Shrugger Shroob here, back from my humongous break after my first Review. Anyway, today I will be comparing two of the last main-series Pokémon games, Pokémon Emerald and Pokémon Diamond. 1-10 scale. PE stands for Emerald, and PD stands for Diamond.
Graphics
PE: 3
PD: 8
Yeah, Emerald’s graphics are… not that
great. Ugh. However, Diamond’s graphics are actually pretty good. The overworld
is now 3D, and Emerald’s superior Pokémon graphics have been replaced
with stunning attacks, trading sequences, and Evolutions.
Music
PE: 8
PD: 5
Although I don’t necessarily remember
any of Emerald’s tunes apart from Victory Road, I distinctly remember them
being pretty darn good. However, Diamond… I can’t remember ANY of the tunes,
and I remember them being pretty average. So average score here.
Story
PE: 6
PD: 9
Well, Emerald is a Ruby/Sapphire remake,
so the story has been used before. However, Game Freak gave a few little
extra tidbits of story to Emerald, such as the involvement of Rayquaza
and both Team Magma and Team Aqua as bad guys. However, Diamond has a more
than satisfactory story. Team Galactic is the second most evil team so
far, surpassed only by Colosseum and XD’s Cipher. Also, gaining the powers
of time and space is a whole lot more epic than gaining the powers of fire
and water.
Characters
PE: 8
PD: 3
Emerald has the Frontier Brains, Steven,
Scott, Wallace, and Maxie and Archie in the interesting character department.
However, Cyrus and Tucker of Diamond, despite being interesting, are pretty
much the only ones that Diamond offers in here. However, Pokémon
has never been about characters. It’s been about…
New Pokémon
PE: 9.5
PD: 7
…Pokémon! Since both games have
the original 251 in them, I just went with the newbies, and I have to say
that Emerald has the better ones. Metagross, Salamenace, Rayquaza… Emerald
has pretty much the greatest selection of new Pokémon yet, and the
only thing that stopped it from being a 10 is that these aren’t exactly
newbies, all of them making their debut a few years ago in the form of
Ruby and Sapphire. Diamond… well, most of its totally awesome newcomers
are in the postgame. There are a bunch of cool new ones like Abomasnow
and Electrivire, but they still can’t contend with the might of the Hoenns.
Items
PE: 3
PD: 9
I wouldn’t even put this here if I
hadn’t been trying to follow the same format of my SMA4 Review. Still,
Diamond has a far superior bunch of items, including 42 new TMs.
Controls
PE: 7
PD: 5
Although both games have relatively
simple controls, the DS grip just isn’t natural for me, especially when
I try to use the Pokétch, which requires the stylus. Emerald… well,
the SP’s grip DOES feel natural to me.
Gameplay
PE: 9.5
PD: 9.5
Pokémon games have always had
awesome gameplay, and these are no exception. Basically, you raise one
of 386/490 Pokémon, giving it moves and evolving it until eventually
you have a fighting force that even the Elite 4 can’t contend with. What’s
more, you get to raise as many as you like, although you can only have
6 with you at one time. Simple, but extremely addictive gameplay.
Difficulty
How much it is present:
PE: 2-9.5
PD: 8-4
How much I like it:
PE: 9.5
PD: 4
OK, Pokémon Emerald is a cakewalk
until you beat the game (even easier if you catch Rayquaza and use it to
destroy the Elite 4). However, afterwards is a whole different story. See,
this guy named Scott invites you to the Battle Frontier, which consists
of 5 EXTREMELY difficult facilities… and the Battle Pike and Battle Pyramid,
which aren’t that easy either. It gets harder every challenge, until every
other trainer has a Charizard. I ended up having to trade my Vaporeon,
Jumpluff, Ampharos, Hariyama, Mightyena, Camerupt, Aggron, Shiftry, and
Manectric over from XD and Ruby, and even then I could only destroy the
Battle Pyramid (my Breloom, Golem, Metagross, Blaziken, Magneton, and Pelliper
already got rid of the Pike). For Diamond… well, I had to trade my Dialga
for a Lv 100 Bronzong to get past the Elite 4, and it was pretty hard even
then. However, the Diamond Battle Tower is easy (except for the Wi-fi rooms,
and they’re pretty much the hardest things ever). However, the Battle Frontier
doesn’t have the SMB3 style of difficulty, the kind that makes you not
play it again until months have passed. It’s the kind that makes you try
again. Diamond has the get-aggravated-so-you-GTS-cheat kind, which means
a below average score.
Length
PE: 10
PD: 10
Both of these games can be as long
as you like, whether you quit after you beat the Elite 4 or continue until
you have every Gold Frontier Symbol or complete the Pokédex.
Replayability
PE: 10
PD: 10
Uhh… Read the length section again.
Fun Factor!
PE: 8.5
PD: 8
These games are pretty darn fun, although
I found Emerald to be slightly more fun than Diamond.
Overall:
Emerald: 9.5
Diamond: 9
Both games stand well on my Favorite
Games of All Time list, although I think that Emerald is just a bit better.
What should you buy? Well… If you’re a Pokémon fan, you probably
already have Emerald and Diamond or Pearl, but if you don’t, then get Emerald.
If you are moderately interested in the series but don’t plan on getting
any more games in it, then get Emerald. On the other hand, if you’re gonna
get more games, then get Diamond/Pearl. If you’re a Pokémon hater,
then WHY ARE YOU READING THIS REVIEW?!
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