Spinoff Spotlight: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon
| « Previous Article | Next Article » |
Art by Daylight.
Introduction
In September 2006, mere days before Japan saw the release of mainline behemoths Diamond and Pearl, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team and its sister game, Red Rescue Team, were released in the United States. Though the two games had been released in Japan the year before, they had not been the focus of much media coverage elsewhere, and reviews had also not been particularly kind. In fact, IGN's reviewer dropped the game midway through the first dungeon and gave the game a particularly unappetizing score. As a result, those who initially picked up a copy had low expectations—hardly expecting the series to redefine Pokémon as they knew it. However, that is precisely what Pokémon Mystery Dungeon did.
Instead of presenting players with the typical sunshine and rainbows characteristic of the franchise, the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series dares to explore darker themes and undertones in order to better resonate with the player. The soundtrack of each Mystery Dungeon title is made to compliment the highs and lows evoked by the story, ranging from carefree and upbeat to downright somber as it proves that even Pokémon’s spinoffs excel musically.
Through Mystery Dungeon’s mature themes, memorable characters, and enthralling worldbuilding, each entry into the series adds something new to the franchise and reminds players that, despite the constrained gameplay loop of the mainline series, Pokémon’s possibilities remain endless. Now, sixteen years and six games later, the Mystery Dungeon series is the best-selling set of spinoffs in the history of the Pokémon franchise and has paved the way for subsequent mainline games to explore the deeper and darker themes that characterize the spinoff series.
Gameplay
Within the Mystery Dungeon series, you take on the role of a human-turned-Pokémon who wakes up one day in a world entirely uninhabited by mankind. In order to progress through the story and learn more about the origins of this mysterious new world and your purpose within it, you must battle your way through a multitude of dungeons with randomly generated layouts. These dungeons scale in difficulty throughout the game, and often end with genuinely difficult boss battles that will require numerous attempts to complete.
Battles within dungeons are turn-based and as with the mainline series, each Pokémon can learn up to four moves to use in battle by leveling up or using TMs. However, the function of some of these moves changes in the spinoffs, leading to an unintuitive move meta where multi-hit and speed-boosting moves are especially potent. The addition of several new moves exclusive to the Mystery Dungeon series also means players are oftentimes able to strategize in new and exciting ways not afforded to the mainline games.
In order to improve your chances of making it to the end of a dungeon, you can find a wide variety of useful items scattered around each floor. These items range from orbs with useful effects, such as being able to pull all items on the floor towards you or instantly locate the stairs to the next floor, to edible seeds that can prevent team members from fainting or remove status conditions. Many items can also be thrown at enemies to induce a variety of effects, such as putting them to sleep or confusing them. Players must also keep track of their Hunger stat, which gradually decreases throughout a dungeon run and must be restored through the use of consumables such as seeds and apples in order to prevent themselves from fainting due to hunger.
Fainting within a dungeon results in the player losing half of the items held within their bag, leaving them with less to work with during their next attempt. In this way, the Mystery Dungeon games are particularly punishing compared to traditional Pokémon titles, which allow you to continually restart with all of your Pokémon and items until you eventually brute force your way through your opponent thanks to a lucky crit or stat drop. Instead, the Mystery Dungeon games encourage the player to take a step back and formulate a new plan of attack, taking into account the items they have remaining. For the more difficult dungeons, this may even lead to the player opting to scour the floors for more useful items instead of rushing towards the boss as fast as possible only to be defeated due to their lack of utility.
While these fundamentals are applicable across all Mystery Dungeon titles, each new installment into the series comes with its own set of new and exciting mechanics that reinvigorate the gameplay loop traditionally associated with Mystery Dungeon-style games. While Super Mystery Dungeon marks the debut of Mega Evolution, Gates to Infinity introduces outside areas within dungeons that allow the player to freely roam and complete puzzles for rewards. Each Mystery Dungeon title is memorable for the unique gameplay experience it offers, though they all excel in one particular area: the plot.
Plot
If I had to sum up the plot of the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series in a sentence, I would label it as the very best Pokémon has to offer in terms of raw storytelling and something that was far ahead of its time, particularly when looking at some of the earliest installments of the series from as far back as the mid-2000's. This praise should not be particularly surprising, given that Chunsoft has gone on to work on a number of renowned story-based games such as the critically acclaimed Danganronpa series.
What immediately sets Pokémon Mystery Dungeon apart from the mainline series of games is the complexity of not just the overarching story, but of the individual characters. Whether speaking of a mythical Pokémon such as Kyurem or one as lowly as a Bidoof, all these characters are allowed to visibly grow throughout the story as we watch their ideals and subsequent worldview change due to the events that transpire throughout the game.
One particularly notable aspect of the series that massively encourages the player to emotionally invest in these side characters is the inclusion of character portraits, which allow different characters within the story to exhibit an array of emotions when speaking. While the mainline Pokémon series reduces Pocket Monsters to wails and cries, Mystery Dungeon allows players to not just hear, but also see what their fellow Pokémon are feeling, making it much easier to emotionally invest in them, making it all the more saddening when you finally complete the postgame and see them finally run out of dialogue.
Throughout your time playing, the Mystery Dungeon series makes the most out of every interaction, seizing the opportunity to shine the limelight upon several species of Pokémon which are relatively forgotten in the mainline series of games. Post delivered by Pelipper, a bar operated by Spinda, a school run by Simipour, and even secret bazaars featuring Lickilicky and Swalot as shopkeepers all give some much-needed attention to several Pokémon that often go unnoticed during mainline playthroughs. A world run entirely by Pokémon comes with endless possibilities not afforded to the mainline games due to the human presence, and the Mystery Dungeon series uses this to tell profound stories that grant meaningful insight into Pokémon as a species and society, rather than Pokémon as instruments of battle.
Even the earlier installments of the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series saw great success due to this emphasis upon plot and meaning, with Game Freak noticing the positive reception to the deeper and darker themes explored within Chunsoft's spinoff series and, seemingly as a direct result of this, affording a similar mellow tone to Pokémon Black and White, two mainline games which are commonly lauded as some of the very best as far as storytelling goes. In this way, the spinoff series had a direct impact on the mainline games, serving as a stepping stone that allowed subsequent games to take on a more mature tone.
What enables the Mystery Dungeon series to take on such a tone and use it to tell meaningful and memorable tales is the complexity of its stories. While the mainline series has very black and white morality, with the player having to stop an evil team prior to catching the box art legendary, the story of each Mystery Dungeon title is paved with several well-executed plot twists that challenge your preconceptions of the franchise. With a heavy emphasis placed upon exploring the unknown, twists and turns in the tale challenge your entire perception of the world you exist within, and as friends become foes and foes become friends, you battle to save the world and find your purpose within it.
Which Game Do I Start With?
With the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon franchise now being so expansive, figuring out which game to start with can be a daunting task. Thus, it is worth going over the pros and cons of each installment of the series in order to make that decision a little bit easier.
Blue/Red Rescue Team (2006)
As the first installments into what is now a storied series, many of Red and Blue’s strengths can also be seen as their weaknesses—with the ancient graphics and small cast of characters found in the games being levied as criticisms by some while seen as a source of comfort to others. Adding to this sense of comfort is the original friend zone feature, which allows you to visit team members in their natural habitats instead of simply recruiting them and never seeing them again unless you choose to take them on an adventure. Though a small feature, it serves to further humanize the supporting cast of the game.
Being such early games in the franchise, Red and Blue are pretty bare bones, having no overly complex mechanics or items such as mega evolution and looplets, making them good starting points for new players. The story is also particularly solid and heart-wrenching, being a tale of resilience in the face of resentment and featuring a handful of incredible twists, particularly in the post-game.
Explorers of Time/Darkness (2008)
Explorers of Sky is to Explorers of Time and Darkness what Pokémon Platinum is to Diamond and Pearl – a direct and intended upgrade. As a result of the various improvements made in Sky, few players choose to begin their adventure with Explorers of Time or Darkness – particularly due to there being version-exclusive items and Pokémon as a result of there being two titles. The only real reason to play these titles before their successor is if you want to play as Meowth or Munchlax, as Explorers of Sky sadly removes this option.
Explorers of Sky (2009)
Explorers of Sky is heralded by many to be the magnum opus of the spinoff series, boasting an incredible story and a remarkably massive post-game complete with multiple 99-floor dungeons and several special episodes that can be played at any point once unlocked, allowing the player to gain insight into the past lives of side characters through playing as them.
Explorers of Sky also makes several key improvements to the series that have been maintained ever since, adding the iconic outlaw hunting job postings while also individually designing detailed portraits for all characters in order to better convey their emotions during dialogue.
All characters present within Explorers of Sky, both big and small, clearly have a purpose, and the story they come together to tell is complete and profound, combining with a standout soundtrack to evoke feelings of overwhelming sadness, unbridled glee, and, most importantly, hope.
Gates to Infinity (2013)
Gates to Infinity can be a hard game to get into for some, offering a mere 144 recruitable Pokémon and a limited selection of five critters to play as. Core features of the series, such as the personality test, hunger, and IQ mechanics have also been removed, giving it an identity crisis in several ways when it comes to gameplay.
While these changes are rightfully seen as divisive to many, Gates boasts yet another incredible story, easily competing for the title of best in the series. It is capable of functioning outside of the context provided by other games in the series and uses its limited cast to its own benefit, thoroughly developing the personalities of each Pokémon you come across, especially that of your partner. The music is yet another highlight of this one too, adding a profound sense of immersion to many levels.
Perhaps what best defines Gates to Infinity is the level of personal involvement instigated by the game. Using rewards gained from job posting completions, players can build an entire town of their own, complete with farms and dojos. This level of creative expression is arguably unparalleled in other Mystery Dungeon games, where you come across a place to live or build it offscreen, and allows the player to get all the more invested in the narrative.
Super Mystery Dungeon (2015)
As one of the more recent installments in the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series, Super has a lot going for it. Not only does it contain a whopping 720 Pokémon throughout—that is every single Pokémon in existence at the time of release, but it also introduces the fan-favourite concept of Mega Evolution. In addition to this, it is revered by many as the most difficult Mystery Dungeon game, making it the perfect start for a player in search of a challenge.
As is expected of the series by now, Super has yet another strong story, particularly excelling through managing to involve a large amount of its massive cast in the central plot without it feeling overcrowded and still managing to pull off some unexpected twists. By the time Super was being made, Shin-ichiro Tomie knew exactly what fans had come to expect from the series, and his writing intentionally plays upon preconceived expectations of the game in order to subvert audience expectations in a very clever way. However, despite there being an abundance of content, some players feel that the most important aspects of the game are crammed into a handful of successive dungeons.
Rescue Team DX (2020)
First and foremost, Rescue Team DX is a remake of the series’ first pair of installments—Blue and Red Rescue Team. If you want to start from the beginning but find the originals to be dated and clunky, Rescue Team DX is for you. It faithfully follows the same story, though some outdated features have been revamped or replaced, and it boasts modernized graphics and several quality-of-life changes to improve the overall gameplay experience.
Players can now rescue themselves from dungeons without the need for multiplayer. Being the most recent entry into the series, mechanics such as Mega Evolution and Primal Reversion remain present, and there’s even an auto-navigate mode for players to use in some of the longer dungeons.
All of these features married into a single title make the game quite chaotic despite its core features being identical to that of the original titles, which feel small and cozy in comparison. However, the abundance of content means that the gameplay loop of dungeons never really gets boring like in the originals, so Rescue Team DX excels in this way.
Final Thoughts
Though Pokémon Mystery Dungeon has its shortcomings in the form of a gameplay loop some deem to be repetitive and questionable balancing when it comes to older battle mechanics, the series is undoubtedly the very best the Pokémon franchise has to offer in terms of raw, powerful storytelling that tugs at the heartstrings. The series capitalizes upon the lack of mankind present by humanizing the Pokémon found throughout the world and letting the player build meaningful relationships with them, seeing them as peers rather than creatures of subservience.
This results in particularly profound farewells and plot twists, the likes of which have revolutionized the way the mainline series of games aims to tell stories, with post-Mystery Dungeon installments such as Pokémon Black and White taking on darker tones following the positive reception of the more mature themes of the Mystery Dungeon series. For any Pokémon fans who are particularly invested in the franchise’s storytelling, the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series is simply a must-play for fans of all ages.
| « Previous Article | Next Article » |