Platinum Changes

Out of all the "third versions", Platinum is probably the game that makes the most changes to the original duo. Some of the changes are obvious or well known, but others less so.

If you spot any mistakes or remember any more changes, please contact me.

Fixes

Diamond and Pearl had their weak points, and believe it or not, Platinum tried to fix some of them. Compare to the D/P Changes - they fixed a suspicious amount of the complaints I mentioned there.

Two Button Pokétch

There is now both a back and forward button on the Pokétch. Saves a lot of pressing.

Buy More Honey

Buying Honey from the man in Floaroma Meadow in Diamond and Pearl was a pain because you could only buy one at a time. In Platinum, the man gives you the choice of either buying one or ten, so you only need to talk to him three times to obtain more than enough Honey to slather all 21 honey trees in the region with.

Surfing Is Fast

Remember when I said in D/P you are forced to Surf at walking speed? Well, not anymore. Thank God. Surfing is by default at running speed again.

Bike Through Buildings

Remember when I also said that in D/P you're automatically taken off your bike when you enter one of the gatehouses between some cities and their adjacent routes? They fixed that too. Now gatehouses let you through on the bike again the way they used to in the third generation games.

Battle Messages Do Not Scroll Quite as Much

Okay, fine, they still scroll just as much. They just fixed the one thing that actually really mattered: When you are battling a trainer and they are about to send out a new Pokémon, the "Trainer is about to send in SCYTHER" message will not disappear before you get to choose whether to switch. Instead, it will scroll down by just one line, so that what remains on the top screen when your choices are presented is "about to send in SCYTHER. Will you switch your Pokémon?", ensuring that you will always know what you're switching into. Discovering this made me seriously wonder if Game Freak read my D/P Changes; I don't remember ever seeing anyone but me complain about it, but they fixed it anyway.

Hypnosis Back to 60%

In Diamond and Pearl, the move Hypnosis was changed to have an accuracy of 70% instead of the previous 60%. It appears they at least considered this a serious mistake on their behalf, because they made the only actual battle data change in a third version game ever and lowered it back to 60%. In multiplayer battles where both D/P and Platinum games are involved, the updated accuracy is used.

Faster Scrolling Through Bag

...or maybe not. The thing is, I'm convinced that in videos I saw of the Japanese Platinum, scrolling down through items in the bag was much faster. I am also certain that it was that way in the Japanese Platinum ROM I played. However, it does not feel like scrolling through the bag in my real American Platinum is at all faster than in my American Diamond. This could be explained by any of the following possibilities.

1. It really is faster in Platinum, but I was somehow expecting it to be even faster. Not likely, as on the ROM I thought it was very noticeably fast.
2. It wasn't actually faster in that video I saw, and only faster on the Platinum ROM because the PC had so much more processing power than the DS.
3. The Japanese versions have been faster all along, even in Diamond and Pearl. The English release just slowed the scrolling down for some stupid reason.
4. The Japanese version of Platinum sped it up, but some Nintendo of America idiots decided to change it back to the way it was in Diamond and Pearl for some almost as stupid reason.

If anybody with the Japanese versions of D/P and Platinum can confirm anything about this, please contact me.

No More Breaking Protect

In Diamond and Pearl, moves with less than 100% accuracy that were made Swift-accurate by special battle conditions (such as any inaccurate move in the presence of a Pokémon with the No Guard ability, or Thunder during rain, or Blizzard during hail) would also have a chance to break through Protect and Detect, equal to their usual chance of missing. Thus, during rain, Thunder (usually 70% accurate) would not only become Swift-accurate, but also gain a 30% chance of hitting a Pokémon using Protect. It turned out this was an unintended glitch, because it was fixed in Platinum.

Aesthetic Changes

The stuff that doesn't actually matter much or really affect the gameplay, but was still changed.

New Pokémon Sprites

Standard third-version deal. In Platinum they were a bit lazy - many of the sprites look suspiciously like the second-frame sprites from Diamond and Pearl, and even more of the second-frame sprites from Platinum look suspiciously like the normal first-frame sprites from Diamond and Pearl. The actual first-frame sprite - as in the one you're stuck looking at after the Pokémon has finished its animation - is always different from the one in Diamond and Pearl for the Sinnoh Dex Pokémon, however.

Moving Back Sprites

The Pokémon back sprites are now animated with two frames when they come into battle like the front sprites.

Moving Trainer Sprites

Gym leaders, the Elite Four, your rival, Frontier Brains, Team Galactic admins and your various double battle partners from sections of the storyline now have a three-frame animation for their trainer sprites when you battle them.

Big Trainer Shots

Important trainers (as well as you yourself) also now have special large face shots used for the dramatic "VS" screen before you battle them. (In Diamond and Pearl, they were just magnified versions of their normal trainer sprites.)

Tweaked Move Animations

Some attacks have new animations; the one most often mentioned is Razor Leaf. Agility and Hidden Power have also been pointed out to me. I'm not the best person to try to figure out precisely which others, since I played a Japanese Platinum ROM and all the Platinum animations therefore look familiar to me now that I'm playing the real thing in English.

Battle Interface Coloring

The battle interface (i.e. the bottom screen in battle) now has a colored background corresponding to the environment you're in - dark blue if you're in a cave, say, or green if you're in a forest.

New Clothes

The main characters and rival have new, warmer clothes, though the girl still insists on wearing a skirt.

Overworld Changes

Various things in the overworld look different, usually for the better. Sinnoh has snow where there wasn't any before, while the Battle Zone has been given a tropical climate with palm trees. Hearthome City's roads are brown. Stark Mountain has molten lava and cooler lighting. Eterna Forest has a shadow cover over it. The entrance and exit to Victory Road are much bigger. The Elite Four's rooms reflect their personal choice of Pokémon. I could go on and on.

English French Guy

In the Japanese version of Diamond and Pearl, there was a man in Veilstone (near a tree in the middle of the city) who spoke English (he asked you "Do you love Pokémon?"). In the English release, this man was simply removed. In Platinum, however, he is present in the English version and speaks French ("Salut, Trainer! Tu aimes les Pokémon?" and then "Moi aussi! C'est génial!" if you say yes, and "J'ai du mal à te croire... Il n'y qu'à vous regarder!" if you say no). Pointless, but it's a change for those playing the English versions.

Trainers Have Pokéball Seals

Some in-game trainers now have Seals on their Pokémon's Pokéballs that cause cute little visual effects to accompany the Pokémon's entrance into battle.

New Wi-Fi Interface

When you connect to Nintendo Wi-Fi, you will be able to view your connected friends as trainer avatars in a room instead of just a list.

Visible Vs. Seeker

When you use the Vs. Seeker, your overworld sprite will actually hold it up as it flashes like in FireRed and LeafGreen - in Diamond and Pearl, you'd just stand there and hear a beeping sound.

Trainer Name Changes

For some bizarre reason, six trainers around Sinnoh have had their names randomly changed: Ruin Maniac Hunter is now Ruin Maniac Ronald, Fisherman Cameron is now Fisherman Josh, Collector Dominique is now Collector Dean, Ninja Boy Antonio is now Ninja Boy Matthew, Artist Kevin is now Artist William, and Ace Trainer Ariana is now Ace Trainer Moira. Hey, don't ask me.

Jiggling Wildly Around on Your Bike

In Diamond and Pearl, while riding the bike, you would sort of sway from side to side. In Platinum, you do this about twice as fast, at least when in the fast gear, making it look like you're teetering around. It's kind of odd.

New Textbox Frames

The box where in-game text appears has a new set of frame designs in Platinum.

Features and Places

Platinum brings a variety of new gameplay features and locations to Sinnoh.

The Distortion World

The biggest added location is the Distortion World, Giratina's bizarre realm of shifting gravity and distorted reality which operates primarily under the Rule of Cool. For instance, you will be jumping onto vertical platforms and walking sideways in some parts, not because there is any point whatsoever in that platform being vertical, but simply to show off how cool the Distortion World is. You even get to Surf vertically down a disembodied waterfall, just because that's also cool. While you're there, Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf will be guiding you to boulders that you have to push with Strength into certain holes in order to finally navigate your way towards where Giratina will battle you in its Origin Forme. Oh, and there is awesome creepy music in it.

After you capture Giratina and return to the normal world, you can get back to the Distortion World by navigating through Turnback Cave the way you did in Diamond and Pearl; instead of Giratina being in the final room after the third pillar, it houses a portal back to a tiny portion of the Distortion World where you get the Griseous Orb (which can turn Giratina into its Origin Forme outside of the Distortion World) and can listen to more of that cool music or walk on a vertical platform if you ever feel the urge to do that again.

The Battle Frontier

Like Emerald, Platinum replaces Diamond and Pearl's Battle Tower in the Battle Zone's Fight Area with a full-blown Battle Frontier, housing five unique Pokémon battling challenges:

Battle Tower

Just like the one in Diamond and Pearl - ordinary three-on-three battles or four-on-four double battles, with an additional ability to download other people's teams over Wi-Fi to battle or upload your own team.

Battle Hall

Using one Pokémon at a time (or two in a double battle), you get to choose a type and have a one-on-one with a Pokémon of that type. After beating that Pokémon, you can battle the next rank of that type or the first rank of any other type.

Battle Factory

Pretty much the same as the one in Emerald; you pick three rental Pokémon to battle a trainer and can then trade one of your Pokémon for one of that trainer's if you wish.

Battle Castle

An odd facility where you use three Pokémon that do not get healed between battles. For each battle you win, you get Castle Points, which you can then spend in between battles to heal them, rent items or buy information about your next opponent's Pokémon.

Battle Arcade

A series of three-on-three battles with a game board turn before them, where you have to press a button to stop a roulette board that may inflict status effects on your or your opponent's Pokémon, create weather, slow down or speed up the game board for the next game board turn, switch your and your opponent's Pokémon and so on. Unfortunately (for the challenge, that is, but fortunately for you) the game board is even at the beginning slow enough for you to be able to approximately control where it ends up, and if you slow it down a couple of times, it will be trivial to just make sure the game board always tilts things in your favor.

Higher-Level Elite Four

If you rebattle the Elite Four after upgrading your Pokédex and finishing the Stark Mountain quest, their levels will be substantially higher.

The Battleground

Also known as the Top Trainer Café, this house next to the Pokémon Center in the Survival Area of the Battle Zone is where all the top trainers of the region get together once you've finished the final Stark Mountain quest of the storyline. Here you can rebattle all the Sinnoh Gym leaders as well as your double team partners from throughout the game - Cheryl, Mira, Riley, Marley and Buck, provided you've completed the parts of the game they're in. Their Pokémon will all be in the sixties, providing a nice source of experience - though admittedly, you only get three or four random trainers there each day. (Interestingly, the double team partners' teams also seem put together as an opportunity for high-level EV training - Cheryl's Pokémon give HP effort points, Mira's Special Attack, Riley's Attack, Marley's Speed and Buck's Defense and Special Defense, with only a couple of exceptions.)

Strong Rival

Your rival will now permanently hang out in front of the Battleground and battle you every weekend, with his Pokémon growing stronger. They end up at level 79-85, making him the strongest trainer thus far to appear in a Pokémon game. (Red's Pokémon in G/S/C were level 77-81, and Emerald Steven's were level 75-78; in HeartGold and SoulSilver, however, Red's Pokémon's levels have been raised, so he claims the title again.)

The Villa

What with us all inevitably ending up filthy rich by the time we finish the game, Game Freak finally decided to add something for us to do with all that money. Now there is a villa in Resort Area that you are given by a guy who seems all too enthusiastic to get rid of it, and then you can spend all your earnings buying ridiculously expensive furniture for it (the most expensive item, a fancy flat-screen television, costs 220,000P). The more furniture you have, the more random characters from the game will come visit you, proving that they only care about money, the bastards.

More Wi-Fi Features

You can interact with up to nineteen other random players at once in the so-called Wi-Fi Plaza, where you can play a few silly minigames. These same minigames are also available for playing with friends, as well as Wi-Fi Poffin creation, and all the Battle Frontier facilities can be challenged in double battles with a friend.

Egg Pot Luck

Over local wireless, players can now each contribute an egg to a pot from which each player subsequently receives a random egg. A fun little thing.

Wii Messages from the GTS

The Global Trade Station can now be configured to send you a message to your Wii when somebody has accepted one of your trade offers, so you no longer have to keep checking (...as long as you do keep checking your Wii). The Japanese version let you send e-mail as well, but the English release doesn't have that for some silly reason.

Vs. Recorder

A new Key Item called the Vs. Recorder can record battles you have in the Battle Frontier or multiplayer battles with friends over wireless or Wi-Fi, allowing you to view them later and even upload them to the Global Terminal, a new feature of the Global Trade Station, allowing other players to watch your battles. It also incidentally serves to keep track of your Battle Points in the Battle Frontier.

Move Tutors

Like Crystal, Emerald and FireRed/LeafGreen, Platinum adds Move Tutors that can teach any of your Pokémon from a number of moves. There are three tutors, located on Route 212, Snowpoint City and Survival Area, and each tutor will teach a number of moves for the price of eight Shards of specific colors (which can be found in the Underground, but are also scattered around Sinnoh in vastly increased numbers since Diamond and Pearl). Since you pay for the moves, they will teach any number of Pokémon as long as you keep the shards coming. The tutors teach the following moves:

Pokémon Center Battles

In some Pokémon Centers, there will be trainers in front of the counter who will battle you every day. They move to a different Pokémon Center depending on the day of the week and get stronger every time you battle them up to a certain point.

Maid Battles

In the Pokémon Mansion on Route 212, at the end of the left corridor there is a maid who invites you to participate in the "5-Maid Knockout Exact-Turn Attack Challenge". Basically, you're given a number at the start, and you try to defeat five maids with one Clefairy each in exactly that number of turns. This is trickier than it might seem, because the Clefairy all know Endure, which could prolong the battle by a turn and thus make you lose. If you do succeed, you will be able to battle Lady Celeste or Rich Boy Liam, who will have a level 35 Blissey that holds a Rare Candy and will Fling it at you unless you steal it first.

Bigger Amity Square

Amity Square has been greatly expanded and now also allows you to go in with your starter Pokémon - in any evolutionary form - instead of just those random few one was unlikely to be carrying around. It has rocks with "caves" where you can teleport to a different location by walking up, left or right once you have entered the cave. Finding the right cave and right direction will get you to areas where you can find interesting items.

Veilstone Dept. Store Basement

The Veilstone Department Store now has a basement where one can buy Poffins, Berries and Lava Cookies. There is also a man who claims to be selling Ragecandybars - yet another one of those G/S/C references - but says he is all out at the moment; another guy tells you he bought them all.

Expanded Galactic Buildings

Both Galactic Buildings have been tweaked. Most noticeably, the one in Veilstone now has a room where Cyrus makes a speech at one point which was not there in Diamond and Pearl.

Gym Redesigns

Three of the Sinnoh Gyms have had their interiors redesigned. First is the Eterna City Gym, which now has a 'leaf-clock' with hands that rotate when you defeat trainers. It is basically a fancier way to force you to fight her three junior trainers. Next is the Hearthome City Gym, which instead of featuring simple math problems (and trainers who are all too amusingly aware of the fact that you must be getting them wrong on purpose) now has a real puzzle, composed of dark rooms where you must navigate around a maze with only a flashlight to guide you in order to first find a blue tile on the floor and then the corresponding door, marked with a red tile in front of it that has the same pattern as the blue tile. Unfortunately, the challenge of this puzzle relies entirely on the room being dark, and while it actually took some time for me to get through on my old DS, I discovered when I played it on a DS Lite (which is better lit) that it is only somewhat dark there, making the flashlight completely unnecessary and allowing you to see the symbols on the colored tiles from the other end of the room. Finally, the Veilstone City Gym, instead of sliding boards, now has punching bags that you have to push along lines so that they will bump into the stacks of tires in your way. The other Gyms are the same as they were in Diamond and Pearl.

Less Annoying Mud

Instead of the irritating brown mud on Route 212 and in the Great Marsh that one always got stuck in in Diamond and Pearl, the bog is now a sort of dark bluish gray. More importantly (or I would have classed this as an aesthetic change), it is now possible to see where you can safely walk without getting stuck, as those tiles are lighter in color. The Great Marsh has actually been completely redesigned, I believe, or at least given a new look.

Surf Down Waterfalls

You can now descend waterfalls without having a Pokémon that knows the Waterfall HM in your party (though of course you do need the HM to get back up the waterfall).

Matchup Checker Available

The Pokétch App Matchup Checker used to be unavailable in Diamond and Pearl, but now there is a girl in the Great Marsh entrance building who will give you the app if you catch five Pokémon in one game.

No Game Corner for You!

In the European version of Platinum, the Game Corner is nonfunctional, since the gambling aspect had to be removed to get an E rating. It is perfectly intact in the American version, however.

Balls Miss

Sensibly enough, Pokéballs can now miss when thrown at a Pokémon in an invulnerable stage of a move such as Fly or Dig.

Storyline and Characters

In the tradition of the previous third versions, Platinum's storyline and cast are modified from Diamond and Pearl's, if not too extensively.

Beginning Tweaks

The beginning is slightly changed. The news report you're watching at the beginning, instead of being about the Red Gyarados at the Lake of Rage, is about Professor Rowan returning to Sinnoh from Kanto. Your rival, hearing about Professor Rowan, thinks that he must have lots of Pokémon and be willing to give them to people like you. He is then trying to take you to Rowan's lab in Sandgem Town when the Professor stops you to warn you about the tall grass (does this remind you of anything?), and then Rowan agrees to give you some Pokémon after you've convinced him you love Pokémon just that much. And then... you get to have a battle with your rival, with both starters still fresh at level five! Ahh, more nostalgia.

Main Plot Modification

Cyrus wants to summon both Dialga and Palkia to Mt. Coronet to create a new universe, but before that happens, Giratina emerges and drags him into the Distortion World where you then leap in after him with Cynthia.

New Characters

Two new prominent characters have been added. The first is Charon, a moneygrubbing scientist working for Team Galactic who wants to take over when Cyrus has been overthrown. He now plays a key role in the Stark Mountain quest, as he wanted to awaken Heatran. The second is Looker, an eccentric detective from the International Police with his own theme music who is investigating Team Galactic. He's a bit lonely, hence being so eager to talk to you even when he's trying to be discreet.

More Prominent Old Characters

Various characters from Diamond and Pearl have substantially more appearances in Platinum. This includes your rival, Dawn/Lucas, Cynthia, Flint and Volkner.

Trainers Have Different Pokémon

What with the updated Sinnoh dex, they needed to fit all the new Sinnoh Pokédex Pokémon into the teams of trainers so that you could see them all. Thus, various trainers throughout the game have different teams. This includes Gym leaders and the Elite Four, who take advantage of the new Pokémon to actually train the type they're supposed to train (and often more powerful Pokémon - though the levels have also often been lowered slightly).

HMs Relocated

In Platinum, HM04 (Strength) is given to you by Riley in Iron Island (it used to be at the top floor of the Lost Tower) and HM05 (Defog) is inside Solaceon Ruins (it used to be given to you in Pastoria City).

New Gym Order

Remember how in Diamond and Pearl, you couldn't battle Fantina the first time you came to Hearthome City, and were just supposed to return there after beating Maylene and Crasher Wake? Well, not so anymore. You now get your third badge from Fantina when you first get to Hearthome and then go on to Maylene's and Crasher Wake's. Their Pokémon's levels have been adjusted accordingly. Interestingly, the order in which the badges are listed in your badge case remains the same.

Combee, Not Burmy

The guy in Pastoria City who gave you a Macho Brace if you showed him all three forms of Burmy at the same time in Diamond and Pearl will now ask you to show him a male and female Combee.

Backstory

A few NPCs in the game make references to having known a kid who is strongly implied to be Cyrus of Team Galactic - you can even talk to his grandfather on Route 228.

Pokémon Changes

Changes in Pokémon and how to get them. Note that I do not consider the ordinary moving around of where ordinary Pokémon are found in ordinary places to be noteworthy enough to warrant special mention.

More Pokémon

In Diamond and Pearl, there were 151 Pokémon in the Sinnoh Pokédex (of which there were for example only two Fire-type families, the Chimchar starter line and then Ponyta/Rapidash). The limited Pokémon selection was a major annoyance for many. Platinum expands the Sinnoh Pokédex to 210 entries, including all the new evolutions added in the fourth generation and their respective evolution lines, as well as the game's mascot Giratina, Rotom, the Swablu family, the Houndour family, Tropius, the Scyther family (fwee), and Absol. This of course means that all of these Pokémon are available earlier in the game (Scyther is now found on Routes 210 and 215, much to my delight) and through normal walking around in grass or possibly being given to you or found in the Great Marsh, rather than whatever annoying methods (PokéRadaring, swarms, Trophy Garden, GBA slot...) one may have needed to obtain them in Diamond and Pearl. Even the Magmarizer and Electirizer used to evolve Magmar and Electabuzz are now found on Route 214 and Valley Windworks, respectively. In order to make it possible to see all the Sinnoh Dex legendaries so that you can get the National Pokédex, you will count as having "seen" Dialga and Palkia after seeing them under Cyrus's command on Mt. Coronet and Manaphy can be seen in a book on Mr. Backlot's desk in the Pokémon Mansion.

Formes

Whoo boy. Game Freak decided to work their way around the fact they couldn't add new species of Pokémon in Platinum by instead creating new forms for Pokémon (now officially called "Formes").

• Giratina as we know it is now just Giratina's Altered Forme. In the Distortion World (and while holding the Griseous Orb), it is in its Origin Forme, which has the ability Levitate and has its offensive and defensive base stats switched.
• Having a Shaymin will now get a woman in Floaroma Town to give you the Gracidea, a special flower key item which, when used on any Shaymin during the day, will transform it into its Sky Forme. A Sky Forme Shaymin has higher offensive stats and Speed but lower defenses than the Land Forme, is a Grass/Flying type and has the ability Serene Grace instead of Natural Cure.
• The Secret Key item, given away through a Wi-Fi event, will open a room in the Eterna City Galactic Building where a Rotom can change its Forme in order to learn a new elemental attack and gain drastic improvements in both its offensive and defensive stats, though the Speed is slightly lowered. The Formes are a refrigerator (Frost Rotom) that learns Blizzard, a washing machine (Wash Rotom) that learns Hydro Pump, a fan (Fan Rotom) that learns Air Slash, a lawnmower (Mow Rotom) that learns Leaf Storm, and an oven (Heat Rotom) that learns Overheat.

Wi-Fi Events Are Used

Remember how Diamond and Pearl had Wi-Fi Mystery Gift but never actually used it, instead just using the same old real-life events that almost nobody could actually go to? Well, with Platinum they actually use it to give away the items necessary to activate the built-in events for getting event-only Pokémon (and more, such as the Rotom Formes detailed above), allowing Pokémon fans all over the world to access event Pokémon, rather than only those who happen to live near those sparse places where real-life events are hosted. To make real-life events special, the Pokémon given away there still have special moves that they couldn't otherwise get, but you will no longer need to live close to the site of an event to obtain them at all as long as you have Wi-Fi.

New Moves

Even aside from the Move Tutor moves now available to most Pokémon, the ordinary level-up movesets of various Pokémon have been tweaked. Because I felt like it, I made a list which should be exhaustive. New moves are bolded; when not otherwise noted, new moves inserted into the moveset will simply slightly delay the learning of all the moves learned at or after that level in Diamond and Pearl to make room (while generally keeping them in the same order). When levels have slashes between them, it is to note different levels for different Pokémon in the family; if there are fewer numbers than there are Pokémon in the family, such the Totodile family with Flail at level 22/24, it means Totodile learns it at level 22 and Croconaw and Feraligatr both at level 24.

• The Squirtle family now learns Iron Defense at level 34/40/46.
• Caterpie, Weedle, Wurmple, Kricketot and the Burmy family now all learn Bug Bite at level 15.
• The Meowth family now learns Feint as its final move at level 54/68.
• Golduck can now learn Aqua Jet from the move relearner in Pastoria City.
• Victreebel now learns Leaf Blade at level 47 along with Leaf Storm.
• The Ponyta family now learns Flame Wheel at level 15 and various other moves in its moveset a couple of levels earlier.
• Farfetch'd now learns Feint at level 43.
• The Onix family now learns Curse at level 38.
• Scyther now starts with Vacuum Wave. It, along with Bullet Punch for Scizor, can thus be learned from the move relearner in Pastoria City. The Scyther family also learns Feint as its final move at level 61.
• All the Eevee evolutions, though not Eevee itself, now learn a new final move at level 78: Muddy Water for Vaporeon, Discharge for Jolteon, Lava Plume for Flareon (ouch - why didn't it get Flare Blitz like it's been begging for all these years?), Power Swap for Espeon, Guard Swap for Umbreon, Swords Dance for Leafeon and Barrier for Glaceon.
• Kabutops can now learn Feint from the move relearner in Pastoria City.
• The Totodile family now learns Flail instead of Thrash at level 22/24 and then squeezes Thrash back in at level 36/42/50.
• The Hoothoot family now learns Uproar at level 13, pushing the preceding moves earlier.
• Bellossom can now learn Leaf Blade from the move relearner in Pastoria City.
• Politoed now learns Swagger at level 27, Bounce at level 37 and Hyper Voice at level 48.
• Slowking can now learn Power Gem from the move relearner in Pastoria City.
• Misdreavus now learns Power Gem as its final move at level 50.
• The Pineco family now learns Bug Bite at level 9. Forretress also now learns Payback after Mirror Shot, at level 33 instead of 28.
• Shuckle now learns Bug Bite at level 40, pushing all its preceding moves to earlier levels.
• Skarmory now learns all of its moves a bit earlier than in Diamond and Pearl in addition to learning Feint at level 20.
• Tyrogue now starts with Foresight in addition to the moves it had in Diamond and Pearl.
• Raikou now learns Rain Dance at level 71, instead learning Thunder at level 85.
• Entei now learns Eruption as its final move at level 85.
• Suicune now learns Blizzard as its final move at level 85.
• Lotad and Lombre now learn Bubblebeam at level 25.
• The Nosepass family now learns Power Gem at level 49.
• Skitty now learns Foresight at level 4 and Copycat after Doubleslap, at level 18 rather than 11.
• Sharpedo can now learn Feint from the move relearner in Pastoria City.
• Kecleon now learns Feint at level 14.
• Absol now starts with Feint.
• Regirock, Regice and Registeel now start with Stomp.
• The Piplup family now learns Bubblebeam at level 18/19 and Bide (Piplup/Prinplup) or Swagger (Empoleon) at level 22/24 - it used to be the other way around.
• The Bidoof family now learns Curse as its final move at level 45/53.
• Kricketune now learns Slash at level 26, Taunt at level 38 and Night Slash at level 42.
• The Shinx family now learns Spark at level 13 and Bite at level 17/18 (used to be the other way around), as well as learning Thunder Fang at level 29/33/35 and Crunch at level 33/38/42 (also used to be the other way around).
• Combee now learns Bug Bite at level 13.
• The Stunky family now learns Feint at level 18, Smokescreen at level 14 instead of 15, Fury Swipes at level 10 instead of 11 and Toxic at level 27 instead of 20.
• The Skorupi family now learns Knock Off at level 6 instead of Leer (rather than the previous level 23 for the attack) and gains Bug Bite at level 34.
• Yanmega now learns Feint at level 38.
• Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf now start with Confusion, learning Swift instead at level 21 (where they previously learned Confusion).
• Regigigas now starts with Dizzy Punch and Foresight instead of Stomp and learns Revenge at level 25 instead of Superpower.
• Darkrai now starts with Ominous Wind instead of Night Shade, learns Faint Attack instead of Pursuit at level 29, and Nasty Plot instead of Embargo at level 75.
• Shaymin now starts with Growth instead of Defense Curl, learns Sweet Kiss instead of Grasswhistle at level 82, and Healing Wish instead of Lucky Chant at level 91.

Legendary Tweaks

The hunt for all the legendaries of the game is slightly different in Platinum.

• Giratina, of course, is now found inside the Distortion World and is, like the mascot legendaries of the previous games, at level 47 when you fight it. Knocking it out will not make it gone forever, but allow you to find it near the portal in the final room of Turnback Cave for a second chance. Other legendaries will also respawn after a week if you accidentally knock them out.
• Dialga and Palkia are found at Spear Pillar after talking to Cynthia's grandmother, provided you have found the Adamant Orb (for Dialga) or Lustrous Orb (for Palkia) within Mt. Coronet. Or rather, they will not technically be there, but there will be a blue portal for Dialga and/or a pink one for Palkia, and by interacting with them, you can battle them. They are both at level 70.
• Heatran is still found in the same place in Stark Mountain, but this time the player must speak to Buck's grandfather in the Battleground after the Stark Mountain quest in the storyline before Heatran will appear.
• Regigigas is still found at the bottom floor of Snowpoint Temple and is awakened if you have Regirock, Regice and Registeel in your party. Now, however, Regigigas is level 1 when you fight it, so you'd better have that False Swipe. Ironically, this makes it more difficult to catch.
• In a surprising move, Game Freak decided to give us the legendary birds of Kanto in Platinum. Once you talk to Professor Oak in his house in Eterna City (near the entrance to Cycling Road), Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres will roam Sinnoh, making for a total of five running legendaries in the game.
• And... they also decided to give us the legendary golems of Hoenn... provided you have an event Regigigas. When you have such a Regigigas in your party, small caves on Route 228, Mt. Coronet and Iron Island that used to contain a Hard Stone, a Nevermeltice and a Metal Coat respectively will mysteriously grow an ominous statue and some dots on the floor, and if you interact with the statue and then step on the dots, Regirock, Regice or Registeel respectively will appear for you to fight at level 30.

Different Gift Pokémon

Riley will still give you the Riolu egg in Iron Island, but instead of the random Hiker giving you a Happiny egg in Hearthome City, Cynthia now gives you a Togepi egg after you have obtained your second badge. When you first get to Hearthome City, you will be able to receive a level 20 Eevee from Bebe in her house. Finally, in Veilstone, the house directly above the Pokémon Center has a man who will give you a level 25 Porygon.

You Can't Have Both Fossils

They had to do something about the fact that they could no longer just give one of the fossils to one game and the other to the other... so instead of just giving us both, because that would be too much, we can dig up Skull Fossils in the Underground if we have an odd Trainer ID and Armor Fossils if we have an even one.

Level 100 Magikarp

In Resort Area, you can now fish for wild Magikarp of any level, from 1 to 100. Yes, that's right. The highest-leveled wild Pokémon it has ever been legitimately possible to find on a Pokémon game is a Magikarp. Oh, the irony.

Foreign Dex Entries

There were foreign Pokédex entries in Diamond and Pearl too, but only for a select few Pokémon. Platinum has Pokédex entries in Japanese, English, French, German, Spanish and Italian for every Pokémon.

Page last modified August 13 2016 at 02:34 UTC

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