Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, the hottest new Pokemon games for the Nintendo DS, are soon going to be taking the world by storm! The latest expansion to the Pokemon series includes many new features and improved gameplay, including the ability to tap into Wi-Fi to trade and battle with players from all around the world!

The two games - which are essentially the same except for a few differences in the obtainable Pokemon - were released on September 28th, 2006 in Japan, and April 22nd, 2007 in the USA. The games feature a solid 107 new Pokemon, several of which are evolutions of older Pokemon.

The world map in the game is enormous, and there are plenty of places to go, Trainers to battle, and Pokemon to catch throughout your journey. Each Town and City has a different background music which makes each location unique in that right. Even looks-wise the cities look quite different from each other. I would certainly have to say that they did a very good job on designing the world of Sinnoh, which is what the new Pokemon region is called. There's even a snowy location to the north!

With the games being on the Nintendo DS, the graphical abilities have been upgraded. Although the game isn't a fully 3D adventure, such as either of the Gamecube games, it feels much less flat than any of the older Pokemon GBA games. The environment is a blend of both traditional 2D Pokemon graphics with some 3D perspectives thrown in to add to the effect.

All of the game sprites received a massive revamp, and are now even larger and more lively than the GBA generation. They're all animated, very similar to the animation style in Pokemon Emerald, but some Pokemon's sprites are different depending on the Pokemon's gender! For instance, a Male Pikachu looks pretty much like the Pikachu that we've always seen (not to say that every Pikachu up to this point was Male, though), but now Female Pikachus have a differently shaped tail to help distinguish their gender. The gender differences are very subtle, and not all of the Pokemon have gender differences, which was disappointing, but it's still a nice idea.

One slick gadget you get throughout the game is the Pokétch, which is like a versatile Pokemon Watch that you can get various applications for that tell you various information. One of the first Poketch application you'll get is a standard digital clock. Another is a mini map. There's also a step counter, a calculator... even a coin flipper! All of the functions of the Poketch take place on the DS's lower screen and are used by touching the screen with the stylus.

Speaking of the touch screen, it isn't used horribly frequently, which I know several DS purists will disapprove of, but I'm personally glad that they didn't force you into using it. You can use it to select attacks and stuff, and it does have some uses even outside of the Poketch, such as with Pokemon Contests (which have also been improved!), but you will use the top screen to play the game on and the bottom screen is only a tool to help you out with certain things. It's still handy whenever it's used, and like I said, I'm glad that they kept the controls of Pokemon Diamond and Pearl true to their predecessors, although the X and Y buttons seem to be used now instead of the Start and Select buttons, which I actually found more convenient once I got used to it.

All and all, I would say that Pokemon Diamond and Pearl are likely the best Pokemon games that I have played. They were filled with tons of Pokemon, lots of features and things you could do, great graphics for a Pokemon game, and it was just an all-around enjoyable experience playing them. I strongly recommend getting either Diamond or Pearl when the games are released on April 22nd! You won't be disappointed!

Until then, and far after, I will continue to bring you as much coverage and information on the two games as possible. Get ready for a wild ride!