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Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl launches for Switch in November and will see the return of the Pokétch from the DS originals in updated form.
For those who didn’t play the original, the Pokétch was a device on the bottom screen of the DS that was basically like a pocket Pokémon Palm Pilot Smartwatch, with a calculator, a clock, and various apps that would help you become the very best, like no one ever was.
In this Pokétch guide we’ll detail all the new and returning apps as we find out. We don’t fully know which of these apps are returning or much about new ones at this stage (and obviously, we’ll update this guide once we know more) — but for now, we can tell you about the ones that existed in the original game, and what you can use them for.
Note. An asterisk by the name of an app means that it’s already been confirmed for the Diamond and Pearl remakes. Massive hat tip to Bulbapedia, whose knowledge and images were invaluable in putting together this guide.
New Pokétch Apps
Of course the developers have added new apps — but we might not get to learn about them until the games come out…
*Hidden Moves
The only new Pokétch app that was confirmed in the trailer was the Hidden Moves one, which lets you use HMs that wild Pokémon know.
This is, honestly, a game-changer: it means that you no longer have to sacrifice space in your party or space on your Pokémon’s move list to be able to traverse the world, and you can instead rely on the local wildlife. We can’t imagine just trusting a bear to ferry us across a river in real life, but we don’t really have to.
From the trailer, it looks like this app will be available early on — the moves “Rock Smash” and “Cut” are the only two moves visible in one of the shots of it, which are the rewards for completing the first and second Gyms.
Returning Pokétch Apps
We already know that some apps will be returning from the trailers and the website, and these are the ones confirmed so far:
*Digital Watch / Analogue Watch
You’ll never guess what this one does…
It’s a watch! For telling time! It will likely run off the Switch’s internal clock, and uhhh that’s about it.
The digital watch is included from the start, and the Analogue Watch can be obtained from a resident of Celestic Town.
Confirmed for BDSP in a trailer.
*Pedometer
This one won’t count your actual steps, like the Pokéwalker — it’s a total of your in-game steps. This might seem useless, but it’s important for hatching eggs (which is based on your step count) and getting items from your partner Pokémon in Amity Square, as well as checking how many steps you’ve taken in the Great Marsh Safari Zone, where you’ll be booted out after 500 steps.
The Pedometer is one of the few apps you have from the beginning.
Confirmed for BDSP in a trailer.
*Pokémon List
This is one of the basic apps that come pre-installed on the Pokétch, and it does exactly what it says: it lists your Pokémon. “But isn’t that just the same as the Pokémon menu?” you ask — and you are correct, it is. It displays the icon of each Pokémon, their HP level, whether or not they are holding an item (but not what the item is), and the status of the Pokémon, including whether they’re poisoned, paralysed, sleeping, or fainted. Useful? Not really.
Confirmed for BDSP in a trailer.
*Friendship Checker
Here’s an app we wish existed in real life: it lets you check how much your Pokémon like you. Friendship is pretty important, because it can determine evolutions, ribbons, items, and even how effective a move can be.
Your Pokémon are displayed as icons roaming around the screen, and you can tap them to see their friendship level. Two large hearts around your Pokémon mean that you’ve maxed out on friendship, and double-tapping makes them all jump. Lovely. This app can be obtained from a woman in Eterna City’s Pokémon Centre.
The Friendship Checker was confirmed for BDSP on the Pokémon website.
*Memo Pad
One of the best features of the DS was that you could take notes, and Pokémon Diamond and Pearl leaned right into that with the Memo Pad.
After obtaining the Coal Badge from the first gym, you’ll get the Memo Pad as a reward, allowing you to write down whatever Pokémon-related notes you have. However, if you turn off the game or change the application you’re using, it will erase the message. Here’s hoping they change that for the remake…
The Memo Pad was confirmed for BDSP on the Pokémon website.
*Dowsing Machine
There are two kinds of people in this world: People who love the item-finding in Pokémon games, and people who are wrong.
The Dowsing Machine, given to you when you reach Route 206, is Diamond & Pearl’s version of the Itemfinder, and touching the screen will let out a radar-like “ping” that can tell you how close you are to a hidden item, and where it is in relation to the player. This mechanic is even used later in the game to find lost items, so get used to using it!
Confirmed for BDSP in a trailer.
Original Apps We Haven’t Seen Yet
These ones were in the original games, but we haven’t been told if they’re returning yet.
Calculator
Sometimes you need to add numbers, and where else would you go, other than the calculator app on the Pokétch in Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl on the Nintendo Switch? It’s just so dang handy. This one is included with the Pokétch from the beginning, and has all your basic functions: addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.
The secret feature of this app is that, if an answer is the same as a Pokémon’s number in the Pokédex, it will make the cry of that Pokémon. Haven’t you always wanted a calculator that screams at you?
Berry Searcher
Berries got complicated in Generation III and IV, adding over fifty new types to the mix, all with different effects, and needing to be planted in soft soil and watered to get more. The yield of the tree varies depending on how often it was watered, so you really need to keep an eye on your plants in order not to waste the initial investment!
The Berry Searcher, which you get from the Berry Master on Route 208, shows you where you can find mature Berry trees — if you’re on top of your planting and watering game, and you really enjoy making Poffins, this is a must-have.
Day-Care Checker
It’s exhausting to have to fly or walk back to the Day Care Center every now and again to check on your Pokémon, but with the Day-Care Checker, you don’t have to bother with all that travelling nonsense — or waiting around outside the place, furiously cycling up and down.
You get this one from the Day Care (obviously) and it shows you all you need to know.
These details include the Pokémon currently in the Day Care, their current levels, and whether or not there’s an Egg waiting for you.
Pokémon History
This one is given to you by a resident of Solaceon Town.
You can find this gift-giving resident near the southern entrance (he’s the one with the hat).
He tells you the most recent twelve Pokémon you added to your collection in order, whether that’s through catching them in the wild, evolving them, trading for them, or hatching them from an Egg.
Useful for something, we’re sure… we just can’t think what. This one’s perhaps more of a novelty.
Also, if you touch the icon of a Pokémon, you can hear their cry! Fun.
Counter
Talk to the person at the counter on the second floor of the Veilstone Department Store to get the Counter, which is just a manual counter with a four-digit display.
You tap the plus sign to add one. If you want to count things, this is… well, it does that. Handy if you’ve got stuff to tot up, we suppose. Maybe you’re a bouncer counting people into a Poké Club or something.
The counter will be reset if you close the game or switch apps, though, so… just bear that in mind.
Marking Map
After you’ve won three Gym Badges, you’ll receive the Marking Map — a simplified version of the Sinnoh Map that you can add pins to.
It’s useful for remembering where important places are, like the Day Care Centre, the Department Store, the Casino, and so on, but it’s also where you’ll find the current locations of the roaming Legendaries: Cresselia, Mesprit, and the Legendary birds Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres.
The location changes as soon as you move between areas, though, so it’s only useful if you’re already there.
Link Searcher
After winning five badges, you’ll get the Link Searcher, which might not come to the Switch remake because it’s not really as useful on modern consoles.
The Link Searcher lists the number of DSes around you who are also using wireless communications, which means that you can interact with them to participate in the Underground, battle them, or make trades with them. We might see a revamped version of this, because all of those features are confirmed for the remakes!
Coin Toss
Use Rock Climb to scale a hill in Valor Lakefront (Route 213) and you’ll find a secluded house. Go into the house to meet a couple, one of whom will give you the Coin Toss app, which functions exactly the same as a coin… which you can get pretty much anywhere. In fact, a coin is more useful, because you can spend it on things when you get bored of flipping it.
Tap the screen, and a Magikarp coin with heads and tails (or “Magikarp” and “nothing”) on it will be flipped, helping you choose between two things, if you’re into that.
Move Tester
By now, a lot of battle-hardened Pokémon trainers have no doubt memorised the effectiveness of all the move types (with phrases like “Psychic beats Fighting because Brain beats Brawn”), but for those who still don’t have it nailed down, the Move Tester — received after getting the seventh Gym Badge — can help.
At the bottom is the type you want to test, and at the top are two categories that you can change, and you’ll get an answer in semi-cryptic format. Three exclamation marks means that the move is the regular amount of effective, and anything more is super effective.
Calendar
Do you ever get so invested in Pokémon that you forget which day it is? Show a Serious Pokémon to a chap in Sunyshore City to get the Calendar (you’ll need Rock Climb to get to him), and you’ll never have that problem again, you big nerd.
The current day (presumably obtained from the Switch’s own internal clock and calendar) is highlighted with a box around it.
You couldn’t do much with it in the original, but maybe the remake will have more functionality?
Dot Artist
Show the same guy in Sunyshore City a Pokémon with a Naive nature to get the Dot Artist app, which lets you draw extremely primitive pixel art.
It’s all in black-and-white (or, well, dark-green-and-green, because it’s styled like a Game Boy screen) and you can change the darkness by tapping multiple times on the same square.
It’s limited… but that doesn’t mean that people haven’t made great art with it all the same!
Roulette
Show that guy in Sunyshore a Pokémon with a Quirky nature to get Roulette, which is a little spinning wheel that you can draw on. If the Coin Flip isn’t enough for you, maybe this can help you make decisions?
Sadly, it’s not actual roulette, so no chance of winning big or, more likely, losing it all to the house.
Although if you draw really detailed, tiny markings on the wheel, you could always run a gambling ring from within Diamond and Pearl. We won’t tell Nintendo if you don’t!
Trainer Counter
When you enter Pal Park, which is right at the end of the main story, Prof Oak will give you the Trainer Counter, which counts how many times in a row you have met the same Pokémon.
True trainers will know that this is useful for chaining, which is a method used to raise the rate of Shiny Pokémon — this app will also show your current chain if you’re using the Poké Radar, which is another Key Item in the game that’s used for hunting Shinies.
Kitchen Timer
Show a Snorlax to a girl in Pal Park and you’ll receive this Snorlax-themed Kitchen Timer, which counts down the amount of time you’ve set, ending with an alarm.
When the alarm goes off, Snorlax will drum his belly, which automatically makes this one of the best apps you can get on the Pokétch. It’s very cute. Everyone loves a Snorlax.
In Diamond and Pearl, Snorlax can only be obtained by evolving Munchlax. Luckily, Munchlax is relatively easy to find.
Color Changer
Show the same girl a Kecleon and she’ll give you the Color Changer, an app that lets you change the background colour of the Pokétch to yellow, orange, red, purple, blue, teal, or grey. You can change it back to green, too.
Kecleon is a little hard to come by, but you can find him in the original Diamond on Route 210 by using the Poké Radar. In Pearl, you had to trade to get him, and in Platinum, he was made available in the Great Marsh after obtaining the National Pokédex. He could also be found in the late-game Pal Park, but only by transferring him from other games.
Stopwatch
If you already have the Kitchen Timer, and you also have a Voltorb in your party, show it to the girl in Pal Park to get this app: It’s a Stopwatch themed around Voltorb, which counts up instead of down, like the opposite of the Kitchen Timer.
If you hold down the button, Voltorb explodes, and makes the stopwatch unusable for a few seconds, which is exactly what you want from a stopwatch!
??? Apps
These last two were either released as location-specific events, or they were never released at all — that doesn’t mean they definitely won’t come to the remake, but they’re not guaranteed.
Matchup Checker
The Matchup Checker, which lets you examine the breeding compatibility of Pokémon in your current party, was a Japan-only release as part of a Nintendo event in Pokémon Center stores.
The Luvdiscs are there for illustration purposes — the two Pokémon being matched up are the ones on the bottom.
However, it was included in Pokémon Platinum — catch five Pokémon in one Safari trip and you’ll receive it as a reward.
Alarm Clock
This Loudred-themed Alarm Clock was never released, but in keeping with the clocks and alarms theme, it will go off at a time that you set. The alarm rings for an entire minute unless you turn it off or switch apps.
We can’t imagine anyone actually uses their Nintendo Switch as a viable wake-up solution, but maybe that’ll change if this app makes it to the remake.
Fun fact about Loudred: he has a weird, stumpy tail with a hole in it, which is presumably styled after the auxiliary input port that you might plug speakers or headphones into. Creepy!
We hope you found this Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl Pokétch guide informative. That’s everything we know so far about the Pokétch, and we’ll hopefully learn more in time — but, for now, we hope this helped in some way, and we recommend keeping an eye out for more Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl guides to come!
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