8/10 – 30 hours
Finished on 1/21/2026, written on 2/21/2026
My team of goons!
- “Waltermon” the Empoleon
- “PENTAGON!!” the Togekiss
- “Dinner.” the Rotom (Heat Form)
- “OwTheEdge” the Weavile
- “PHLSubway” the Leafeon
- “Smegmans” the Hippowdon
I will try to be subjective, but hear me out.
One of my all time favorite games, both as a kid and now. When life gets tough, these old Pokémon games take me back to a time where everything was simpler. Battling and trading with my best friend Kyle growing up in rural Illinois, eager to tell each other about our playthrough progress at school each morning. Running to each other’s houses to play with the sweet spring breeze flowing. The banger tunes emanating from our tiny DS speakers and bouncing around my head throughout the school day.
That’s not to say this game is perfect. While being a much simpler and tighter experience compared to modern titles, we can’t forget the absolutely BAFFLING design choices these old games had. Platinum in particular is guilty of:
- HM moves. Largely weak moves that must be learned by your Pokémon to progress in most mandatory overworld areas. Unable to be replaced by other moves before unlocking an NPC that can delete them.
- Forget wanting to bring your team of beloved team members along to the climax of the game, you’re either stuck with a Bibarel or 1-2 shitty moves per Mon.
- Limited TMs and Heart Scales severely restricting teambuilding and move teaching potential for your Pokémon.
- Slow tutorials that are unskippable
- Annoying random encounters
- Baffling movesets for some Pokemon, locking them out of their true potential until well into the late game.
- Leafeon not learning any strong physical Grass moves until Leaf Blade at LEVEL 75. If it weren’t for the shard tutors teaching Seed Bomb, he would be unholy levels of mid.
- Hippowdon also doesn’t learn DIG. Not until Heartgold and SoulSilver. These are only a few examples lol.
- Planned obsolescence. Event Pokémon and areas that are permanently locked out since it isn’t 2009 anymore and you can’t go to GameStop to get the items you need to access them. How am I supposed to NOT use a save editor at this point?
- That’s how I got the item needed to change Rotom’s forms. Why is a key mechanic of the Pokémon locked behind an event that would inevitably disappear into the ether??
This game is not without its flaws. But despite this, Platinum is part of the generation of Pokémon were Game Freak still cared. Pokémon was still a smash hit 20 years ago, but they were still solid games through and through. Game Freak did not submit to the profitability of the franchise and still cared about making rock solid, memorable experiences. Their snappiness and wealth of Pokémon to use meant endless replayability. The stories, environments, characters, and above all MUSIC were iconic and live within the hearts and minds of millions. It’s so much fun to move from place to place with your Pokémon, exploring cool and varied areas and slowly growing stronger through steady challenges and rising tensions in the story. Moment to moment gameplay is largely tight and engaging (assuming you like battling a whole lot). Did I mention the music is incredible? The music is incredible.
No, I will not shut up. Listen to these.
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