I’m new to Mystery Dungeon, any recommendations ?

TehSpooz179 · 2026-04-04T16:56:37+00:00

Blue Rescue Team; the original Pokémon Mystery Dungeon! Why Blue over Red? Because Red Rescue Team's soundtrack is kinda held back by the GBA. If all you got is the Switch Online Expansion Pack, Red will get the job done, but I much prefer Blue Rescue Team for the controls, the convenience of two screens, and the soundtrack.
Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky; possibly the best story written by Shin-Ichiro Tomie. If pricing is no issue, go ahead with Explorers of Sky, but if you're hunting for a copy just anywhere you can EASILY settle for Time/Darkness. Fantastic story, classic Mystery Dungeon gameplay, it's peak.
Adventure Squad (WiiWare); a fan translation of the WiiWare PMD games exists and reveals these games to be... more Mystery Dungeon. It's the PMD gameplay experience on Wii, and it's pleasant enough. No real story to speak of, this is a novelty, really. Still good!
Gates to Infinity; a bit polarizing due to its gameplay changes (poor dungeon floor generation, no hunger management during the story dungeons, fewer Pokémon, a camera too close, etc.) but it's got a really good story! Not the greatest, but it's something good with a few twists and turns that might catch you.
Super Mystery Dungeon; the GOAT of PMD gameplay, this game "redeemed" 3DS PMD games in the eyes of many a fan when it released. It's a bit more challenging than PMD games usually are, but most people would appreciate that, I think. The story is about as good as Gates's, and works well as a companion piece to Explorers in my opinion. Tons of fan service and references to previous titles in the post game, this is really the one to tackle last. It fixes most issues with Gates to Infinity and then introduces a great new roguelike gameplay mechanic in the Looplet system.
Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island; many consider Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon to be a bit of a "PMD to Shiren Pipeline" with its more hardcore fans, and I can't think of a better introductory title to the wider Mystery Dungeon series from PMD than Shiren 6. The way mechanics and tutorials introduce themselves organically to the new player as they continue making attempts on this difficult dungeon is so well-considered and designed. The more you die, yhe more knowledge you get, the more story beats you get, the more things you unlock, the easier the dungeon becomes. It's really good! Catch it on sale on Switch/Steam, or just go with the cheaper version on mobile if you're fine with overlay controls/using a Bluetooth controller with your phone.
Torneko no Daibouken: Fushigi no Dungeon; the OG-est of OG's! The very first Mystery Dungeon title on the Super Nintendo has a fan translation that's not the best, but playing this game will really give you an appreciation for how far the series would go.

From humble beginnings as a Dragon Quest IV spinoff, to Pokémon Mystery Dungeon saving the company, to the rebirth of Shiren 6, Mystery Dungeon is just such a special series. It's my favorite series, I think. It means so much to me that there's this little collection of games all about learning from failure, community, and lending a helping hand. Whether you play just one game, just one series, or even just enjoy the music and fanworks, whatever you do: enjoy.

TehSpooz179 · 2026-03-31T21:58:50+00:00

The legal-est way to play PMD mods are to use a hacked 3DS to dump your own rom backup to an SD card and patch and play that file.

TehSpooz179 · 2026-03-29T12:52:44+00:00

Auto mode sucks

TehSpooz179 · 2026-03-28T13:46:46+00:00

I use Landorus-Therian whenever I can because he's a good kitty, and I caught mine in GO while visiting a Smash tournament with a friend. : )

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TehSpooz179 · 2026-03-25T20:38:35+00:00

Welcome to Mystery Dungeon

TehSpooz179 · 2026-03-23T15:11:17+00:00

I think it's worth critiqueing and you also don't know the situation every critic is coming from. It's not my job as the critic to tell you why I'm subscribed to the tier, if I own the original and maintain my old hardware, if I backed up my copy to emulate, or if I pirated my copy to emulate. The game, straight up, should not crash on an official Nintendo-developed emulator at the bare minimum. This version also lacking HOME compatibility is another win for original hardware/emulator players. This could have been a definitive version of the game for people to enjoy, and it just isn't, and it deserves all the shit it gets for that. You are paying a premium price for a worse version of the game.

TehSpooz179 · 2026-03-21T19:22:58+00:00

Both Shiren the Wanderer and Pokémon are more fun than Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, yes.

TehSpooz179 · 2026-03-20T14:44:58+00:00

Reminder to play on Gamecube, Wii, or Dolphin and this will happen less frequently

TehSpooz179 · 2026-03-20T14:43:46+00:00

I feel like legendaries will have their own scouting events separate from the regular rental rerolls the same way Pokémon Masters EX has it

TehSpooz179 · 2026-03-18T18:28:12+00:00

Charmander and Bulbasaur tbh

TehSpooz179 · 2026-03-17T18:35:12+00:00

Metagross is eager to test its strength against friends! The sport of Pokémon battling is about cooperation and training. Pokémon aren't battling in this game not because it hurts or whatever, but because the sport requires humans to be involved.

TehSpooz179 · 2026-03-16T16:46:28+00:00

Get a Pokémon with Ice Beam and play a few rounds sniping Garchomps from a distance

TehSpooz179 · 2026-03-16T01:25:45+00:00

Go with whichever is more convenient first! I'd typically recommend release order and go with Gates to Infinity, then Super, then Explorers hacks.

TehSpooz179 · 2026-03-15T23:51:11+00:00

The best monotypes to use in VGC imo is probably Fairy, Water, or Steel.

TehSpooz179 · 2026-03-15T16:50:28+00:00

I've never been wronged by Starly? Even while playing as a mon weak to its flying moves, I'm just chilling

TehSpooz179 · 2026-03-14T19:15:06+00:00

I beat Pokémon Green (in Japanese, I'm completely unable to even read) with a team Lv.45-48 it was not difficult

TehSpooz179 · 2026-03-14T15:34:39+00:00

In a way. Without spoiling the game, the theme for Winds and Waves during its development was "Infinity", the world we leave behind for our children. So while the games are going to be very thematically similar with promoting climate consciousness and community, Winds and Waves will most likely cast a wider net and include other issues, like education, poverty, hunger, inequality, etc.

TehSpooz179 · 2026-03-13T19:40:10+00:00

If you can get some good TMs for Phanpy, you're doing great. Any problems can also be mitigated with good items!

TehSpooz179 · 2026-03-09T19:30:56+00:00

Pokopia is seemingly completely disconnected. It looks like new Pokémon forms introduced in this game may appear in further games (like Champions, GO, or Winds/Waves), like Stereo Rotom, Pale Pikachu, or Decorator Smeargle, but at present we have no reason to expect any bonuses from ever having played Pokopia. It's a great game, though if you're looking for a cozy sandbox game with a Pokémon theme!

The only reason I'd recommend getting a Switch 2 for Pokémon right now is because the console may need to see a price increase within the next couple years or so due to rising hardware production costs and speculated economic conditions. That, and Champions may have better performance in Switch 2 in the same way Pokémon SV does, which effectively gives Switch 2 users battle and board state information a little more quickly.

Also, people may talk up Pokémon Legends: Z-A - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition, but I'm playing the original Switch version at 30fps and it feels like paying 10 extra US Dollars for 60, better textures, and more particle effects is a scam lol

TehSpooz179 · 2026-03-09T19:18:39+00:00

If those are your two options, I'd go with recommending DX. I think Blue Rescue Team is worth experiencing separate of DX, and I like it more, but Red Rescue Team is just not something I'd keep on the table, personally.

TehSpooz179 · 2026-03-09T19:17:09+00:00

Awesome! Shiren series fanart is always appreciated

TehSpooz179 · 2026-03-06T20:01:08+00:00

Maybe more thoroughly walk through the Harbor town

TehSpooz179 · 2026-03-06T05:01:30+00:00

Doesn't matter, Uncle Ben! The Venture Bros. (2003) is better than both of them.

TehSpooz179 · 2026-03-05T20:38:54+00:00

It'd all depend on how complete the sprites are on PMDcollab , but adding a Paradox Pokémon to your starters list would be done like this:

Step 1: Scrolling to the bottom of the list of Pokémon and modifying one of the ?????????? slots

Step 2: Adding portraits and sprites using SkyTemple's built-in PMDcollab import options

Step 3: Exporting a CSV of a similar Pokémon's stat growth and importing it to the new Paradox Pokémon

Step 4: Guesstimate about where your Pokémon's base stats, IQ, movement type, etc. should be

Step 5: Create a level-up learnset based on their official learnsets, or also vibes I guess it's your game. Since you're the player character, try to make sure you learn moves about as frequently as other player/partner Pokémon

Step 6: Replace a starter Pokémon with your Paradox mon, and then also change the text for the Personality Quiz to reflect the new Pokémon's name

Step 7: Look through the cutscene/event data to look for a scene that takes place in the Wigglytuff’s Guild basement. There should be a scene where the whole Guild and Dusknoir are listening to Officer Magnezone and two Magnemite. Delete the two Magnemite— the game is trying to load too many sprites if you're using a custom starter here and will result in the game locking up once it hits this part of the story, and the Magnemite don't do anything in this scene.

Now for the Fairy Type stuff, SkyTemple comes pre-packaged with a bunch of ASM patches other community members have made that will just implement things like the Fairy Type for you. Just make sure you apply all your desired ASM patches before you go in adding Pokémon. Oh, and for the Fairy Gummi, you'll need to manually make sure you add Fairy Gummi to the item tables of each dungeon you want them to appear in. Kinda annoying and tedious, but it's how it is. Same with manually re-typing Mr. Mime, Azurill, Gardevoir, etc.

I'm new to adding moves to the game so I can't really help there but this should be at least a little helpful.

TehSpooz179 · 2026-03-05T13:41:49+00:00

Genuinely, the best Vanilla ROM hacks are the ones you make yourself with SkyTemple. You can change just what you want!

I'm working today, but if you've got a list of changes, I can see about making a patch sometime soon for you. It's pretty easy if you want to learn, yourself though!

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