It’s no secret that I’m a huge Pokémon fan. Diamond, Pearl and Platinum are my favourite installments in the series, by far. So it’s especially hard for me to write this post considering I’ve been anticipating their remakes for years.
If Game Freak or the Pokémon Company announced tomorrow that they’re going to release “Crystal Diamond” and “Garnet Pearl” trust me when I say I would be overjoyed. I might even buy a new 3DS on the spot just to play them. I can see myself maxing out the time on my save file much like I did on my original copy of Diamond. It’s just that the more I think about it, the more I realize they shouldn’t be a priority for Game Freak.
The nature of Pokémon remakes, and their necessity, has changed considerably over the years. In my opinion there are two main reasons the first remakes, FireRed and LeafGreen, were released. The first was to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the series in a big way. Which was great of course! The other reason is one almost everyone knows – to bridge the generational gap between Generation I and Generation III.
The second batch of remakes, HeartGold and SoulSilver, were created for a lot of the same reasons. Though this time they bridged the gap between Generation II and Generation IV. It’s important to note that before these first two sets of remakes, it was impossible to trade over your original Pokémon caught in Generation I and Generation II games. That means that for Generation IV and onward, you could catch a Pokémon in any game and port it over to the newest game whenever you wanted, albeit with varying levels of difficulty.
Then the Generation III remakes released. And according to a few sources that I can’t seem to find right now, Game Freak originally had no plans to remake Ruby and Sapphire. It was only after seeing the immense fan support that they decided to make them a reality. On top of that, just last year the original Pokémon Red and Blue were released on the 3DS virtual console. And they can connect directly to Pokémon Sun and Moon through Pokémon Bank. Which means that by using the Nintendo DS version of the Generation II games, you can literally catch Pokémon from any generation using a couple of 3DS’. The series is as connected as ever, rendering any added connectivity provided by remakes almost … unnecessary?
Another common argument in favour of remakes is to update the game’s unique features using updated hardware and pimping out the game with some of the series’ newest features. This is something I’m all for. Remember Sinnoh’s underground? I would love to explore them in 3D. Arceus’ subplot that we never got to actually experience cause it was an event exclusive item? Yes please.
The only thing with that is they’re either purely superficial or redundant. My favourite thing about Diamond and Pearl is the amount of new, series-staple features that were introduced. Things like the GTS and a dedicated second screen for utilities. It was great having them for Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, but Diamond and Pearl already had these features … on hardware that’s almost the same. See where I’m going with this? If nothing else it would just be redundant (if not straight up unnecessary) to port a game from the Nintendo DS to its immediate successor, the 3DS.
I know that Pokémon remakes are as anticipated as main series games. We all know this. Game Freak knows this. It’s why they want to keep making them. I just think that they might not be the same as the full-on remakes we’ve had in the past. I mean the Nintendo virtual console is a thing now. And the recent Red and Blue releases show that it’s more than possible to integrate them with the newest games. But I really do hope that I’m wrong!
Scripted Journal 