As the release of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl approaches with only one trailer out as of yet, fans are left to speculate on what the games are going to look like in their final stage. GameFreak has claimed that the remakes are going to be a 1:1 recreation, but this is dubious for a few reasons.
For one, Porygon-Z is shown in the trailer. The final evolution of the cybernetic Porygon line wasn't available until Platinum. Secondly, fully recreating the environment and story of the original Generation 4 games might not be the best idea. A good few of the design choices aged poorly, so poorly that their sequel, Platinum fixed many of them upon release. Which features and designs actually return from the early 2000s and which are replaced are for now only known to the developers.
10 Should Return: The Platinum Pokédex Fleshed Things Out
One of the biggest improvements Pokémon Platinum made to the Sinnoh region was the addition of a variety of new Pokémon. Pokémon Diamond and Pearl had a few types that were severely under-represented, namely the fire and electric types which had less than 5 evolution lines each. Unfortunately two of the region's most powerful trainers used these types: Flint the Fire-Type Elite Four Member, and Volkner the Electric-Type Eighth Gym Leader.
So, when players reached these endgame bosses they found teams with barely any of the trainer's signature type in them. Thankfully Platinum rectified this, altering trainers teams, as well as adding evolutions to older generation Pokémon. This is one update the remakes can't go without.
9 Shouldn't Return: Slow Battles Hampered The Game's Pace
One of Generation Four's worst aspect's was just how slow battles could get. Hit points went down at a set rate, which meant that Pokémon with lots of health lost HP way too slowly. There are videos out there of a Blissey taking almost a minute to faint due to having over 600 health to lose at a snail's pace.
The text speed is also the slowest out of any main series game to date, which made battling even more of a grind at the fastest text speed.
8 Should Return: The Pokémon GTS Enhanced Accessibility
The Sinnoh region was the first Pokémon region to include the Global Trade System, which allowed players to put their Pokémon into the system. They could request any Pokémon in return, and it was first come first serve for anyone who wanted to make the exchange.
Of course, plenty of players asked for impossible things like level 1 Legendary Pokémon, but it was a great way for players who didn't have a way of trading otherwise to fill up their Pokédex. Now, the paid subscription service that is Pokémon Home has replaced the GTS, but the slim possibility that players will be able to trade for free still remains.
7 Shouldn't Return: Universal EXP Sharing Over-Simplified Gameplay
Undoubtedly one of the most controversial things that has been added into the Pokémon games is the Universal EXP Share that made its debut in Generation 6. Having all of the player's party gaining experience from battles made the games that followed noticeably easier.
This only escalated when Pokémon Let's Go and the Galar games made removed the item altogether yet kept the EXP sharing effect as a mandatory thing that couldn't be switched off. Having this return in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl would be a mistake, as it would hurt the games reputation among fans of the original games.
6 Should Return: Easy EV Training Helped Competitive Battlers
One of the most frustrating things to do in Pokémon before the Generation 6 games was EV training Pokémon for competitive play. Fighting weak Pokémon over and over again with a held item that only slightly increases EV gains was a supremely tedious task that could take hours.
Fortunately generation 6 had a number of ways to speed up the process, like the Super Training minigame, and horde battles. The newest generations have made it even easier, and it's likely that many of these methods will return in the remakes of the generation 4 games.
5 Shouldn't Return: Modern Legendary Catch Rates Are Too High
Another way that the newer games have been made simpler is by making the box Legendaries incredibly easy to catch. In Black and White the player was actually required to snag their dragon before progressing, with a crazy good chance of nabbing it with each ball.
Thankfully Sword and Shield lowered the rate back down to an acceptably difficult level, but there's always the chance that Game Freak turns the tables on immersion once again in the newest Sinnoh adventure.
4 Should Return: The Distortion World Was An Incredible Location
One of Pokémon's most interesting locations by far was Pokémon Platinum's Distortion World. Serving as the home for the Renegade Pokémon Giratina, this warped area led players through a twisted maze of gravity shifting islands, which culminated in a fight with the boss of Team Galactic, Cyrus, and the capture of Giratina.
The Distortion World would make a fantastic post-game in the remakes, as the potential for improvement to the stage is nearly endless. Wild battles could be added, new puzzles could be implemented, the chaos allows for so much improvement.
3 Shouldn't Return: The Pokétch Is Unnecessary Nowadays
The way that Diamond and Pearl used the Nintendo DS's second screen was two-fold. It was used in battle as the menu screen, where players could choose their next move, whether it be attacking or switching Pokémon. Outside of the fight, however, the bottom screen housed the Pokétch, a little device that could track the time, count steps, and more.
It was neat back then, but today, the device couldn't be implemented that well. Not only does the Switch not have a second screen, but there are way cooler minigames that could be put in place of a simple Tamagotchi-like watch.
2 Should Return: The Battle Frontier Was A Great Post-Game
Ever since the Battle Tower that was introduced in Pokémon Emerald, the post-game of nearly every Pokémon game has had some sort of semi-competitive battle marathon for players to run through. Diamond and Pearl were no exception, and while their Battle Frontier wasn't quite as popular as its predecessor, it was by no means a poor experience.
When Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire were released without the beloved Battle Tower fans were sorely disappointed, so it is long time player's hope that the Sinnoh remakes don't receive the same treatment.
1 Shouldn't Return: Pokémon Contests Just Aren't That Fun
While the original contests in Ruby and Sapphire were a fun way to pass the time, their successors in Sinnoh left much to be desired. Dressing up your favorite Pokémon for a dance contest was fun, but got stale fairly quickly.
The rewards for doing well in contests were also usually just more contest gear, which gave players little incentive to actually participate in the events. Ultimately, the added dance portion only made contest longer, and that didn't bode well for their replayability.
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