People been reporting bugs and glitches in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, ranging from graphical errors to powerful exploits.
In addition to the more harmless bugs, players are unfortunately discovering that quite a few ways that they can get softlocked in the games and be unable to progress without loading a previous save or even restarting from scratch.
Beware of Snowpoint
The most infamous of these can occur at the Snowpoint Gym, where players could get quite literally stuck in the Gym Puzzle if they move incorrectly while trying to solve it. A video explaining how this issue is triggered below via @eclipse_tt, as well as an alternate application of it that allows players to skip the entire puzzle:
BDSP BUGS & GLITCHES #7
✨It's possible to skip the entire Snowpoint City's Gym Puzzle as well as all the Trainer Battle and go straight to the Gym Leader in few single steps!
Truly a godsend for Speedrunners!
⬇️ More Below ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/YTtUPtxnVT
— Eclipse 🌑 𝕯𝖆𝖗𝐤𝖗𝖆𝖎 𝖀𝖒𝖇𝖗𝖆! (@eclipse_tt) November 21, 2021
Also look out in Pastoria Gym
A similar bug has also been reported to occur in the Pastoria Gym, where players could be trapped underwater if the game is saved in the wrong place and reloaded, although the specifics of this glitch are not known at this time.
Aside from these softlocks, one player also discovered a way to reliably crash the game by attempting to give a Pokemon a berry to hold while standing next to an empty berry patch, but choosing the “plant” option instead. This action will cause the game to crash to a blue screen, forcing players to reload their last save in order to continue; https://www.reddit.com/r/pokemon/comments/qyi4a5/bdsp_replicable_hard_crash/
Save often for now
It is recommended that players save often while going through the games, even if they have turned autosave on. Nintendo is most likely aware and is working on getting things resolved.
About Pokemon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl
Experience the nostalgic story in a reimagined adventure, now on the Nintendo Switch™ system! Adventures take place in the familiar Sinnoh region. Rich in nature and with the mighty Mount Coronet at its heart, Sinnoh is a land of many myths passed down through the ages. You’ll choose either Turtwig, Chimchar, or Piplup to be your first partner Pokémon and then set off on your journey to become the Champion of the Pokémon League. Along the way, you’ll be able to encounter the Legendary Pokémon Dialga.
Adventure together with the Pokémon. Players of the original games can revisit familiar places and relive familiar scenes, while first-time players can enjoy plenty of fun encounters and surprises that the Sinnoh region has to offer. The original story and the scale of the Sinnoh region’s towns and routes have been faithfully reproduced. This remake has also been revitalized with some of the player-friendly features of modern Pokémon games and up-close-and-personal Pokémon battle scenes.
Whether you played Pokémon Diamond Version or Pokémon Pearl Version back in the day or you’re encountering these games for the first time, there’s something for everyone to enjoy.
