Rumour Claims Pokemon Diamond And Pearl Remake Announcement 'On The Way'
It's Pokeballs to the Pokewalls as we dive head-first into the 25th anniversary of Pokemon. Back in 1996, Pokemon Red and Green burst onto the Game Boy scene and inadvertently changed gaming forever when it inadvertently launched one of the biggest franchises to grace the gaming world and beyond. In 2021, we've seen countless generations of Pokemon games spanning everything from the Game Boy to N64, 3DS to Switch. Rivalling even Super Mario as one of Nintendo's biggest IPs, Pokemon's Silver anniversary is one to watch.
Even though a next-gen remastering of Pokemon Silver would've been well-timed, there are continued claims we'll be revisiting Diamond and Pearl. 2006 broke new ground with the introduction of Gen IV Pokemon and our first trip into the Sinnoh region. With 15 years of Empoleon, Infernape, Torterra, and all the rest, Gen IV is an important stepping stone in the series' evolution. The Pokemon Company promised there were plenty of surprises coming in 2021, but perhaps the biggest of all was the fact the Diamond and Pearl remakes weren't announced at the recent Nintendo Direct.
What's going on with the Pokemon Diamond and Pearl remake?
While we waited patiently (since September 2019) for the latest Nintendo Direct, there was an overall theme of being underwhelmed. Just like players being disappointed there wasn't an update on Breath of the Wild 2, there was a distinct lack of Pokemon. Although fans know there's New Pokemon Snap coming on April 30, we're still holding out for something more. Some had wild ambitious we'd be getting another game to follow in the footsteps of Sword and Shield, but with Gen VIII only launching in late-2019, we were never buying that was the case.
Other's have speculated we could get a whole collection of remastered Pokemon games in the vein of Super Mario 3D All-Stars or continued whispers of a remastered Zelda collection, The latest rumours put all of that to bed and again circle back to the idea of a remastered Diamond and Pearl. According to @CentroLeaks, we'll have to make do with giving Diamond and Pearl a fresh lick of paint. That might be good enough on its own for some, but adding to the hype, the games will reportedly come with an "Arceus episode".
When Game Freak remade Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire as the most recent remasters, there was a post-game episode that focussed on Gen III's Deoxys, By the looks of it, the Diamond and Pearl remake would do the same with a bonus arc focussed on the normal-type Mythical Pokemon. Sure, Arceus might not be the most exciting addition to Sinnoh, but we'll take all the free extras we can.
When will the Pokemon Diamond and Pearl remake be announced?
Centro Pokemon's scoop doesn't end there either. In terms of when we might hear an announcement of the Pokemon Diamond and Pearl remake, the site says players “won’t have to wait until Pokemon Day on the 27th for the big news". Everyone knows this year's Pokemon Day will be an extra-special one that's sure to pack a punch with exciting announcements, but according to Centro Pokemon, the Diamond and Pearl reveal will come before the big day If this is the case, we're just days away from confirmation we'll need to start saving our PokeCoins.
Last month, leakers claimed the games would be announced in February (which wouldn't be too hard of a guess), but interestingly, didn't point to Pokemon Day for the drop. As a final twist to the tale, a mysterious Pokemon Twitter account has appeared as @pokemondp15th. The fact Diamond and Pearl are turning 15 is a major clue, however, the account is currently set to private - so it's unclear what it means. Then again, we need to point out it could be a fake account to troll us all. With Pokemon Day 2021 set to be the biggest ever, we'll keep our ears pricked for even the slightest "spark" that Pikachu is coming to a Diamond and Pearl remake near you, soon.
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