Yahoo! Kids official Pokémon website updated
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The official Pokémon Diamond and Pearl website on Yahoo! Kids has been updated with the news previously published in the September issue of CoroCoro, with some additional details about the operation of the Global Trade Station, the new Pokémon Super Contests and the underground world of Shin'ō. The Pokémon Garden feature has also been updated with some new "secrets" (see our report), and the Pearl Tour is finally available.
Global Trade Station
The Global Trade Station, or GTS, allows players from all over the country, and possibly all over the world, to trade Pokémon on a massive scale: Players are not limited to trading with other players through Friend Code sharing.
The GTS, unlike traditional trading, is asynchronous and appears to operate in on principles similar to computerised stock exchanges. The player deposits the Pokémon he or she wants to trade at the GTS, then also inputs the Pokémon he or she would like in return, with the option of specifying the preferred gender and level. If a matching offer/request is found, a trade is achieved; what happens if no match is found is as yet unknown, but it is safe to assume that the offer/request remains in the system.
The player may also search for deposited Pokémon without making an offer.
Pokémon Super Contests
As previously reported, the next generation of Pokémon Contests, dubbed Pokémon Super Contests, consist of three parts:
- Visual judging (ビジュアル審査)
- Using the touch screen, the player dresses up his or her Pokémon with accessories. It has now been revealed that the dress-up is themed, and that a time limit exists.
- Dance judging (ダンス審査)
- The player choreographs his or her Pokémon and three backup dancers— points are awarded for coordination and rhythm.
- Performance judging (えんぎ審査)
- As in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, the player impresses the audience and judges using his or her Pokémon's moves.
It has been confirmed that Pokémon Super Contests will continue the five-category split from the Pokémon Contests. A rank-level system also exists, though it has not been confirmed how many levels there will be: At least three exist, including the Normal and Master ranks.
Pofin (ポフィン)
Whereas in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire the player would feed Pokéblocks to his or her Pokémon to improve their "condition scores", in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, the player feeds Pofin (ポフィン), also made from berries, instead. After the player gathers the ingredient berries, he or she can go to a Pofin bakery (ポフィンりょうりハウス) to make Pofin.
Shin'ō underground
A massive underground passage (ちかつうろ) exists in Shin'ō. An old man you meet on your journey was apparently the first to excavate it, and there are many stories about the underground. Once you receive a drill (あなほりドリル) from the old man, you can start building your own underground secret base.
The underground world of Shin'ō is in fact a giant playground: If you have an expedition set (たんけんセット), you can go fossil-hunting (カセキほり) and obtain fossils (カセキ), stones (いし) and orbs (タマ). The caves are prone to collapse, so players have to be fast in retrieving their artifacts. While fossils and stones can be used outside, the orbs can be used to trade for a variety of things in the underground world.
As previously reported, players can also play capture the flag (ハタとり) in the underground over Wi-Fi. Players place flags in their respective secret bases, and set off to capture their opponent's flag. However, because the entrance to the secret base is a secret, the player must first find his or her opponent's secret base. The victorious player will receive an upgrade to his or her secret base and become able to place more items in it.
Players may set various traps to deter their opponents— a dropped boulder can be removed by using the touch pen, and the flying leaves can be swept away by blowing into the microphone. Another trap throws the player some distance backward (or forward, depending on the direction the trap was set).