Nintendo Switch Calendar #10: Pokémon Shining Diamond and Shining Pearl micro-review

We revisit the best of Pokémon on Switch: the Advent Calendar pauses for a review of Shining Diamond and Shining Pearl

We’ve been thinking a lot about which (or rather, which other) title Pokémon stop for the last review in this Advent Calendar dedicated to the franchise, but we concluded that the crown belonged to Shining Diamond and Shining Pearl. We are aware of the measures that the Big N has taken to bring the situation of Scarlet and Violet back to its high standard, but “with the same day one” it is ILCA, from the top of its relative (HOME) inexperience with the brand, to bring a more complete title to the shelves. Of course, starting from the solid foundations of the fourth generation is an advantage, but that’s not all.

Pokémon Shining Diamond and Shining Pearl, sixteenth review of the Nintendo Switch Calendar

We don’t want to lie to you: part of our objectivity is unquestionably compromised by zona comfort that the school of game design, born in 2007, involves experience in every moment. There’s something soothing about a game world that’s compact and built with backtracking in mind. As tradition dictates, the entire adventure serves as a lengthy tutorial for the competitive metagame; in the meantime, however, all the variations on the theme that made the fortunes of the original Diamond Version and Pearl Version are back. Races, mini-games and, above all, a semi-MMO incarnation of dungeons, to raid previously absent monsters.

If only version 1.1.0 of Scarlet and Violet had anticipated (if not our review) at least the drafting of our series of specials, the series would have earned a place in the top five without too many stories. For what it’s worth, the most classic Pokémon experience on the console (yes, more than Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Eevee!) score a goal into an empty net, with the complicity of a skeleton of his own capable of translating into at least optimal gameplay. Keep the PokéKron visible, though: between a capture and a battle, the hours pass with an ease that not even masterpieces like LIVE a LIVE (which missed the ranking by a hair’s breadth) would be able to match.

Now it’s up to you to tell us yours: do you think we were too nostalgic, or does the last Japanese region have an extra gear on Galar and Paldea? Let us know below, and as always, don’t forget to stay on TechGameWorld.com for all the most important news for gamers and more. For your purely gaming needs, you can instead find the best discounts in digital format on Instant Gaming.