Day 33: Pokémon Platinum
Well seeing that the last Pokémon game we talked about was a remake of the generation that got me into the series, let's talk about the game that made me learn more about the mechanics, the value of having more than one Pokémon on your team, and just overall got me more invested in the franchise. This is Pokémon Platinum.
Pokémon Platinum's story is, once again, something you should expect from your typical Pokémon game: A young boy/girl gets his/her first Pokémon from the region's professor, he/she faces tons of trainers and occasionally his/her rival in order to get from one town to the next so he/she can collect eight gym badges to challenge the Pokémon League and become the new champion, all while putting the region's evil team in its place every now and again as they try and summon a legendary Pokémon to do their evil bidding.
Enough about that, let's talk about how Platinum improves upon its predecessors, both its vanilla version, Diamond and Pearl, and the generations that came before it. First, the obvious, the improved Pokédex. In Diamond and Pearl, while it did introduce new Pokémon, didn't take full advantage of the full roster. Generation 4 took a page out of Gen 2's playbook by giving a few Pokémon new evolutions to older ones like Magmortar, Electivire, Togekiss, Rhyperior, Gallade, and the new eeveelutions, Leafeon and Glaceon, just to name a few. Guess what, in Diamond and Pearl they, as well as their pre-evolved forms, are nowhere to be found in the main game and can only be accessed via trade or waiting for the aftergame. I mean, sure we got Roserade, Ambipom, Honchkrow, Mismagius, and Weavile in Diamond and Pearl's main game, but why give us some and not all? I'm here to report that in Pokémon Platinum, every new Pokémon is here, even giving us other Pokémon that didn't appear in Diamond and Pearl like the Swablu line, Tropius, Houndour line, Scyther line, and Absol.
But, with all the new Sinnoh Pokémon available in Platinum, I can easily say that this is probably my favorite roster in the entire series. My favorites would have to be the starters, Staraptor, Lucario, Toxicroack, Drapion, Roserade, Magmortar, Luxray, Gallade, Honchkrow, Electivire, Togekiss, Gliscor, Ambipom, just about every legendaries, and the best pseudo-legendary so far, Garchomp!
As a result of the new and improved Pokédex, it gives the trainers you encounter more variety to their teams with the best example I can think of being the Fire Elite Four member, Flint. In Diamond and Pearl, he had a Rapidash and an Infernape…as his only fire Pokémon! Due to the limited amount of fire Pokémon in the original game, he had to fill up his other slots with Pokémon that can learn fire moves like Drifblim, Lopunny, and Steelix. Due to the increased selection of fire types in Platinum, Flint has ditched those fire type wannabes for actual fire types like Magmortar, Houndoom, and Flareon.
The second improvement Platinum made would be a better Battle Frontier. In Diamond and Pearl, it was just the Battle Tower. In Platinum, it takes a note out of Gen 3's playbook and gives us more facilities in the Battle Frontier, including the Battle Tower, to explore and battle in, and each facility introduces a new gimmick that you have to adjust to.
The third improvement, while I haven't used it myself, the Wifi Plaza, which gives you a lot to do including tons of mini-games to play.
Next are the new story elements Platinum introduces. On top of visiting Giratina's bizarre and awesome homeworld, the Distortion World, Stark Mountain is more involved with the story as it follows the remaining Team Galactic members after Cyrus disappearance and we get to see what the team is like under the leadership of the new Galactic Commander, Charon. Stark Mountain also looks better having lava pits right outside of the entrance, giving off that active volcano vibe. Come to think of it, a lot of areas in Sinnoh are more detailed and given a much needed polish when compared to Diamond and Pearl.
Now, while Platinum changes a lot to make Generation 4 even better, it still has a few elements from Diamond and Pearl that work. For example, the physical/special move split was introduced in this generation, making Pokémon that used to suck actually fun to use in battle. You can decorate your Pokéballs with capsules giving your Pokémon some flare when they come out in battle, and Team Galactic with their plans to create a new world by using Dialga and Palkia is just as awesome as ever…especially when we see the plan go wrong and Giratina gets summoned in one of the scariest moments in the franchise.
The last thing I want to talk about is the sound presentation. Pokémon Platinum has some of my favorite songs in the series like Gym Leader/Elite Four Theme, Champion Theme, Route 216, Route 225, Route 226, The Frontier Brain Theme, Giratina's Battle Theme, The Distortion World Theme, and most of the themes involving Team Galactic.
Overall, Pokémon Platinum does a lot to improve upon what Diamond and Pearl did while adding a few differences to make it feel like a brand new game. Here's to hoping that the Gen 4 remakes are half as good as Platinum was.
