Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl: Sinnoh Remakes and New Features

Diamond and Pearl rebuilt for Switch

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Shining Pearl are the 2021 Nintendo Switch remakes of the original Diamond and Pearl adventures. Developed by ILCA, they reproduce the central Sinnoh story while adding modern conveniences and refreshed presentation. The starting choices remain Turtwig, Chimchar, and Piplup, with Dialga associated with Brilliant Diamond and Palkia with Shining Pearl.

Their identity is easiest to understand by separating three Sinnoh experiences. The original DS pair introduced the later-era region. These Switch remakes revisit that journey. Legends: Arceus explores historical Hisui with a surveying structure. A shared region does not make those products substitutes for every purpose. If you want the familiar Gym journey with a Switch presentation, the remakes answer that question more directly than the historical Legends adventure.

The Grand Underground is a collecting destination

The Grand Underground expands the originals' underground concept with Pokémon Hideaways, excavation, and Secret Bases decorated with Pokémon statues. Hideaways contain different environments, giving the underground more significance than a place to dig occasionally for items. Fossils and other treasures connect the excavation activity to the wider collecting journey.

For a practical visit, decide what you are looking for before entering: a particular encounter, excavation rewards, or a base project. These goals can share a location without being the same task. That distinction helps keep a session purposeful and makes it easier to find an appropriate guide. A list of all Sinnoh species is useful background, but the question of where a species appears belongs to the game's encounter rules, including the Hideaways and your progression.

Performance and postgame collecting

Super Contest Shows provide a performance activity built around visual, dance, and move evaluations, rather than ordinary battle victory. Ramanas Park offers a separate post-Hall-of-Fame destination for Legendary encounters using slates. Some available Legendary Pokémon differ between the two versions. These features give the adventure several collecting and presentation goals beyond completing the main story.

Those activities ask for different preparation. A powerful battle party is not the same project as preparing a contest performer, and a postgame destination is not a shortcut through the initial adventure. Think of them as branches from the central journey. Readers returning after a long break may find it more useful to choose one branch and understand its requirements than to work through an undifferentiated checklist of everything the remake contains.

Choosing a version and reading older guides carefully

Choose a version by checking the exclusive Pokémon that matter to you, especially if you are collecting without a regular trading partner. The mascot is an easy starting point, but it is not the whole exclusive list. A guide that names the exact Switch title is preferable to one that simply says Sinnoh, because an encounter from Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, or Arceus can belong to a different product and ruleset.

Likewise, a faithful Diamond and Pearl remake should not be assumed to contain every feature from the later Platinum release. Ask about a specific feature rather than treating expanded edition, remake, and historical prequel as equivalent labels. This is a useful distinction throughout the franchise, including the different relationships between Black and White's sequels and Sun and Moon's Ultra versions.

Older launch pages may also describe limited gifts or future connectivity in the language used at release. Preserve their value as historical sources, but check current support information before depending on a distribution or transfer feature. The main adventure, the software update needed for an activity, and a timed promotional reward can have very different requirements.

Sources & further reading

• Official Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl overview and ILCA attribution · Checked 2026-10-04
• Official Sinnoh story and Pokémon guide · Checked 2026-10-04
• Official remake feature guide · Checked 2026-10-04
• Nintendo: launch dates for the Sinnoh games · Checked 2026-10-04