Pokémon Pearl Version (NDS, March 2006 Early Beta)

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Krow

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Published on July 30, 2020 7:42:44 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzIZud067r8

Game:

Pokémon Diamond and Pearl (2006)

Duration: 1:56:11

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This is the build of Pokémon Pearl from around the middle of March, 2006 (though we can infer the 17th of March from the version number), built on the 25th of July, 2020 using the source code that was recently distributed. While the build is recent, the assets and code are from March, 2006. This puts the game at around five months before the final build which was around the later end of August, in time for the September release.

This build comes with a set of debug tools. One can be found in the main menu and that handles basic sprite viewing, sound testing, and battle testing. In the main game, tools exist for viewing battle animations, along with a somewhat full set of debug tools for various testing purposes, from music to camera work. I've tried my best to translate everything, though there may be a few mistakes, my bad. Regardless, some options in the debug menu don't do anything immediately obvious, so I have chalked that up to them not doing anything at all. I'll update this section if more uses are found.

Only a selection of Generation 4 Pokémon have been programmed into the game, and these use sprites that are already close to their final designs. With this, we can assume these Pokémon were the first to pass the design stage, and were slowly being added into the game. Something else to note, in later builds of Diamond, these specific Pokémon already have their own cries, while the rest still use placeholders. Most of the other sprites in the game are from Generation 3, or are slightly modified versions, such as the Gen 3's odd colouration of Lugia, Murkrow, etc. Something interesting to note is the inclusion of gender differences between most Pokémon. Most of these differences are rather benign, with some patterns changing, or a part being shorter (such as claws, etc.), though some Pokémon have pretty noticeable differences. Charizard, for example, gets a single centre horn for the female version, while Pikachu and Raichu end up with resting ears, rather than perked up ones. I will link a TCRF page lower down with sprite differences if you'd like to see them all. Other sprites that are from Gen 3 include sprites used for important characters, where they recycled Maxie, Cooltrainer, and Wally sprites for Gym Leaders, some Grunts and Barry. Of course, overworld NPC sprites are different, including Barry, Hikers, and some others.

UI design is quite neat here, using rounded boxes for Health elements, utilising a silhouette on the lower screen of Dawn or Lucas, whoever you picked. The Pokétch uses a slightly older design, but I don't believe the difference between the version here and the final version is too big. For some reason, during battles you cannot use the D-Pad to select moves and must use the touch screen. Using the touch screen might be faster, but it's a real pain using a stylus whilst left handed. Another oddity with menu selection lies in the Party screen. For some reason, you can't scroll downwards, only across. Even if you press down, you go right. Pretty dumb, and it screwed me over while teaching my Turtwig "Rock Smash" and accidentally tried to teach it to Weavile, but then I got stuck in the whole "Want to forget a move? - No | Stop Learning? - Yes" because button mashing. There's more to talk about, like broken mechanics, but I ran out of space here lol.

Links:
For the scrapped Gender Differences (WIP)
https://tcrf.net/Proto:Pok%C3%A9mon_Diamond_and_Pearl/March-August_2006_Source_Leak/March_12_Initial_Sprites
Timestamps:
0:00 - 1:20 New Game
1:21 - 6:01 Getting Our Pokémon
6:02 - 8:55 Meeting Rowan, Shop Tutorial
8:56 - 9:51 Getting Pokémon from the PC
9:52 - 10:30 Backtracking
10:31 - 14:41 Catching Tutorial, To Jubilife
14:42 - 17:46 Wandering Jubilfe
17:47 - 18:42 Battling "Barry"
18:43 - 22:03 Painful Journey to Oreburgh Gym
22:04 - 23:37 Battling "Roark"
23:37 - 26:00 Getting scammed twice in a row
26:26 - 28:22 Team Galactic
28:23 - 32:28 Painful Journey to Floaroma Town
32:29 - 41:02 Floaroma + Cut Cyrus
41:03 - 43:41 Journey to Eterna Forest
43:42 - 45:38 Escort Mission and Double Battle
45:39 - 50:15 Eterna City and the House of Nurses
50:16 - 54:31 Debug Menus: Sound Test
54:32 - 55:48 Debug Menus: Sprite Viewer
55:49 - 57:04 Debug Menus: Battle Test
57:05 - 58:47 Debug Menus: Animation Viewer
58:48 - 59:52 Debug Menus: Usage Monitoring
59:53 - 1:00:29 Debug Menus: Setting Time
1:00:30 - 1:07:51 Debug Menus: Warp Options
1:07:52 - 1:10:58 Debug Menus: Generating Pokémon
1:10:59 - 1:13:50 Debug Menus: General Staff Tools 1
1:13:51 - 1:17:48 Debug Menus: Super Contest
1:17:49 - 1:21:18 Debug Menus: Overworld Animations
1:21:19 - 1:23:10 Debug Menus: General Staff Tools 2
1:23:11 - 1:28:59 Debug Menus: Music, Cry Tools
1:29:00 - 1:34:02 Debug Menus: Pokétch and Easy Chat
1:34:03 - 1:36:21 Debug Menus: General Staff Tools 3
1:36:22 - 1:38:43 Debug Menus: Camera Controls
1:38:44 - 1:46:36 Debug Menus: Overlays, Pokédex, Weather
1:46:37 - 1:56:10 Wandering around Sinnoh

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