Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl Differences and Best Version to Buy

Find out the better version and box art legendary before you buy the Diamond and Pearl Remakes. Read on to learn what the difference is between Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, exclusive Pokemon differences, and the best version to buy.

Version Differences

Version Exclusive Pokemon

Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl will have version exclusive Pokemon that you can only capture in 1 version. Note that this doesn't affect the Pokemon teams of the various trainer battles you'll encounter, so this won't prohibit you from encountering all Sinnoh Pokemon to complete your Pokedex.

Sinnoh Dex
Brilliant Diamond			Shining Pearl
Dialga			Palkia
Cranidos	Rampardos		Shieldon	Bastiodon
Stunky	Skuntank		Glameow	Purugly
National Dex
Brilliant Diamond			Shining Pearl
Caterpie	Metapod		Weedle	Kakuna
Butterfree	Ekans		Beedrill	Sandshrew
Arbok	Growlithe		Sandslash	Vulpix
Arcanine	Elekid		Ninetales	Magby
Electabuzz	Electivire		Magmar	Magmortar
Scyther	Scizor		Slowking	Pinsir
Gligar	Gliscor		Teddiursa	Ursaring
Larvitar	Pupitar		Bagon	Shelgon
Tyranitar	Seedot		Salamence	Lotad
Mawile	Zangoose		Sableye	Seviper
Solrock	Kecleon		Lunatone	Stantler
Ramanas Park
Brilliant Diamond			Shining Pearl
Raikou	Entei		Articuno	Zapdos
Suicune	Ho-Oh		Moltres	Lugia

Version Exclusive Pokemon

Story Differences

There are only minor story differences in relation to Dialga and Palkia, but nothing that affects the overall story being told. In Brilliant Diamond, the evil Team Galactic will be after Dialga, while in Shining Pearl, they will be after Palkia.

This leads you to encountering Dialga (Brilliant Diamond) or Palkia (Shining Pearl) on Spear Pillar. You can get the Pokedex Info of the Legendary Pokemon you don't encounter by talking to Cynthia's grandmother in Celestic Town.

How to Get the National Dex

Best Version: Brilliant Diamond or Shining Pearl

Brilliant Diamond Has the Better Box Art Legendary

In terms of better box art legendary, Brilliant Diamond is the preferred option, due to Dialga's unique Steel/Dragon typing. Palkia is good too, but doesn't offer a unique edge that makes it worth the investment. You can just wait to be able to trade Palkia and the other version exclusives with someone who has a copy of Shining Pearl.

Brilliant Diamond Has the Better Legendary Trio

Brilliant Diamond also has the better legendary trio in the Legendary Beasts, namely Raikou, Entei, and Suicune. The Legendary Birds are powerful too, but their secondary Flying-typing adds more of a drawback to each of them, than it does an advantage.

Within Ramanas Park in the post game, you can catch the Legendary Beasts in Brilliant Diamond and the Legendary Birds in Shining Pearl.

Best Legendary: Dialga vs Palkia

Dialga, The More Strategic Choice

Being a Steel/Dragon Type, Dialga doesn't have the typical Dragon Type weaknesses to Dragon, Ice, and Fairy Type moves, which makes it the more strategic choice, as you can pit it against other Dragon-type Pokemon and it would have the type advantage. It would additionally have the type advantage over those Ice and Fairy Types as well, due to the Steel typing.

Dialga is weak to Fighting- and Ground-type moves, but its 120 base Defense stat prepares it to take those hits, since moves from those types are mostly Physical attacks.

Palkia is Good But Not Special

On the other hand, Palkia is a strong and faster attacker, but less bulky, which means it will go down faster than Dialga in a Dragon vs. Dragon matchup. A multi-turn move like Outrage is less reliable on Palkia, because it won't last as long in battle compred to Dialga, especially against other Dragon Types.

Palkia's Water/Dragon Typing relieves it of its weakness to Ice Types, but it won't possess a type advantage over Ice Type Pokemon like Dialga does.

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