An analysis of video games, what I like about them, and what I think needs to be changed. Keep in mind, while a lot of this is based on data I've gathered from other people, this is still just my opinion.
I've loved Pokemon ever since I was twelve, right when Black and White came out. After I finished it, I wanted to get into other Pokemon games. Over the years, I've gotten my hands on plenty of old and new games, and while I have enjoyed them, the one that has always bugged me is Diamond and Pearl, for a variety of reasons. Since the remakes have been announced earlier this year, I wanted to revisit the problems the originals had that the remakes should fix.
The Pokedex
This is what bothers me the most about the DP games. If you take a look at the native Sinnoh dex, in terms of the Pokemon that were introduced (picture shown below), most of the Pokemon (in my opinion) look really generic or unexciting, especially the starters. Then there are Pokemon that are just evolutions or baby forms of previous ones, which don't really feel "fresh."
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
There are 107 new Pokemon in total. The evolved ones range from Weavile to Froslass, plus Roserade, Ambipom, Mismagius, and Honchkrow. That adds up to twenty-two. While Glaceon and Leafeon don't really count since they are Eeveelutions, which everyone likes when there are more of them, they are still part of the evolved category.
As for the baby forms, those are Budew, Chingling, Bonsly, Mime Jr., Happiny, Munchlax, and Mantyke. That's seven more. Adding on, many legendary Pokemon have been introduced, in which there are fifteen. So if we add up the evolved Pokemon, baby forms, and legendaries, we get forty-four total, which means there are only sixty-three truly new Pokemon.
Since this can't really be fixed considering this already happened years ago, let's take a look at the entire Sinnoh dex (link shown below).
https://pokemondb.net/pokedex/game/diamond-pearl
As you can see, it contains many of the older Pokemon, but it also misses many of the newly introduced ones, meaning you can't obtain them until post-game. I can understand not being able to get legendaries until that point, but normal Pokemon, really? Don't introduce a bunch of new Pokemon and not let us use half of them until we beat the main storyline. Does Game Freak want us to use those Pokemon or not?
In addition, you don't get that many options if you want to get a fire or electric type. If you want a fire type, you either must choose Chimchar or go catch a Ponyta. As for an electric type, Pachirisu or a Pokemon from the Luxray or Raichu line are your options. It's because of this that Electric type Gym Leader Volkner and Elite Four Fire User Flint have Pokemon on their team that don't match up with their type specialty.
The Platinum Pokedex is something different however (link below), since it actually allows you to obtain those new, cool Pokemon during the main storyline. Since it also adds more fire and electric types, you have a few more options to choose from. This also lets Volkner and Flint have Pokemon that actually match up with them. The only downside of the Platinum dex is that it excludes a few new legendaries, but it's not a big deal.
