The saga returns where it all started fifteen years ago, this time on Nintendo Switch. Remarkable start over in a title that remains unforgettable.
That the most iconic subset of Pokémon is back is good news, especially after a three-year vacuum where, certainly, Nintendo 3DS deliveries failed to reap the same success (or quality) as the originals. And that's where we are now, again, where it all started. Pokémon Mysterious World: DX rescue team is a reality and highlights the need to start over for, who knows, to have a completely new new delivery in the future; which would be the fifth canonical iteration.
But let's get in context: where we are and where we come from. To understand what the Mystery Dungeon series is, we have to go back to 2005, a moment where The Pokémon Company, in the third third generation of the saga (Ruby, Sapphire, Fire Red, Green Leaf …), wanted to risk and bet for new intellectual properties within that universe. Spike Chunsoft, experts in the dungeon crawler genre through the Dragon Quest spin-off, Torneko: The Last Hope and The Nightmare of Druaga, were commissioned by a Tsunekazu Ishihara, president of TPC, to do the same with Pokémon: a role-playing video game with randomly generated dungeons and shift shifts.
Pokémon Mysterious World: DX Rescue Team
The idea changed a lot from its initial conception until it was put up for sale, although it finally did so in an intergenerational way with Pokémon Mysterious World: Red rescue team and Blue rescue team for Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS, respectively. The answer? A real success, as we tell you in this article on how to start in the saga. 5.85 million copies sold made clear since 2006 that this concept was here to stay; that there was a lot of room for improvement, but that the potential was there and could not be missed. Already entirely in Nintendo DS we had the most celebrated delivery, Explorers, which had a total of three editions (Darkness, Time and Sky). Finally, a diffuse time, with steps back and excessive simplification despite 3D with Pokémon Mysterious World: Portals to Infinity (2013) in the fifth generation and Pokémon Megamisterious World (2016) in the sixth generation; a delivery that recovered the essentials of the originals and was overwhelming in content.
Everything seemed to have returned to normal, that Nintendo 3DS was going to say goodbye with a delivery that covered Generation VII; but it was not like that. And this is the point where we are now, with a blank generation and an octave that awaits the arrival of a natural video game of that cycle. Pokémon Mysterious World: DX rescue team is a warning to navigators: if we want new deliveries of the saga, Nintendo has to analyze if there is real interest in the dungeon. Our task, however, is to analyze whether or not this restart is up to expectations.
Respecting a legacy with elegance and success
During the weeks prior to the completion of this Reviews we have done the exercise of playing once again Blue Rescue Team, the original Nintendo DS. A demanding title, with an unforgettable story both for what is told – a very distant and much deeper approach than the stories of the main series led by Game Freak – and how it does it. Mysteries from the beginning and a clear premise: you are a human being turned into a Pokémon, but why?
The Great Tuff before we all knew him as the Great Tuff.
Everything remains intact. And when we say intact, it is intact. We feared, for the concessions that Nintendo 3DS deliveries had when it came to check points (and facilities to get out of complex situations), that this delivery would do something similar and break the magic of the original. Luckily it is not so; not, at least, in the fundamental bases. Rescue team DX maintains those high levels of difficulty of the original in the sections where we have to face dungeons of dozens of floors; There are still a number of Apples and Orange Berries far below what we would like … In fact, we can empirically confirm that the control points have not been disrupted; there is neither more nor less.
This has allowed us to breathe, because having intervened to make this video game a much lighter experience would have been a serious mistake. The dungeon crawler genus is like that; It was fifteen years ago and should always remain that way. That the uncertainty over the unknown and the randomness in the design of each plant in each dungeon overlaps everything.
Differences and news, what has changed?
It is surely one of the questions that you have moved most since Pokémon Mysterious World was announced: DX rescue team at the beginning of the year. We have taken note of everything that has changed, even minimally, because in a remake it is not only relevant to point it out, but it is important for those who doubt whether a product that maintains the characteristics and design of the GBA delivery will be found here and NDS. Broadly speaking, it is a 2006 video game adapted to 2020, with all that that entails; It is still a limited game and does not take risks. Could they have put features or functions seen in the 3DS editions? Of course. For starters, we don't have the coveted online cooperative exploration that has been asking for so many years. We cannot forget, of course, that this is a remake that translates the idea of yesteryear 1: 1 and that, therefore, the lack of news can be … justifiable.
The interface design benefits from being on a widescreen, more rectangular than in Nintendo 3DS. It is gained in space and readability.
In fact, there are elements taken from Mundo Megamisterioso, such as the possibility of rescuing ourselves with an alternative team if we are defeated in a dungeon; besides being able to rescue friends in local multiplayer and online. Megaevolution is recovered in creatures that have this temporary alteration incorporated in Generation VII or new movements added to the canon of the saga beyond Generation III. For more information, it is possible to change the leader at any time by pressing (+), unlike in the originals. Finally, two minor aspects: the opening of Treasures automatically at the end of a mission and the absence of two simultaneous skills.
Now, the really new, the different from the original, is in aspects such as automatic advance if we press L or the execution of the most appropriate attack against an enemy if we press A. Luckily, these accessibility-centric additions do not break, far from it, the essence not being mandatory nor guarantee victory; they are, rather, additives designed for the smallest of the house. We cannot forget that a high percentage of the target audience that will play this videogame will be new to the saga. It has been solved with success, although we have not liked that now the teams of the dungeons have gone from three maximum members to a total of eight. It's a barbarity. It facilitates too much a dungeon if we become eight members, although it is also a double-edged sword being eight mouths to feed, almost literally, because if they weaken we have to choose whether we are worth recovering or letting them go. We insist: essential objects do not abound and you have to be strategic, save every object for what may happen: if we weaken and are not rescued, we will lose absolutely everything we carry, from money to objects.
Following this aspect, we will comment that the process of recruiting members has changed. Now the capture rate of new allies is higher – not derisory, as in the originals, where there were Pokémon with percentages below 5% -, it will be enough to defeat them or help defenseless creatures in the middle of a mission. If we give them an Apple, they will want to join us. In order for them to remain, not in vain, it will be necessary to have their corresponding camp unlocked, which are no longer visible and explorable Recreation Areas, but have become a selection menu similar to that of Explorer deliveries under the name of Camps . There are many (more than 50), that does not change; and to buy them you will have to talk to Wigglytuff. Again, the 376 Pokémon of the first three generations are recruitable, plus certain additions from other generations that we cannot reveal, although some of these new additions have been seen in the promotional trailers.
Pokémon Shiny, Talents, Megavolution, changes in recruitment …
Something interesting – that we hope is here to stay – is the presence of shiny creatures (we have encountered a Noctowl and a Butterfree variocolor in our adventure, and it was a surprise!) In the wild and new passive skills called Talents. These skills can be learned through the intake of Jelly Beans; with some of them really interesting as being able to witness the location of objects, be invulnerable to sleep, climb faster from EXP …
When we eat Jelly Beans, new Talents will occasionally appear. We can only have one and will choose.
The last big change is the Dojo Makuhita, that location of the village where many of us spent tens of hours three years ago to train and level up. Let's forget how it was once, because now it's something different. There is no longer a Dojo for each elementary type, but there are three different specialized tests (apart from others that serve as a tutorial) between 50 and 60 seconds long where we can gain experience at high speed with each Pokémon we weaken . Entering is not free, but we need Bronze, Silver or Gold coupons. To get them you have to be lucky and be one of the reward of each rescue task. We must say, in honor of the truth, that if we use all the coupons of the secondary missions we can make our level so, so high that the difficulty of the main story simply disappears; And that's a shame.
This is how the new Dojo Makuhita works: three different workouts in exchange for coupons.
It is not broken, we warn, but it is susceptible to the balance of the difficulty curve being broken at the will of the player. Our advice? Don't abuse Makuhita's workouts until you finish the main story, which is when the truly magical Pokémon Mysterious World begins: DX rescue team. We cannot talk about endgame, of course, but we can say that this is where the real challenge begins. As in the original, the presence of secondary stories, recruitment of Legendary Pokémon, evolution (and megaevolution) or the dungeons of dozens of floors will make us sweat a lot; especially with the Pre-Doric states of some Pokémon, (which we already saw in Megamisterious World). Occasionally, some wild species will adopt an improved form of itself, with more attack power and life points. It is, to make an equivalence, the Megavolution form of those Pokémon that have no mega form, although in practice it is something very similar. They are a total threat. As are the Pokémon with a warning symbol on the map; which are those Pokémon in Pretoric state under the role of deputy chief of zone.
We appreciate that the autosave has been incorporated, which can be deactivated for the most purists. Imagine that you have been going down stairs for an hour, on the ground -47 of a dungeon and, suddenly, the console is turned off due to lack of battery or a similar cause. Now, the game saves the game automatically with each movement, as we have seen in different cases and scenarios. It is no use cheating, for example, so if we weaken there is no going back, but it is a function that we greatly appreciate.
The Camps allow to manage both Jelly Beans and other aspects of the equipment; including the companions in each zone.
The nature of Pokémon Mysterious World: DX rescue team is also its possible greatest enemy: the feeling of wear and tear, repetitiveness. The title is in front and does not fool anyone: it is a dungeon video game. With the passing of the hours, you may feel that you are doing the same thing over and over again. If the incentive of what is beyond the main adventure, which has lasted about twenty hours in total, with its more than one hundred hours to complete everything (without exaggeration) is more a barrier than a breath to continue, it is possible that you end up setting it aside. The execution, however, is more than remarkable because it perfectly defines your initial idea. We would have appreciated a more skillful artificial intelligence, both by the enemies and by the allies, and that has remained intact against our will.
The desired artistic section: a game that enters through the eyes
We leave for the end the audiovisual and artistic section, which has amazed us. With headphones from beginning to end. It is not only a remake in the form of a remake, it is also a remastering in the visual and sound plane. The soundtrack of Pokémon Mysterious World, in general, is very good; but Rescue Team deliveries have memorable themes hard to forget. Spike Chunsoft's team has respected the sound effects of GBA, but they have added new chords and arrangements for ambient themes, with even some surprise that we don't want to reveal. The result is magnificent; surely the best of the game, being accompanied by an artistic style that perfectly matches this type of title.
Unlike in Nintendo 3DS, where 3D models were chosen, here you gain in personality by using a canvas in a kind of watercolor with characters modeled in 2.5D, bordered by a small black outline that, without becoming cel-shading , they are well visible in portable and desktop mode. In our case, most of the game we have played in portable mode (Nintendo Switch Lite) with total comfort: it is a video game designed to be played in portable mode, like the original deliveries. On TV you gain in sharpness and detail, with a hue of saturated color on purpose in primary and secondary colors. Obvious. If we were to choose an artistic style for a completely original new installment in the future, we signed this way of interpreting the Mysterious World universe right now.
We have analyzed this title through a download code provided by Nintendo Spain on Nintendo Switch.
CONCLUSION
Pokémon Mysterious World: DX rescue team is a recreation more than respectful of the original GBA and Nintendo DS video game; in fact, it improves in some aspects to the original deliveries with certain additions and details of quality of life. That effort to leave everything intact has caused that some of the original's problems have not been solved, such as artificial intelligence, small problems in the control scheme or possible repetitiveness due to lack of variety in the playable plane. The saga is like that, however, and deals with that: dungeon. The most positive aspect is that we have found it very pleasant to return to this installment on Nintendo Switch; It seems more advisable now even than before, and can serve as a gateway to Pokémon fans looking for something beyond the RPG of the main saga. A moment of celebration, which invites us to dream of a more ambitious, large and varied original delivery within Generation VIII.
THE BEST
- A remake that respects and improves elements of the original
- Added as the Talents and quality of life details
- The soundtrack and the visual section, a delight
- Amount of overwhelming content; now even more
WORST
- Some problems with AI remain
- The rescue teams of eight members: exaggerated
- There is still no cooperative online mode, missed opportunity
- Goodbye to the original Makuhita Dojo and the visible Recreation Areas
Good
It meets the expectations of what a good game is, it has quality and does not present serious failures, although it lacks elements that could have taken it to higher levels.
