Pokemon Shining Pearl Review

Pokemon Shining Pearl and its counterpart, Brilliant Diamond, are Nintendo Switch remakes of the original Pokemon Pearl and Diamond which was released for the Nintendo DS in 2006. The remakes feature a new art style, some new gameplay mechanics, and remastered audio tracks.

This original generation of Pokemon games was my first experience with the series as a child, so I was excited to return to nostalgia with the remakes. These new games are exceptionally faithful to the source material, for better or for worse. It largely feels like a return to form for the franchise, which had somewhat lost me with some recent entries.

Gameplay is classic Pokemon turn-based combat featuring the whimsical creatures we have all come to love. The fairy type makes its first appearance in this region, bringing some new challenges and tricks to the gym leaders.

Although the graphics were thoroughly roasted before the game’s release, I find the chibi style to be charming most of the time. During cutscenes with any kind of emotion or grandiose qualities, this style falls flat, sometimes with unintentionally-comedic results.

One stand-out feature of the game is the music, which has been beautifully remastered and transformed from the tinny DS speakers to energizing and multi-layered redos of the same score. I found myself lingering longer in towns and cities to hear more of their themes and running from area to area felt appropriately exciting with the right music.

Overall, I had a great time returning to the Sinnoh region on this new console. Although I loved the DS and 3DS era, playing on the Switch is special, and I would love to see more remakes or “Let’s Go” style games that bring well-loved experiences to the new hardware.