>>58412478>>58413129I would argue that Emerald's non-BF additions were more substantial, like the Safari Zone expansion. There's a Great Marsh expansion in Platinum, but it was in DP too. Platinum has mythical events, all of which were in DP. Emerald's updated trainer teams are great, especially Gym Leaders, but Gym Leader rematches in Emerald are marred by poor RNG being required to unlock them. RS and DP both only had a Battle Tower, but DP had a Tower Tycoon with a character connection. Emerald had animated Pokémon sprite entries like Crystal, but it didn't revert with DP, they also animated sprites. DP kept just about everything Gen III introduced or discarded from Gen II, like an expanded day and night cycle and mechanics, or online trading/battling/events.
I don't think BW's story is good or even better than most of what came before it (I think it's actually worse in a number of ways), I just think it has more focus and is more dramatic.
>Maybe they would've come up with an idea and then implemented those into the base game if they'd taken more timeYes, and if they released HGSS in 2008 and Platinum in 2009, then Platinum would have had even more content than it did and HGSS wouldn't, but you can say that about anything. DP are pretty full games that get some improvements in Platinum, I remember being impressed by a lot of the decisions made in it like being able to see the entire regional Pokédex. I didn't like how the Hoenn Pokédex at 202 was so much harder to see and complete than in Gen II. Not only do you not see the third starter line, you don't even see your rival's final starter. DP were designed so you can see everything in the Sinnoh Pokédex without trading or events, even Manaphy, and then let you go far beyond any of the previous Pokédexes unlike Gen III which locked 180+ Pokémon behind trading. Platinum is generally better, but DP were such a step up from Gen III for me, they felt closer to what Masuda was touting as the ultimate Pokémon.
