3/5 ★ – cylindricalcat's review of Pokémon Shining Pearl.

I played Pearl so long ago (2007) that I honestly could not remember what it felt like to play. Sinnoh never clicked as much for me compared to Hoenn and Unova, but I felt like I should give this game a shot. I'm pleased to say that this remake presents a region I truly like – it's fairly non-linear compared to what I've seen of Alola and Galar, it has a pretty good diversity of habitats, including the great addition of snow, and there's a distinct focus on myths and legends which serves the story well. There are some annoyances here (namely, the oft-criticized party-wide EXP Share and changed affection system) and some benefits (the removal of HMs and the return of following Pokémon). One main thing that really made me like this game a lot more than I otherwise would have, though, is the revamped Underground. In the Grand Underground, which you can access before the second gym, the devs have added Hideaways brimming with rare Pokémon which you couldn't get as early in the originals, as well as formerly honey tree-only encounters such as Munchlax and Combee. This is great for team composition and player freedom as well as expanding the diversity of habitats you see in the region. The treasure minigame is still here, too, and you can dig for statues which raise the encounter rate of specific Pokémon types. This expanded area works well as a diversion from the main story that you can pop into a few times throughout a playthrough. I think it chiefly succeeds in this regard when you stumble upon an item or Pokémon instead of specifically searching for it, which probably isn't a dynamic unique to this game. While there is a lot of RNG, as someone who far prefers symbol / overworld encounters to the typical random encounters and likes the treasure minigame, the Underground was sometimes even better than aboveground. In the postgame, however, hacking away at the treasure game serves as the only method to get the materials necessary to catch legendary Pokémon, for some reason. I feel like it could have been done in a different, better way than that. As much as I genuinely enjoy the minigame, I don't want it to be tied to the universally-enjoyed activity of getting legendaries. I haven't described much negative about this game because I see it so often in other reviews. But... yeah, the EXP Share made me overleveled from the third gym all the way until the Elite Four. The affection system also cheapened high-stakes fights, including one Elite Four match where my Drifblim avoided six moves in a row because he felt like it, I guess. I really don't see why the affection has to crop up in every endgame fight, especially when Sun and Moon actually let you pet your Pokémon while still not being this intrusive during battles. Not having much memory of Sinnoh beyond who the gym leaders are, the Pokédex, and a general knowledge of the map, I don't really know if this is a good remake. What I do think is that it's a passable game that has a lot of annoyances and a lot of fun. Score: 6/10 (good) Platform: Switch Time: 30 hours