Diamond and Pearl were the first Pokémon games playable online. With the Global Terminal in Jubilife City, you could trade with a trainer on the other side of the world without ever meeting them. Here is how Generation IV trading worked, and what is still possible today.
Trading serves three purposes: completing the Pokédex with the other version’s exclusives, evolving Pokémon that only evolve by trade, and obtaining Pokémon that gain more experience (a Pokémon received in a trade gains 50% more experience, and even more if it comes from a game in another language).
Note: a Pokémon received in a trade may not always obey if you do not have enough Badges for its level.
🤝Trading locally
In the basement of every Pokémon Center, the Union Room brings together nearby players over a local wireless connection. You can trade, battle, draw and chat there. You need two consoles and two game cards: Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, HeartGold and SoulSilver can trade with one another.
🌐The Global Terminal and the GTS
In Jubilife City, the Global Terminal housed the GTS (Global Trade Station): you deposited a Pokémon, specifying the one you wanted in return, and the deposit waited for a taker anywhere in the world. You could also browse other players’ offers.
The Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, which powered the GTS, online battles and the Wi-Fi Battle Tower, shut down in May 2014. Since then, these services no longer work with the official servers. Fan-run servers have taken over, but Nintendo does not support them: use them at your own risk.
🔁Moving your Pokémon around
- From the Game Boy Advance: Pal Park, after the National Pokédex (see step 34).
- To Generation V: Black and White’s Poké Transfer receives Pokémon from Diamond, Pearl and Platinum, using two DS consoles.
- To the Switch: from Black and White, Poké Transporter and Pokémon Bank on 3DS, then Pokémon HOME. The details are in our guide Playing Today.
