Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Luminous Pearl had a ton of glitches when they came out. Some were funny, most of which were harmless, but some made it extremely easy for players to bulk clone rare and powerful Pokemon. It was an absolute frenzy. Now the developers behind the Gen 4 remakes are fighting back with a new line of code that prevents players from trading or battling their cheated Pokemon.
patch Version 1.2.0 went live last night, added coliseum battles and advanced Union Room functionality. But Nintendo’s vague patch notes also hinted at an important gameplay change. “Some Pokémon acquired through unintended methods or unauthorized modifications can no longer be used in Link Trades or Link Battles,” they read.
According to Pokémon datamine experts Kaphotics, this was achieved through a “PokeDupeChecker” that looks at every Pokémon a player owns and flags suspicious clones. “When will this clone check be triggered? Open the trade window with another player or load into the game” he wrote on Twitter. Kaphotics also noted that the checker only marks the second clone, leaving the player free trade and struggle with their originals.
Players started noticing the change shortly after it went live and were confused when much of their squad had a large prohibition sign overhead.
not how traditional “hacked” Pokemonclones with bdspThe duplication errors of are exact copies of naturally occurring Pokémon. The only indication that they’re “illegal” is if they’re a perfect match for other Pokémon the player already owns. Therefore, the move seems designed to stop the spread of more Clones by binding existing ones to the game map they currently exist on.
It’s been months since the mass cloning bugs were discovered, so in a way the damage has already been done. Still, the new PokeDupeChecker will help mitigate the impact for new and returning players. That is Pokemon We’re talking about it though, so players are obviously split about the new patch, with some happy that Game Freak and ILCA are finally taking action, while others saw the clones as a fun wrinkle rolled into one otherwise stunning paint-by-the-numbers pair of remakes.
In terms of timing, the patch will likely come out now, paving the way for Global Wonder Station fans who have been eagerly awaiting it. The original version in the DS games featured an auction trading house, but players are hoping the revamped section will contain some new surprises. The location in the Sinnoh region has been “under construction” since launch.
