Pokémon Brilliant Diamond, Shining Pearl and Legends Arceus release dates announced

The Pokémon Company has announced release dates for a trio of upcoming Nintendo Switch games.

DS remakes Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl will be released on November 19, 2021, ahead of open-world game Pokémon Legends Arceus on January 28, 2022.

Following several leaks, all three games were were officially revealed during a Pokémon presentation scheduled to coincide with the franchise’s 25th anniversary in February.

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Originally released in 2006, Pokémon Diamond and Pearl were the first instalments in the fourth generation of the Pokémon video game series.

“These are faithful remakes of the Pokémon Diamond version and Pokémon Pearl version games which were released for the Nintendo DS system in Japan 15 years ago,” Pokémon Company COO Takato Utsunomiya said when they were announced.

As previously reported, the remakes are being developed by ILCA, which also worked on Pokémon Home. The project is being directed by Yuichi Ueda of ILCA and Game Freak’s Junichi Masuda, who was the director of the original DS releases.

Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl take place in the Sinnoh region and the three starter Pokémon available to players are Turtwig, Chimchar and Piplup.

Further reading

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25 years of Pokémon with Serebii.net | VGC Off the Record

This week we discuss all things Pokémon including all the upcoming games and 25th anniversary events

Game Freak’s Pokémon Legends: Arceus takes place during the early days of the Sinnoh region and appears to be set in a large, open area similar to that of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

The three starter Pokémon available to players are Cyndaquil, Oshawatt and Rowlett. They were brought to Sinnoh by a new professor, who had previously explored other regions.

Players are tasked with completing the Sinnoh region’s first ever Pokédex, and the aim is still to capture Pokémon.

Based on the first gameplay trailer released, it appears that wild Pokémon can be caught in the open world sections without having to engage in battles. However, turn-based battling still features in the game.

As the name suggests, the game will revolve around the ‘god’ Pokémon Arceus, but it’s not clear yet what part it plays in the story.