Version Exclusives

Like every generation, the fourth is played in pairs: some Pokémon can only be caught in Diamond, others only in Pearl. Platinum shuffles the deck a bit, with its own exclusives and a few notable absentees. Here is the complete table, so you know what to trade, and with whom.

This list counts Pokémon that can be caught in the wild in only one of the three versions, whatever the method: grass, water, fishing, Poké Radar, swarms, Honey Trees or inserting a Game Boy Advance cartridge. Legendary Pokémon are covered separately, in our guide Legendary and Mythical Pokémon.

A Pokémon missing from one version can almost always get in through trading, through the GTS (at the Global Terminal in Jubilife City) or, from the Game Boy Advance games, through Pal Park.

💎Exclusives, version by version

⚖️Diamond or Pearl: the real differences

Beyond the lists, two families often tip the balance:

• Diamond offers Larvitar (with the Poké Radar, on Route 207), the family of the future Tyranitar, and Scyther, which becomes Scizor by trade while holding a Metal Coat. It’s also the version of Murkrow, Stunky and Aron.
• Pearl answers with Bagon (with the Poké Radar on Route 210), the Salamence family, as well as Pinsir, Misdreavus and Glameow. Pearl also hosts Slowpoke and Houndour.

The cover Legendary Pokémon does the rest: Dialga in Diamond, Palkia in Pearl. In Platinum, both can be caught after the League.

🚫What Platinum doesn’t have

Platinum reworked the distribution of wild Pokémon. In exchange for its 59 newcomers, it lost several Pokémon from Diamond and Pearl, which can no longer be found in the wild:

Bellsprout, Seel, Porygon, Lanturn, Skiploom, Murkrow, Misdreavus, Houndoom, Elekid, Magby, Mightyena, Sharpedo, Trapinch, Vibrava, Spheal, Clamperl, Glameow, Purugly, Stunky and Skuntank.

🔁Completing your Pokédex without the other version

1. Local trading between two DS consoles, at the Pokémon Center (in the basement, in the Union Room).
2. The GTS in Jubilife City: it worked online over the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, which shut down in 2014. Fan-run servers have taken over, with no guarantee from Nintendo.
3. Pal Park, after the National Pokédex: six Pokémon per day from Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, FireRed or LeafGreen.
4. Inserting a GBA cartridge in the DS slot, which makes certain Pokémon from Kanto and Hoenn appear in Sinnoh.

Full details in our guides Wi-Fi, GTS and Trading and Swarms, Poké Radar and GBA Slot. And if you’re still hesitating over which version to pick, see Diamond, Pearl or Platinum?