Ramanas Park is a special place in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl where players can catch Legendaries from previous Pokémon games. Some Legendaries are version exclusives, so you'll need to trade with someone who has the other copy to completely flesh out your National Dex. But before you can start catching these big monsters, you have to unlock Ramanas Park first. Not to mention, you need to have the specific Slate for each Legendary if you want to catch it. Let's step through it.
How to unlock Ramanas Park
You can only access Ramanas Park after you have become the Champion by defeating the eight gym leaders and the Elite Four.
Next, you need to see all 151 Pokémon from the Sinnoh Region Pokédex. Note that you do not need to catch them, just see them. This can be done without trading with anyone simply by battling NPCs and encountering wild Pokémon in your game. You can also get a Pokédex entry for the opposite Legendary from your game, Dialga or Palkia, by talking to Cynthia's Grandmother in Celestic Town after you've captured your own Dialga or Palkia. Make sure to spot Drifloon during your playthrough as this Pokémon is one many can easily miss.
Then, return to Sandgem Town and talk with Professor Rowan. Professor Oak shows up, hands you the National Dex, and tells you about Ramanas Park.
Where is Ramanas Park?
Travel southeast using Surf in the water below Sandgem town, and you will arrive at Ramanas Park in no time.
How does Ramanas Park work?
This is a special area filled with caves. You can encounter Legendary Pokémon within these caves as long as you place the correct Slate on the pedestal to summon them. Slates take the form of Pokémon cartridges from previous Nintendo consoles. For instance, the Rainbow Slate for summoning Ho-Oh looks like a Game Boy Color cartridge, while the Oceanic Slate for summoning Kyogre looks like a Game Boy Advance cartridge.
Some Legendaries share a cave, while others have a cave all to themselves. Since there are a total of 14 Legendaries to catch in Ramanas Park, you will need to acquire 14 Slates total to catch them all. You will then need to trade with someone who has a different version than you to get the other four exclusive Legendaries.
How to get Slates Mysterious Shards in the Grand Underground
Source: iMore
To get Slates, you must dig up Mysterious Shards in the Grand Underground digging minigame. They can either be small or large, but they are pretty rare to come by. You might be digging down there for a long time before you find any.
Once you've collected either three Mysterious Shards S or one Mysterious Shards L, return to Ramanas Park and talk to the NPC at the building entrance to trade it for a Slate. You do not get to choose which Slate you receive, but they are given out in the order listed in the chart found in the next section.
Slate guide Which Slate for which Legendary Pokémon?
Each Legendary Pokémon can only be encountered in a specific Room within Ramanas Park. You must find and insert the proper slate to make them appear in that room. Some Legendaries are exclusive to either Brilliant Diamond or Shining Pearl, so you'll need to trade to get them all. Most Legendary Pokémon will be at level 70 when you fight them here.
| Slate/Room | Legendary Pokémon | Version |
|---|---|---|
| Discovery | Regirock, Regice, Registeel | Both |
| Kanto | Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres | SP |
| Johto | Raikou, Entei, Suicune | BD |
| Soul | Latios, Latias | Both |
| Rainbow | Ho-Oh | BD |
| Squall | Lugia | SP |
| Oceanic | Kyogre | Both |
| Tectonic | Groudon | Both |
| Stratospheric | Rayquaza | Both |
| Genome | Mewtwo | Both |
| Distortion | Geratina (Origin Forme) | Both |
How to catch Legendary Pokémon
Now that you've got the Slate, you need to find the corresponding cave or Room in the Ramanas Park and place the Slate on the pedestal. For instance, the Discovery Slate needs to go in the Discovery Room cave. Then the Legendary Pokémon it unlocks will appear. I highly recommend turning off autosave in your settings and manually saving before starting these battles. That way, if something goes wrong, like you accidentally defeat the Legendary without capturing it, you can restart your game and try again.
Try to use status conditions like Sleep or Paralysis and get the Legendary's health as low as possible. Then throw Ultra Balls, Quick Balls, or Timer Balls at it. This might take a long time before it finally gets caught, so have at least 50 Balls on hand. If you run out of Balls, restart your game and try again.
How to catch Giratina (Origin Forme) with the Distortion Slate
Each of the Legendaries can be Slated and captured basically the same way except for Giratina. That's because this Ghost/Dragon Legendary has two appearances: Giratina (Altered Forme) and Giratina (Origin Forme). To get the Giratina (Origin Forme) found in Ramanas Park, you first need to capture Giratina (Altered Forme). Here's how to do that.
- Beat the Elite Four and become Champion.
- Unlock Ramanas Park by seeing all 151 Pokémon in the Sinnoh Pokédex and talking to Professor Rowan in Sandgem Town.
- Gather Mysterious Shards and trade them for Slates with the NPC at Ramanas Park
- Capture all Legendaries on the list before Giratina.
- Return to Turnback Cave found between Route 214 and Sendoff Spring. Fight and capture Giratina (Origin Forme) here.
- Gather Mysterious Shards in the Grand Underground.
- Return to the NPC at Ramanas Park and trade them for the Distortion Slate.
- Enter the Distortion Room and place the Distortion Slate on the pedestal.
- You'll find yourself in the "Strange Space" with a dark Giratina in front of you in (Origin Forme). It will be level 100, so be careful when you fight it.
- Defeat the shadowy Giratina (Origin Forme) to get the Griseous Orb.
- Give Giratina (Altered Forme) that you previously caught the Griseous Orb to hold to change it to Giratina (Origin Forme). You can remove the Griseous Orb to change it back.
Catch all the Legendaries
Gathering up all of the Mysterious Shards to trade them for Slates will take a long time, so be sure to dig often in the Grand Underground. When you face the Legendaries, make sure to save beforehand and have plenty of Ultra Balls and Quick Balls in your inventory.
