While the rumored Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl remakes are simply that, many fans are anxiously awaiting Game Freak's official announcement of their existence. After the recent Pokemon-focused Nintendo Direct, where Game Freak announced the new Pokemon Sword and Shield Expansion Pass, many fans were disappointed as they were expecting at least a hint toward the existence of these highly sought-after remakes.
These remakes, should they exist, could improve a lot on these divisive Generation 4 titles, because Generation 4 is one of the most controversial Pokemon generations out there. Here is what could change to make fans return to Sinnoh again.
Optimization and Speed
Arguably the biggest complaint against Pokemon Diamond and Pearl was the technical slowdown the game had. From dialogue boxes to health bar movement, everything in the games were painfully slow. While Pokemon Platinum fixed some of these issues, players want to be able to quickly dispatch dialogue or battles swiftly. Every Pokemon title has handled dialogue and battle speeds differently, but now with the processing power of the Switch, there is no reason why the game should struggle with these issues.
That being said, Pokemon Sword and Shield have their own technical issues, especially where the Wild Area is concerned, so Game Freak would really need to make sure the remakes are optimized. Diamond and Pearl have areas that would feature plenty of visual effects, so hopefully if the games are getting a graphical overhaul, these areas don't cause unnecessary slowdowns.
An Expanded Regional Pokedex
When Diamond and Pearl first launched, players quickly realized they made a mistake by not choosing Chimchar as their starter, as Diamond and Pearl suffered from a lack of type diversity due to the number of Pokemon available in the Regional Pokedex. If players did not choose Chimchar, then their only options for Fire-type Pokemon were Rapidash or Magmortar. While these are not bad Pokemon necessarily, players like having variety and choice when it comes to choosing their team.
The Diamond and Pearl remakes need to not make the same mistakes of Pokemon Sword and Shield and include a large number of Pokemon for players to capture and use. Even if the Regional Pokedex is of a similar size, adding a few more newer Pokemon would help make the game more well-rounded experience and overall a lot more enjoyable.
The Platinum Storyline
There were several differences between Diamond and Pearl and their sequel game Pokemon Platinum. While Diamond and Pearl focused on Dialga and Palkia respectively, Platinum weaved both of the box art Legendaries into the main story as well as the new Legendary Pokemon Giratina. There was a whole new story arc revolving around the Distortion World and Team Galactic's involvement with the harnessing of the Legendary Pokemons' powers. The story of Team Galactic's plan and its relation to Galactic's original founder Cyrus is far more compelling than the one-sided story of either Diamond or Pearl.
Since Game Freak has announced it is moving away from doing follow-up games like Pokemon Platinum, it would be a perfect opportunity to weave Platinum's main story into both Diamond and Pearl. Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire weaved Pokemon Emerald into the games by doing the post-game Delta Episode so that is also an option for the Diamond and Pearl remakes.
Mechanical Tweaks and Visual Improvements
Diamond and Pearl were the first games in the mainline Pokemon series that came to the Nintendo DS, and it clearly shows. From a technical and performance standpoint, the games struggled at times when juggling all of the new features introduced in the games. Several parts of which revolved around the use of the second screen for many things, from making Poffins to simply battling. Many players would like a return to form, so it would play normally. Sword and Shield could be an easy point to build off of since making Curry is pretty similar to the Poffin process.
It almost goes without saying at this point, but a big benefit of the remakes could be a major visual overhaul. With the move toward more 3D environments and designs, Sinnoh could be even more visually stunning if Game Freak took the time and care to completely rebuild it from the ground up. Sinnoh featured beautiful lakeside areas, breathtaking snowy tundras, and mysterious swamplands, and bringing those to life in a new engine would make a lot of longtime fans happy. Hopefully, if Game Freak is remastering this generation, the graphics will be more in-line with the Let's Go remakes as opposed to Sword and Shield's questionable graphics.
Adjust or Remove the HMs
Another big Pokemon feature that has since fallen to the wayside in recent generations are Hidden Machines. HMs are now nonexistent in Pokemon and haven't been since Sun and Moon. This presents a big problem for Diamond and Pearl, since a big part of navigating the Sinnoh region was the use of HMs. To fix this, Game Freak would either have to reintroduce HMs for the remakes or develop a way for players to unlock items (or partner Pokemon like in Sun and Moon) so they can traverse specific challenges. Hopefully, the latter will be the case as many players would rather not have one or two Pokemon on a team that are good for nothing outside of HM usage.
The Sinnoh region featured several areas that were only accessibly via HM, the main ones being Flash, Defog, and Surf. Clearly, there were areas that relied on the classics like Cut, Strength, and Rock Smash, but with eight HMs in the games, it became quite a burden to use so many Pokemon just to navigate. While Sword and Shield got rid of HMs in favor of the Rotom Bike and Taxi service, there would have to be some major redesigns to how players approach the Sinnoh region for the remakes to exclude HMs. This may be one of the big reasons why the games are taking so long to be announced.
A Revamped Underground
Every Pokemon generation features some gimmick that is exclusive to that set of games. With Generation 3, it was Secret Bases, while Sword and Shield have the Wild Area and the activities involved with that. Generation 4 had the Sinnoh Underground. This new mechanic combined the idea of Secret Bases, but allowed players to also use the Underground to excavate fossils, rare items, and equipment. It also served as a social feature so players could essentially play Capture the Flag using their Underground Bases - making it a competition to make the most challenging Underground Bases to navigate.
This feature was one of the most beloved parts of Diamond and Pearl and absolutely needs to make a return in the remakes. However it needs to be expanded to not only be larger, but also have more rewards and better networking functions. Previously the Underground was strictly local-only connections, but the remakes can learn from Sword and Shield and feature an always-online mode like the recent games use for the Wild Area. This would allow players to seamlessly connect, interact, and participate in activities together. It would also make completing multiplayer challenges much easier to complete (including unlocking the powerful Spiritomb Pokemon).
Diamond and Pearl had a lot of potential, but due to various reasons, they became some of the most divisive games in Pokemon history. From technical struggles to odd design choices, some fans really love Generation 4 while others believe it to be the worst Generation by far. Regardless of standpoint, the Generation is long overdue for a remake and Game Freak can fix some of their mistakes from the original games to make it a Generation that fans will truly enjoy from beginning to end. Hopefully these remakes come out soon, but considering Game Freak has yet to even confirm their existence, they may still be a ways out.
Remakes for Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl are not known to be in development.