US, December 20, 2006 - Nintendo of America revealed today that Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl, the continuation of the Pokemon RPG series on the Nintendo DS, will ship in North America on April 22nd. The two games expand the familiar adventure, battle, collect, and trade design that began on the Game Boy nearly a decade ago in Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue.
The game puts players in the role of either a boy or girl (player's choice) as they adventure through a new region, Sinnoh, trying to collect and train Pokemon on the way. New creatures will appear in these new games including Munchlax and Weavile. Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl will also enable players to bring in Pokemon they've collected in Game Boy Advance adventures via the lower cartridge slot of the Nintendo DS system.
The game has been available in Japan since September 2006, where millions of players have already been catching 'em all and battling not only over local wireless, but also over the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Surprisingly, Nintendo of America's news release omits any mention of the game's Internet capabilities. Instead, it only mentions that players "can play via local wireless with up to eight other trainers." Hopefully this was a simple oversight and not a clue that Internet play might be pulled out of the US version.
Nintendo plans on offering a premium to players who pre-order the game, awarding early birds with special Nintendo DS styluses branded with new Pokemon creatures. Details on the pre-order bonus will be coming in the new year.
We'll have more on Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl as we get closer to its April 22nd North American release.
Source
Finally, a concrete date.
Online play better not be pulled from the US version.
I'm going to ship it over here from US, instead of waiting longer for a PAL release.
poor LMX. always getting shafted on new games.
is there anyone who's not a huge Pokemon fan who's looking forward to this one? i'm not so sure about it. i haven't liked the series in 3 generations or so, but this one for some reason sparks my interest. can i get an un-biased oppinion?
An un-biased opinion on Pokemon isn't easy to find.
You either love it or hate it (or so my experience has found)
Personally I didn't like Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald. They were mediocre games with terrible new Pokemon. But these games are luring me purely with the online functionality and possibilities with the touch screen.
I won't be getting shafted on this as I'm going to ship it over here as soon as America gets it.
<3 DS being region free.
doesn't the DS's wi-fi specify regions though so you can play with people in the region or worldwide? i dunno. i never play wi-fi. no one wants to play with me
what exactly is the touch screen doing on this game? just menu selections or what? i've seen like no info at all about this generation
Hmm, I'll have to look into that. It shouldn't matter though. When I used MP:Hunters and Mario Kart online I found myself against Japanese players. But I'll look into is.
As for the touch screen I'm not entirely sure, I might have to check if Serebii.net have a list of its uses up.
i know you CAN play worldwide, but i thought MP:H had an option of playing within the region as well. wouldn't really matter much for MP:H, but games that send messeges like Animal Crossingor such would be kinda difficult
Luckily I don't have Animal Crossing lol.
But anyway I'll have to look into it, I don't believe it will make a difference but if it does then maybe I'll have to wait.
Hmmm i will be wiating. I knew the release would be around the 1st Qt but not that late in the 1st!
I better buy Ruby or something.
Maybe look into Emerald, of the lastest three average games it was my favourite (I played them without owning them... somehow)
Another Pokemon? I dont if I should be happy or smash someone in the face....whuddup with the dig on AC? Its a solid game, from what I know. What more is left to do in another pokemaon game that has not been done? Add another 100 or so things to catch? Im not knocking it, because it was a good game 5 years ago. But the market is saturated with rehashed games. Tough to tout something as NEW when it is just refried beans.LOL
Nintendo has alot of rehashed titles. Fact.
Mario
Zelda
Pokemon
Mario
Mario
Mario
Mario
Mario
And yeah, the point is received. The main point is these "rehashed" titles usually bring something new. And while Pokemon sucked Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald I have hope this game will revive the franchise.
anyone have a prediction on when it will be released in the UK?
Well, UK is under PAL. And if its taken this long to get to America. Then I'd estimate maybe a July release or something similar.
I won't wait though, since the DS is region free I'm shipping the American version over.
Even if they don't have WiFi im still going to get it. It would be extremely nice if they did though, but wouldn't alot of people just use Action Replays and get all lvl 99 and own on wifi? if so, i hope they make it where you can choose the rank of person you are going to battle
They'll probably have level caps as well.
Nice, a solid release date. I'm gonna have to pre-order this soon. Last Pokemon game I played was Sapphire and it was a bit...underwhelming, I guess? (Silver ftw). I have a good feeling about D/P, though. Those new starters are sweet, especially that monkey. Here's hoping that info about the wi-fi isn't true.
If Battle Revolution is online, then I'll bet that Diamond & Pearl will be.
Source
We have online. Thank God. Nintendo must have accidentally skipped over it.
poor LMX. always getting shafted on new games.
is there anyone who's not a huge Pokemon fan who's looking forward to this one? i'm not so sure about it. i haven't liked the series in 3 generations or so, but this one for some reason sparks my interest. can i get an un-biased oppinion?
Here's your un-baised opinion:
Pokemon has always been geared towards kids, but from personal experience even a Poke-hater can enjoy the Pokemon games. I neither love or hate the franchise, but I do enjoy playing Pokemon from time to time. Not as much these days, since Ruby/Sapphire. Although if I can ever find a DS Lite in a store, I'll pike one up and I'll probably check out the new Pokemon game.
One thing I'm definitely interested to see is how it will connect to the Wii companion game (can't think of the exact name of the top of my head) and what features it will have.
One thing I can say about the Pokemon games is that they are definitely getting better (Rescue Team excluded).