How Long Does It Take To Beat Pokemon Brilliant Diamond And Shining Pearl?

Gamers have been excited about  "Pokémon Brilliant Diamond" and "Shining Pearl" ever since Game Freak first started teasing remakes of these beloved games. But fans were also a bit worried about the remakes and how true they'd be to the originals, wondering if they'd include the expanded content and quality of life improvements from later games in the franchise. Just how many Pokémon will be in these, anyway? Can you truly catch 'em all in "Brilliant Diamond" and "Shining Pearl?" All of these concerns have contributed to the larger question of how much time it might take players to beat "Pokémon Brilliant Diamond" and "Shining Pearl."

"Pokémon" games feature many unique and iconic mechanics, but they are RPGs at their heart. That means players who pick them up have a tendency to rack in the hours, but none of them are more time consuming than the original "Pokémon Diamond" and "Pearl." GameRant noted that the original "Diamond" and "Pearl" were easily the longest games in the "Pokémon" franchise, clocking in at a whopping 41 hours. It makes sense that fans are wondering if the new Nintendo Switch versions will be just as long. 

Unfortunately for Game Freak, "Brilliant Diamond" and "Shining Pearl" somehow made their way into the wild before the intended release date, which allowed some people to start streaming the two leaked "Pokemon" remakes on Twitch. This allowed some gamers to get an idea of how long it would take to beat "Pokémon Brilliant Diamond" and "Shining Pearl." According to HowLongToBeat, early players reported needing an average time of 21-29 hours to complete the games, depending on how much side content is explored.

Since critics have gotten their hands on the remakes, this figure has seemingly been confirmed.  In fact, according to Digital Trends, the game is easier to complete than the original because of the improvements made to the remakes. So players shouldn't be surprised to find that they've conquered Team Galactic and the Sinnoh League within 30 hours. 

That shorter runtime doesn't mean the game doesn't still have plenty of life in it, though. Bonus endgame content like the Grand Underground will likely keep players coming back for more. Meanwhile, Shiny Pokémon hunters and players who want to catch 'em all will likely find that filling out their Pokédex adds a considerable amount of time to their gameplay.