We’re swapping out our usual Pokemon Unite round up with one about the entire franchise this week - because a whole lot has happened. Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl have dominated the headlines, but not for anything good. While players do seem to be having fun, this remake is full of glitches and exploits that turn it on its head, meaning you can breeze through the game in around half an hour.
Other than that, Pokemon Unite gets a new skin that fans love, perhaps making up for some of the more extortionate offerings lately. But we open on a subject we don’t usually cover: the trading card game.
Shanghai Airport Intercepts 7.6 Tons Of Fake Pokemon Cards
With Pokemon Cards selling for tens of thousands of dollars, it was only a matter of time until someone tried to set up an entire business around it - with fakes. If you can fool a buyer into thinking you had the real deal, you stand to make an absolute killing from collectors. However, it looks like one entrepreneur flew a little too close to the sun, as they tried to get 7.6 tons of fake Pokemon cards through Shanghai Airport. That’s 6894.6kg, so probably above the weight limit for most airlines. It’s being described as the largest haul of its kind in recent years, but given the popularity, it probably won’t be the last.
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl Has A Whole Lot Of Glitches
It’s been pretty much impossible to avoid all week: Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl are not up to Nintendo’s usual standards. It’s not often that we say a Nintendo game needed a delay… but this needed a delay. So far, the documented glitches include: Pokemon duplication, surf on land, out of bounds and trainers attacking Pokemon, because their ‘mons model disappeared. While these may seem innocuous at first, the out of bounds one alone is causing trouble for Nintendo. It’s actually possible to use it to reach Shaymin, who is not accessible through usual gameplay and is seemingly being held for an event. Oh, and we’re probably not meant to be duping legendaries either.
The Snowpoint Gym Puzzle Is Completely Broken In Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl
While this isn’t really a glitch, it sure as hell wasn’t intended by the developers. Unlike the original Diamond & Pearl, the remakes have diagonal movement. This doesn’t really change too much, other than make it much more user-friendly to get around. However, there is one glaring oversight - it completely ruins the Snowpoint Gym puzzle. Usually, this puzzle has you sliding on ice, but only left, right, up, and down as you were in the original release. Yet no changes were made to accommodate the fact that we can go diagonally now… so you can just slide right up to the gym leader and bypass the puzzle completely. Simply slide up as soon as you enter, which will bring you right towards the end. Then, move the joystick into the upper right corner - you’ll climb up the slope, and save yourself a lot of time.
Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl Are Faster To Speedrun Than The Originals, Thanks To Glitches
Having gone over all of those glitches and exploits, it’s probably not too surprising to hear that speedrunners are loving this game. The world record on the original releases is 57 minutes, but the remakes have already got it down to 37. The speedrunner who accomplished this feat, Werster, told us that we can expect the time to get even lower, as there are three major skips the community is working on pulling off. While they’re able to skip Elite Four battles already, they want to be able to skip talking to them at all, and just warp right into the Hall of Fame. This might sound wild, but it’s actually already possible in the originals.
Gengar Becomes A Wrestling Icon With New Pokemon Unite Holowear
See, we didn’t totally forget about Pokemon Unite! While it was mostly overshadowed by a mainline series release, it still managed to impress fans with a new holowear announcement: masked style Gengar. This turns the ghost type into a luchador, and has proven to be a hit so far. The price is also a bit more generous than other microtransaction offerings, going for 840 aeos gems in the Black Friday sale. Unite is full of discounts during this period, and you have until Tuesday to get the most out of them.