The Pokémon Company announced remakes of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl during a Pokémon Presents video on Friday.
The remade games are called Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl, and they’re coming in late 2021. The remakes will retain the game’s aesthetic, updated with a very cute, colorful new style. “The sense of scale of the original games, towns, and routes has been carefully preserved,” The Pokémon Company said during the video. Players will be able to choose from the original three starter Pokémon: Turtwig, Chimchar, and Piplup. The Legendary Pokémon for Brilliant Diamond is Dialga, with Palkia for Shining Pearl.
In a news release, The Pokémon Company said Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl have been updated to include “player-friendly conveniences” that have since appeared in newer Pokémon games, as well as “up-close-and-personal Pokémon battle scenes.”
Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are being developed by ILCA, Inc., the studio behind Pokémon Home. ICLA’s Yuichi Ueda and Game Freak’s Junichi Masuda are directing the games. (Masuda directed the original Diamond and Pearl games.)
Fans of the games have been eager to hear about the Diamond and Pearl remakes; with 2021 being the 15th anniversary of the games, rumors have been afoot for a while now. The Pokémon franchise itself will see its 25th anniversary in 2021, too.
Pokémon Diamond and Pearl were originally released in 2006 in Japan; they came to the United States and elsewhere in 2007. Part of the fourth generation of Pokémon games, they were released for the Nintendo DS system. More than 100 new Pokémon were added with the games, along with lots of new features, like Wi-Fi compatibility used for online play.