Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl were updated last night to fix a number of glitches used for speedrunning and shiny hunting.
Since reporting that Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl was beaten in just 33 minutes two days ago (November 29), speedrunners have already reduced that time to just 17 minutes. However, yesterday (December 1) ILCA released a patch that removed many of the glitches which players were using to complete the game faster.
The patch notes are as follows:
Ver. 1.1.2
- Fixed some issues that would prevent the game from progressing under certain circumstances.
- Some issues have also been fixed for more pleasant gameplay.
While these notes are very vague players have been trying out their favourite glitches to check which ones are still available. The first point is believed to be related to the game crashing. This happened fairly frequently particularly if players hit the buttons in rapid succession, known as mashing.
Menu storage was the most important glitch for speedrunning. It allowed players to save anywhere in the game. This means they could clip out of bounds, save and reload back into the game. Doing so can skip large amounts of the story.
Recommended
The menu storage glitch was very easily achieved by pressing two buttons at the same time on the menu screen. This has been removed in most cases. However, players can still do it in very specific circumstances involving strength boulders.
Another speedrun glitch called “Surf on Land” which allowed players to ride their Bibarel on land to previously unreachable areas has also been fixed in cases where players use trainers to initiate it. There may still be other methods of achieving it though.
Using the Surf on Land glitch players found the mythical Pokémon Shaymin hiding in the same area that it is in the original game. There was no legitimate way to reach Shaymin in-game, and it was likely to become available later as part of an event, much like in the original titles. Shaymin however has since been removed.
Most disappointing for fans is the removal of the duping glitch. This allowed players to overwrite one Pokémon with another. Using this method you could quickly dupe any number of Pokémon and the item they are holding such as master balls, rare candies or bottle caps. It also allowed players to make a Pokémon shiny.
Players were hoping that many shiny hunting methods which were different than in other games were also bugs. The shiny charm, which is only available after catching almost 500 different Pokémon, no longer helps increase the chances of meeting the different coloured Pokémon through encounters.
Also, the Pokéradar previously increased the number of good stats all Pokémon have with every ten encounters. Now it is only the tenth Pokémon that is improved. Disappointingly neither of these have been changed in the patch.
ILCA has also prevented players from walking up the slope in the Snowpoint gym. The gym has a very long sliding ice puzzle, which could be avoided by walking up the slope to the gym leader Candice at an angle. This has been fixed. However, if players time a repel to run out in front of her steps this will stop their momentum and they can walk up the stairs.
Other glitches are still available in the game, though it is likely that ILCA is working to fix these too. It possibly released this patch to fix the most game-breaking bugs as soon as possible, leaving the harder to achieve bugs, most involving precise timing, for a later update.
In other news, a teaser trailer for Aftermath a psychological horror game has been released.