Good news everyone, a fantastic Pokémon game is being added to Nintendo Switch Online! And while it isn’t Emerald or any other mainline entry, it is one of the series’ best spin-offs. The Game Boy Advance’s Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team will be added to the service and available to all subscribers with the Expansion Pack starting on August 9.
The first title in the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series from developer Chunsoft (now Spike Chunsoft), Red Rescue Team blends the loveable world of Nintendo’s creature collecting with delightful dungeon crawling mechanics. Its 2005 release made it the last Pokémon game on Game Boy Advance, and the first of seven in the ongoing series. However, it wasn’t the first Mystery Dungeon game, Chunsoft having used the same name for many previous crossovers, including Final Fantasy and the Shiren the Wanderer series of games, since 1993. While those games all have the same core systems, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team Red was a perfect combination that makes it shine.
After three generations of mainline Pokémon games, one of the biggest draws of Red Rescue Team was that it put you in the shoes of the Pokémon. There is a mystical story that begins with you, as a normal human in the world, being somehow transformed into a Pokémon. The specific monster you transform into is decided by a short personality test. I remember starting over the game multiple times the first time I put in my cartridge, in order to get exactly who I wanted: Mudkip.
The world of Red Rescue Team is a quaint town populated by talking Pokémon, all with their own lives. It’s all adorably rendered in the GBA’s beautiful graphics, and even two decades later there’s a wonderful charm to it.
The gameplay loop centers on exploring multi-floor roguelike dungeons, with the aid of your team (all cute talking Pokémon), in search of specific NPCs you have been hired to rescue. You progress through dungeons by moving on a grid via a turn-based system, and enter combat against enemies you encounter. Exploring every crevice of a dungeon is a thrilling and sometimes dangerous adventure, and it offers a different take on Pokémon battles. As a little kid who had played her copy of Pokémon Sapphire until the internal battery died, it felt so fresh and exciting.
Red Rescue Team also has an amazing story. On top of figuring out how and why you were turned into a Pokémon, every NPC you meet is a great character to spend time with as you unravel their own secrets. Mixed with a fun story about chasing down a rival rescue team, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon packs a lot of narrative into its deceptively small package.
Red Rescue Team actually has a Switch remake in the form of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX. It’s pretty great and has its own unique painterly art style. It does cost $60, though. So if you are intrigued by the game, just wait till the original version drops on Switch Online on August 9. I’d also recommend the GBA version over the remake, just for the endlessly charming graphics. Now when are we getting a Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of the Sky remake?
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