A love-letter to previous generations, D/P evolves PKMN mythology, technology, & classic ‘mons in a beautiful new Hokkaidö-inspired region of Sinnoh w. best 2D viz aestheticization & epic themes/legends: a contrastive juxtaposition of religion w. science-fiction. 9.6/10.

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Plot Synopsis: Pokémon Diamond Version and Pokémon Pearl Version are role-playing video games developed by Game Freak, published by The Pokémon Company and Nintendo for the Nintendo DS. They are the first installments in the fourth generation of the Pokémon video game series.

*Possible Spoilers Ahead*

The CLC Official Favorite Gen. IV Pokémon: 1. Giratina, 2. Manaphy, 3. Arceus, 4. Luxray, 5. Empoleon, 6. Mime Jr., 7. Abomasnow, 8. Spiritomb, 9. Palkia, 10. Cresselia, 11. Dialga, 12. Magnezone, 13. Bastiodon, 14. Gliscor, 15. Togekiss, 16. Yanmega, 17. Dusknoir, 18. Munchlax, 19. Riolu, 20. Torterra

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The Official CLC Review

A trifecta of video games. The Pokémon Company x Game Freak had delivered just that with the releases of its preliminary three generations: Red/Blue/Green/Yellow, Gold/Silver/Crystal, Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald. Generation 1 is quite arguably the most revolutionary, influential, and greatest adventure and new idea origin game for a series in the history of its medium – the execution of a lifetime dream-project of friendship and nature by Satoshi Tajiri with a blueprint so ~perfect, it barely needed *any* changes even decades later today; Gen. 2 holds the prestige of being a love-letter to its origin Japanese culture adorned with the best creature design, new feature additions [shiny, FTW!], and post-game in video games; Generation 3 was the first integration of a major overarching storyline: a jewel case for complex/ambitious themes of climatological balance & apocalyptica with the greatest legendaries, region, elemental discourse, and villains of the saga. Even withstanding the chef d’oeuvre video game masterpieces of Gen. 1-3, Pocket Monsters was only mediocrely-popularized by the early-to-mid 2000’s. Difficult to believe the IP needed a fuel-injection of continuous innovation by comparative analysis to its kingdom status as the biggest media franchise in the world today, the pronunciation of Generation 4 did just what was requisite: shift gears to a mature fanbase & aggrandizing the scale/ambition 10x so in franchise mythology – science & religion.

A love-letter to previous generations w. bold new evolutions of the mythology/overworld for new demographics, DP adventures through a beautiful new Hokkaidö-inspired mountain-crux region in Sinnoh w. the best 2D visual aestheticization of PKMN, diverse orchestration, magic new pre/post evos of old ‘mons, the #2 best starters of the series, clean NDS technical proficiency, feature calibrations and – though in ~complacency – advancements (e.g. Contests, Poketch, Battle Mechanization, Underground, Gender Differences), & avant-garde storyline contrastively juxtaposing themes of church-like religion allegory with science-fiction galaxy x time x creation physics by complex ’50’s retro-futuristic cyberpunk antagonists, epic scale/ambition aggrandization, & all-time great legendaries. One of the most striking aspects of the games from their opening frames is the region: Sinnoh. Designed after the Hokkaīdo region of Japan with alternative inspirations of Russia’s Sarkhalin & Kunashir provinces, Sinnoh is an island bisected by a crux mountain range of major importance in every aspect of the game [as we’ll get into later]: Mt. Coronet. For better or worse (mixed for us in how we appreciate how much of a love-letter the games are to its origin region and Junichi Masuda’s home of Japan, but stilted they’re beginning to feel while incompletely capitalizing on diversification of topography in other parts of the world), Sinnoh sticks predominantly to its real world counterparts in everything from the position of cities to numbering of routes to design inspirations – e.g. Mt. Coronet being based on the Ezo mountain range, Jubilife being the largest city of the region just like Sapporo is, and the iconic three lakes being based on Lakes Kutcharo, Tōya, and Kussharo from Hokkaīdo.

We’re mixed on Sinnoh in two aspects: its cities and lack of water routes. The towns and civilization areas of the region… kind of suck; there are fine ones like the old west coal mining town of Oreburgh, the rainbow-hued flower fields of Floaroma, cargo port bridge architecture of Canalave, & one of the best cityscapes of the series by its skyscraper-clad TV capitalism themes in Jubilife, the gyms are contrastively perplexingly well-designed and imaginative in their puzzles and aesthetics [Hearthome’s ghost haunted house maze, Eterna’s floral rotating clock, and Veilstone’s (literal) boxing gym being our favorites], and we appreciate the new realism-intensifying features like apartment complexes, hotels, news/press buildings, TV stations, and more ambitious architecture by grace of Nintendo DS > Game Boy/GBA, but the vast majority of the cities are gray/brown, lifeless, now-clichéd retreads of older archetypes… and comprehensively forgettable. Geographically, though, when you venture outside of its cities – Sinnoh *really* opens up and charms. From the silvery ore and dark blue-greyish stones juxtaposing turquoise mystery waters of Mt. Coronet to milky hallucinogenic-twilit forests of Eterna to beachside bluffs of Route 213 to to swampy mash tram-bisected wetland neo-safari zone of Pastoria, Sinnoh takes advantage of its epic size to pack a punch where it matters most: vast, diversiiform wildlife terrains.

We’re given new ways to explore them: the underground and rock climbing. A fantastic new feature, the cavernous Underground is not only a fun place clad with minigames and 3DS wifi features for playing/socializing with friends, but it lets us tap into one of the great exploration fantasies of mankind’s history: becoming miners for precious gemstones that have captivated our ancestors going back to ancient civilizations all the way to The Gold Rush. A new HM is Rock Climb is an epic new idea that takes full advantage of its mountainous terrain to let us scale the mountains previously kept away from mankind by its herculean difficulty and dangerousness [+ fear of heights & falling off]. That’s not even including the greatest achievement of Sinnoh [a biome three generations and 10+ years in the making *ALONE* enough to make the game passable and sins-forgiven overworld wise]: Snowpoint City. Do you how long we’ve waited for this?! A winter wonderland out of a Golden-Age ’30’s Merrie Melodies Cartoon or Christmas-themed Big Sky Montana tundra landscape with touches of warmth, evergreen conifers/pines, and yetis, Routes 216-7 & Snowpoint are positively breathtaking – and, quite possibly, our favorite and the greatest nature experience in the history of the Pokémon games.

We very much appreciate the ability to again explore another region of nature previously inaccessible to mankind and ~impossible to explore in the real-world [unless you want to freeze to death on a weeks-long hike up Mt. Kilimanjaro or get eaten by a bear sleeping at night in a cave]: the best aspect of Pokémon adventure-wise, again capitalized on in making nature explorable in the comfort and safety of your own home. The landscape is a starkly new one for the pokéworld – and it’s further peppered with novelties like cool new weather additions like snow [powdery calm drizzles juxtaposed with full-scale blizzards] and fog, as well as the return of a fan-favorite feature from G/S/C enlivening the realism with further definition by the addition of transitional sunrises & sunsets: day/night cycles. Bizarrely, the man-made structures in natural areas outside the major cities & towns are fantastic too – the eco-sustainability wind turbines of Valley Windworks, the hazy blue flame luminescence graveyard with mossy limestone mausoleum white marble steps of Lost Tower, textured-floor labyrinth of Solaceon Ruins, ghostly forest decrepit purple-glowing craftsman house with poltergeist motors/televisions, eye-moving paintings, and ghost butlers/girls Old Chateau (love how much Sinnoh celebrates the macabre, both in ‘mons and aesthetically), etc.

The overworld culminates in the two big-ticket attractions of the game: Spear Pillar and Distortion World. Two of the greatest and most avant-garde worldbuilds in pokéhistory, Spear Pillar first evokes reminisces of Greek pantheonic god shrines and colosseums by its mountaintop locale status and ionic-columned white-stone architecture as the *perfect* setting for its boss finale meeting/fighting gods. On the flip side of the coin, Distortion World is 10x more batsh*t crazy: the msot hyperambitious place of the franchise to-date bar none; an entire alternative dimension where the laws of physics and science don’t apply – time doesn’t flow, space isn’t stable, gravity is zero, forests are illusions, you can walk between XYZ planes, and waterfalls flip 180 degrees. There’s a few disappointments – the imbalance/~absence of water routes failing one of the best adventure features of PKMN in being able to surf your ‘mons and explore the open seas [Sinnoh is the antithesization of Hoenn in that regard] & perplexing removal of HM Dive when you already have 8 and it’s one of the best ones for letting us further explore the most impossible depths of mystery below the sea [sure, it replaces it with Rock Climb to better suit its region just like Dive was for Hoenn… but why not both?] – but Sinnoh quickly avalanched our concerns city-wise to become one of our favorite regions.

That was before the post-game. The Post-Game of Gen. IV catalyzes its ascension to our favorite region in the history of Pokémon – in addition to being the best post-game since G/S/C. The Battle Area is absolutely breathtaking: a hyper-tropical island with black ash rock formations, lush evergreen palm trees in a jungle gently swaying and dropping coconuts in the breeze, turquoise waters, white sandy beaches, brown saharan dunes with sandstorms, and a red-lava’d volcano with a hidden surprise legendary battle/catch. It fuel-injects the tropical urge we’ve been missing since Hoenn and dominates our dream vacation fantasy, while also being the best version of the tropical aesthetic/backdrop of the series. Game-wise, it gives us the Battle Frontier we loved about Hoenn, while also being a pure celebration of previous generations and history of the series by its wild encounters of only Gens 1-3 Pokémon and giving us trainer battles at high-levels we can use our legendaries [w. more to catch too, fixing previous gens’ disappointments in not being able to use post-game legends story-wise] on. God, we love it *SO* much – and it makes Sinnoh the most geologically-diverse fantasy region of the series: hitting every possible note of what you’d want in a region. Bravo.

The region would be nothing without visual aestheticization and style to bring it to life – a challenge later gens had and were ~ruined by in awkward teenage growing stages, mixedly-advanced graphics engines, and laziness by TPC’s animators/engineers [Sun/Moon, USUM, Sword/Shield, etc.]. Luckily, Gen. IV strikes a jackpot: the best 2D visual style/aestheticization of PKMN – and what holds the crown of best visuals until Let’s Go Pikachu & Eevee 13+ years later… and it’s even then a debate. Most striking are the textures, details, and rich color palettes they’re able to achieve; from the effervescence/personality-bursting sprites to chibi avatars to dynamic painting-like battle scenes swirling natural biomes into impressionistic Van Gogh painting, D/P/P [& HG/SS: The Greatest Pokémon Games Of All-Time in CLC’s vote, in the same generation] boasts masterpiece visual style hand-crafted by artisans whom you can feel the passion in every frame on, straddling the fine line between 8-Bit nostalgia & futuristic detailing and *alone* making the games mythological in status even if the other aspects failed. Impossibly though, it doesn’t on any other level – a major one being the score.

Beyond the visuals, the soundtrack of D/P/P is one of the best in the series – taking advantage of its DS technological bloom-evolution to energize and diversify its portfolio in everything from genres to tempos to keys to instrumentation. There are instances where songs change BPM mid-stream, notes and tracks are acoustically-panned to bounce from one headphone side to the other, side trainers get their own scores, and even old themes like the PKMN Center & Pokémart get remixed against our expectations. We can go on and on about the sound engineering/mix-and-mastering having experience in the field ourselves as previous musicians in college, but the compositions and themes dazzle & radiate themselves. From the title screen’s epic mystery omen atmosphere adorned with crescendoes of twinkling xylophones, we knew the score of Gen. IV was about to be special. Throughout the gameplay, we’re serenaded with soft, gentle flute harmonics to begin our adventure (one of our favorite themes ever: Twinleaf), a funky energized theme synergizing with our rival’s personality/chaos, warbling galactic synth arpeggiated villain themes sampling classic sci-fi movies and galaga to match the villain team, ’80’s discotheque doubletime, smooth brassy wurlitzers/accordions in Sandgem, future bass by the lakes, jazz in Jubilife, & clopping old west horse hooves and bluegrass guitar twangs of rusticism in Oreburgh.

There’s also slow-booming kaleidoscope synth pads juxtaposed with flurries of sweet-and-sour piano in Floaroma (one of the best themes), quiescence with liquid bass reverberated like echoes in the vast expanse of Eterna Forest, bouncy ritz sumptuousness in Hearthome, fancy chichi catwalk of Veilstone, African marimba in Pastoria Marsh Safari zone, sleigh-bells and snowflaked falling pad scales in Snowpoint, squaling violins and staccato gothic chords out of a horror movie in Old Chateau, hypnotic bass dubstep in the distortion world, etc. For a series known by musicians and audiophiles for its soundtracks (yet underappreciated by the general public), Sinnoh has one of the better ones – plus more advanced in its multi-channel audio system and ability to fully capitalize on real drums and instruments instead of white-noise flips like on the Game Boy in Kanto, only withstanding a couple of bad themes like disharmonic wrong keys at the Pokémon League & ~lazy reusages between a few cities towards the end [e.g. Celestic Town & Oreburgh having the exact same score]. Feature-wise, D/P has a legacy of more of fine-tuning and remastering existing mechaniszation than creating its own – not a terribly exciting or revolutionizante one, but an understandable one (the blueprint was so damn perfect in Gen. 1, after all, that ~90% of the games have stayed the same even into modern times ~30 years later).

Gen. IV sees a physical pronunciation of gender differences – everything from real biological ones [e.g. male Luxray having thicker manes than female ones like real-world lions do] to adorable ones [e.g. Pikachu getting a heart-shaped tail and down-trod ears in females] – and we love how subtle and not-overstated they are. The info on the front screen has more compatibility for newcomers – giving an option to expand on the info for them, while making it skippable for veterans. There are more name options with symbols, expanded global terminal-led and group-possible wifi features for a new multiplayer experience with friends online, a handy ‘item last used’ trick for easy accessibility, mid-battle dialogue for evolving realism, soil that darkens as water is added when planting seeds, and tracking roaing legends is 1,000x faster due to the major innovation of D/P: the Pokétch. A capitalization on the nescient smartphone craze of the real-world, the games give us a device with proto A.I. and technological apps enabling everything from calendars to art pads to cooin flippers to link searchers to minigames to bring the bottom half of the screen alive and upgrade the Pokenav. PKMN Contests have been completely revamped and made 10x better by audience-vote, dance-coordination, pageantry, and collectibility of ribbons across multiple categories – a feature girls especially will love and is made for them if the more boy-minded battles aren’t to their liking as a new way to enjoy and interact with your ‘mons.

The addition of Poffins – puff-pastry that increases attributes like cuteness or coolness – shakes up the meta and gives a fun new minigame way of cooking them, and the new advancements with pokéballs are appreciable too. Seals are kind of a gimmick – and easily-manipulatable for gross or juvenile ways by the lowbrow of the general population – but a new way to customize the experience of your monsters’ release from their pokéballs into battle – and the new pokeball types are the best in the series: the pink girly Heal Balls restoring HP when caught, energy-infused blue/yellow Quick Balls giving us easy ways to save time catching new ‘mons without having to battle them first, epic lime green/black/red Dusk Balls synergistically giving a boost when catching at night with their genius nightmare design perfect for some of the darker legends, and blood-red Cherish Balls for event Pokémon. Even the Pal Park balls are epic in their yellow/white design perfect for the electric mouse mascot of the sseries – and we only wish they were usable outside their intended region. One of our favorite [OCD-compulsive] aspects of the games is color-matching our prized Pokémon to their pokéballs, and Gen. IV gives us the best-designed and richly-hued choices to do that. A+.

Now that we’ve gotten through the nuts-and-bolts that create the background and world around the action, it’s time to get into the characters, story, and monsters – and all three excel tremendously. From the beginning frame, of course, what instantly strikes us [and has become a definitive factor of Gen. IV’s everlasting popularization] is the costume design… especially for its female protagonist. Dawn has what is easily the greatest character design in the history of Pokémon – and, for that matter, perhaps: video games. Pokémon has been known for having cute female protagonists any guy would fantasize about becoming and going on the adventure as (it being 10x better to be a beautiful girl than guy real-or-dream world, as ~every guy recognizes and overwhelmingly picks the female avatar on streams, but that’s another discussion), but Sinnoh takes the cake. We love how D/P lets Dawn be girly and unapologetically-feminine – down to the pink flouncy skirt and boots, no traces of masculinity or sports masquerade anywhere [even though we still love Hoenn’s outfits]. The ski hat and scarf reverberate the region’s snowy terrain, her face is cherubic and adorable, and the fact she’s Japanese is our favorite aspect – honoring the culture of PKMN’s origins while infusing it into the gen’s showpiece character for the crown on top this queen avatar for the history books. That’s not even including the dres-sweater Platinum outfit – one that manages to look out of a fashion magazine and be, somehow, even better.

Then… there’s the male avatar. Everything right with our female protagonist’s design [Dawn, if we’re going by the animé’s name] goes wrong with Lucas [male avatar’s name, story-wise]. A bad Ash clone, he has the most unimaginative design – worse, because it’s so plebian. The blue jeans and a black sleeveless vest feel like they could be bought at the dollar store or clearance rack of your local walmart and the weird beret makes little-to-no sense in a Japanese and not French region [they even do a french region later down the line in Kalos X/Y… so why?]. The ensemble would’ve been better with non-basic jeans, a more imaginative vest/jacket, and real snapback-type hat even in the same color scheme – and his charcterization is mixed into a mundane, almost-forgettable research assistant (though we like the decision to triplex the major protagonists). Luckily, though, most of the other characters in the game are well-designed and nicely-characterized – including the other major protagonist: Barry. Thud!!!! From that beginning bump into by the doorside, Barry radiates charisma – the high-octane funk theme he’s paired with perfectly paralleling his personality traits and energizer-bunny presence.

Though his ‘fine’ schtick grows ~weary, his competitiveness, childlike hastiness/mischievousness, impatience, juvenileness, blonde orange-triped design, tangible father-proud dreams & ambition, and well-crafted team culminating in that epic showdown in front of the Pokémon League make him a very good rival that makes you feel like a kid again: one of the better ones of the series and a compliment being that’s the series greatest power of escapism. The characterization prowess extends throughout the rest of the canvas. D/P continues RSE’s legacy of a good parent – even though our dad is, once again, inexplicably gone and nary mentioned, our mom expresses parental sympathy and *gasp* asks how we’re doing [far from the glorified moneyhandler who moved her kid in the back of a moving truck back in Hoenn]. There are new trainer archetypes like artists, breeders, clowns, berry masters, waitresses, farm ranchers, idols, and skiiers, babies in the overworld, and private investigators – led by a great character whose goofy charm hiding behind streetlamps gives goofy nostalgic flashbacks to ’60’s B-films and spy international police missions inject a 007 Bond spy-angle side-arc into the game we quite love: Looker.

Even the alternative side characters in the game we meet like the woman who accompanies us through Eterna Forest in green-haired sweet mountain girl Cheryl and flamboyant blue-fedora’d Lucario-training acquaintance whose steely demeanor matches the Iron Island backdrop Riley are fantastically-designed and memorable. There’s even one downright evil character hidden in the overworld that has since become famous in the fandom: the heathen in Snowpoint City who trades Medicham for a Haunter she purposely sabotages to not evolve with an everstone – even going the extra mile to taunt us with ‘oh, is it evolving? just kidding’ for maximum god-tier trolling out of pure ruthlessness to express how much the writers cared about these minutiae details [one of the last games you can feel the creators actually cared about their craft before PKMN became a money-making scheme]. The gym leaders – though we wish they’d had more complete teams, many of them bizzarely only having 2-3 creatures on team – follow this trend of characterization: from friendly rock-miner Roark to determined bug-girl Gardenia to française rich, elegantly-gowned ghost-type Fantina to shy timid girl-fighter Maylene to macho luchadore Crasher Wake to scruffy masculine Roark-father Byron [a cool interplay between gym leaders] to ice Kimono girl Candance to bored/overpowered finale trainer of lost passion Volkner.

All of these are nothing, however, compared to the #2 best character of D/P/P and the Greatest Champion Of All-Time: Cynthia. Feminists rejoice and guys drool! Cynthia is a masterclass in how to – impossibly – please both demographics – a cute blonde sure to evoke hormones and wolf-whistles from the guys, but not even needing them by her meritocratable status as the Queen Of Sinnoh: beauty, brains, and brawn. Oh, lots of brawn. You better stock up on the hyper potions and revives, plus be 20+ overleveled to have a chance at beating her Garchomp, Spiritomb, and Togekiss. Cynthia’s team easily boasts the prestige of hardest *ever* to beat in the Pokémon League – a brilliantly-balanced type-span juxtaposing epic OHKO power with type coveragediversification and badass appeal for the perfect finale to our journey and test of your mettle as a trainer. The character-arc of her backstory exposition being a trainer coming from Pro. Rowan’s lab just like we did and corely-integrated throughout the storyline connects it full-circle and makes her punch well-above her class: one of the best characters of pure magic Pokémon has created to-date.

Cynthia recognizes herself in us and helps/grooms you as the trainer she used to be, even helping you battle/juggle legends and stop evil across the plot and against the forces of evil: Team Galactic. Before we get into the eponymous villains of D/P, it’s worth noting the sheer brilliance of Gen. IV: its contrastive and parallelogram juxtaposition of science-fiction, existentialism, and religion. We’ve come a *long* way from slowpoke wells. Themes of the storyline center on the existential mystery of life and who/what/when/where/why/how of the world around us. It unravels these through two threads: firstly, through science. D/P analyzes the physics of the world around us – an experimental lens focusing on time and space. The entire scope of history, healing factor of constancy, general relativity, travel directionality, divergent-lines, and dimensional non-circular mystification of time are evoked – and given a monarch whom oversees how much (civilizations from caves, machine guns from sticks, etc.) and how little (conflict, selfishness, greed, murder, etc.) the world and nature has changed over the eons.

The galaxy, stars, planets, void, aliens, wormholes, supernovas, alternate dimensions, and dark/anti-matter around our blue-and-green marble’s atmosphere are featured as well – the crestfallen mystery and white-hot curiosity of if we’re alone in the universe that has beckoned mankind since our primal days and challenged us to spend trillions by rockets, space stations, rovers, and shuttles exploring its endless seas of black silence. There is a fundamental balance and harmony in the universe in regards to the laws and physics that govern it and constitutes everything around us: space, time, matter, ecosystems, nature, gravity, climate, elements, weather, seasons, food chains, day/night, life cycles, etc. That system in place since day 1 of creation has been fundamentally shaken up and redefined since the arrival of mankind, and that’s the angle the game cruxes around through its storyline and protagonists/antagonists – foremost, Team Galactic.

We’ve always said: D/P are a love-letter to science-fiction – and that’s easily visible by the villain team. Team Galactic look like they just walked off the set of a ’50’s Golden-Age Hollywood Sci-Fi Movie (It Came From Outer Space!, Forbidden Planet, Star Trek, The Man From Planet X, etc.): a wonderfully-cheesy/wacky so-bad-it’s-good ensemble down to the moon boots, space-suit-like uniforms, and turquoise bowl-cut wigs meant to look like helmets. We love how goofy and fun PKMN went in their design – especially the planet-eponymous leaders/commanders: Jupiter, Saturn, Mars, etc. squabbling in Shakespearean family drama of power hierarchy that altogether make you crack a smile every time you see them and corely hit their target demographic of cinephiles right in the nostalgia bone. Make no mistake, though, they’re anything but funny in any other aspect: one of the [if not: the #1] darkest, most violent, twisted, and megalomaniacal of all villain teams.

‘And Now, All Will End. And Everything Will Begin.’ The storyline is beautifully-crafted: a mystery that begins unassumingly in regards to its antagonists. We just see them as some B-movie extras and science nerds causing mischief around – a bad copy of Team Rocket [coincidentally: them also employing scientific iconography in name] whose goons steal Pokémon and babble on about renewable energy through poké-evolution (furthering the climatological exposition of Team Magma/Aqua too and a theme way ahead of its time scientifically in the early-2000’s before the climate crisis worsened), funny jokes/puns, how they’re heroes, and some great plan. It isn’t until they actually *gasp* set off bombs that we’re forced to begin taking them seriously. For a video game series ostensibly previously marketed as family-friendly, this was dark-and-wild twist – Galactic literally enact terrorism across the Sinnoh region and their ‘plan’ becomes increasingly revealed and alarming: the death of our world and creation of a new one.

Team Galactic thus becomes a parable of the dangers of cults and groupthink [again, wayyy ahead of its time, those concerns becoming 10x more pronunciable in the internet age a decade or so later]: how people could voluntarily sign up for such an evil mission of genocide, god-complex, and gäsconade. The answer lies within its leader – one of the Greatest Characters In The History Of Pokémon: Cyrus. The blue-haired doppelgänger of Giovanni is the best villain since him – and, in CLC’s vote, even better a boss antagonist. A being of pure soul-ice, ataraxia, sociopathology, empathy-depravation, and megalomaniacism, Cyrus is frighteningly detached from the world and anyone/anything – able to destroy everything we know and love without even blinking an eyelash. Psychologically & Sociologicaly, he breathes the ideology of Nico Hadjicostis, Gödel, Epicurious, & Anti-Aristotlean Nihilism – a dark worldview of how broken we are as a species and how ugly humanity is, fostered painstakingly growing up as a quiet, outcast-child with no friends whom preferred the company of machines to people and dreamed of big things untethered to reality.

Perhaps the scariest part of Cyrus is… how much sense he makes. As much as we love to fantasize and delude ourselves into thinking the opposite, mankind is responsible for tragedies beyond any other lifeform – and has turned a paradise into a dystopian cesspool of larceny, blackmail, corruption, narcotics, murder, rape, embezzlement, fraud, genocide, sexism, racism, xenophobia, inequality, etc. This is in stark contrastive juxtaposition to the lost paradise and garden of eden the world was before humanity: ‘one of no conflict, no strife. only time flowing and space expanding’. The rage and seething antipathy festering beneath his skin appears as pure malevolence and to the naked eye, but it’s underscored by a twisted love and care for the world: one he wants to fix and laments how broken it’s become due to the ‘weakness of the human spirit’, it being nearly impossible to do so through minor tug-of-war changes and it being easier to just wipe the slate clean and start over: The New God.

The driving forces behind the games are fundamentalized in religious iconography, allegory, and literalism. Cyrus is a being of both God [Old-Testament] and The Devil in Biblical contexts. The tragic sympathizability of the red-tipped trident-wielding underworld fallen angel is exumed by his subjugation/exile from society for simply recognizing the flaws in the design and humanity just like Satan did, and the dark subsequent side is evoked by his lies and trickery [even doing so his own team he sadistically leads on about joining him as gods in the new world to weaponize and use their labor with no intentions of saving them]. The melagomaniacism, fickleness, amour-propre, complex, narcissism, ambition, and iron-fisted ruthlessness of Cyrus may seem perverse and villainlike… but people forget he exactly parallels Old-Testament God: whom too wanted to create a new world and expressed disgust with mankind – exiling them from the garden of eden after the original sin and the fall of man, watching and doing nothing as they committed atrocity after atrocity like brother killing brother in Cain & Abel before even doing the unconscionable: committing planetary genocide against his own creation through Noah’s Ark [what Cyrus can be seen to be merely copying, bringing into play stark questions about why one is regarded as okay and the being even eulogized through hymns and prayed to, while the other isn’t?].

Even in the unflinching nightmare presence this complex, über-dark/mature worldview, there is hope exposition: the flip side of the coin. Cynthia and D/P’s protagonists eulogize the sacredness and interconnectivity of life: how ‘all creatures touch others’ lives to create something anew and holy’; the beauty of sun after the rain, how there can be joy only when there is sadness/anger to juxtapose and define it, how there is connection, love, and compassion across languages, sex, culture, etc. across the galaxy, how we’re all born from the same molecules and natural world we return to. Diamond/Pearl/Platinum thus provide one of the most comprehensive and layered exposés on religion and life ever achieved in their medium – and it’s all done through the lens of a damn fantasy video game about monsters: here, not-so-pocket anymore… capitalizing on the greatest fantasy of Pokémon by letting us wield the power of nature, but here gods in a hierarchical literalization of religion boasting some of the best creature design in history. The Original One. Breathtakingly, we get the entire mechanization of how the poké-universe came to be in D/P: starting with its original creator: God – Arceus. One of the rarest and most off-limits PKMN, we’re mixed on how ~unattainable Arceus is [only through special events, it feeling simultaneously both right (he’s God and should be the rarest one-off of all pocket monsters) and wrong (why not include him in the story of D/P/P when he’s so critical to the lore/story? Update: 2022’s Legends: Arceus fixes this)], but his design and meta-gameplay/powers are absolutely incredible – one of CLC’s Top 20 Favorite & Top 10 Greatest Pokémon Of All-Time.

Based on creator deity archetypes across world cultures and time, Arceus encompasses what the vast majority of Earth believes as God – primarily through archetype of white/gold deer. The Egyptian Ptolemic calf idol Apis, horses Pegasus & king Arceusis αρχή arkhē in Ancient Greek, Cernunnos in Celtic Scotland/Ireland contexts, Nîmes in Catholicism, Lamb Of God [+ white/gold colorization from scriptures] in Biblical Christianity, Ramayana golden deer in Hinduism, Huichol deer in Mexico, Yggdrasil stags in Anglo-Saxonism, Keresh in Jewish Torah, Geyiklü Baba in Turkish Ottamanism, Furfur Goetia in Occultism, Deer Woman in Native American folklore, Deus in Latin, Ural golden deer in Slavic fairytales, Qlin in Chinese prefecture, World Egg across civilizations, Avalokiteśvara in Buddishm, Shishi-Odori & Amenominakanushi in Shinto Japanese religion, etc. The multi-type ability is the ultimate one in PKMN history by its ability to become any type/element and learn any move – fitting for God and accomplished through its circular arc that again references more religions like the Dharmachakra in Buddhism and Bhavacakra in Hinduism. We also love the crown/armor motif found across the creation mythology ‘mons of Sinnoh – giving them aggression, power, and further historical significance.

If all of that wasn’t genius enough, Arceus is just a dumbed-down name for mankind – his real creation name ‘has no pronounceable equivalent in language’! Epic. Of course, as fiction and world history have taught us time-and-time again, light needs to be balanced by dark; heroes by villains; gods by devil – and luckily for D/P & Gen. IV, its greatest PKMN delivered 10x so: Giratina. The Greatest Pokémon Of All-Time by any objective logic/analytical criterion, Giratina is a chef d’oeuvre, comprehensive masterpiece of creature design, aestehticization, worldbuilding, historical inspiration, and backstory exposition: The Devil Of Creation & God Of The Underworld. From its draconian aggression and dark-edge gaining further animalistic macabre from centipedes, bats, scorpions, and arachnids & fuel-injection by the chroma palette of spooky purples, blood reds, pale faded golds, and icy blue platinumized metals/flames [bonus: top 5 shiny version… ever], the hyperimaginative design boasts nothing like in historical or artistic contests. More existentially-fascinating, though, is its backstory and evocation of pure fear in pokéculture: a name forbidden to be spoken and erased out of history books due to its evil aestheticization, demonization by violence, and betrayal of God: Arceus.

This, in addition to the crown/armor motif it shares with the rest of the creation trio (as well as a shiny version of pure golden coloration matching Arceus to beg to question if that was its original godly appearance, and metaphorization by how the devil appears in different forms and can vax mankind in its own form like in ancient civilizations), tragic sympathizability for how lonely it must be and exile just for [perhaps justifiably or logically] calling out its creator while also fulfilling a job of importance in world/moral balance, and purple/red-hued hellish underworld it was banished to reign from alone in excommunication (even given literal shackles on its legs like a prisoner or slave), reveals its major crux inspiration to be The Fallen Angel: Satan of Biblical Christianity. Alternative inspirations include The Beasts Of Revelation (Greek: Θηρίον) in both Giratina forms [Origin: Sea / Altered: Earth] and persecution of saints to prepare for Armageddon before being thrown into the lake of fire by God, Samael in Talmudic/Israeli contexts & Gnostic cosmology by archangel status and principle/ethics complexity, Yokaï goblins & Akūma demons in Shinto mythology, Hades in Ancient Greek Pantheon [even the shiny colorway mimicking his blue fire], Seta the giant dragon-hatchling omükade centipede from Tōda’s Otogi-Zōshi Japanese fairy-tale, Seraphim from Islam by six wings and serpentine origin forme, Swedish lindwurms and French/English/Spanish/Italian Amphiptere medieval dragons, the ghostly-silver element of platinum fringing its appendages and mandible for its chemical unreactivity, rarity, and isolationism, & Cizin the Mayan apocalyptic god of the underworld and death with additional crown/architecture/headdress parallels to its mesoamerican civilizations and cultures.

The story of creation in D/P irrefutably referances the mythology of Shinto Japanese religion: the very first god and ‘center of heaven’ Amenominakanushi [Arceus], opposed by the Akūma/Yokaï demon [Giratina], summons two beings Izanami and Izanagi to create Japan with a celestial spear [Spear Pillar!]. Izanami and Izanagi can be seen to be Dialga and Palkia. The Demigod Of Time, Dialga’s morphology resembles sundials and the hands/lines of a clock – further referencing time by its sauropod dinosaur-like and horse animalism [both being extinct or old-fashioned historical creatures], dark blue coloration evoking the deep seas where life began, ancient-looking armor of metal being that metal lasts for eons, crux stone of a diamond on its chest satirizing the cliché ‘diamonds are forever and/or timeless’, and even faint cracks along Its body with the epic powers to fast-forward, reverse, evolve/devolve, or stop the flow of time altogether. Even its diamond and metal choices metaphorizes time’s rigidity and resistance to change/alteration – and its name references the spanish day día, clock dials, and a corruption of the last syllable of dragon. The Demigod Of Space & Dimensions, Palkia feels otherworldly – down to its pearl orbs covering a white [color of moonsuits] suit of what ostensibly appears to be alien tech/armor. Morphologically, it also gains inspirations from theoropod dinosaurs, European dragons, and Greco-Roman soldiers – while metaphorizing the everchanging forms and matter and flowing energy in a sea of stars across the universe by its water typology. Color-wise, it’s probably the most avant-garde box legend ever; who could’ve thought a pink girly-colored dragon could be epic and badass?!

The avant-garde elementalization [dragon/_, for interesting meta] of the creation trio also references physics – Dialga: Steel, Palkia: Water, Giratina: Ghost for the three primary states of matter in the world of creation: solid, liquid, gas. There is nary one single flaw amongst the masterpiece designs of gods aforementioned,… but they become apparent in the next level downwards on the creation hierarchy: Azelf, Uxie, & Mesprit. The first departure from tradition, The Lake Guardians feel more like pseudo-mythicals than the previous gen trios they follow: Articuno/Zados/Moltres in R/B/G/Y, Raikou/Suicune/Entei in G/S/C, and Regirock/Regice/Registeel in R/S/E. Beings symbolizing complex emotion and the definitive hallmarks of mankind’s spirit, we love their power/significance: trinitizing to represent the Imperial Regalia Of Japan and agnosticism – Azelf [Kunasagi] represents willpower & valor, giving humans the determination to face challenges in life; Uxie [Yata no Kami] represents knowledge & honesty, giving humans the knowledge and logic to solve problems and improve quality of life; Mesprit [Yasakani no Magatama] represents emotion/benevolence, teaching humans how to experience sorrow, pain, & joy. Unforuntelay, however we *HATE* the designs of 2/3 of the Lake Guardians – pseudo-fairy/pixie mythicals like Celebi, Jirachi, and Mew… gone wrong, and deserving 10x better for their importance, mythologically. Azelf is the best of the trio design-wise – almost gnome & Zelda-evocative by its jewel-encrushed headpiece/tail and elf-ears. Uxie is mixed – looking intelligent enough for its purpose with almost a Buddhism/Hidnuism yogi or village elder visualization, but ~basic/plebian design. Mesprit is just awful and, perhaps, our least favorite legendary design ever – decent hypothesization by its joker or court jester idea, horrifically and ugly executed when a Greek theatre face mask would’ve been a better and more comprehensive motif in referencing emotions anyway.

Though we give credit for the cool undertonal reference and parallels to the icon characters of the animé we noticed [Ash = Azelf down to the blue coloration and fiery moxie, Brock = Uxie by his breeding knowledge and yellow/brown-vested maturity (except in the face of pretty girls), Dawn = Mesprit by emotion and compassion even both rocking pink], they’re awful designs. Our major questions on the lake trio center on: why are they so morphologically-awkward/plump, a boring gray coloration, and lazy for such significance on the beings responsible for the creation of mankind’s core attributes. Sigh. Fortunately, they’re only a few minuitiaie in the grand landscape of legends – and there are even a slew of other all-time great ones [Gen. IV, overall, has perhaps the best set of legends ever – only #2 after Hoenn in CLC’s Ranking] to exponentially decimate any sizable magnitude of their failures. First, The Lunar Duo. One of our favorite side-quests in PKMN, we love the dark Nightmare On Elm Street Freddy Krueger-esque mission of being heroes and having to venture to a mythical island to save a little boy from the clutches of a demon haunting his dreams: Darkrai. A being of shadows, fog plumes, noiry chiaroscuro, and hourglass phantasm, Darkrai [though we 10x prefer the midnight purple shiny to rblack] is a genius injection of dark that reaps inspirations from . the aforementioned NOES slasher film alongside mares, bogeymen, Morpheus from Greek mythology, jinn (genies), Oneiroi, Phoebetor, Nocnitsa – an evil spirit from Slavic folklore who torments children in nightmares and slowly drains the lifeforce from them each passing night. Holy sh*t, that’s dark: We only wish they hadn’t tried to humanize again after Giratina with the defense mechanism and just let him Darkrai be the first part of his name.

Contrastively juxtaposed is another A+ legend whose lunar wings we find to cure the townspeople: the psychic swan/duck of feminine soft curves, grace, cosmic energy, aurora, crescent moon, Saturn’s rings, Tennin hagoromo gowns in Japan, Chang’e/Sarimonok good fortune, Selene the Greek goddess of the moon, the Cygnus constellation, and the heavenly maiden goddess of birds Lindu who made the Milky Way in Estonian folktale: Cresselia. Heatran is another god-tier legend: a spicily-typed fire/steel type with the most double-resistances of all PKMN for fantastic meta-competitiveness and the best world-build quest of any legend to-date, based on a multitude of tropical civilizations like Hawaii’s folklore attributions of volcano eruptions to monsters living inside enraged – and the inner core of Earth being solid metal under totalitarian heat/pressure. Change Shiny Solgeleo [Alola Box Legend from S/M, Gen. VII] for Heatran design-wise with the epic backstory and worldbuild design of Battle Island, and it’d probably be our favorite legendary of all-time, but we still love the lava monster as a bonafide addition to our +’s column and one of the best (if few) fire types of not only Sinnoh, but beyond. The only mixed of the legends besides the lake trio is Shaymin. The Gratitude Pokémon with its name even referencing the Chinese language for thanks: 謝謝 xièxie, we appreciate the idea but hate the basicity of its everyday/real-world hedgehog design in Land Forme [even with the tropical bloom of the Gracidea flower making it look like a Chia pet; we ~like (but are still not completely in love) the animéic morphology in its more imaginative reindeer/terrier-like Sky Forme].

Luckily enough, it’s just another minor forgettable grievance, 10x overshadowed by two more legends amongst our favorite and the best ‘mons ever created: Manaphy and Regigigas. Manaphy is one of The Top 10 Greatest [& Top 10 CLC Favorite] Pokémon Of All-Time. From its adorable blue chibi sprite adorned with feminine design touches down to its sclerae, mane-up-like eyelash, royal jewels, and ponytail-like antennae, The Prince[ss] & Guardian Of The Sea is one of the cutest and most life-infused create designs we’ve ever seen – clearly reference-evocative of water-droplets alive to perfectly synergize along with its tropical blue coloration to celebrate the ocean & Chao lifeform sprites from the Sonic The Hedgehog video game series down to the tropical beach-palette turquoise/yellow coloration and chubby baby-like morphology. Even despite its breathtaking design effervescence, the crux mystical-type powers of Manaphy are our favorite: the ability to body swap. Do you know how many people, especially guys -> girls and others bored with their lives, have fantasized ~daily about something like this? Perhaps The Greatest Ability In PKMN, Manaphy’s Heart Swap is one of the best dream capitalizations on fictional imagination potential in the series – cementing its status as the #2 Mythical Of All-Time after Celebi [by the smallest of margins] and going further to shroud its existentialism in mystery by its perplexing ability to breed (unheard of in legendaries and mythicals) and give offspring to another sister-species: Phione.

Finally, we get to the last legendary on the list: Regigigas. Etymologically signifying royalty, morphologically referencing the folklore/psalm tales of Hebrew golems, titans of Greek mythology, and mankind’s creation, and metaphorically symbolizing the historical epochs: The Ice Age, Stone Age, & Iron/Technology Age, The Regi’s are one of our favorite -and the most hyper-mysterious – legend collections in PKMN. The Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? had never been fully revealed except in PhD-excursion hints of notes the fandom was meant to decipher on their own. D/P gives us one answer on what we’ve been dying to know: the King & Creator Of The Regi’s – a being so powerful, it can tug the continents by-rope, crush and energy-beam when provoked, & sculpted other legendaries it can control in its family-line out of elements and inanimate objects: Regigigas. The only mixed aspect being its Slow Start ability, Regigigas feels kingly and like The Ultimate Regi; it shares great similarities and encompasses the others in its gemstones, but evolves past them with a lost/ancient time moss coverings, royalty-like armor (we can just see a crown and cape/robe on him!), I and markings feeling almost magician-like [furthered by the epic deep purple shiny version amongst the best of Gen. IV & Pokémon]. Its backstory inspirations further capitalize on its golem Of Prague parallels by its power-levels and lock-away location in the basement of The Snowpoint Temple post-titanomachy – as well as reference likely Japanese & Greek inspirations of the gigantic yokaï Daidarabotchi who could easily manipulate mountains, demigod Ōmitsunu who pulled land via ropes to expand his kingdom, and βλέμμυες Akephaloi/Blemmyes for, again: a broken record, one of our favorite & the best legends of all-time. Whew.

As if that wasn’t enough, there are still *TONS* of questions and mystery unanswered in Sinnoh – alluded to even in the smallest of background details from the mysterious being that killed a family in Old Chateau [likely Rotom, another great multi-form/type pseudo-legend able to energy-possess electronic and turn them into horror machines like lawnmowers and microwaves] to a myth book tale of a creature that makes you forget who you are and drains emotions/mobility from someone just by touching & looking it in the eyes [???, unanswered] to pokémon able to shed its hide to sleep and roam villages as a human [???, unanswered – did humans come from pokémon?] to the veilstone myth of a young man whom smote wild innocent pokémon with a sword he by chance encountered until there were ~none left, famine struck his village, and he was forced to journey to find one and the only one he did threatening to exact ‘vengeance and a toll’ on mankind [???, unanswered – Giratina?]. Epic. The design perfection, depth of historical/religious/mythological references, and hyperimagination doesn’t stop with the D/P legends – it diffuses throughout the rest of the creature roster of Gen. IV: the last generation of good new ‘mon designs in PKMN, tragically. Of course, there are a few bad & mixed ones [humorously: many of them ending with suffixes -on and (what they are): -ass]: Budew, Combee, Burmy, Magmortar, Chingling, Mothim, Shellos, Floatzel, Gastrodon, Drapion, Finneon, Lumineon, Carnivine, Leafeon/Glaceon, Probopass, & Frosslass. However, these constitute a measly 15-16% of the roster overall – and, besides a well-documented and perplexing oversight: ~absence of fire-types in the region, the rest of the new creatures are god-tier.

Of course, there are too many good designs of diversiiforme inspirations & animal kingdom counterparts from Marilyn Monroe plant theatre acrresses to beaver HM-slaves to electric squirrels to floatee-clad jet-propelled weasels to live-cherry to skunks to child-spirit baloons/blimps to musical note parrots to ’50’s American obesity lollipop kids to ugly cats to witch-ghosts for us to even go through every single one on here; D/P are one of the few video games we actually have a tough choice not only picking our starter, but even our team with so many good options: the best problem to have, most important aspect to get right in PKMN, greatest compliment a gen. can get. Our favorites & the best new ‘mons of Diamond/Pearl & Platinum [excluding the starter lines; we’ll separately analyze those later] are: electric x-ray constellation lion/tiger/panther/sphinx/lynx of pure aggression Luxray (top 25 all-time for CLC), mohawk punk-rock starling/hawk Staraptor, adorable sympthony conductor baby cricket Kricketot (dweedledweedlelooooop, had to say it for ‘tune), spiky battering ram dracorex dino Rampardos, tribal-nose caste-wall-bastille/bulldozer-head chamosaurus Bastiodon (god, what a design!), queen bee/wasp & hive combo Vespiquen, epic wyvern x jet aircraft x grim reaper scythed x hammerhead shark x gargoyle x dromaeosaurid dino Garchomp, Egypitan Anubis-themed martial art boxer & superhero wolf/jackal with khakkhara Riolu & Lucario, desert hippopotamus Hippowdon, evergreen tree x yeti abominable snow x 樹氷 juhyou snow monster/king Abomasnow, & spooky grave tomb demon & Jibakurei/Deildegast/Japa/Water-Margin Spiritomb with Japanese, Chinese, Buddhist, and Norwegian inspirations down to the mysterious stone monument, purple/green design, bell rings, & 108 number being a purposeful number of repetition throughout the aforementioned myths/legends.

The new creature designs of Gen. IV are so damn good, they could’ve survived on their own as one of the best collections of monsters in a video game – one that’s breathtakingly balanced across styles, tastes, elements, cultures, and demographics [D/P’s roster being far more badas/mature than previous gens]. They’re only reinforced and aggrandized in greatness by a major leitmotif contribution to the meta: new pre/post-evolutions to old & classic pokémon. The lasting impression and heart-on-sleeve of D/P as video games are a celebration of previous generations and its franchise, as can be easily seen throughout the gameplay. Generation 1: Kanto & R/B/G/Y are invoked from the first gym being rock using Onix & Geodude to the male avatar looking like Red/Ash to Galactic stealing trainers’ ‘mons like Rocket to Cyrus looking like Giovanni to Hearthome’s gold city evocation of Saffron to l-word ghost towers in Lost/Lavender to Veilstone being in stone lie Pewter to Pastoria Gym’s Cerulean-esque Design to the storyline’s allegorical parallels to Mewtwo and existential mystery of life in The First Movie to Volkner the yellow-spiked hair power magnate employing a Raichu at his gym in Sunyshore like Lt. Surge. Gen. 3: Hoenn & R/S/E nostalgic touches are seen in the pokéschool, underground becoming the new dive, ecosustanibility themes in their ambitious villain teams, big church-like structures in Hearthome and Rustboro, poffins being like pokéblock, the sister’s boyfriend arc writing love-letter by mail in Pastoria & Fortree City, Regi’s, etc. Finaly, Gen. 2: Johto & G/S/C can be found from the opening frame being a Red Shiny Gyarados at a like just like the Lake Of Rage, Gardenia looking just like a genderbent Bugsy, Maylen’s shy timid girl personality as a gym leader just like Jasmine, Pastoria’s festival tribute to Croagunk like Azalea’s Slowpokes, Volkner’s serioius aciculate personality being like Falkner, Veilstone massage salons like Goldenrod, & Solaceon Ruins reminding of the Ruins Of Alph [with Arceus even looking like Unown letters together to expose frightening similarities and complexities in the mythology; the Johto remakes HG/SS even have the ruins connected via name/lore: The Sinjoh Ruins].

The Battle Island also gives us a post-game foundationally rooted in giving previous generations their shine by the exclusive presence and domination of them on the island. The biggest celebration, however, is a tradition established in G/S/C – opposite by its (synergized) focus on evolving previous gens & 10x amplification here: pre/post-evolutions to old & classic pokémon. 20+ family lines [Togepi, Elekid, Rhyhorn, Gligar, Aipom, Magby, Swinub, Roselia, Chansey, Sudowoodo, Magnemite, Sneasel, Lickitung, Eevee, Tangela, Yanma, Porygon, Ralts, Snover, Duskull, Nosepass, Snorlax, Mr. Mime] get new additions in D/P – many of them completely saving and making cool their entire ones by the fuel-injection of imagination and badassery in their remixes. The best & our favorites ones include the little mischevious parisien mime kid Mime Jr. (bonus: getting Christmasy with its all-time great shiny amongst our favorites ever evoking reminiscence of Dr. Seuss’ The Who’s from The Grinch and plum/jelly dessert pudding), chubby baby nurse with ponytail screamings its eponymous emotion Happiny, indescribably-adorable baby larcenous burglar-bear neighbor totoro Munchlax [one of the best pre-evolutions ever for the simplistic legend ‘mon of Gen. 1], fused magneton by electromagnetism into a UFO-like drone machine Magnezone, ’50’s Americana Obesity Child Licking A Lollipop with bib and Elvis-hairdo Lickilicky, Tarzan-like vine overgrowth Tangrowth, drill-clad rhinercous-dino with hard hat and armor vest like he’s a working miner Rhyperior, electric Yeti/gorilla with tesla coil horns and wire tails Electivire, meganeura monyi prehistoric dragon/griffinfly & military helicopter Yanmega, fairy angel-dove/owl of pure kindness and ecstasy Togekiss, ghostly paranormal cyclops-reaper Yamawaro Chōchin-obake Dusknoir, Ice Age wild boar & ski-goggle clad onomatopoeiac būbū Inuit-culture woolly mammoth Mamoswine, and gargoyle/scorpion/vampire/amikiri with Batman characteristics & cape [+ an all-time great shiny] Gliscor. Whew, sorry for going into overdrive… but there’s just so many damn good pokémon in Gen. IV we need to eulogize for their brilliance: The #2 Best Roster Of New Creature Design In Pokémon & VG History.

Of course, no generation is complete without the first choice you make between the fire/grass/water trio in the lab: its starters. The Sinnoh starters may be the #2 best of all-time… well, at least in the final stages. As far as the preliminary forms, there’s really only one good one: Piplup. An indescribably-cute baby emperor penguin, Piplup is one of our favorite PKMN of all-time itself – before progressively evolving with immaculate consistency across its three forms into a kingly Napoleonesque emperor penguin with Greek mythology’s Ocean-God Poseidon’s trident as a crown, icebreakers on its sharp wings, and metallic touches paralleling its epically-innovative water/steel typology: Empoleon [maybe our #2 favorite starter evolution of all-time, after Charizard]. Chimchar, one the other hand, might be our most hated preliminary starter ever – an ugly, basic red chimpanzee with joshed hair tossles for its only imagination. Bizarrely, however, it boasts perhaps the best mid-form in the history of starter lines (good enough to be a final evo, honestly) in kung fu superhero baboon Monferno before becoming a badass fire warrior-monkey with Goku Dragonball Z, Sun Wukong, & Hanuman (from Hinduism’s epic Ramayana – as Indian POC’s, we deeply appreciate this representation and depth of celebration, even down to the god’s grant of immunity to fire) references/inspirations – as well as a continuation of the Chinese Zodiac. Finally, though we’re mixed on its box-turtle prelimiary starter clearly mixing Bulbasaur and Squirtle inspirations, Turtwig’s final evolution of the epic-sized planetarium-backed, World Turtle mythologically culture-referential, anklyosaur/meiolania/proganochelys/snapping turtle-dino Torterra is an amazing starter: perhaps the best grass starter line ever to-date.

We love how hyperexotic the animal choices are across the starters here, as well as how they’re perfectly-balanced in power with the genius injection of dual-typology giving each elemental/move weaknesses and advantages over the others [Infernape: Fire/Fighting -> Blast Burn -> / <- Earthquake <- Torterra -> Earthquake -> / <- Blizzard <- Empoleon -> Hydro Cannon -> / <- Close Combat <- Infernape, etc.]. Overall, D/P & IV are perhaps the last true masterpiece generation of PKMN’s Golden-Age – a swan-song that celebrates, remixes, and defines its overworld’s mythology and history perfectly & comprehensively… before everything started going downhill. A love-letter to previous generations w. bold new evolutions of the mythology/overworld for new demographics, DP adventures through a beautiful new Hokkaidö-inspired mountain-crux region in Sinnoh w. the best 2D visual aestheticization of PKMN, diverse orchestration, magic new pre/post evos of old ‘mons, the #2 best starters of the series, clean NDS technical proficiency, feature calibrations and – though in ~complacency – advancements (e.g. Contests, Pokétch, Battle Mechanization, Underground, Gender Differences), & avant-garde storyline contrastively juxtaposing themes of church-like religion allegory with existentialism and science-fiction galaxy x time x creation physics by complex ’50’s retro-futuristic cyberpunk antagonists, epic scale/ambition aggrandization, & all-time great legendaries.

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