First Pokemon Diamond and Pearl details

2006 will be a good year for fans of Nintendo's Pokemon series. Pokemon Diamond and Pearl will be released simultaneously for the Nintendo DS next year in Japan, reports the latest issue of Comic Korokoro. A third game, named Pokemon Ranger, is also slated for release in 2006, although no specific details--including its platform--have been disclosed yet. Pokemon Ranger will have connections to next year's Pokemon movie, as well as the TV anime series.

Comic Korokoro disclosed some first details on Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, which is currently in development by Pokemon Company and Game Freaks. The game will once again be supervised by series producer and Pokemon Company president Tsunekazu Ishihara and directed by Game Freaks' Junichi Masuda. Also handling the graphics is series art designer Ken Sugimori.

According to Masuda, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl will take place in a new land, although it will feature pocket monsters from previous games. Sugimori comments that the game's developers are currently thinking about the all-new Pokemon that will appear in the two games, and they're also trying to come up with the designs of currently existing Pokemon in their evolved and pre-evolved states. Pokemon Diamond and Pearl won't have any additional monster types (currently there are 17), although there will be additional pocket monsters that are combinations of two monster types. The Pokemon from movies will be in the game as well, and they're said to make their entrances in surprising ways.

Masuda revealed that they usually work on the beginning of the game at the end of the project. He pointed out that the openings for Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire for the Game Boy Advance were redone many times, and the number of selectable pocket monsters at the beginning of the game kept changing.

Both Pokemon Diamond and Pearl will have connectivity to the Pokemon series for the GBA and GameCube, and users will be able to port their pocket monsters from previous installments to the DS. Masuda also commented that he expects the games to use the DS's Wi-Fi capabilities to connect simultaneously with 16 players and that the touch-sensitive screen will be employed during gameplay.