items, like inHeartGoldandSoulSilver. Sometimes, like inBlackandWhite 2, the prominent NPCs are part of a tournament-style mode that emulates competitive battling, down to their Pokemon being EV trained and having moves and items tailored to multiplayer.
InPokemon Brilliant DiamondandShining Pearl, the postgame rematches are a mix of both, especially the Elite Four and the Champion. Cynthia’s team is the strongest in-game team with strictly pre-picked levels in mainline Pokemon games, beating evenRed inHeartGoldandSoulSilver. Her Garchomp shares its level with his Pikachu, and her weakest Pokemon, her Spiritomb, being at a higher level than Red’s weakest Pokemon, Lapras.
While her Garchomp’s Yache Berry is an excellent held item for negating its Ice-type weakness, one cannot help but wonder how stronger her Garchomp would have been if it were allowed to Mega Evolve. Given the postgame rematches are genuinely challenging compared to much of what modern Pokemon had to offer, giving Cynthia’s postgame team a Mega Garchomp would represent how intimidating her already scary team ended up becomingcompared to the originalDiamondandPearl.
Mechanical Consistency in Pokemon
ThePokemonfranchise is in a weird spotnowadays.Pokemon XandYoffered a promising future as the online was the best it had ever been, 3D became the norm, a new type was introduced, several Pokemon and moves got buffs, and Mega Evolutions were hugely popular. They gave new life to older Pokemon, weak and strong, and contributed heavily to the shift in priorities in competitive battling.
While these changes were kept when Gen 6 ended, Mega Evolutions stopped being relevant. Although they were available in Gen 7, that generation introduced Z-Moves, a set of pseudo-finishers, and resorted to importing the Gen 6 Mega Evolutions without doing anything new with the concept. Gen 8 introduced Dynamax, another method of giving Pokemon new forms without doing much to permanently improve upon the battle capabilities of certain Pokemon.
The exclusion of Mega Evolutions, and Dynamax being exclusive to Galar, prevented Cynthia’s Garchomp from getting any stronger form. IfPokemonfocused on polishing new features rather than experimenting with new gimmicks every generation, animproved version of Mega Evolutionsmight have been inBrilliant DiamondandShining Pearl.Additionally, seeing Cynthia with a Mega Garchomp would have been the logical endpoint of a modernization of older games in the series.
