In spite of a lot of missteps and unforced, unnecessary errors, however, Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are excellent outings. By eschewing a lot of the modern design sensibilities the series imbibes, and hewing so faithfully and closely to the fifteen year old game often regarded to be as one of the series' high points, they end up delivering an uncontroversial, safe, but incredibly fulfilling and compelling Pokemon adventure, the best one we've had in years.

Perhaps there is something to be said about what it means for the Pokemon games that their best game in almost a decade is essentially an almost totally faithful 1:1 port of a fifteen year old game, and that's definitely a discussion that needs to be and should be had. But this isn't a review of the Pokemon series, it's a review of just this one game.

And this one game, by choosing to be unambitious and sticking with what has been known to work, delivers undoubtedly one of the best outings Pokemon has had in years warts and all. May it remind Game Freak and The Pokemon Company why players fell in love with this series to begin with.