Pokemon Presents featuring BDSP & Legends: Arceus to Air on August 18th

Today it was confirmed that a Pokémon Presents presentation will be airing on Wednesday, August 18th @ 6:00 am PDT/9:00 am EST. The presentation will be covering two anticipated titles: the Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl remakes of the Gen IV games, as well as next year's Pokémon Legends: Arceus.

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Attention, Trainers!

Tune in to our YouTube channel on Wednesday, August 18, 2021, at 6:00 a.m. PDT for a #PokemonPresents video presentation featuring #PokemonBrilliantDiamond, #PokemonShiningPearl, and #PokemonLegendsArceus! pic.twitter.com/quBEdaCce2

— Pokémon (@Pokemon) August 13, 2021

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl are scheduled to release on November 19th 2021. Meanwhile, Pokémon Legends: Arceus is set to release on January 28th, 2022. Both games revolve around the Sinnoh region and its lore so fans of Gen IV are certainly in for a treat in these upcoming months. The titles were announced at the end of February of this year as part of Pokemon's 25th anniversary. There haven't been many updates on the news of these games since so there is a lot to look forward to next week.


Author's Note: What are you hoping gets announced for BDSP & Arceus? Let us know in the comments below!

 

For reference, both of these games were revealed back at FEBRUARY 27 earlier this year, so it has been almost 6 months.
The initial reveals didn't provide us with too much info on either games, and we have received virtually no info on either on them ever since the initial reveal.

Thanks to a quick Nintendo Switch games trailer last month, we saw a small snippet of BDSP footage and saw that the graphics have improved considerably since the initial footage. It seems quite clear to me that GameFreak didn't want to reveal either game as early as they did, but did anyways due to the Pokemon 25th anniversary event.

Now we finally get to see the games at a much greater detail at last, so I am looking forward to this.

 

thats 2pm for us uk fans. which is when we always get pokemon news

 

Ok, I don't keep up with Pokémon news. Still, a surprise to me.

 

 

...oh, right, there was going to be a remake of Generation IV, wasn't there...

considering that the culture around that generation is VASTLY different from how things have been presently, you can bet your sorriest hide, I'm going to have some VERY jaded color glasses when looking at this product... there was a LOT of things that changed when the original Diamond and Pearl debuted, the most famous of which was that the Champion... DIDN'T SCREW AROUND! the only time I ever had that much trouble was when I fought the final boss of Pokemon Colosseum, and I stuffed enough 200HP healing roots into tanking Slaking that Umbreon probably still wants me dead to this day...

I remember Cynthia catching a TON of players off guard with just how well built her team was. chances are if you beat her on your first try back then, you were one of three things.

1) you were an old school competitive player that likely conquered the Battle Frontier in Emerald, and likely overleveled out of habit.
2) hoarding a couple Pokemon Centers' worth of healing items and dumped enough of them to tank the worst she had (I admit to being guilty of this in particular)
or 3) you heard about Cynthia, and someone likely spoiled you on how tough she was...


I honestly expect the older playerbase to be SERIOUSLY bitter about the (what I predict to be) lowered difficulty of the game, and newer players being made better prepared and being utterly clueless as to why older players loved the originals so much... and some maybe wondering what the really silly stories about Cynthia PTSD memes were based on.

 

1) you were an old school competitive player that likely conquered the Battle Frontier in Emerald, and likely overleveled out of habit.
2) hoarding a couple Pokemon Centers' worth of healing items and dumped enough of them to tank the worst she had (I admit to being guilty of this in particular)
or 3) you heard about Cynthia, and someone likely spoiled you on how tough she was...

I played Diamond/Pearl casually, the champion didn't seem difficult to me (I used oddball pokemon that looked cool). I didn't even remember who the Champion for years after. Maybe I just had a good team for the final fight (plus high level). Good times.

 

Tfw you're so godlike at Pokemon that you beat the even harder version of Cynthia in Renegade Platinum first try, at a roughly equal level without using items, and without a single one of your Pokemon fainting. Here was my team, for anyone curious.

But enough bragging, I'm excited for this Pokemon Presents and for the upcoming games!

 

I played Diamond/Pearl casually, the champion didn't seem difficult to me (I used oddball pokemon that looked cool). I didn't even remember who the Champion for years after. Maybe I just had a good team for the final fight (plus high level). Good times.

that is possible. my little rant was mainly aimed at those kinds of folks who blaze through the main story (y'know, who challenge the champion underleveled)... the kinds of people who more or less don't take their time with the game... until after their character becomes champion.

it was also a time where the content was still fresh and didn't have much recycling outside of battle animations (which can be better justified with sprites). D/P/Pt was among the first Pokemon games to use unique actions with the camera before pivotal battles, where it zoomed in rapidly before battles with legendaries, which made them feel a lot more impressive in context. I could probably break out the nostalgia glasses if I were prompted, but I'm sure you know plenty already, lol.

 

that is possible. my little rant was mainly aimed at those kinds of folks who blaze through the main story (y'know, who challenge the champion underleveled)... the kinds of people who more or less don't take their time with the game... until after their character becomes champion.

so youre throwing shade at people who dont play the game the way you do?

 

I'm interested to see if Legends: Arceus will be shown with smooth animations and a little bit of polish, or amybe have the environment have a little bit more in the way of Pokemon or things to interact with. I love the idea of an open world Pokemon game, but that was a rough introduction to say the least. I'm sure that it was just a tech demo and concept demo back in February, interested to see where it goes!

 

Definitely really looking forward to this upcoming event.

I'm currently celebrating "Pokemon's 25th anniversary" by doing a marathon/gaunlet monthly playthrough of generation 1-8 and I'm currently about 6 months in and finishing up "Black" (Gen 5) beat "Omega Ruby" (Gen 3) last month, But skipped on "Pearl" (Gen 4) because though I haven't played it since high school, I really wanna reexperience it with the upcoming switch remakes on my HD TV. Still have "Y, Moon and Sword" (Gen 6-8) left and my year long marathon should be done by November in time for "Shining Pearl".

Can't wait to see what they have in store for "Pokemon Legends: Arceus", While it's a little rough around the edges, It has a lot of potential, Kind of hoping somewhat for a delay because I think it can probably use it, But here's hoping there's significant improvement in it's next unveiling as this very well looks to be my most anticipated game of next year despite it coming out in very early in January 2022.

 

Spoiler: Arceus Spoiler i guess

My gosh nintendo made obvious twist villans again atleast rose fooled me now we get The Galactic expedition lead by people calling pokemon Dangerous with Evil Eyes hm i wonder if theyll be evil (yes they definitly will be alötho i guess the prof is nice!)

 

so youre throwing shade at people who dont play the game the way you do?

not exactly... cause I was one of those kinds of kids, too... and it bit me in the ass when I reached Pokémon Colosseum's final boss in the plot. I'm throwing newer players under the bus on the side because pokemon games these days are a little too hand holdy, and don't really present much of a challenge to anyone remotely competent with the battle system.

my main beef is with the demands for a remake for no other reason than "bring it back, but with all the cool stuff we have now". there's no incentive to expand on what we already got. I kinda liked Mega Evolution during Generation VI, and I was warming up to Z-moves in Gen VII. but now we got a new gimmick in Gigamax, and Megas are no more...I wouldn't be surprised if in Gen IX Gigamax will be put in the corner to make room for a new mechanic.

when they brought back HGSS, there was plenty of new content added on top of the revamped world to make it feel new, an old classic practically overhauled with how much the tech evolved... that's not the case here, it's just Diamond and Pearl... with the latest gimmicks. I'd bet money there will be no Platinum content (Distortion World, Battle Frontier and the whole island around it), either.

just like ORAS was Ruby and Sapphire... with Mega Evolutions. no Emerald content, in fact, the Battle Frontier site was little more than an easter egg.

 

not exactly... cause I was one of those kinds of kids, too... and it bit me in the ass when I reached Pokémon Colosseum's final boss in the plot. I'm throwing newer players under the bus on the side because pokemon games these days are a little too hand holdy, and don't really present much of a challenge to anyone remotely competent with the battle system.

you sure its not more about yourself than the how the games have changed?

 

you sure its not more about yourself than the how the games have changed?

that is certainly a possibility... Pokemon games have certainly not made much of an effort to challenge players... at least not beyond optional stuff like the Battle Frontier.

honestly, though, that's probably why Platinum in particular felt so special to me... all the quality of life changes were nice, being able to challenge a couple of Gyms out of order (since you arrived at a later gym first, and had to backtrack in D/P), Giratina stealing the spotlight from the typical plot in Diamond and Pearl, Dialga and Palkia could both be caught at once in the postgame(among other legacy legendaries that weren't in the game before), the Debut of Rotom's alternate forms... and the Battle Frontier was where you were actually challenged as a player. cocky folks who thought they could steamroll the trainers and NOT learn each facility's mechanics had another thing coming. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky implemented Platinum's additions, added its own fair share of content, and still remains my gold standard in stories in the Pokemon games.

it also helped that I'm an avid fan of the Pocket Monsters SPECIAL (Eng: Pokemon Adventures) manga, which had a very long running plot, and it felt like the series was growing up with me, as it were, which is far from what I can say about the anime, but I digress.

I dunno... after seeing what Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire did to the Generation 3 games in retrospect, it's kind of hard for someone who enjoyed Emerald to see the exclusive Delta Episode and think it's worth full price in the end... the Mega Evolutions are just a carry over from X and Y, but everything else is effectively Ruby and Sapphire. so having seen what kind of content was packed into the original third versions, exactly what is there to be hyped about in a "remake of Diamond and Pearl (not Platinum), with the current gen's mechanics"? once you're done with the main story and become champion, what else is there to do besides jumping online and battling randos, or the Battle Tower?

 

that is certainly a possibility... Pokemon games have certainly not made much of an effort to challenge players... at least not beyond optional stuff like the Battle Frontier.

they are aimed at kids to be fair

I dunno... after seeing what Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire did to the Generation 3 games in retrospect, it's kind of hard for someone who enjoyed Emerald to see the exclusive Delta Episode and think it's worth full price in the end...

i beg to differ

 

they are aimed at kids to be fair

yeah, it is... but so were a fair amount of older games that didn't hold your hand like most NES and SNES games that nintendo never stops rereleasing. bear in mind, I didn't have the bulk of the anti-frustration features that older games had, and so the addition of them today just makes a lot of time done in the past feel monumentally wasted.

i beg to differ

let's agree to disagree... back when I first got Emerald, this was after having completed Sapphire twice before... and having several parts of the story get changed to account for both opposing teams being against you at some point, both legendaries being part of the story (it originally wasn't), and being required to meet Rayquaza (when it was also optional in the original), and finally Gym 8 and the Champion were different people, the initial champ was doing their own thing... there's finally the Battle Frontier debuting for the first time, with a couple challenges only otherwise seen in Pokemon Stadium... and then some.

well..... it's a bit of a far cry from the mascot legends getting two new forms, Mega Evos being brought over from X and Y (with Mega Rayquaza and a few other new ones being the biggest draw), and a postgame Delta Episode campaign that an average player would waste no time blazing through. it's also blatantly obvious where my bias lies, so disputing anything further would result in fruitless nitpicking that goes nowhere. I see where you're coming from, I just believe differently.

meantime... I've recently been playing the indie title Nexomon: Extinction, and among the notable differences it has to its battle system is that the AI opponents in the game actively swap out monsters in a disadvantage after a turn or two, which is very refreshing and adds more than enough challenge. I've only seen that happen once or twice in the Pokemon games(from RBY to XY), none of which actually happened to me.