Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl have paid tribute to director and composer Junichi Masuda by hosting a special one-day event.
READ MORE: ‘Pokémon Brilliant Diamond’ review: a semi-triumphant return
If players head to Snowpoint City today (January 12), they will see “Diamond Dust” falling from the sky.
The same thing happened in the original Pokémon Diamond & Pearl games, to pay tribute to Masuda on his birthday.
Masuda has worked at Game Freak since its inception in 1989 and has worked on almost every title the studio has released. He was one of the original developers on Pokémon Red & Blue and since Ruby & Sapphire, Masuda has been one of the main employees who approve or reject designs for new Pokémon.
“Diamond Dust” replaces the light snow that usually falls in Snowpoint City and in previous generations, has also fallen on the anniversary of Pokémon Red‘s release (February 27), any leap days (February 29) and the discovery of Mew (March 31). The birthday of voice actor Sarah Natochenny (who has done the English dub of Ash Ketchum since 2006) has also seen “Diamond Dust” fall from the sky.
Today is January 12th and is one of the days you'll see Diamond Dust in Snowpoint City in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl.
In addition to that, it's one of the days you get both an encounter and a hatch rate boost: https://t.co/chnnU4GEcB pic.twitter.com/ipHY0FGE4m
— Joe Merrick (@JoeMerrick) January 12, 2022
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This isn’t the only Easter Egg fans have found in Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl either.
While most of the Canalave Library faithfully recreates the stories found in the original Diamond & Pearl games, hidden away on the second floor is an entirely new book, titled “The Sea’s Legend” which was apparently “only recently discovered” and mentions ‘Seaside Hollow’, which doesn’t exist in the mainline series.
Adding to the speculation that this new tale is more than just an off-hand addition is the revelation that the review embargo for Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl explicitly forbade mentioning any of the contents of the books in the Canalave Library, leading players to believe it has something to do with upcoming game Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
A minute-long trailer for Arceus was released yesterday and shows off a brief overview of the game, from Pokémon roaming free and engaging in battles to collecting materials needed to craft essential items like Pokéballs.
Developer The Pokémon Company has kept a lot of the details about Pokémon Arceus under wraps but last year, it did confirm that the game would not be a fully open-world experience.