How to get Arceus and Darkrai in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond Shining Pearl

Arceus and Darkrai arrived with patch 1.3.0

Arceus and Darkrai have made their way into Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl as a result of version 1.3.0, and you can grab them now, provided that you meet a few requirements.

Basically, both of them require you to finish the game and unlock the National Pokedex, so there’s a bit of legwork involved if you’re expecting them to just pop into your boxes. Before you follow these steps, make sure you have the 1.3.0 update verified so you can get the items required to square off against Arceus and Darkrai.

How to get Arceus in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl

• Finish the main story.
• Go to the Hall of Fame and get the National Pokedex in either version of the game (you get this by finishing the story, and seeing all 150 Pokemon in the game; you don’t need to catch them — then go to Professor Rowan’s Lab in Sandgem Town).
• Go back to your room in Twinleaf Town to get the Azure Flute.
• Go to the Spear Pillar on Mount Coronet to fight and earn the right to capture Arceus.

How to get Darkrai in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl

• Finish the main story.
• Go to the Hall of Fame and get the National Pokedex in either version of the game (you get this by finishing the story, and seeing all 150 Pokemon in the game; you don’t need to catch them — then go to Professor Rowan’s Lab in Sandgem Town).
• Get the “Member Card” through the mystery gift functionality.
• Go to Newmoon Island and earn the right to capture Darkrai.

Chris Carter

Reviews Director, Co-EIC – Chris has been enjoying Destructoid avidly since 2008. He finally decided to take the next step, make an account, and start blogging in January of 2009. Now, he’s staff!