Pokémon Mystery Dungeon

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Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Red Rescue Team Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Blue Rescue Team<tr><td colspan="2" style="font-size: 100%; text-align: center;"></td></tr>
Developer(s)	Chunsoft <tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Publisher(s)</th><td>Nintendo</td></tr>
Release date(s)	Image:Flag of Japan.svg 17 November, 2005 Image:Flag of the United States.svg 18 September 2006<ref>E3 06: Nintendo’s DS, GBA Lineup. URL accessed May 9, 2006.</ref> Image:Flag of Australia.svg 28 September, 2006 Image:European flag.svg 10 November 2006
Genre(s)	Role-playing game
Mode(s)	<tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Rating(s)</th><td>CERO: All Ages ESRB: E PEGI: 3+ OFLC: G</td></tr>
Platform(s)	Game Boy Advance (Red) Nintendo DS (Blue) <tr><th style="background-color: #ccccff;">Media</th><td>Cartridge</td></tr>

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team (ポケモン不思議のダンジョン 赤の救助隊, Pokemon Fushigi no Danjon Aka no Kyūjodai^?) and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team (ポケモン不思議のダンジョン 青の救助隊, Pokemon Fushigi no Danjon Ao no Kyūjodai^?) are a matched pair of Pokémon games for the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS, respectively. These two games were developed by Chunsoft and were published by Nintendo.

This game is in fact the ninth entry in Chunsoft's Fushigi no Dungeon series (which began on the Super Famicom with the Dragon Quest-based Torneko no Daibōken) and Final Fantasy series from Squaresoft/Square Enix. As such, it is a semi-turnbased dungeon crawl; a graphical roguelike. The two versions are compatible with each other through the Nintendo DS dual-slot features, where information may be transferred from one game to the other.

The two versions are mostly identical, with the Blue version taking advantage of the dual-screen features and increased graphical capabilities of the Nintendo DS (thus the team's condition can appear on one screen in Blue while playing in the other, while this screen must be accessed through a menu in Red). The game also begins with six Pokémon exclusive to one version (Lapras, Magikarp, Gyarados, Porygon2, Aipom, and Minun in Blue, and Mantine, Feebas, Milotic, Porygon, Roselia, and Plusle in Red), although the Wonder Mail mechanism allows all Pokémon to be obtained on one single game.

[edit] Story

[edit] The Origin of the Team

The main character wakes up one day to find that he/she has been transformed into a Pokémon in a world devastated by natural disasters. Having met up with a partner Pokémon, a distressed Butterfree asks their help to find her child Caterpie in the nearby Tiny Woods. After the rescue, the player's partner suggests that the two of them should join forces and form a rescue team. Meanwhile, the player attempts to discover why all this is happening, how to regain human form and why he/she has been having strange dreams of a Pokémon.

The team soon grows in numbers after Magnemite is convinced to join the rescue team after the team has saved Dugtrio's son, a Diglett, from a vicious Skarmory. The team also befriends other rescue teams, including a top-ranked rescue team consisting of Alakazam, Charizard and Tyranitar, named Team ACT. (The name is not explicitly given in the game, but rather the anime special based on the game.) Other rescue teams include Team Shifty, Team Hydro, Team Constrictor and Team Rumblerock each lead by Shiftry, Blastoise, Octillery and Golem, respectively. The team also makes enemies with another rescue team, Team Meanies, consisting of Gengar, Ekans and Medicham, who seek world domination under the guise of a rescue team.

[edit] The Ninetales Legend

The bulk of the game story revolves around a legend first told to the player by Whiscash. In the legend, a human had deliberately grabbed the tail of Ninetales, a Pokémon known for its longevity. Ninetales in retaliation laid a curse on the human, but the human's Pokémon companion Gardevoir selflessly put herself in the way. The human fled, abandoning Gardevoir, and was turned into a Pokémon as a result. It was said that it caused great unbalance in the world.

In the quest to discover the player's lost memory, the team quests to the Hill of the Ancients, where the fortune-teller Xatu resides. Xatu is quick to realize that the player was once a human, and tells that the player's human-to-Pokémon transformation is tied together with the natural disasters. It also warns that the world's balance must be restored, or the unthinkable shall happen. Unfortunately, this goes eavesdropped by Team Meanies' Gengar, who quickly convinces the townsfolk that eliminating the human-turned-Pokémon in the legend would bring everything back to normal. While the player is privately haunted by the notion that it may be this human from the legend, Gengar reveals the player's secret to the townsfolk, and leads every fellow rescue team into hunting down and eliminating the player.

The partner, in unwavering support of the player, doubts Gengar's assertion. However, the player is unable to speak in his/her defense because the Pokémon in his/her dream had revealed herself to be Gardevoir. The both of them are branded as fugitives and retreat out of Pokémon Square. They are soon confronted by Alakazam, who instead gives the player a generous head start: they have until dawn to make a getaway before the hunt begins. The two make their way to the ends of the world in an effort to elude the teams that are now hunting them down, encountering the legendary birds Moltres and Articuno, and befriending an Absol who also seeks to find the true cause of the natural disasters. The trio reaches the top of Mt. Freeze only to be cornered by Alakazam's team. Before a fight can ensue, they are stopped by Ninetales, who clears the player's name. Ninetales then reveals that the world is in greater danger caused by the awakening of Groudon. Alakazam's team proceeds to try and stop Groudon, while the team heads home to clear all remaining suspicion at Pokémon Square, where Gengar is cross with the townsfolk for not going after the rescue team. But when they arrive, Gengar attempts to rally the townsfolk into destroying them once and for all, but Caterpie's faith starts to spread, and the people start to have second thoughts, and side with the player's team, but there appears to be no proof that the rescue team has been telling the truth. Fortunately, Pelipper and the staff have declared the Pokémon team innocent, and for a giggle, exposed Gengar and Team Meanies. This results in Team Meanies fleeing in panic as Shiftry, Lombre, and Snubbull give chase to them.

Soon, a Wynaut and a Wobbuffet arrive at the rescue base and ask the team to dispatch a group of aggressive Mankey. The team does so, but finds that Wynaut could only pay the team a single Chestnut. The Mankey arrive to get their revenge but a fight is avoided due to the fact that Chestnuts are their favorite food. The team then convinces the group of Mankey to renovate the player's rescue base, to which Caterpie, Wynaut and Wobbuffet agree to pitch in. In the midst of the renovations, however, Team ACT has gone missing in the mission to stop Groudon. Shiftry convinces three of the best Pokémon, Team Hydro's Blastoise, Team Constrictor's Octillery, and Team Rumblerock's Golem to form a special rescue team and rescue the high-ranked A.C.T. Soon after the base is fully renovated, the special team returns defeated. Team Meanies shows up to discourage the Pokémon at the square even more, but the player and his/her partner are able to get everyone's spirits back up and volunteer to rescue Team ACT themselves.

When the team reaches Magma Cavern they find Charizard and Tyranitar defeated, with Alakazam fighting against Groudon alone. However, Alakazam is defeated. The team takes matters into their own hands and defeat Groudon. They return back to town as heroes, but their celebration is short-lived as grave news arrives from Xatu: a huge shooting star, revealed by Xatu to be the cause of the natural disasters, is heading for the world, threatening to destroy it. The only way to stop it is to ask for help from the sky guardian Rayquaza. But to send Pokémon to the sky requires the combined psychic powers of both Alakazam and Xatu, leaving the team the only ones capable of heading into the sky and seeking Rayquaza's aid.

The night before setting off, the player is through a dream by the spirit Gardevoir that the player's purpose as a Pokémon is to save the world, and that the player willingly turned into a Pokémon as a test of courage, being only told the truth if the player passed the test. Only after saving the world could the player return to human form - yet to do so would be parting ways with the partner, who had stuck beside the player through the hardest of times. The conversation is overheard by Gengar, who had tried to look into the player's dreams.

Alakazam and Xatu, along with an "unnamed accomplice", complete the Teleport Gem, with the help of a mysterious Ghost-type Pokemon speculated to be Gengar, allowing the team to reach the Sky Tower. Once there, however, they find that Rayquaza is less than cooperative. The team is forced to subdue Rayquaza in order to force its cooperation, and Rayquaza agrees to use its Hyper Beam to destroy the star.

Adrift within the star's explosion, the player finds themself in a dark fog. Gengar tries to drag the character into the dark world. However, Gengar ends up taking the wrong path, not being able to see a thing within the fog, so he lets the player go. The team reawakens on the ground, surrounded by their supporters, where they find that at least for now, the world is safe once again. Soon enough, the natural disasters plaguing the world of Pokémon will come to an end. Yet, the player realizes that with peace once again on the horizon, the player must return to being a human and leave the Pokémon world behind. The Pokémon are shocked by the player's sudden departure, and realized that the player had changed all of their lives in some way - none more than the partner. The player, too, feels remorse in his/her heart - having been forced to leave his/her partner and his/her new friends all of a sudden, and at the last minute, wishes to return to the wonderful world of Pokémon. At a gathering in front of the now-empty rescue base, the team and supporters are surprised to see the player return in Pokémon form,and a celebration begins, as peace is finally restored to the country...

The story behind the player and the partner may have ended, but the story of the team that they have formed goes on...

[edit] The Continuing Story

A few days after peace is returned to the world of Pokémon, the player awakens to find the partner rushing in, saying that something is amiss. The twosome will discover that Snubbull has somehow evolved into a Granbull. A piece of the shooting star that was destroyed by Rayquaza has unearthed the Luminous Cave, which allowed the Pokémon to evolve once again, although only one Pokémon could evolve at a time. Because of this, later that day, the partner convinces the player that due to new challenges ahead and growing team membership, the team should appoint different Pokémon for different missions that require the specialties of specific team members - prior to this the player and partner were part of each and every mission taken.

Later the player will find Team Meanies' Medicham outside of the team base, laughing at Lombre for having to be rescued while he was swimming out at sea. Lombre, in turn, tells his tale of finding a dungeon in a stormy sea.

It is later revealed that the human from the Ninetales legend is, indeed, Team Meanies' Gengar, who, after encountering the spirit Gardevoir in the player's dreams, (specifically, hearing her line about having a lifelong friend, being Gengar) was filled with mixed emotions, and thus, in an effort to redeem himself, aided Alakazam and Xatu in creating the Teleport Gem in an effort to revive Gardevoir. Among one of the stories that the team may undertake is helping Gengar in his quest for redemption. Other stories revolve around other legendary Pokémon such as Mewtwo, Jirachi, Mew, Regirock, Regice, Registeel, Lugia, Deoxys, Ho-Oh, Latios, Latias, Entei, Raikou, and Suicune.

[edit] Gameplay

[edit] Basics

The game begins with the main character turning into a Pokémon. The starter Pokémon is one of sixteen Pokémon (Bulbasaur, Charmander, Chikorita, Cubone, Cyndaquil, Eevee, Machop, Meowth, Mudkip, Pikachu, Psyduck, Skitty, Squirtle, Torchic, Totodile and Treecko), determined by a series of questions that determine their personality at the start of the game (a personality test with examples of these questions is located at the Official Pokemon Site.)<ref>http://www.pokemon.com/Dungeon/PersonalityTest/</ref> Gender is also vital to determine the starter Pokémon (for example, if the quiz determined a male player to be a Charmander, a female player who had the same answers would be determined to be a Pikachu; a FAQ on GameFAQs confirms this. There are also Pokémon exclusive to specific genders. Meowth, Machop and Cyndaquil are exclusive to males while Eevee, Chikorita and Skitty are exclusive to females).

The object of the game is to form a successful Rescue Team. This will start with one partner, chosen from Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, Pikachu, Chikorita, Cyndaquil, Totodile, Treecko, Torchic and Mudkip, though the partner cannot be the same type as the Pokemon the player is (so if he/she is a Grass-type Chikorita, he/she cannot pick Bulbasaur or Treecko to be his/her partner). Throughout the game, however, others, eventually all 386 Pokémon, will join.

The game is mission-based with jobs varying from running errands to rescuing a Pokémon. Moves, items and abilities from the RPGs are present for battling, but new items also exist, such as the Blowback Orb and the Iron Thorn.

There are several dungeons with various geographical builds, and special weather conditions such as fog, clouds, bright sunlight, rain, sandstorms, hail and snow which can enhance or dull the player's abilities. In order of discovery in the game's main storyline, they can go to the Tiny Woods, Thunderwave Cave, Mt Steel, Sinister Woods, Silent Chasm, Mt. Thunder (to battle Zapdos), Great Canyon, Lapis Cave, Mt. Blaze (to battle Moltres), Frosty Forest (to battle Articuno), Mt. Freeze, Uproar Forest, Magma Cavern (to battle Groudon) and Sky Tower (to battle Rayquaza). After completing the main storyline several other locations appear, including Solar Cave, Stormy Sea (a 40-floor dungeon where it is possible to find Kyogre), Buried Relic (a 99-floor dungeon where Mew, Regirock, Regice, and Registeel can be recruited), Silver Trench (another 99-floor dungeon where Lugia can be recruited), Desert Region, Far-Off Sea, Wish Cave (a 99 floor dungeon where you can rescue Medicham and recruit Jirachi), Purity Forest (where you can find Celebi), Mt. Faraway (the location of Ho-oh and where you can get the Friend Bow), Murky Cave (a 19 floor dungeon that you have to escort Gengar through), and Western Cave (a 99 floor dungeon where you can recruit Mewtwo).

Pokémon cannot evolve until the player has finished the Sky Tower for the first time and has seen the credits roll.

[edit] Rescue Team Base/Home

After the first task in the Tiny Woods, the player's partner will take him/her to a house that suits his/her Pokémon type, where he/she will stay, rest and save while outside dungeons. It has a mailbox for receiving news bulletins and rescue requests, which will come provided it is emptied (the mailbox has a capacity for only four messages). After the three legendary birds are defeated and Ninetales is met, the player will meet a Wobbuffet and Wynaut who ask him/her to accept the Punish Bad Mankey! quest (in order to unlock Uproar Forest). After they accomplish this mission, three of the Mankey come to his/her house to take revenge for the beating, but are instead persuaded to build a proper rescue base in return for three Chestnuts. These can be found in the Uproar Forest - when they are given three they will finish the player's base, which will then look like his/her starter Pokémon.

[edit] Kecleon Shop

This is where the two Kecleon brothers sell items. The elder, normal-coloured one sells normal items, and his younger purple brother sells TMs/HMs and various orbs. Kecleon will sometimes set up stalls in dungeons. You can take and sell items by leaving them on the floor, and when you leave the carpet the shop is set on, you are asked to pay or receive Poké. If you do not pay the Poké required, the Kecleon will alert other Kecleon, and the Kecleon will battle you until you advance to the next floor or are defeated. They are at high levels and move at double speed and if you lose to them, all your items in your inventory will become Plain Seeds. Shoplifting is one of the only ways to add a Kecleon to your team.

[edit] Felicity Bank and Kangaskhan Storage

The bank is run by a Persian where the player can deposit and withdraw money. The storage building is run by Kangaskhan and is used to store items. Kangaskhan Storage and Felicity Bank are the only places items and money are safe respectively. If the player or their partner faints during a rescue mission or in the dojo, most of the items and all of the money in their toolbox are lost.

[edit] Wigglytuff Club

This place is run by a Wigglytuff who loves friends. The player can 'buy' areas from her where their other comrades can stay so they can come and help them on missions. She can also tell the player the Friend Areas of any of the Pokémon they have seen on their adventures.

After the credits roll, new friend areas will be added, however, not all friend ares can be bought from the club, and buying a special friend area, like Southern Island, will lead to a new rescue mission with very helpful results, in this case, Latios and Latias will join your team.

[edit] Gulpin's Link Shop

If the player visits Gulpin, two, three or even four attacks can be chained together. Experience gained is tripled if the enemy is defeated with a Fused Attack. The Gulpin can also reteach moves and unlink moves. The "Link Box" item is necessary for linking moves in the dungeon. Linked moves will be lost over time! The ability to use the linked move will be lost when the PP of one of the moves that has been chained runs out. For example, if a move of 5 PP is linked with a move of 40 PP, the move would get unlinked once it is used 5 times if PP is not restored.

[edit] Relearning Moves

Certain Pokemon, like Charizard, don't learn moves when they evolve. Charizard learns Wing Attack when it evolves at level 36, but it doesn't learn it when the player evolves. It can be relearned by going to Gulpin (it also does not require any money). Then Wing Attack can be relearned. (Another way to learn this move is to use a Doom Seed, which will decrease the player's Pokemon's level by one. Then, he/she can level up again and his/her Pokemon can learn that move.)

[edit] Makuhita Dojo

This place is run by a Makuhita and plenty of volunteers. Teams can train in three-floor dungeons with a single type of Pokémon - Normal, Fire, Water, Grass, Electric, Ice, Ghost, Fighting, Ground, Flying, Psychic, Poison, Bug, Rock, Dragon, Dark and Steel. The player has to complete a main list before the rest are unlocked. After defeating all the type dungeons they will receive a Bonsly Statue. After the player completes the main story, they will be able to fight these teams in the dojo: Team Hydro, Team Shiftry, Team Constricter and Team Rumblerock. Using the DS Dual Slot feature, Blue Rescue Team players can load the Red Rescue Team into the dojo so you can fight them. However, only the Blue Rescue Team can be controlled by the player.defeating the 4 teams will also give you an item that increases your set moves power.

[edit] Pelipper Post Office

Post missions are delivered by Pelipper from here. Outside the contact post is a bulletin board where missions to take on can be found. Inside rescue requests or thank-you letters can be sent to friends.

[edit] Pokémon

Mystery Dungeon differs from previous Pokémon games where the player takes on the role of a trainer, and has to 'capture' Pokémon. In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, Pokémon may instead join one's team after battling. All 386 Pokémon are available in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Blue Rescue Team and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Red Rescue Team, although like previous games, these two games have version-exclusive Pokemon. Unlike in the previous games, the supposedly version-exclusive Pokémon can be obtained through Wonder Mail missions that will make the Pokémon start appearing in the dungeons they normally inhabit.

Another interesting point in the game is evolution. In the past, evolution worked in such a way that Pokémon had to be trained to a certain level, traded to a friend, or have stones used on them to evolve. In these games, natural disasters have prevented the Pokémon from being able to evolve. However, this can still be achieved. When the player has cleared the main storyline of the game, he/she is then able to go to Luminous Cave to the north of the town. Then, providing he/she is alone and his/her Pokémon meets the level requirements, he/she will be able to evolve his/her Pokémon. Link Cables, Stones and Metal Coats can also be found in certain dungeons, which will allow the player to evolve the Pokémon that needs special conditions to evolve. Friendship has been replaced by IQ, so Pokémon like Pichu, who depend on trainer happiness to evolve into Pikachu, will need a high IQ to evolve. Items also exist for evolution styles that don't exist in Pokemon Mystery Dungeon. For example, instead of a trainer leveling up a Feebas's Beauty stats to the maximum, the Beauty Scarf can be found and given to a Feebas to make it evolve into Milotic.

[edit] Tactics

The player controls his/her allies with the help of the tactics. Starting from the "Let's go together", "Go after foes" and "Avoid the first hit" tactics, he/she can then add other tactics all the way to Level 40 ("Be patient"). The usable tactics are listed here (in order)

[edit] Rescue Team Ranks

By running missions, the player can add rescue points to his/her team to increase its rank. Starting from Normal Rank, he/she can then progress to Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond and Lucario ranks. The Lucario Rank is the highest at 15,000 points, and reaching it will earn the player a statue of Lucario next to their rescue base. (Lucario is one of the fourth generation Pokémon who will appear in the newest Pokémon role-playing games, Pokémon Diamond and Pearl) All missions have levels. These levels are E, D, C, B, A, S, and *. The E missions are the easiest to complete and the * missions are the hardest. The level of a mission is indicated at the end of each letter which is delivered by Pelipper. The higher the level of the mission completed, the more rescue points will be obtained for completing that mission. Missions sometimes contain escorting the client to the desired Pokemon. Missions of this sort will be of a higher rank, and therefore award more rescue points upon completion. The rescue maximum mission points are as follows

[edit] Wonder Mail

Wonder Mail are received two different ways. You will receive a Wonder Mail code on every job request BEFORE you accept it, or they can be sent right to your job list using passwords, (passwords are entered by selecting Wonder Mail on the main menu) these contain missions the rescue team can take on. Places such as Fantasy Strait cannot be played without the correct Wonder Mail Password (or going to Nintendo's Event in Japan or America).

[edit] External links

• Nintendo Japanese official site about Mystery Dungeon
• Chunsoft Japanese official site about Mystery Dungeon
• Chunsoft Japanese official site about Mystery Dungeon in English
• Pokémon Japanese Official site about Mystery Dungeon
• Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Official site
• Serebii.net Mystery Dungeon page

[edit] References

References

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ja:ポケモン不思議のダンジョン fi:Pokémon Mystery Dungeon