Man, those legendary birds are a bit trickier to catch. They're the only ones I haven't caught yet.
xp Let's see, what else is new in Platinum...
Area PersonalitiesIn general, a lot of the environments have differences from D/P and eachother in order to give different areas different personalities. Some areas have slightly different hues. For example, blue~ish hues in Mt. Coronet when heading towards the snowy north of Sinnoh, or the red~ish hues inside Stark Mountain. However, that is not all.
As another example, the Oreburgh mine looks more like a mine and less like a cave. Walls are lined with boards and it has an artificially-lit feel. Or the Great Marsh, which looks much more swamp-like and less like a bunch of mud.
The most interesting change is the Battle Island. All sprites are completely different from the rest of the game. Instead of the same old tree, the island is populated by trees that look like palm trees. The colors are much brighter. Overall, the Battle Island successfully resembles a tropical island.
Resort Area ChangesIt appears that one of the houses in the resort area is given to you to do with what you please. You can buy a bunch of furniture for it, but you're not allowed to place it (it is automatically places in a pre-decided spot.)
Top Trainer CafeIn the Survival Area, there is a Cafe that opens up once you've successfully taken care of events at Stark Mountain. Within this cafe is where you can re-battle past Gym Leaders as mentioned before. However, it has since been found out that you can also battle people you've teamed up with.
Everybody has a team of five pokemon in the low-to-mid 60s.
Rival Weekend BattlesIn D/P, after all was said and done, you get a chance every weekend to battle against your Rival. This has returned in Platinum. You'll be able to find your Rival standing in front of the Top Trainer Cafe.
However, people looking through the game data have found battle data for the Rival which suggests the level of his pokemon may increase. In the final "phase", his pokemon will levels 79 to 85, making them one of the highest level in-game teams ever made.
Elite Four after National DexOnce you obtain the National Dex, the levels of the Elite Fours' pokemon will go up by 16. It's also possible that they gain additional moves (my guess since they send their pokemon out in a slightly different order.)
Cynthia's Garchomp ranks in the highest at level 78.
Rotom's Formes ; the mechanics finally solvedFor the past few days, it has been known that the Secret Key is the Mystery Gift item Nintendo announced would be given out from September the 28th through (some ending date I can't remember.) How to use this item has been discovered.
Within Team Galactic's Eterna City base (I think), the Secret Key will open up a secret room with four appliances in it. Whenever you pick one up, Rotom will possess the item. At that moment, he will be given the chance to learn a move unique to the machine. For example, the Washing Machine would give him Hydro Pump.
Apparently, you can return Rotom back to normal at any time by putting the appliance back, although he forgets the unique move.
In related news, Mystery Gift is activated the same exact way in Platinum as it was in D/P. In case you're reading this wanting to activate it yourself,
Bulbapedia has the words you need, but I'll give you a little extra Nadian assistance in finding them. ^_~
First, it's helpful to know that the Japanese words you enter are exactly the same as the english words, just phonetically spelled out in Japanese.
Second, when looking for a word, there's a helpful mode you can access by using the touchscreen on the bottom. It's a search mode that allows you to search by the first letter! Three of the words are pretty easy to find using that tool.
First Word: みんな ; you can find it by using the before-mentioned search for just the first letter. It words well! I believe it's the last entry, too.
Second Word: ハッピー ; this one gave me the most trouble, but when I found out that the word was just "happy" it was easy to find. Look in the word category in the lower-left corner.
Third Word: Wi-Fi ; from the search mode, select the "-" ; it displays the few english words, making Wi-Fi easy to find.
Fourth Word: つうしん ; once again, just searching for the first letter makes it simple. I believe it shows up in the results as the second word.
Dialga and PalkiaYup, you can catch both in the game. As soon as the events on top of Mt Coronet happen, you get credit for seeing both Dialga and Palkia in your pokedex. The good news for meta-gamers is that their underlying stats are not determined at this moment!
Now, both Dialga and Palkia are re-encountered on top of Mt Coronet (at the Spear Pillar) but there are an unknown number of things you must do before-hand:
-You definitely have to talk to somebody at Celestic. Probably the old lady or reading the book on the table. This was the last thing I had to do so I know it's required.
-You might have to capture the legendary lake trio? I've seen people say this, but I'm not sure.
-You have to find Dialga and Palkia's orbs. At least, everybody has said this. They're easy to find, though ; they're inside Mt Coronet, specifically at the top of the waterfall in there (where you'd normally find the Rock Plate.)
Once everything is done, the next confusing part is that Dialga and Palkia's portals will be accessible from Spear Pillar, but only one at a time. In my case, I had to handle Dialga's portal, walk out, and then back into Spear Pillar to get Palkia's portal to appear.
National DexUnfortunately, the rule to get the national dex is still the same ; you have to have seen all the Sinnoh pokemon. This includes the new ones.
Palkia and Dialga are automatically given to you when the events on top of Mt Coronet happen, fortunately. Too bad the lake spirits aren't also.
Manaphy, being pokemon #151, now has to be seen as well. Fortunately, Nintendo gave us an easy way out. In the Pokemon Mansion, you can read a book and find a reference to Manaphy, obtaining credit for having seen it.
The good news is that there are pokemon that are easier to see now ; they're more common. (I think I saw at least three trainers with Riolus.) Unfortunately, since the Elite Four teams have been improved, a couple of their pokemon must be seen elsewhere.
Of all the pokemon, Dusclops gave me the most trouble to find.
Early Gible?The secret entrance to the Wayward Cave no longer requires Strength to enter, meaning that you can obtain a Gible immediately after the Eterna Gym, if desired. (Assuming, of course, Gibles are still in there.)
HM Relocation / Iron IslandA couple of the HMs are now in different locations.
Defog is apparently now found inside the Solaceon Ruins, in the room at the very end.
I can't remember where, but Iron Island must now be played after the sixth gym. I believe this somehow involves obtaining the Strength HM, but I can't remember the details.
An Event-Only Poketch App[One of the event-only Poketch Apps is now available in Platinum. It checks for breeding compatibility between two pokemon on your team.
It is obtained by capturing five pokemon from the Safari Game in a single safari game.
