With confirmation ofPokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, fans are eager for the games to release. The widely loved fourth generation ofPokemongames brings up nostalgic memories for many fans of the series. With the gameplay shown in the announcement trailer forPokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl,fans can hope to capture the magic that many players will recall from childhood memories. Even with the excitement these games have generated, there are still some question about what features will return and when fans can play the remakes. As of yet, a release date for the games has not been given beyond the window of Fall 2021.
There may be a major reason as to why these games have not been given a specific release date yet. With the global COVID-19 pandemic, many games in the past year have seen their production timelines pushed back. This has been an intrusive aspect life, but hasn’t stopped things like the 25th anniversary ofPokemon. With how the 25thanniversary has been hyped up around the world from the announcements of new games like the fourth-generation remakes,Pokmon Legends: Arceus, and thePokemon Trading Card Game’snewShining Fatesexpansion.
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Pokemon’s Shorter Waits
In the early years, thePokemongames often saw releases for its flagship titles in Japan followed up with international ones. When thePokemon Red/Greenversions of the original game released in February of 1996, it would be over two and a half years before thePokémon Red/Blueversions were released in North America. The first generation of games sparked multiple media formats such asthePokemonanimeand built a lot of success with the Game Boy. After the release of the series’Red and Blueversions, the release dates in Japan and internationally began to draw closer and closer together.
The second generation was introduced withPokemonGold and Silverand got the time between releases down to just over a year. This efficiency was improved upon by the time the third generation’s flagship titles were released in North America, with only four months betweenPokemonRuby and Sapphire’sreleases in Japan and North America. The effort to consolidate the release dates has helped to mold thePokemonseries into the international juggernaut most fans are familiar with now. This has resulted in a very connected community that is heavily invested in the series as well as many ofPokemoncrossoversthat come into existence and fill the gaps between games.
This trend of close release windows for the main games became even tighter with the series’ first sequel styled games,Pokemon Black/White 2, which released on the Nintendo DS in 2012. While the release ofBlack & White 2did not yet have the games release simultaneously through a worldwide format, it is the first instance of the games releasing internationally in the same calendar year. These releases coupled with the popularity of bothBlack & Whitegames began to bringPokemon’scommunity into a more unified fan environment. Players that were eager to experience the newPokemon in the fifth generationof games and learn all they could were still able to hunt for leaks online. Keeping a tight release schedule, however, allowed many fans to experience the stories in the game around the same time as each other.
Introducing Worldwide Releases
The release ofPokemon’ssixth generation of games occurred when the series experienced its first worldwide release and established a specific window for the games unable to be released simultaneous worldwide fashion.Pokemon XY,which released in 2013 on the Nintendo 3DS, was the firstPokemongame to achieve this. It was an important factor as the sixth generation ofPokemongames brought back a lot of cool featuresand also introduced some new ones to the series. One of the biggest steps up was being able to move not just horizontally and vertically but diagonally as well in full 3D spaces. The third generation remakes ofPokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphirebuilt on a lot of the features introduced inXYwhile establishing the franchise’s November release window.
Since the release ofPokemonXYandPokemon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire,fans have been able to experience the games in near unison of one another. Whether that means the game released in the November release window likePokemon Sun and Moondid or worldwide like the most recent remakes of the series’ first generation withPokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Let’s Go, Eevee!,The worldwide release window now looks to have become the standard with the last three main games' releases being simultaneously worldwide. This sense of community has also been expanded on since with the mobile appPokemon G0.
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When Will Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl Release?
The eighth generation ofPokemongames launched on the Nintendo Switch, withPokemon Sword and Shieldwith its array ofnew Pokemon and hard to catch shinies. The system’s online capabilities and the constantly growing popularity of the Nintendo Switch console also makes this release format the most efficient. With all fans able to download and play the game simultaneously, the only obstacle to avoid spoilers becomes one’s own internet access and those who find ways to grab copies of the game early.
This download capability has also allowed presentedthe opportunity forPokemonexpansionswith two released for the current gen to date. In situations with people getting hands on with new games prematurely, Nintendo has been swift with preventing players from streaming or uploading videos of the game. This doesn’t mean the worldwide release is perfect, but it does provide the best opportunity for all fans to play around the same time.
With this worldwide release format and the November window taken into consideration, it seems likely thatPokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearlwill release around November 18th, 2021. This release would keep it in-line with a second to third week release date in November, and make the game widely available just before the holidays. This also would allow for several months to pass before the release ofPokémon Legends: Arceus.Holiday releases for videogames have a financial incentive for the companies and many AAA games in the last decade have been released in late October to mid-November.
The season has some of the largest weekends for purchases around the world and the United States Black Friday weekend happens only a couple of weeks later. Video games have become a widely accepted and easy to deliver gift for many families. Having one of the big three consoles of Xbox, PlayStation, or Nintendo Switch is increasingly common for many households as well. This release date, however, is still a piece of speculation, so fans should be cautious and not treat it as concrete fact.
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearlare currently scheduled to release on Nintendo Switch in the Fall of 2021.
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