So now, it’s time to head back to the Sinnoh region in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl. And what makes a diamond brilliant and a pearl oh-so-shiny? A remastered, remade, reimagined vers of the Nintendo DS classics from 15 years ago. You know the drill. Make mates with wild and wondrous Pokémon. Your main gig is to swap training wheels for trainer reals. Pick the perf partner starter Poké pal. Chimchar is a fire-fancying monkey friend. Piplup is a penguin keen to make a splash. And Turtwig is a grass-grazing turtle. You’ll get a good gander at them and stacks of their siblings in beaut battles. Outside of brawling, it’s adventure time. The mighty Mount Coronet splits spacious Sinnoh in two. But both sides are stuffed with mountains of myths and mysteries. Prep for stacks of surprises and eccentric encounters aplenty. It may be an old-school remake, but it’s also been built for first-time Poké players.

DID YOU KNOW?

On the usge, every main Pokémon game we love to play is built by Game Freak. So far, Game Freak has built 20 peak Pokémon games (if you count upcoming Pokémon Legends: Arceus)! Still, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl devs, ILCA (short for “I love computer art”), ain’t Pokémon newbies. They built Pokémon Home.