Play to win
The Pokemon Contests introduced in Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire make a return but have been vastly upgraded for DS. These non-violent Pokemon pageants focus on beauty and other less battleworthy traits.
First up is the Visual Contest, a simple and shallow Pokemon dress-up game. Using items collected on your adventure, you can dress your Pokemon in a variety of hats, flowers and other accessories. Many accessories are given out as rewards for planting berries in the wild, which ties nicely in the next contest.
The performance contest is more complicated. Every battle move exemplifies beauty, coolness, cuteness, smartness or toughness. These traits can be improved by feeding your Pokemon loaves of berry-licious bread called Pofin - and you'll raise the berries and knead the dough yourself. Once your Pokemon's stats have been raised the actual performance begins, where you'll compete against another Pokemon to win the judges' affection.
Finally, the dance contest is a simple stylus-based rhythm game, during which your help your Pokemon sing and dance by tapping buttons on the lower screen.
Regional relocation
The last major addition to the game is one fans felt was sorely missing from Ruby and Sapphire: Pokemon transfer. Game Boy Advance's limitations prevented importing Pokemon from older editions; good thing DS has a GBA cartridge slot...
After completing the game, you'll gain access to the Pal Park, a small area to catch your previous Pokemon. Up to six Pokemon can be transferred a day from each cartridge and once transferred must be caught again. Don't worry, this isn't as hard as it sounds - Park Balls always snare their prey.
These are the exact Pokemon you had before, retaining all of their moves, stats, shininess and even items. You'll actually have to transfer old Pokemon to get every one in Diamond and Pearl, so we hope you didn't trade in your old cartridges.
The GBA slot can also be used to increase the types of Pokemon you encounter in the wild. For example, if you have a Pokemon LeafGreen cartridge in the GBA slot, wild Elekids can be caught, while FireRed will make Magby appear.
Ready for more? Check outour crash course in the hottest new Pokemon you can catch, raise, and battlein the final instalment of our three part Pokemon Diamond and Pearl special.
