Pokémon Diamond & Pearl Version Exclusives
Diamond and Pearl each lock 20 Pokémon to one version, but only seven on each side can be had before the League. The rest wait for the post-game, and most of those lines need the Poké Radar that Professor Rowan hands over with the National Pokédex. The legendary on the box splits too: Dialga in Diamond, Palkia in Pearl, both at Spear Pillar in the story after the seventh badge.
Every exclusive and where to catch it
Each row sets a Diamond exclusive beside its usual Pearl counterpart. Every stage lists where you get it, marks the ones that only come out at night or on the Poké Radar, and shows the first badge the game needs before you can.
Diamond20 PokémonYour version
Pearl20 PokémonYour version
Trade
Trade
Trade
Trade
TradeTrade
Trade
When each version’s exclusives show up
The first badge each Pokémon needs: the badge that opens the road, lets a field move work outside battle, or comes before the story event or place that holds what you need. Exclusive lines before the League: Diamond: 4, Pearl: 4.
Badge 1Roark
Badge 2Gardenia
Badge 3Maylene
Badge 4Crasher Wake
Badge 5Fantina
Badge 6Byron
Badge 7Candice
Badge 8VolknerPost-gameAfter CynthiaDiamond11 on the timelineYour game
Pearl11 on the timelineYour game
Exclusives against every boss
For each battle, these are the exclusives you can have by then that hit at least half the boss’s team super effectively with one of their own types. Level and stone evolutions count up to the boss’s highest level, the Underground fossils count from the first badge, trade evolutions don’t count, and Levitate is factored in.
Diamond exclusives that helpPearl exclusives that help
Counts use each exclusive’s own types, not its full moveset. The battle pages have the movesets.
How to Trade Between Diamond and Pearl
Pick your version to see only the Pokémon you need to trade for. Until then, both lists show.
How to get Pearl exclusives in Diamond
How to get Diamond exclusives in Pearl
- Both players need: a Nintendo DS each with Diamond or Pearl in it, close enough for DS local wireless
- Where: the Union Room, on the second floor of any Pokémon Center
- Connect with: DS local wireless; trading online through the GTS in Jubilife City and the Wi-Fi Club ended when Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection shut down on May 20, 2014
A traded Pokémon only obeys you up to a level set by your badges: Lv 10 with none, Lv 30 with two, Lv 50 with four, Lv 70 with six, and any level with all eight. After the National Pokédex, Pal Park also lets you bring over six Pokémon from a Game Boy Advance Pokémon game, once a day per Game Pak.
Diamond exclusives to trade into Pearl
Done: you have every Diamond exclusive.
Grouped by the point in a Diamond run where your friend can first get each one. Ticks are saved on this device.
Available after Badge 1 (Roark)
Available after Badge 2 (Gardenia)
Available after Badge 7 (Candice)
Pearl exclusives to trade into Diamond
Done: you have every Pearl exclusive.
Grouped by the point in a Pearl run where your friend can first get each one. Ticks are saved on this device.
Available after Badge 1 (Roark)
Trade for one Misdreavus and evolve the rest yourself.
Available after Badge 5 (Fantina)
Available after Badge 7 (Candice)
Every Difference Between Diamond and Pearl
Other ways the two versions differ, outside the wild encounters.
What changes in other gamesLegendary on the box
DiamondYour version- Dialga
Spear Pillar, Lv 47, in the story after the Icicle Badge
PearlYour version- PalkiaSpear Pillar, Lv 47, in the story after the Icicle Badge
Underground fossil
DiamondYour version- CranidosSkull Fossil, revived at the Oreburgh Mining Museum
PearlYour version- ShieldonArmor Fossil, revived at the Oreburgh Mining Museum
After the National Pokédex, the Helix and Claw Fossils turn up more often in Diamond and the Dome and Root Fossils more often in Pearl, while Old Amber is the same in both. Any fossil revives in either version.
Wild slots that change with the version
DiamondYour version
SilcoonEterna Forest grass- Murkrow
Eterna Forest and Lost Tower, at night - StunkyRoute 214 grass
Mime Jr.
Routes 209 and 210 (south) grass
Mr. MimeRoute 218 grass- ScytherRoute 229 grass
- SeelRoutes 226 and 230 water
- Larvitar
Route 207, Poké Radar - Kecleon
Route 210 (north), Poké Radar 
MightyenaRoutes 214 and 215, Poké Radar- AronFuego Ironworks, Poké Radar
Hoppip
Route 205 (north), Poké Radar
PearlYour version
CascoonEterna Forest grass- Misdreavus
Eterna Forest and Lost Tower, at night 
SudowoodoRoute 214 grass
BonslyRoutes 209 and 210 (south) grass- GlameowRoute 218 grass
- PinsirRoute 229 grass
- SphealRoutes 226 and 230 water
- StantlerRoute 207, Poké Radar
- BagonRoute 210 (north), Poké Radar
Houndoom
Routes 214 and 215, Poké Radar- HoppipFuego Ironworks, Poké Radar
- SlowpokeRoute 205 (north), Poké Radar
Murkrow, Misdreavus, Stunky, Glameow, Scyther, Pinsir, Seel, Spheal and every Poké Radar Pokémon here except Hoppip are exclusives, so they are on the board above. The others can be had in both versions: Wurmple evolves into Silcoon or Cascoon in either one, and Hoppip is on the Poké Radar in both, just at a different place. Mime Jr. and Bonsly turn up in the Trophy Garden in both versions once you have the National Pokédex, and evolve into Mr. Mime and Sudowoodo when they level up knowing Mimic.
Poké Radar on Routes 209 and 210 (south)
Quick differences
DiamondBarryPearlClintSame in both
- Gym leaders, the Elite Four and Champion Cynthia, and their teams
- Team Galactic and Professor Rowan
- The three starters and the roaming Mesprit and Cresselia
- Every in-game trade (your Machop for an Abra in Oreburgh City, plus the Chatot, Haunter and Finneon trades)
- The Veilstone Game Corner prizes
- The Great Marsh, the Trophy Garden dailies and the swarms
- The extra wild Pokémon that dual-slot mode adds when a Game Boy Advance Pokémon game is inserted