Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team DX Review (Nintendo Switch)

Game: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team DX
Genre: Role-Playing, Dungeon Crawling, Adventure Game
System: Nintendo Switch
Developers|Publishers: Nintendo
Price: £ 49.99| € 59.99| CA $83.99| US $59.99| AU $79.95
Age Rating: EU 7+|US E10+
Release Date: March 6^th, 2020

No review code was used, I bought the game myself 

Awaken the True Pokémon Form Within You!

I still remember the day when I unwrapped the plastic barrier around my first Pokémon Mystery Dungeon game. I got the game when it first came out in 2005, and distinctly remember sitting in the backseat of my mom’s car. We were just driving away from either Target or Toys ‘R Us, my brother got the DS version of the game, Blue Rescue Team, while I got the Gameboy version, Red Rescue Team. I was about eight years old at the time and had no idea that I was beginning a journey with a game series that would last throughout my entire life. I love the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series. I loved it from the day I played the first iteration, I’ve loved all the versions that came since, and I love it still with the gorgeous remake of the first title.

If you’re unfamiliar with the Pokémon version of the mystery dungeon series than let me give you a quick overview. You’re a human who has been mysteriously brought forth into a world inhabited only by Pokémon. Before you enter this world, however, you take a fairly light-hearted quiz that determines what kind of person you are and therefore what kind of Pokémon you are.

After selecting the Pokémon you want for a partner you are then spiraled into a somewhat plagued world. In all four of the mystery dungeon games the world you enter is a beautiful one, however it is also one under the shadow of an impending doom. You, as a human turned Pokémon, must traverse perilous mysteries and challenges in order to fulfill your destiny of saving the Pokémon world.

What is Mystery Dungeon anyway?

The mystery dungeon formula isn’t unique to Pokemon, despite what people may think. Other series, like Etrian Odyssey and Chocobo’s Dungeon, also feature the turn-based dungeon crawling mechanic as the core means of gameplay. Essentially, every time you enter a dungeon the floor of the level changes. You may clear a nine-floor dungeon once, but the layout won’t be the same when you enter it the next time or the time after that. Etrian, Chocobo, and Pokémon all have their own twist and rules to the basic mechanic, but it’s never too hard to manage.

In fact, the ease of gameplay may seem off-putting to fans of the Pokémon series who have yet to dip their feet into the mystery dungeon spin-offs. In all Pokémon games, core titles and spin-offs alike, many fans of the series have always criticized the games for being too easy and not growing with the fan base. In the first two iterations of the series, Rescue Team and Explorers, you were confined to always having you and your partner on the team, there was a limit of only four Pokémon entering a dungeon at once, and evolution was a post-game, and in the case of Explorers, a post-post game achievement.

The later versions of the games tried to make things a bit easier by taking away the hunger meter (an effective tool in limiting your time in a dungeon) or adding special items called Emera’s that allowed you to evolve or power up. In Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team DX, there are still items that power you up a ton and even “rare qualities” that allow you to more easily recruit Pokémon or attack foes when you’re low on HP. However, what I found to be the feature that really simplified the game was the number of team members you could have.

The Big Changes to Rescue Team DX

Once you unlock the camp feature you are then able to recruit Pokémon onto your team that you find in a dungeon. In order to recruit a certain Pokémon, you need to have their camp, which can be purchased at Wigglytuff’s shop in town. I was really keen to make Team Ribbons a rescue team of cute Pokémon, so when I first encountered a Clefairy I made it my goal to recruit one. At Wigglytuff’s, some camps are fairly cheap, only a couple hundred poke, while others, like Clefairy’s, were several thousand!

Thankfully, earning money isn’t too difficult in this game. Sure, you get payed for completing missions. But the real money making comes from the Pokémon in the dungeon. Regardless of if you have their camp or not, random Pokémon may ask to temporarily journey with you. This brings me back to the ease of the game, because instead of the traditional four Pokémon limit (and in some games three) you get to have a total of eight Pokémon on your team. Yes, eight Pokémon.

At times I found this overwhelming, as sometimes my part-time teammates would face Pokémon that were too strong for them or they would wander off somewhere. Other times, I found my gang to be quite helpful, as I would traverse the dungeons in search of items and send them off to battle foes and rake in some Exp. Of course, if you don’t want to have such a crowded party then you can simply tell the potential friend Pokémon “no thanks”. Even though there were Pokémon that I wasn’t interested in having on my team, I would allow them to join anyway. That’s because if you don’t want them on your team or don’t have a camp for them at the end of a mission, they pay you for allowing them to journey with you. This was how Team Ribbons made most of their funds. Oh, and here’s another thing. Even if you have a full party, they don’t disappear during boss battles. Mystery dungeon often challenged players with unfair boss fights or monster rooms where you were often out-numbered. In this game, your part-time teammates battle with you. (However, they don’t show up in cut scenes like they used to in Explorers).

Though I found that the ridiculously large teams made the games a lot easier, there were also a few other factors that played into this as well. For one, unlike all the other games, the map in this version helps you from the get-go. In other versions, you had no idea how many items were on the floor, where enemies were lurking, or potentially how big or the small the floor was. Though this game doesn’t reveal the map entirely, it does give a bunch of hints from the start. When I first booted up the demo I was surprised to find that the blue dots indicating items and the red dots indicating enemies were already plastered on my screen. This allowed me to already have a sense of how the map was formatted, and it made things quite easy in terms of chasing down enemies to grind.

The latter part became almost unnecessary due to the next biggest change, Makuhita Dojo. I can’t compare this Makuhita Dojo to the one in the original games, as I don’t remember ever using it, but I certainly remember not having such an easy way to level up in the other games. Thanks to Makuhita’s bronze, silver, and gold tickets, you can now enter a super easy dungeon and earn ridiculous amounts of Exp. Of course, there are limitations to this. These tickets aren’t just lying around or available to purchase at Kecleon’s market. You earn them from completing missions or uncovering treasure chests. Also, once you’re in the dungeons, you have a 50 second time limit. Though the dojo makes the game easier to level up in, I actually quite liked it. Before I would spend ages in a dungeon just grinding to get my main two Pokémon at a good level. Thanks to special events where your teammates can’t come with you, I’d often have a rag-tag team of Pokémon with varying levels. This feature makes it really easy to keep all my Pokémon at a good and even level, regardless of if they join me for a bunch of missions or not.

A Beautifully Re-Imagined World

From the very first footage I saw of this game, I thought it was gorgeous. This game doesn’t try to be over the top with it’s visuals. Rather, the world of Pokémon is washed in a storybook like watercolor. When this remake was first announced, I ran across a lot of comments online discussing how it looked childish and very much like a Gameboy game. This story and this world was born on the Gameboy. I felt as though the visual aesthetics played a big role in staying true to that freshness and almost childlike innocence that surrounded the first story of the mystery dungeon franchise. Unlike the colorful and varied environment of the later games, the original mystery dungeon was quite plain. I actually tried re-playing Blue Rescue Team this past summer, but couldn’t get into it because it all seemed so dull (even compared to Explorers of Sky, I game I play multiple times a year).  The particular art style of this rendition allows for the plainness and simplicity of the first game to remain in a way that also brings out some of its unique charm. Also, I feel like it goes quite well with the story.

Another critique I ran across online was the meekness of the story. I admit, it feels a bit rushed to join a rescue team with little question of what a rescue team is with a Pokémon you barely know. In Explorers of Sky you get to ask questions like “Are you trying to rope me in?” when asked to make an exploration team with your partner. In Super Mystery Dungeon, the latest game in the franchise, it takes quite a bit of time before you even befriend your partner, let alone form some kind of team with them. Though this kind of character development isn’t really present in the first game, it doesn’t mean it is wholly without its charms. The dialogue is true to the original, which I appreciate. The game is rife with funny scenes of your partner chickening out or getting riled up by Team Meanies. Also, the further you get into the plot, the more intense your relationship and trust in your partner becomes. I won’t spoil anything though.

However, I do have to say that the biggest charm of the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games is the story itself. If you haven’t already realized it yet, my favorite game is Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Sky. Playing through this game as a kid racked me. The story seems simple, but there really is such lovely development with your guildmates and the town folk. Even with your rival team, Team Skull. The characters are beautifully fleshed out, and the special chapters brought me to tears, even as an adult. However, I’ll never forget the sadness I felt when I finally reached the conclusion of Red Rescue team too.

I won’t spoil anything, but after all the tribulations you and your partner go through, the event at the end of the game really tugs on your heartstrings. This is why I love PMD so much. Regardless of which game in the series you are playing, the plot always tries to develop in a way that makes you care fondly for your partner. They no longer just feel like some starter Pokémon, they really do become your friend. I believe that is what PMD tries to do in its storytelling. And I think it does it well.

Conclusion

Despite its comparative lack of character development and its sometimes oversimplification of gameplay, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team DX is a charming and wonderful remake of the first title in the series.

I think Nintendo was smart to go with this fairly simplistic version of the game as a way to bring in new mystery dungeon players. My hope is that this game was an experiment to test the waters of people’s interest. I believe a new mystery dungeon including gens 7 and 8 may be in the works. And if not, well, at least we know Nintendo hasn’t completely forgotten about this best-selling spin off franchise.

In the meantime, whether you’re new to the PMD series or an old fan like myself, I think this gorgeous remake is worth a home on your Switch.

Final Verdict: I liked it a lot