BDSP Pokédex speculation

[Jimothy]

Something that just occurred to me: we get a new mythical almost every year. Even when a remake has a pre-existing mythical to distribute: HGSS had an Arceus distribution to trigger the Sinjoh event, Hoopa’s distribution coincided with ORAS so players could obtain Unbound, and while LGPE did have Mew distributed through the Pokeball Plus, but the marketing buzz was all about Meltan.

Last year we got Zarude for SwSh. What’s this year?

This year’s mythical could come in a free update for SwSh, but it’s more likely that they use it to promote the new games.

Arceus is probably being saved for Legends. Assuming there’s a Platinum episode, we’re likely to get a free mythical with it. Now assuming it to mirror the Delta episode isn’t a guarantee, but assuming it does: Darkrai seems likely as it’s the more “Deoxys-like” option, though since Delta took inspiration from the Rayquaza movie, this might take inspiration from the Giratina movie for a Giratina/Shaymin showdown (probably reversed though, where you obtain the mythical to capture the legendary). Not sure which way they’ll go.

Going off of past remakes, there probably will be releases for Manaphy and either of Shaymin/Darkrai, but also going off of past remakes, we’re probably getting a wholly new mythical. Even the overly-faithful dex of LGPE added new mythicals.

All this to say, I’d be shocked if there weren’t at least one completely new Pokémon in BDSP.

 

[Puddle]

These are my thoughts on which Pokémon are most/least likely to appear in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl...

Definitely:

• All 107 Pokémon introduced in Gen IV, and their evolutionary relatives
• All Pokémon from the original Sinnoh Pokédex
• Regirock, Regice and Registeel

Likely:

• The remaining Pokémon from the expanded Sinnoh Pokédex (Houndour, Swablu, Tropius, Scyther and Absol lines)
• Ditto (essential unless Phione is obtained in a new way)
• Sylveon

Maybe:

• Regieleki and Regidrago
• The Gen IV National Pokédex (Bulbasaur to Arceus) - or maybe just the Poké Radar Pokémon, and wild Pokémon from the Battle Zone such as the Spheal and Slugma lines
• Mega Evolutions, regional forms and regional evolutions for any Pokémon in the game that has them

Unlikely, but could happen:

• A few special Pokémon, like starters or legendaries, from newer generations

Definitely not:

• The full National Pokédex (Bulbasaur to Calyrex)

 

[Jimothy]

Wonder if we might get Silvally, would be neat.

Or barring that, maybe we’ll meet some Aether researchers to point toward his future creation.

 

[swiftgallade46]

These are my thoughts on which are Pokémon are most/least likely to appear in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl...

Definitely:

• All 107 Pokémon introduced in Gen IV, and their evolutionary relatives
• All Pokémon from the original Sinnoh Pokédex
• Regirock, Regice and Registeel

I’d put the Regis in “Likely” for now since their inclusion is based on Platinum.

Likely:

• The remaining Pokémon from the expanded Sinnoh Pokédex (Houndour, Swablu, Tropius, Scyther and Absol lines)
• Ditto (essential unless Phione is obtained in a new way)

Agreed! I actually think Sylveon would be in this category as well.

Maybe:

• Sylveon
• Regieleki and Regidrago
• The Gen IV National Pokédex (Bulbasaur to Arceus) - or maybe just the Poké Radar Pokémon, and wild Pokémon from the Battle Zone such as the Spheal and Slugma lines
• Mega Evolutions, regional forms and regional evolutions for any Pokémon in the game that has them

Agreed with this as well minus Sylveon and plus Silvally due to its Arceus association.

The rest I also agree with.

 

[Jimothy]

I still think the Legends starters are a strong possibility— even if you can’t obtain them in the game, maybe they’re in the code so you can transfer them from LA.

LGPE does make me think we’re getting regional variants for any monsters that do get in, but that’s admittedly bias based on one datapoint.

 

[SeanWheeler]

I can't help but wonder if the new Regi's from the isle of Armor will be added though? I could see them trying to contain them to just SWSH for an incentive to get them, but I wonder if they'll be transferable to these games?

The Regis were in the Crown Tundra, not the Isle of Armor. And if they are transferable to Brilliant Diamond and Shiny Pearl, I sure hope they are not required to get Regigigas. Needing five legendaries from two regions to get one Sinnoh Legendary would be too much. If there was a National Pokédex with the faithful requirements of the originals that you need to see every Pokémon in the Sinnoh Dex, please don't put the Galar Regis in. In fact, just have Regigigas in the Sinnoh Dex and have it a requirement to put Regigigas in your party in the National Dex-based post-game to catch the Hoenn Regis, and then after catching Regirock, Regice and Registeel, you could catch Regieleki in Brilliant Diamond or Regidrago in Shining Pearl. However, if there's no National Dex and that feature is gone forever, then they can go ahead and make Regigigas a reward for catching all five Regis if they want.

 

[Puddle]

I’d put the Regis in “Likely” for now since their inclusion is based on Platinum.

You need the Regis to awaken Regigigas in Diamond and Pearl, too. I did consider putting them under "likely", but I can't imagine Regigigas being included in a game without its underlings, not even if there was a new method for awakening it.

Agreed! I actually think Sylveon would be in this category as well.

I actually edited my post and moved Sylveon to "likely" at the same time you were writing your response haha. I think you're right - it would be very odd if Sylveon was the only Eeveelution to be absent from a game (unlike in Let's Go where five of them were absent, so it didn't seem quite so strange there).

 

[Jimothy]

Gallade and Puddle, I haven’t looked at the exact breakdowns of those categories, but any idea how much they cover for Sinnoh’s Fire Problem? I have to imagine that’s something they’re considering.

 

[Mr. MoonStone]

The Regis were in the Crown Tundra, not the Isle of Armor. And if they are transferable to Brilliant Diamond and Shiny Pearl, I sure hope they are not required to get Regigigas. Needing five legendaries from two regions to get one Sinnoh Legendary would be too much. If there was a National Pokédex with the faithful requirements of the originals that you need to see every Pokémon in the Sinnoh Dex, please don't put the Galar Regis in. In fact, just have Regigigas in the Sinnoh Dex and have it a requirement to put Regigigas in your party in the National Dex-based post-game to catch the Hoenn Regis, and then after catching Regirock, Regice and Registeel, you could catch Regieleki in Brilliant Diamond or Regidrago in Shining Pearl. However, if there's no National Dex and that feature is gone forever, then they can go ahead and make Regigigas a reward for catching all five Regis if they want.

Ah! Thanks for pointing that out, my bad!

I agree with what you've posted. I think there are a number of ways they can go about implementing the new Regis for this pair of games. I just hope they don't make it too contrived, nor oversimplified like an event download (I'm sure I'm not the only one, but I really don't care for those too much lol). I think Sinnoh's strong lore leads to a number of possible avenues to explore regarding the Regis.

 

[SeanWheeler]

You need the Regis to awaken Regigigas in Diamond and Pearl, too. I did consider putting them under "likely", but I can't imagine Regigigas being included in a game without its underlings, not even if there was a new method for awakening it.

Considering the newly added Regieleki and Regidrago, I really hope there's another way of awakening Regigigas, like having it already awake and waiting for you in Snowpoint Temple. I don't want to be forced to catch five more Legendaries from other regions to get one Sinnoh Legendary in the Sinnoh remakes. Especially with the possibility of a full Sinnoh Dex requirement to continue into the post-game like the original Diamond, Pearl and Platinum. I want Heatran, Regigigas, Cresselia, Phione, Darkrai, Shaymin and Arceus in the Sinnoh Dex, and it's okay to add more Pokémon like Darmanitan. But I don't want Regigigas so hard to get if it's mandatory to see it in the Pokédex before the post-game. I want the post-game to still be accessible after the Elite Four, and I really want the National Dex to return as a reward for seeing all the Sinnoh Pokémon. They can give Flint a Heatran if we can't access Stark Mountain until the post-game.

 

[Phosphene]

My most conservative estimate is that the Pokédex will only contain the 151 Pokémon from the original Diamond and Pearl plus any Sinnoh Pokémon and the rest of their line that weren't in that 'dex, such as Porygon-Z. At most, I think we'll get the Platinum 'dex plus Alolan/Galarian forms and a few extras that are connect to Pokémon in that 'dex, like Sylveon, the SwSh Regis, etc, but I think that's a little unlikely. I'm on the fence about whether or not Pokémon like Mr. Rime or Sylveon will be present because BDSP seems like a very conservative remake and I don't really see the developers straying too far from the beaten path, so to speak. I'm also hesitant about all gen 1-4 Pokémon being available; I don't think this will be the case.

 

[swiftgallade46]

Gallade and Puddle, I haven’t looked at the exact breakdowns of those categories, but any idea how much they cover for Sinnoh’s Fire Problem? I have to imagine that’s something they’re considering.

Right now, the most likely options only cover it as much as Platinum did. Unless they were to add in the entirety of the original 493 as being available in the main game barring Legendaries and starters, it still seems pretty dismal. But definitely not impossible or even highly unlikely or anything.

 

[Jimothy]

Right now, the most likely options only cover it as much as Platinum did. Unless they were to add in the entirety of the original 493 as being available in the main game barring Legendaries and starters, it still seems pretty dismal. But definitely not impossible or even highly unlikely or anything.

Hmmm thanks.

I guess my ideal way of handling this would be to add some Sinnohan variants of select 5-8 monsters (they adapted to become fire-type to keep warm in the colder climate!).

But it’s far more likely that they throw a gift Charmander into the early game or something.

Galaxy brain solution is that they add baby and mid-evo forms to Heatran and accept that it’s never been much of a legendary.

 

[Puddle]

Gallade and Puddle, I haven’t looked at the exact breakdowns of those categories, but any idea how much they cover for Sinnoh’s Fire Problem? I have to imagine that’s something they’re considering.

With just the Pokemon I listed under "definitely", we'd have Chimchar, Monferno, Infernape, Ponyta, Rapidash, Magby, Magmar, Magmortar, Flareon and Heatran. If the full Platinum Dex is in, then we'll have Houndour and Houndoom too.

The original Sinnoh Dex is also severely lacking in Ice and Dragon types. The only Ice types are Snover, Abomasnow, Sneasel and Weavile; the only Dragon types are Gible, Gabite, Garchomp, Dialga and Palkia.

But Glaceon, Swinub, Piloswine, Mamoswine, Snorunt, Glalie, Froslass and Giratina will definitely be in this game. Rotom has an Ice-type form, which is pretty much guaranteed to be available. And the full Platinum Dex, if included, will bring Altaria into the mix.

It does seem very likely that the full Platinum Dex will be in the game. Houndour, Houndoom and Altaria are important for type balance.

 

[Jimothy]

You brought up Rotom Frost, I was actually thinking about Rotom-Heat. With how prominent Rotom has become in recent years, maybe we’ll get access to it and its forms earlier? Especially since, if this game expands on anything, the Rotom/Cyrus connection seems likely.

 

[Puddle]

You brought up Rotom Frost, I was actually thinking about Rotom-Heat. With how prominent Rotom has become in recent years, maybe we’ll get access to it and its forms earlier? Especially since, if this game expands on anything, the Rotom/Cyrus connection seems likely.

I completely forgot about Rotom Heat! It's late at night here and I'm sleepy haha. In Platinum, Rotom can be caught as soon as you reach Eterna Forest, so maybe they'll do the same here. It would be cool if we also had access to its alternate forms during the main story (and hopefully through normal gameplay, unlike in Platinum where they were event-only).

 

[swiftgallade46]

I hope they don’t become reliant on Rotom to patch up lack of of type diversity. It only gets one move of its secondary type who knows when they’d allow the player to obtain the Secret Key / Appliance Catalog.

 

[Jimothy]

With just the Pokemon I listed under "definitely", we'd have Chimchar, Monferno, Infernape, Ponyta, Rapidash, Magby, Magmar, Magmortar, Flareon and Heatran. If the full Platinum Dex is in, then we'll have Houndour and Houndoom too.

The original Sinnoh Dex is also severely lacking in Ice and Dragon types. The only Ice types are Snover, Abomasnow, Sneasel and Weavile; the only Dragon types are Gible, Gabite, Garchomp, Dialga and Palkia.

But Glaceon, Swinub, Piloswine, Mamoswine, Snorunt, Glalie, Froslass and Giratina will definitely be in this game. Rotom has an Ice-type form, which is pretty much guaranteed to be available. And the full Platinum Dex, if included, will bring Altaria into the mix.

It does seem very likely that the full Platinum Dex will be in the game. Houndour, Houndoom and Altaria are important for type balance.

Lack of ice-types could be partially addressed by Mr. Mime/Rime? A fair amount of regional variants are ice-type, but that looks like the only line in the Sinnoh Dex that is among those

 

[Kallyle]

I'm also hesitant about all gen 1-4 Pokémon being available; I don't think this will be the case.

If they don’t, then there will be complaints about the game having less content than even the original DP, giving consumers less a reason to buy and play these games over the original DPPt (unless an equivalent amount of Pokémon from later gems makes up for it). Given the little we have to go off of for BDSP right now, such a decision to have less Pokémon useable compared to the original Sinnoh games would make reception of the games worse than they currently are. Even though they clearly aren’t as high a priority as Legends: Arceus seem to be, I’m sure TPCi would still like these games to perform as well as possible. Cutting the amount of Pokémon available to be used in the Sinnoh region does nothing but make ILCA and TPCi look bad and would be used against them as evidence of just wanting to cut corners out of greed.

We already know that the Game Corner’s going to get cut; do we really need the amount of Pokémon usable in Sinnoh cut down as well?

 

[swiftgallade46]

We already know that the Game Corner’s going to get cut;

Well technically, no, we don’t. As likely as it is, it hasn’t been confirmed either way. My hope is that it will at least be replaced with something new like in HG/SS rather than cut entirely.