Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team was one of my GBA staples. I played that game until there was virtually nothing left to do in it, and then I still played more. The gameplay loop was okay, and I don't think the rescue missions alone would've been enough to keep me coming back, but I absolutely fell in love with the characters and the world, making it easy to dive in every time. Picking up Rescue Team DX was immediately nostalgic; it looked, sounded, and felt just like I remembered from the original, which I would say marks a fantastic first impression for a remake. Just like the originals, the main gameplay could be improved, but the story is a delight and kept me fully engaged.

In Rescue Team DX, you play as a human who mysteriously woke up as a Pokémon. With the help of your new partner, you have to try and figure out why you transformed while also helping the Pokémon you meet during your adventure. With your partner, you form a rescue team that volunteers to enter the many mystery dungeons in order to rescue or assist Pokémon in trouble, and you learn more about why you're there as you continue to fulfill your role as a rescue team. The story, although simple, is very cute, and interacting with all of the Pokémon you meet is a lot of fun. The whole world is loaded with color and personality, making for a light-hearted adventure from start to finish.

Gameplay-wise, Rescue Team DX is a fairly straightforward mystery-dungeon-style game, with you accomplishing small objectives within randomly generated maze-like dungeons as the main focus. The dungeons are multi-level, with items and hostiles scattered on every floor. Everything you do within a dungeon is turn-based, so enemies only move when you do, and combat leaves a lot of room for strategic planning. As expected, victory in a fight earns your team experience points that can allow them to level up and improve their stats, and defeating a foe can also result in them requesting to join you on your adventure. Your party can grow to up to eight Pokémon in this way, and any new recruits can join you permanently once you leave the dungeon, allowing them to join your team again anytime in the future. Getting to a team that large can be a bit unruly, but it is a huge help when facing some of the deeper floors or dungeon bosses, and it's really fun to take eight attacking turns compared to a boss's one.

After a while, this loop starts to get pretty dull, since the only thing that really changes as you play is the difficulty. The types of rescue missions and the structure of dungeons stay largely the same, with just the selection of enemy Pokémon and their power levels adjusting to balance against your team's growth. However, the story helps to bring value and importance to each dungeon you visit, which kept me fully engaged, even when the gameplay couldn't. Along with that, I kept my nostalgia goggles on tight for the whole game, so even the things that pained me brought me a little joy. If you haven't played the original games, Rescue Team DX is fun, but not a must-play. However, if you're itching to return to the cute little world from the GBA and DS that you haven't visited in years, absolutely pick this up. I don't think you'll regret it.

The game is available for Switch here (as of 1/18/22): https://www.nintendo.com/games/detail/pokemon-mystery-dungeon-rescue-team-dx-switch/

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