An unexpected cult hit from 2006 underwent a remake on the Nintendo Switch on March 6.
Back in 2006 (2005 for Japan), “Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team” and “Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team” were released for the Game Boy Advance and the Nintendo DS, respectively. The games gained a lot of attention due to being the first in the franchise, spinoff or otherwise, where the player character is a Pokémon instead of a human.
The games began the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon spinoff series, which all took place in a world populated only by Pokémon and no other type of creature. The series is very popular among Pokémon enthusiasts due to this and the quality of the games’ narratives and characters.
“Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX” is a remake of the original Rescue Team games for the Nintendo Switch. As such, it retells the same story as the originals and features the same cast of characters. It even goes back to having only 386 different species of Pokémon, since that was the total amount of Pokémon available in that generation.
Certain mechanics from generations after the original Rescue Team game have been updated for this remake, such as technique availability and the Fairy type.
Mechanics from later Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games are also included, such as wands, a maximum travel party capacity of eight Pokémon (though only up to three can initially enter a dungeon) and the ability to switch to a different Pokémon while in a dungeon. Unfortunately, dungeon traps appear in earlier dungeons like in the later games (in the original Rescue Team games, this didn’t happen until the main story was done) and failing a mission loses you all your on-hand money and items.
New mechanics in this game are as follows: There is an auto mode that can be engaged or disengaged by pressing the “L” Button (it also disengages when a fight starts). Pressing the “A” button near an enemy Pokémon will make your player Pokémon use the most effective technique on the opponent.
The best new mechanic is when something bad happens to a teammate, your partner Pokémon character will notice, and the game immediately gives you a chance to heal the weakened teammate if you have the item that can do the job.
True to the rogue-like Role-Playing Game genre, movement in dungeons is on a grid-like “tile” system, and everyone takes turns doing actions such as moving, using an item or attacking. Every dungeon has a set number of floors, but the layout of each floor changes every time the dungeon is entered. This also moves the stairs to the next floor. The only part of the dungeon that doesn’t change is the mid-point save area (only present in later dungeons, including the final one) and the boss arena.
The improved graphical style appears to have an artistic texture to it that makes it resemble the style of the various pieces of art for the originals. This texture is applied to the environments and the characters.
“Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX” faithfully captures the spirit of the original Rescue Team games while adding to their gameplay mechanics to make for a more polished experience.