Pokemon Diamond & Pearl remakes get bizarre pre-launch patch
The Pokemon CompanyThe patch notes for the first Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl update reveal some rather odd additions, including the final cutscene.
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl’s 1.1.0 update will launch alongside the remakes themselves. However, the patch notes have already hit the internet and contain some rather bizarre things.
The notes were posted on Nintendo’s official website, and while most of this content is the typical day one information you’d expect, some of it is content you’d expect to already be in the game.
NintendoPokemon Diamond and Pearl remake patch notes
The patch notes reference online features such as the Grand Underground, Super Contest Show, Union Room, and the Mystery Gift feature. This content is mostly for those who play online and it makes sense for such features to be patched upon release, as it’s often hard to predict certain bugs that may appear until the launch of such features.
However, the Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl day one patch also includes the game’s final cutscene, which is a very weird thing to include in an update. Normally, all campaign content is included at launch, either on disk or part of the initial download.
It also appears that the new Ramanas Park area, a new iteration of the Pal Park, was added via the patch. This area is where players will encounter the game’s legendaries in the post-game. The location was fully revealed in a new trailer earlier this week.
It’s bizarre enough that Nintendo announced the notes a week early, but the addition of things that really should have been in the game already makes it even stranger.
The Pokemon Company / ILCAImplications of missing Pokemon Diamond & Pearl remake content
While it’s unlikely that many, if any, players will be affected by the base game not including content like the final cutscene at launch, there are other complications to consider. Some players have already got their hands on a copy of the game and are streaming it through Twitch.
As the game is still a week away, this is plenty of time for those players to reach the endgame and see the broken state of the content. What’s worse, is those streaming it will show this to the world.
Nintendo may have released the patch notes in anticipation of this, after learning some people have the game early. The patch notes could be Nintendo’s way of assuring players that the day one patch will resolve any issues they find in the game before launch.
This is just a theory, but it does go some way to explaining why the company would release the patch notes a week before the game and its day one patch are scheduled to come out. However it doesn’t explain why such features were missing in the first place.