Pokémon Diamond Version (Japanese: ポケットモンスターダイヤモンド Pocket Monsters Diamond) and Pokémon Pearl Version (Japanese: ポケットモンスターパール Pocket Monsters Pearl) are the first main series Pokémon RPGs released on the Nintendo DS, beginning Generation IV. The games were released in Japan on September 28, 2006 and in North America on April 22, 2007. They take place in the region of Sinnoh and the player's starting area is Twinleaf Town.
PlotAt the start, the player sees a newscast about a sighting of a red Gyarados. The player then heads to his or her best friend's house and goes to Lake Verity with him to see if there are any similar Pokémon living in it. Once there, two wild Starly attack. Nearby is a briefcase containing three Pokémon that the two choose from to fight off the Flying-types. As is always the case, the player's best friend, who becomes the rival, takes the Pokémon that has a type advantage over the player's choice. The professor's assistant, who is the alternate-gender player character of the player, takes the remaining starter. After the Starly is defeated, the two return to Twinleaf Town with Professor Rowan's briefcase. Back in Twinleaf Town the player's mother gives him or her a pair of Running Shoes, and then the player leaves for Sandgem Town to return the briefcase. After meeting Professor Rowan, he gives the player the Pokémon chosen at the lake to keep and a Pokédex. This sets one of the primary aims of the game, completing the Pokédex. The player then sets off to explore Sinnoh and defeat Gym Leaders in order to advance further in the plot, challenge the Elite Four and become the Champion of Sinnoh.
During the course of the game, there are many conflicts with the evil Team Galactic and its leader, Cyrus. When the power of Dialga or Palkia (depending on the version), summoned by Cyrus, begins to overwhelm Sinnoh, Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf appear and negate the power flow, and the player must catch or defeat the legendary.
After the player defeats the Elite Four, there are further activities to pursue. These mainly concern the capture of previously unavailable Pokémon, extra features such as the PokéRadar, exploration of previously unaccessable places such as the Fight, Survival, and Resort Areas and the perfection of battle skills in the Battle Tower.
Blurb
"Welcome to the next generation of Pokémon!" As a rookie Pokémon Trainer, you will need to catch, train and battle Pokémon on your journey to become the Pokémon League Champion. You will face many challenges along the way, as you search for the Pokémon that rules time or space in Pokémon Diamond Version or Pokémon Pearl Version. Discover more than 100 new Pokémon in the Sinnoh region. Meet goals and earn the ability to import Pokémon from your GBA versions! Battle and trade with your friends around the world using Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection!
* Diamond and Pearl are compatible with the Game Boy Advance Pokémon RPGs after seeing the first 150 Pokémon in the Sinnoh Pokédex. The GBA cartridge is inserted into the GBA slot of the Nintendo DS, while Diamond or Pearl is in its DS card slot to upload Pokémon.
* Pokémon uploads are restricted to six per 24-hour period per GBA cartridge, and the player will have to re-capture such transferred Pokémon in Pal Park located at the end of Route 221 before transferring from another GBA game.
o However there is a way to bypass this restriction.
* Pokémon knowing any of the Generation III HM moves (Cut, Fly, Surf, Strength, Flash, Rock Smash, Waterfall, and Dive) cannot be transferred; therefore, it is necessary to go to the Move Deleter in Fuchsia City or Lilycove City to remove them before transfer.
* The player cannot transfer any of the Pokémon back to the GBA cartridge once they are transferred to their Diamond/Pearl copy; the transfer is permanent.
* While a GBA game is in the DS, dual-slot mode activates and it becomes possible to capture Pokémon in the wild in Sinnoh that do not natively appear, though this may only happen after the National Pokédex is obtained.
* The DS's native support for Wi-Fi is employed, allowing players to trade, battle and communicate using "voice chat" online.
* Diamond and Pearl feature wireless connectivity to Pokémon Battle Revolution, much as their predecessors connected to the Nintendo 64 and Nintendo GameCube and their respective battle arena games.
* Diamond and Pearl feature a global trading system, which allows trainers to search for any Pokémon they want, or put up one of their own Pokémon for trade for any Pokémon. Players of other games can search for the Pokémon that others have put onto the Global Trade Station.
* Diamond and Pearl feature connectivity to Pokémon Ranger. By completing a special mission in Ranger, an Egg can be sent from Ranger to Diamond or Pearl, where it can be hatched into the legendary Pokémon, Manaphy.
* Diamond and Pearl also feature connectivity to Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia. By completing three special missions in the game, a Manaphy egg, a Riolu with Aura Sphere and a Darkrai with Dark Void can be sent from the game to Diamond or Pearl.
* Diamond and Pearl also feature connection to the WiiWare title My Pokémon Ranch, in which Pokémon can be raised and stored in a farm-like environment, much like Generation III's Pokémon Box: Ruby & Sapphire.
Features
The day-night system first appearing in Generation II returns, with the same three time periods, but better transitioning between them. A new multifunction device called the Pokétch, short for Pokémon Watch, is also introduced. The regional Professor's name is Professor Rowan, after a tree like the others, and he allows the player and his or her rival to keep the starter Pokémon they used against attacking wild Pokémon at the beginning of the game.
A new battle system is used for Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. In this new battle system, attacks are declared either physical or special by how the attack itself operates, i.e. whether the attack touches the enemy or not, instead of the attack type, as was previously the case. For example, ThunderPunch is now physical and Hyper Beam turns into special. This was initially highly controversial with fans of the series, as it was considered to "waste" some of the Pokémon that were more powerful in Generation III, like Blaziken and Sceptile, though it now allows for a more versatile set of moves to be viable for these Pokémon.
Though it was reported initially that the games would feature Dark/Psychic/Fighting starters, this is not the case. The games retain the starters in the type trio of previous generations, Grass/Fire/Water, this time being Turtwig, Chimchar, and Piplup, respectively.
Contests
Main article: Pokémon Super Contest
In Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, a significant amount of changes have been made to the Pokémon Contests introduced in Generation III, now known as Super Contests.
Instead of making Pokéblocks with berries, berry-flavored muffins called Poffin are made. This is done in Hearthome City, though not within the contest hall, instead it is done at the Poffin House, which is near the Pokémon Center in Hearthome. Using the DS's touchscreen, players must stir the Poffin as directed by arrows that appear.
The first round of the contests themselves is similar to the first round in Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald, but instead of relying solely on contest stats, Pokémon must be dressed up using accessories with the stylus within a time limit. Each particular contest will require different accessories, and higher ranks may require more to be put on the Pokémon.
The second round is a dancing round, using buttons on the touch screen to either perform a dance that the others will find hard to mimic (if the player's Pokémon is the main dancer) or to copy the lead Pokémon's dance moves. Each Pokémon gets a turn at being the leader, and the leader must try to dance in time with the music, and so, obviously, so do the background dancers. The A, B, X, and Y buttons also work.
The third round is very similar to the appeals round in Generation III, and the main difference is that there are three judges and only four appeals, rather than one judge and five appeals. A Pokémon will get more points if it is the only Pokémon to perform for a particular judge, less if another one appeals for that judge and so on. The crowd system is still in place, but this time, each judge has a different meter, making it both potentially risky and potentially rewarding to appeal to a judge that all of the other Pokémon are appealing to. In addition, Pokémon will receive bonus points for appeals regardless of the impression on the judge, and points are not added simply for raising a judge's "voltage."
New gyms
As is always the case, there are eight new Gyms in Sinnoh, each with their own type affiliation. The new Gym Leaders are Roark (Rock), Gardenia (Grass), Maylene (Fighting), Crasher Wake (Water), Fantina (Ghost), Byron (Steel), Candice (Ice) and Volkner (Electric).
Elite Four
The new Elite Four is located at the Pokémon League. The Elite trainers are Aaron (Bug), Bertha (Ground), Flint (Fire) and Lucian (Psychic); the Champion is Cynthia, who has Pokémon of mixed types.
Compatibility
Trading exists between Diamond and Pearl Versions through the Nintendo DS's internal wireless connection. It connects to Pokémon Platinum, HeartGold and SoulSilver in the same manner. Eggs received from Pokémon Ranger and its sequels are also sent through wireless. Diamond and Pearl also have the ability to connect to the internet with the Nintendo Wi-Fi system, and also the Wii. Due to improvements in international linking, some Pokémon can have foreign Pokédex entries.
Diamond and Pearl also maintain backward compatibility with the Generation III games, however standard trading is not allowed. A player's Pokémon may be permanently transferred via Pal Park, and some Pokémon that could previously not be caught can be found using the dual-slot mode.
Also, by connecting to the Wii with a Nintendo DS, players can copy their party Pokémon to their copy of Pokémon Battle Revolution, as well as My Pokémon Ranch. However, only Diamond and Pearl are compatible with My Pokémon Ranch, while Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, HeartGold and SoulSilver are all compatible with Pokémon Battle Revolution.
