It's been nearly 7 years now, but it feels like just yesterday I was scurrying through dungeons while portraying an abnormally powerful Cyndaquil who, oddly enough, somehow was once a human who doesn't remember anything with the exception of the fact that he was once human! I remember buying a Prima guide to help me get through a game with randomly generated levels and complaining that the guide just wouldn't help my constant struggle for survival. I'd pull my stylus from the rear holster of my blue original Nintendo DS and lose myself through over one hundred floors of various Pokemon-infested chaos! And although the game now holds on to a Metacritic score of only 62, it holds a score in my heart which may consist of a power level which exceeds nine thousand. That game is Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team and is remembered for its simultaneous release on both the Nintendo DS and the Game Boy Advance early on in the DS' lifespan (and perhaps late in the GBA's lifespan if you're a glass half full kind of person). This game not only revolutionized the Pokemon franchise in finding new ways to milk a series, but also introduced a new gameplay aesthetic and monotonous story only to be retold over and over again.
From Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team on the
Nintendo DS.
This morning I was given a choice between the purchase of either Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon or Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates To Infinity to compliment my new nipplech... I mean Pikachu 3DS XL. I went with the obvious choice as Mystery Dungeon only made sense within the context in which I refer. I bought the game only expecting a rehash of everything I've seen before, but with 3D sprites and environments. Perhaps I was right, but this 3D rehash has reminded me that originally Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games weren't as bad as they've become, and that before exploring time and darkness, there was a hint of heart and personality rushed into these games. Even now, there is a scent of redundancy in the air as I boot up my nipplech.... Pikachu 3DS XL for hours of entertainment, but beyond the worry that a prodigious franchise such as Pokemon could get milked to its limits, there is nothing harmful about Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates To Infinity, and beneath its thick get-rich-quick-scheme shell, there lies a beautifully designed world which seems to have been crafted by minds full of passion. While it would never be considered for the likes of a Game of the Year nomination, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates To Infinity will be remembered as a beautiful remake of perhaps one of the most ambitious titles I've ever played, no matter how mediocre the gameplay of the original title seemed to be.
From Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates To Infinity on
Nintendo 3DS.
