Pokémon Diamond and Pearl remakes get Wonder Trades, reigniting excitement for the game

Written by. Nick Mosier based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2022-03-17 17:10 JST)

The Pokémon Company released Ver 1.3.0 of Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl on March 17. The update not only includes a special event linked with Pokémon Legends: Arceus, but also the addition of the Global Wonder Station, or GWS. With the GWS, players have access to what’s called a Wonder Trade where they select a Pokémon to trade and are matched with a trading partner over the internet. And until your new Pokémon arrives, you have no idea what it will be.

The Wonder Trade feature first debuted in Pokémon X and Y and has been a staple of the series since. While it’s been a bit delayed with Pokémon BDSP, this latest update has finally implemented it into the game. The thrill of the Wonder Trade is that feeling of excitement about what Pokémon you might receive. You might even be surprised by getting something that’s truly rare. Because of its quick and random fun, we can already see players on social media pouring effort into it, with one even tweeting that they spent 10 hours making Wonder Trades until they got the Pokémon they wanted.

Sometimes the fun is just receiving a Pokémon you didn’t expect. One example is the below player that looks to have received a Swinub via Wonder Trade. But it was no ordinary Swinub. It was a shiny variant that the player happily accepted despite the surprise. For every report of a player receiving a shiny, there’s also a generous player out there trading one away.

Wonder Trades in Pokémon BDSP also have another neat feature. The location of your trading partner is shown on a globe and points on the globe are represented by a 1-to-3-digit number. For example, Hokkaido, Japan is marked by point 1 and the southeastern part of Australia is point 625. As you trade with players around the world, your globe will slowly become filled with these points. And after getting a set number of points, you receive a Rare Candy as a gift. It looks like there’s even someone in Antarctica making trades, much to the surprise of their trade partners. Perhaps these unexpected global interactions are another thrill of Wonder Trades.

[Update 2022/03/18 16:22 JST] Updated the text to match the Japanese article.