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The Underground is a special area featured in Diamond and Pearl where players can hang out online in a virtual space. On a smaller scale, Diamond and Pearl features like The Underground also helped players connect to their local communities.
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The expanded scope of the trading feature meant players became more aware of each other, and connected despite language barriers and distance.Ĭarrying another player’s Pokémon with you was an honour, and a source of pride. These were Pokemon that arrived from overseas, who were loved enough to be given nicknames, and through the Nintendo DS they arrived on another console halfway around the world. They helped young kids understand more about the world, and widened the scope of their perspective. Sometimes these were names in Chinese or Korean characters, which required some translation. Many online trades sent players Pokemon with different-language nicknames.
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Pokemon have the ability to retain nicknames when they’re traded online. More than that, it helped them realise they came from all over the globe. While communication features with overseas players was still limited in the Diamond and Pearl generation, the GTS helped many realise how many other Pokemon players there were in the world. Read: Tabletop gaming is adopting digital tools for a brighter future If you were having trouble finding a legendary Dialga or Palkia, there was always a friendly, unknown player waiting with you in mind.Īll you had to do was log onto the game’s GTS, and request whatever Pokemon you had in mind. With Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, the game’s community began working together to help each other build their libraries. For the first time, players could head online and exchange Pokemon or battle with total strangers.Ĭompleting a Pokédex by discovering every Pokemon on your path was once a lonesome task. These new systems served to better connect players to their friends, but also introduced players to the global Pokemon community. Pokemon Diamond and Pearl were the first two games in the Pokemon franchise to take advantage of the console’s Wi-Fi capability, using the feature to implement a new Global Trade System (GTS), internet battles, and a nifty multiplayer area known as The Underground. Image: The Pokemon Company International / Nintendo It wasn’t until the Nintendo DS era where connectivity via the internet was native and accessible - and it opened up a whole world of possibilities for players. The Game Boy and Game Boy Advance both had ‘link cable’ accessories that would help players battle and trade their Pokemon, but this required an additional purchase that many young players couldn’t spring for. The Pokemongames had always been popular, but the nature of the late 1990s handheld titles meant it was difficult to share your little monsters with friends. For the Pokemon franchise in particular, it wound up being essential for connecting players and creating new, shared experiences. In the world of games, the internet was a transformative tool. Sure, it had existed in decades prior, but it wasn’t until the early 2000s boom that it really entered the homes of kids and invaded their day-to-day lives.įor many, it meant hours spent on Neopets or Habbo Hotel on PC, trawling the internet for fun games and friends to chat to. It’s hard to fathom there was a time before the internet, now that it’s consumed so much of our lives - but in the early 2000s, a generation of kids was slowly coming to terms with what the internet really was.