Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl was finally announced on February 26 after years of fans wanting to return to the Sinnoh region. But not everyone is happy with the unveiling, but the chibi-style graphics are a major topic.
After months of ‘leaks’ and rumors, The Pokemon Company has finally confirmed that they are working on a Gen IV remake that would appear at the end of 2021. Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl was officially unveiled at a Pokémon Presents conference to mark the 25th anniversary of the franchise.
Despite the community begging for years to make a Sinnoh remake, some fans were left disappointed after Game Freak unveiled the project’s chibi art style. The unique graphics have left many furious about what they believe is an important step backwards for the series, but many players are also excited about the game.
The Pokémon community is torn apart over the Sinnoh remake’s chibi graphics.
Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl’s Graphics Divide Pokémon Fans
In the 25 years of Pokémon titles, Game Freak has traditionally used remakes to bring older games to the current generation. Take, for example, Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire in 2014. The Nintendo 3DS games reconsidered the Hoenn region in the X&Y engine, while Gen VI features like Mega Evolutions were also included.
Many fans expected the Sinnoh remakes to be created in the same way as Sword & Shield or Let’s Go. However, in a complete curveball move, The Pokemon Company revealed that Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl would rather be ‘faithful’ havens and not an update of the current generation.
Most striking of all is the chibi-style graphics the project uses for the Gen IV makeup. The daring new style has caused a stir among many fans who have argued that it looks cheap, and a step backwards compared to ORAS. The debut preview was quickly met with a flurry of social media posts critical of the graphic direction.
“ORAS is equivalent to Gen 6 and” true to the original “. Diamond and Pearl Remakes – Graphically worse than Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee,” one user wrote. “Okay, just as much as I’m really hyped for Diamond & Pearl remakes, I totally thought it would be a mobile version based on the graphics, “tweeted another player.” Comparing it to Links Awakening is obscene. LA looks like a beautiful toy box. “It looks like a bad cell phone game,” someone else said.
Many fans were disappointed by the Sinnoh reissues using graphic chibi style.
Popular forums like the r / Pokémon subreddit were flooded with classic memes, many of them mocking the small character models of the Gen IV remake. Even those who were excited about the game could not help but pack a few beats in the new art direction.
Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl’s art style has become online memes.
However, not all fans were disappointed with the chibi style in Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl. Many people in the community praised it for staying closer to the original products. “I when I saw the Diamond and Pearl remake went with nostalgic style instead of the latest graphics,” a Pokémon fan celebrated on Twitter along with an image of an excited Cinderace. “It simply came to our notice then. It’s honestly damned if they do, damned if they do not have situation. I’m glad they keep it close to the original, ‘tweeted another player in defense of the project.
Not everyone has concentrated on the art style of the 2021 Gen IV title.
The reaction that the debut preview of the remake received ranged from players calling the character models “horrible” and others praising the art style as ‘charming’ and ‘nostalgic’. While fans have been waiting for years for a remake of Gen IV, it seems that opinions are divided on how to approach it.
In another first for the series, Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl is not even developed by Game Freak, but is being worked on by the third-party studio, ILCA. Only time will tell whether the majority of the community will eventually achieve the latest look of the Sinnoh region.