We have our first impressions on YouTube as well!
Graphics – the game is pretty!
Spike Chunsoft have done a great job bringing the original Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games to the Switch when it comes to the graphics. The chalky pastel colours and outlines on the models make it look like you’re playing an adventure book – think the 100 Acre Wood levels from Kingdom Hearts. All of the action still seems to happen at a high frame rate. Personally, I would’ve loved to have seen an odd frame rate for cutscenes, like from Kirby and the Rainbow Curse.
The introduction when you first open the game and the first few cutscenes have all been redone, but are almost word-for-word what you would’ve gotten from the GBA and DS originals. The menu art’s had a refresh as well – it looks like all of it has been redrawn to the same new art style as the rest of the game.
Gameplay – A few differences
The experience of exploring the dungeons and fighting enemies remain relatively unchanged. As standard, you have a grid-based system for movement and attacking. You also have menus that let you use items and manage your partner’s behaviour.
Auto Mode
A new “Auto Mode” for exploring the dungeon has been added into the game. Toggling it is done with the L trigger and it can be set to two behaviours: finding items, or finding stairs. If you run into an enemy, Auto Mode disables so you can give your commands. I can see this as a great way to play the game on public transit. You could enable Auto mode to check what station or stop you’re at, and then battle when you need to.
Moves
What’s missing in the combat system of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon is the “A” attack. In the original Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team, you could press A and you would have a basic attack. The attack wasn’t powerful, but it was there as a simple way to hit enemies. If you needed something more powerful, you’d have moves. In my opinion, it added an extra consideration while exploring. Should you use a move to sweep through the dungeon? Or maybe you should save them for the lower levels?
In the demo at least, instead you have to use your moves, which means using PP. I can’t remember if this was the experience in “Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity”, but it does seem like it takes away something quite unique about these games. What I’d hope is that there’s either a way to enable this later, or that once you run out of PP you get the standard attack back.
Music – tasty sounds!
Yes, they’ve brought back all of the music that you had in the originals and made it better! As in, it has instruments! The Tiny Woods theme is still as strange but good sounding as expected. Of course, if you prefer not having the music from the game you can turn it off. Why? The only reason I did was for our video review of the demo. I wonder if the soundtrack will be available on CD or a USB stick, like with Fire Emblem?
Summary
This game looks great from the demo. We’re looking at a game that is better as a remake than Pokémon Let’s Go was for Pokémon Yellow. It’s great to have this style of gameplay back and (soon) readily available. The availability of a demo only adds to this game’s accessibility. This is a great starting point for someone who’s never played Pokémon Mystery Dungeon.
To me, comparing this to their originals would be like comparing Silver to SoulSilver. The originals are still great to go back to, but the newer ones give you a much better experience in a game that’s easier to pick up.
