A lot of games are being made for the Switch and a big group of them are fan favorites, such as Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX. Originally released on the Nintendo DS, developers Spike Chunsoft modified the game to bring us another fun experience while maintaining what we already love. This roguelike dungeon crawler has a few new things and they are pretty cute (and fun).
In the beginning, you, the player are asked a series of questions. This automatically reminded me of Kingdom Hearts. The questions are simple. Do you like to fight? Are you kind? And other things such as that. In the end the game selects a Pokemon you are most like (which you can change if you want). From there you get to pick, and name a friend to go along with you on your journey. From that moment there is a series of reading that seems somewhat excessive.
I chose Eevee as my friend and ‘she’ (as I got to chose) asked me why I was confused about being a Charmander. Apparently I was a human in a Charmander’s body but I’m still confused about how this connects to the story. Suddenly Butterfree needed our help to save her Caterpie and off we went. Eevee was nice enough to randomly have a house ready to go for me and she basically never stops talking, mostly because she was acting like a guide.
From the time the game starts, there is no overwhelming tutorial action. Everything seems to come naturally for the player. When in each Cavern or Dungeon, the actions are easy to follow but the Left Joystick is complicated to control. Walking diagonally seems to be more of a pain then it is worth. This is where the original game shines through, you still get to keep that original grid pattern of walking. You also keep the turn-based fighting too. Both you and your friend fight and in the beginning the fights seem pretty simple to handle.
Each area has a set of stairs that will take you down further to another level where you will look for the Pokemon in need of saving. The lower the level, the harder the level. Enemies will follow you and the more walking you do, the more walking they do too. So this is a good thing to keep in mind when planning an attack. Each player has four attacks on board that can be swapped and combined at the shops. With all of these Pokemon to save, it was no wonder Eevee was excited about starting the Rescue Team (which you get to name).
The biggest addition to the game is the Mega Evolution. This just means the evolution of your Pokemon and enemies, will grow into a huge version of themselves. For scale, these are fascinating to see and a bit intimidating. Other additions are auto mode and auto save. Putting your team on auto mode is neat if you don’t want to navigate everywhere but things get missed, like rewards. I’m just nosey and want every item so I slowed down just for that.
Lastly, upon starting the game, players immediately notice the style. Not only do you feel like you are playing through a comic book, but you also have a feeling of playing through something handmade. The art style for the background is a watercolor style which makes the game very light and cheery. Even when you’re in a cavern, it seems like you are still in daylight where other games like this create a dark atmosphere. This is completely different from other games I know of.
Overall, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX is simple in nature. Navigation and fighting is not hard to master. Any age can play this game and the story gets really good. The player also has quite a bit of control over names and abilities too which is a plus. Combine that with a neat background and music that will be stuck in your head and you have a fun time.
Rating: 9/10
Available on Nintendo Switch
