Nintendo Switch 2 will launch June 5 with an impressive mix of splashy launch titles, from the first-party must-have Mario Kart World to third-party ports of games the Switch couldn’t run, like Cyberpunk 2077. With the launch of a new generation also comes the possibility of old titles and series getting a renewed spotlight, whether via sequels or full-on remakes, like how the first Switch saw the The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening remake and new versions of Pokémon Yellow. As its game library grows, here’s to hoping it includes a revival of one of Nintendo’s weirdest franchises: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, in which you played a human transformed into a Pokémon.
Spinning off from Spike Chunsoft’s Mystery Dungeon series, the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games task you with venturing through randomly generated dungeons and battling other Pokémon in turn-based combat reminiscent of the mainline games. You also take on jobs like rescuing Pokémon or delivering items. At times, these side quests would let you cross paths with Legendaries like Rayquaza, fleshing out their characters as more than just exciting Box Art Pokémon to capture.
The first games in the series, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team, are nearly 20 years old, having debuted on Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS in 2005. They’re a stark departure from the “Gotta catch ’em all!” nature of the mainline Pokémon games. Instead of throwing Pokéballs at the little dudes, you become a little dude. Your answers to a personality quiz (that would’ve been right at home as a post on your mid-2000s DeviantArt page) determine which Pokémon you become.
The series saw a few releases across DS and Nintendo 3DS from 2005 to 2015, when the last new entry launched. It was followed by a remake of the original games, called Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX, for Nintendo Switch in 2020. It’s a return to the series’ original gameplay and personality quiz, though the DX edition lets you choose which Pokémon you wanted to embody if you don’t like your result. Notably, Rescue Team DX featured a new beautiful, painterly art style.
Rescue Team DX received a mixed response at launch, but did quickly sell over a million copies. Nonetheless, Nintendo marches to the beat of its own drum (case in point — it’s reviving Kirby Air Ride 22 years later for a Nintendo Switch 2 sequel, Kirby Air Riders, due out later this year).
In the years since the last original Pokémon Mystery Dungeon title, The Pokémon Company has released three new generations of mainline titles as well as the new Legends series. There are so goddamn many more Pokémon that a new Mystery Dungeon could include and let the player become — you know you want to play as the small dumb apple Fuecoco or drumming monkey Grookey. With Nintendo being Nintendo, the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series might be on ice for some time — or maybe it’ll get announced for the Switch 2 at July’s Pokémon Presents. You know I’m hoping for the latter.
