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Pokémon Diamond and Pokémon Pearl are the two fourth-generation Pokémon role-playing video games developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS video game console. They were released in Japan on September 28, 2006.

Pokémon Diamond and Pearl had the best launch week of all games in the Pokémon series in Japan, and also had the best launch week for any Nintendo DS game in Japan.

Setting and Plot

Pokémon Diamond and Pearl take place in Shin'ou, a region based upon the Hokkaido prefecture of Japan, characterized by mountainous and snow covered areas and three lakes. Each lake is home to a part of a legendary trio of Pokémon; Yuxie is found at Wisdom Lake, Agnome at Aspiration Lake and Emurit at Trust Lake.

The games contains 107 new Pokémon and chronicles the adventures of a new Pokémon trainer who vies to become the Pokémon League Champion, collecting and training various species of Pokémon along the way. As in most games in the series, Diamond and Pearl feature eight Pokémon gyms led by Gym Leaders, professional trainers whose expertise lies in a particular Pokémon type. Gym Leaders serve as bosses and reward skilled trainers with badges of merit, key to the advancement of the plot. The protagonist must simultaneously thwart the agenda of the criminal organization Team Galaxy. Template:Spoiler

Diamond and Pearl begin in Futaba Town. After viewing a television report about disturbances at a distant lake by a red Gyarados, which could very well be the same Gyarados that appeared in Pokémon Gold and Silver at the Lake of Rage, the protagonist and his/her rival travel together to investigate the local lake. They spot Professor Nanakamodo, an expert in Pokémon evolution, and the protagonist's second rival, who is the opposite gender of that selected. After a short discussion the pair exits from the lake, leaving a briefcase behind. The protagonist and his or her rival examines the case when they are attacked by Mukkuru. The player is then given a choice between three Pokémon found in the briefcase, Naetle, Hikozaru or Pochama. After defeating the Mukkuru, they return the briefcase to Nanakamodo. Noticing that a bond has been forged between the young protagonist and his/her chosen Pokémon, Nanakamodo offers it to him/her, asking that he embark on a journey and fill his/her Pokédex.

As the plot continues, Team Galaxy's motives are made clear. Executives of the organization are named after planets in our solar system, such as Mars and Saturn. Team Galaxy captures Yuxie, Agnom and Emurit, of Sinnoh's three lakes, and imprisons them, making it the player's responsibility to free them. Upon releasing the trio, one is able to travel to the sacred shrine atop Tengan Mountain and enter the cave, where the leader of Team Galaxy awakens either Dialga, in Diamond, or Palkia, in Pearl. Diaruga and Parukia's powers begin to "overwhelm" Sinnoh, causing the newly free Yuxie, Agnom and Emurit to attempt to stop them. It is then that the player is able to engage in a battle with either of the legendary Pokémon.

Gameplay

Within a species, Pokémon feature slight aesthetic differences depending on gender, including aspects such as differently sized or absent distinctive physical features. For example, a female Wooper has smaller antennae than its male counterpart and a male Scizor a smaller abdomen than a female. New abilities, such as "Belligerence" and "Natural", were added. Baby Pokémon in Diamond and Pearl, such as Roselia's pre-evolution Subomi, can be found in the wild, whereas in previous generations attaining one usually required breeding. Infantile Pokémon also hatch from their eggs at Level 1 rather than Level 5 as in the previous games.

Pokémon Contests, events where one's Pokémon compete in a show of sorts to win ribbons, return from Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire as "Super Contests", with a few similarities and differences. Super Contests consist of three rounds. In the Visual Judgement round, players utilize the Nintendo DS's stylus to place accessories and objects on their Pokémon to appeal to a particular genre, such as "Cool" or "Cute", and earn points. In the Dance Judgement round, one's Pokémon competes with its opponents in a test of rhythm and balance. The final round, Performance Judgement, is identical in premise to the original; Pokémon use their techniques strategically to appeal to the judges and crowd. Assuming the same role as Pokéblocks, Pofin (also known as Pokébread) can be made through use of the touchscreen and fed to Pokémon in order to increase certain traits and the likelihood of success in a Contest.

First introduced in Pokémon Gold and Silver, Pokémon Diamond and Pearl feature time, which is reflected in a number of facets, such as the overworld, in the availability of certain species of Pokémon depending on the time of day, and even the lighting during battles. The scale of the day and night cycle has grown substantially, featuring five different time periods: morning, day, afternoon, evening and night.

A new device called the Pokétchi, resembling a wristwatch, can be obtained and plays host to a variety of features, including a time management system, a calculator, a method for monitoring Pokémon in the breeding center, a type chart, a radar, a map, an itemfinder, a counter, a wireless link up seach, and drawing pad.

Below Sinnoh is an underground world, used for multiplayer gaming. Players can create and decorate "secret bases", like they could in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, and participate in minigames, one of which will allow the player to unearth fossilized Pokémon. Initially, only one fossil can be found in each game; the footprint fossil (new Pokémon Zugaidosu) in Diamond, and the Shield Fossil (Tatetopusu) in Pearl. However, after unlocking the National Dex it is also possible to find the Dome Fossil (Kabuto), the Helix Fossil (Omanyte), Old Amber (Aerodactyl), Claw Fossil (Anorith), or the Root Fossil (Lileep) in either version.

The biggest addition to the series is the ability to go online via Wi-Fi and not only do battle against other trainers, but trade and collect Pokémon on a world-wide scale. There are several centers in each city that serve different purposes. One center allows the player to enter battles against other players, and join the Pokémon Union, a chat room of sorts where players may chat with people on their friends list. Another new feature is the GTS, or Global Trade Station. By entering the GTS forum, the player can search for a Pokémon and offer a trade. The trade does not have to be instant and can be left for other players to browse.

The developers have also added 42 new TMs, boosting the total amount to 92 (the Advance Generation games' fifty TM make a return). This marks the first time an entire 50-TM set has been left intact between generations. 2 of the HMs have also been changed, a former one of which has been downgraded to a TM.

Additionally, Diamond and Pearl are the first conventional Pokémon RPGs (that are not remakes or updated versions of previous games) to have in-battle animated Pokémon sprites.

Connectivity to other games

Diamond and Pearl boast compatibility with many other Pokémon games. They can connect with the Game Boy Advance Pokémon RPGs after earning the National Dex, where the Pokémon Game Boy Advance cartridge is inserted into slot 2 (the Game Boy Advance and accessory slot of the Nintendo DS) while Diamond/Pearl is in slot 1 (the DS game slot). After uploading 6, players go to an area called Pal Park and must capture them in the wild. Pokémon uploads are restricted to six per day per GBA cartridge, and the player will have to re-capture such transferred Pokémon in Pal Park with a special Park Ball that has 100% chances of capture before transfering from another GBA game. Also, Pokémon cannot be transferred from an English GBA game to a Japanese DS game. The player cannot transfer any of the Pokémon back to the GBA cartridge once they are transferred to Diamond/Pearl, as the transfer is permanent.

Certain Pokémon transferred from a foreign Pokémon game to a Japanese Game that are uploaded via Pal Park will have Pokédex descriptions matching the language of the foreign game. A new function added to the player's Pokédex with that specific Pokémon allows switching of the descriptions between different languages. These languages include English, French, German, Spanish and Italian.

Every Pokémon is catchable without using Pal Park (except for previous generations’ starter Pokémon, their evolutions, and Legendary Pokémon). However, some of these Pokémon can only be caught with a specific GBA game in Slot 2.

Diamond and Pearl employ the support for the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, allowing players to trade, battle and communicate through "voice chat" online. Also utilising the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection is a the Global Trade System, which allows trainers to search for any Pokémon they have seen, the resulting list showing all the people that are willing to trade that Pokémon, as well as the Pokémon they want in return for it.

Diamond and Pearl feature Wi-Fi connectivity with the upcoming Wii Pokémon title Pokémon Battle Revolution.

Pokémon

See also: the Sinnoh Pokédex, the National Pokédex, and Fourth-generation Pokémon

On May 142004, the first Pokémon of the fourth generation, Munchlax, was revealed. Following the pre-evolved form of Snorlax a score of other new Pokémon to appear in Diamond and Pearl were revealed in articles in CoroCoro Comic. Early in production, it was intended that Pokémon introduced in previous generations of the series would receive new, pre-evolved forms; Pokémon available from as far back as Pokémon Red and Blue can now be bred to produce new infantile species, such as Chansey who is preceded by Pinpuku and Mr. Mime by Mime Jr.. Pokémon have also been given new, further evolved forms; for example, Electabuzz can now evolve into Elekible and Roselia can now evolve into Roserade. The games also introduce more legendary Pokémon than any game set before it.

The mascots of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl were confirmed as Dialga and Palkia, like Groudon and Kyogre before them, when box art for the games was released in late June. Dialga represents Diamond, as its name suggests, and Palkia represents Pearl, following in the trend of the past two generations.Template:Endspoiler

Impact and sales

Diamond and Pearl have apparently been met with positive reception in Japan. Though two million copies of the games were shipped for Japan alone, there have still been shortages in response to a large demand. The games became the fastest selling Nintendo DS titles in Japan for the first week of sales since its release, a record previously held by New Super Mario Bros.

Glitches

Nintendo released a statement detailing glitches found in Japanese releases of Diamond and Pearl. The glitches lead to players being stuck in a wall in-game and as a result, possibly losing saved data. Also, the players were able to catch the event only pokémon - Sheimi and Darkrai. Nintendo has officially released patches to certain retailers in Japan to rectify these glitches.

References

1. Pokémon Diamond/Pearl
2. Pokémon Diamond/Pearl - Pokémon Contests
3. "The time of day". Serebii.net. Retrieved 2006-06-27.
4. Pokémon Diamond/Pearl - The Pokétch
5. "Serebii, Coronis, PK's discovery thread". Retrieved 2006-10-26.
6. No Cross Gen Trading for JP Diamond/Pearl - Serebii.net
7. Foreign Pokémon and foreign Pokédex entries
8. Pokémon Diamond Preview
9. Global Trade Station trade system
10. http://ds.ign.com/articles/736/736588p1.html
11. Pokémon Battle Revolution announced for the Wii
12. "Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl Sold Out". Retrieved 2006-09-28.
13. "Famitsu - Pokémon Diamond and Pearl record sales (Japanese)". Retrieved 2006-10-04.
14. "Nintendo Japan - Pokémon Diamond and Pearl error statement (Japanese)". Retrieved 2006-10-25.
15. "IGN: Nintendo on Pokemon Bugs". Retrieved 2006-10-25.

See also

• Pokémon Card Game DP

External links

• Official Pokémon Diamond/Pearl Page on the Japanese Pokémon Website Template:Ja icon
• Official Pokémon Diamond/Pearl Page on Nintendo's website Template:Ja icon
• Official Pokémon Diamond/Pearl Page hosted by Yahoo Template:Ja icon
• GameWatch page on Diamond/Pearl Template:Ja icon
• Bulbapedia's Pokemon Diamond and Pearl Entry
• Serebii's Pokemon Diamond and Pearl Page

Template:PokémonGames

• 2006 computer and video games
• Nintendo DS games
• Pokémon video games
• Nintendo Wi-Fi games
• Multiplayer online games