Pokemon fans rejoice as the August issue of the Japanese CoroCoro magazine has confirmed that the online modes in Pokemon Pearl & Diamond will include trading AND battling!
Pokemon Pearl and Diamond will use Nintendo’s online gaming service, Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. As with other games, you must get the Friend Code of your opponents before being able to connect. It appears that up to eight codes can be stored in the game. You can battle, trade Pokemon and use the microphone to talk over Wi-Fi in Diamond and Pearl. This functionality can be accessed via the Pokemon Wi-Fi Club, which is located in the Pokemon Center basement. The upcoming DS Headset can be used with this in-game VoIP feature.
Click on the CoroCoro pages to get a bigger view:
* the 2nd to last page shows the battle mode in action
Here’s a list of new facts, like new (Legendary) Pokemon:
* The Legendary Pokemon revealed 3 weeks ago are called Diaruga (For Diamond) & Parukia (For Pearl) respectively
* Diaruga is the Time-Ruling Pokemon, Parukia is the Space-Ruling Pokemon
* Three New Pokemon, Cherimu, Pachirissu and Dorapion Respectively
* Cherimu is a Grass Type Pokemon. Classification of Sakura Pokemon. It has a brand new ability called Flower Head which powers itself and any teammates up when Sunny Day is in effect. It has an attack called Trouble Seed. This attack changes the foe’s ability to Insomnia temporarily
* Pachirisu is an Electric Type Pokemon. Classification of Electric Squirrel Pokemon. It has either Run Away or Pick Up for it’s abilities. It knows Thunderbolt
* Dorapion is a Poison/Dark Type Pokemon. Classification of Changeable Scorpion Pokemon. It has either Battle Armor or a new ability called Snipe which increases the base value of an attack during critical hit. It knows Poison Fang. It has an attack called Cross Poison. This attack has a high chance of Critical Hitting and Poisoning
* Tamanta is a Water/Flying Type Pokemon. It’s Abilities are Swift Swim and Water Absorb
* Perappu is now a Normal/Flying Type Pokemon. It’s abilities are Keen Eye & a new Ability called Unstable Gait which allows for evasion to increase when confused
* Lucario’s second ability is called Humble Heart which increases Lucario’s speed when flinched. Lucario has a new attack called Wave Guiding Bomb. It’s a Fighting Type Attack. Lucario also knows Detect & Quick Attack
* Munchlax has an attack called Nature Spurt which used the berry Munchlax may be holding to change the strength and type of an attack.
* Weavile has an attack called Freeze. This attack disables the hold item that the opponent has.
* Buizeru has an attack called Aqua Jet. This attack always hits first
* Evil Team is Team Galaxy who are stealing Pokemon everywhere and try to befriend the professor
* Seperate rival other than the other gender. He is your childhood rival and although he is sometimes rash, he helps you along the way.
* Bottom of Pokemon Center is for WiFi features which utilize Friend Codes
* Bottom Screen during battles confirmed for Menus
* In Battle, the bag is organized as thus: HP/PP Recovery, Pokeballs, Status Recovery, Battle Use
* The release date is confirmed to be September 28th 2006 in Japan
Information on the new movie & TV series:
* The mysterious legendary Pokemon on the boxart have been named. They are the “space-ruling” Parukia and the “time-ruling” Diaruga. As you can probably guess, Parukia is on the box for Pearl, while Diaruga is the featured monster on Diamond’s boxart. Diaruga will make an appearance in the newest Pokemon movie, Pokemon Ranger to Umi no Eji: Manaphy. The movie will hit Japanese theaters on July 15th.
* A new anime series was also announced, titled “Pokemon Diamond & Pearl.” It will star the female protagonist of the game. The series will premier this fall, and may or may not replace the current series, Pokemon Advance Generation.
CoroCoro scans via pocketmonsters, translations by serebii & 4CR.