A year in which we have been spoiled when it comes to new Pokemon games was capped off last week via the launch of Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl. The gen four remakes are, for the most part, exactly that. Modern-day versions of the original two games that first launched on Nintendo DS back in 2006. There are some differences though, other than the way the games look, including a very curious one in the Canalave library.
If you're yet to play the remakes, or you have forgotten the Canalave library from the original games, it's a location in Canalave City in which you can read snippets from a variety of different books. Almost all of them remain unchanged from the originals in Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl. However, as highlighted by IGN, one book in the remakes includes a passage that wasn't in the original games.
What's even more curious is that the passage from this mysterious new book doesn't reference anything from the plot of Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl. In fact, one of the locations included within the text, Seaside Hollow, can't be found in the Sinnoh Region at all. That has got some players thinking it could well be an early Pokemon Legends: Arceus easter egg.
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“Once upon a time in the East Sea, there was a Pokemon known as the prince,” the text reads. “A brave human asked Pokémon living in the sea to let them see the prince. Mantyke, Buizel, and a Quilfish with huge spikes acknowledged the human's bravery and joined them.” The reference to a prince is also a head-scratcher. It's possible that the prince Pokemon is Manaphy. While not integral to the plot of Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl, you can get a Manaphy courtesy of a complementary egg for buying the game early.
It would certainly make sense that Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl include a few Legends: Arceus easter eggs. The (sort of) open-world Pokemon game is set in the Hisui region, which is what the Sinnoh region was called centuries before the events of the remastered games. It's also notable that Game Freak asked those who obtained copies of the games early not to mention anything from the Canalave library until the embargo was lifted. Since that's the only new addition to the area, it certainly suggests it means something significant.