Watch: Pokémon Diamond And Pearl Remakes Announced With New Trailer

Pokéfans will finally be able to relive one of the franchise’s most beloved entries later this year.

As confirmed just now via a brief Direct presentation, remakes of Generation IV games Pokémon Diamond & Pearl are currently in development and scheduled for release on Nintendo Switch before the end of 2021. The Sinnoh region, steeped in mystery and home to several iconic Mythical beasts including the all-powerful Arceus, will welcome Trainers new and old to revisit the ancient land to catch, battle, and collect their favorite ‘Mons on the journey to becoming Champion. That means, of course, that you’ll once again be going up against Cynthia to claim the title, and it’ll be interesting to see if the popular character will be as tough as her original incarnation.

In terms of faithfulness to the 2007 release on Nintendo DS, it’s worth noting that, unlike previous reimaginings, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl have undergone a graphical downgrade, if you will, to better represent the core RPG series’ roots. Sword and Shield‘s free roam Wild Area and dynamic cameras, as well as cinematic battles, have been discarded in favor of a simpler, more traditional top-down perspective.

Likely as a means to allow Game Freak time to work on other projects, these installments are being outsourced to ILCA, with the former’s Junichi Masuda serving as co-director. How much of an impact this will have on the final product remains to be seen, but early footage looks promising, at the very least.

You can no doubt expect further details for modernized versions of Pokémon Diamond & Pearl to surface later this year, but in the meantime, be sure to let us know what you make of the announcement down below!