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Pokémon Diamond and Pearl versions kicked off the 4th generation of Pokémon games, and have been hailed by many as being among the best Pokémon games ever.

The games are set in the region of Sinnoh, and start off in Twinleaf Town, where your character and his or her longtime friend, Barry (or whatever you end up naming him), call home. The story starts off with a news report about a red Gyarados raging in a lake in another region (sound familiar?), and Barry is eager to see if the lake near Twinleaf Town has a rare Pokémon of its own. So you and him go off to Lake Verity and find a grass-type Turtwig, a fire-type Chimchar, and a water-type Piplup, which are all sitting in a briefcase belonging to Professor Rowan, the local Pokémon expert. You and Barry suddenly get attacked by wild Starlys and must fight back with whichever Pokémon you pick from the case. Then it's off to Sandgem Town to return the borrowed Pokémon. The prof. lets you keep the Pokémon and also gives you a pokédex, telling you to fill it up. So now, the adventure begins. Along the way you have to collect badges (otherwise "people will think you're a noob"), fight an evil team with an evil plan, and ultimately challenge the Elite Four and regional champion. If this is sounding like deja vu, don't be surprised. It's basically the same recycled plot from all of the past Pokémon games. But as any good Pokémon fan knows, it's not the story that makes a Pokémon game, it's the features and Pokémon. So here's what Diamond and Pearl offer.

Pokémon

Diamond and Pearl bring 107 new Pokémon to the series. They range from the utterly useless Bidoof (the obligatory early-game land-dwelling Pokémon), to the god-like Arceus. Unlike in the third generation, many of the Pokémon are evolutions or pre-evolutions of older Pokémon. Some examples of these are Electivire, the evolved form of Electabuzz; Rhyperior, the evolved form of Rhydon; and of course, Munchlax, which evolves into Snorlax.

Unfourtunatly, many of the new Pokémon aren't avaliable until after you get the National Pokédex, which requires you to see all of the Pokémon in Sinnoh's regional Pokédex. This isn't that big of a problem since it's a pretty easy feat, but still annoying. After getting the National 'dex though, you'll be able to find non-Sinnoh 'dex Pokémon in the wild through various means. In fact you can get every Pokémon other than the legendaries and starters from past generations, and, oddly enough there are two other Pokémon that aren't obtainable: Tangela and Tropius. Tangela happens to have a new evolution, Tangrowth, which means that there's a new Pokémon that you can't get in-game.

Third-Generation Compatability

So how do you get those unobtainable Pokémon? After getting the National Pokédex, you'll have access to the Pal Park, which allows you to transfer 6 Pokémon from any GBA Pokémon game per day, just be aware that they can't be transferred back, a fact that the game will keep reminding you of when you first transfer the Pokémon over.

Also, if you wander around in the wild with a GBA Pokémon game inserted, you may run into some non-Sinnoh 'dex Pokémon. Which species you encounter depends on which version you have inserted. All non-Sinnoh 'dex Pokémon obtained in this way are exclusive to this method, and many of them are third-gen version exclusives, leading to the somewhat annoying situation where you won't be able to get a certain Pokémon without a specific version (for example, you can't get a Growlithe unless you have FireRed, and you can't get Lunatone unless you have Sapphire), so trading over WiFi really comes in handy.

Other Features

Diamond and Pearl also introduce the Underground, basically a big union room where you can interact with other players over local wireless, and dig for treasure. The treasure you'll find includes fossils, evolution stones, heart scales, and the relatively useless spheres. The Global Trade Station or GTS can be found in Jubilife City, where you can trade with any other Diamond or Pearl player in the world, but you can only use it to trade for Pokémon you've seen in the game. Naturally though, you can also use WiFi to trade with your friends directly, which doesn't have this restriction. Of course Pokémon staples such as the Battle Tower, Game Corner, Name Rater, and Move Deleter are all back. The games even feature animated sprites, something previously exclusive to third versions.

Conclusion

Diamond and Pearl have plenty of new stuff and great new Pokémon, plus the ability to trade online is a huge plus. In the end though, these games are outclassed by their successor, Platinum, which has an improved plot, a Battle Frontier ala Emerald, and plenty of other features. The only reason you might want to get Diamond or Pearl over Platinum is to get some Pokémon that can't be found in the third version, or if you live in Europe and are just dying to play the slots.