Zerrick Hilliard
MC Practicum
“Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon” is the latest entry into the sub-franchise that resurrects and takes the series to new heights.
The late 2015 entry boasts the largest and most expansive world and roster of the “Mystery Dungeon” series, featuring several fully exportable continents and all 720 Pokémon to date. The game reintroduces the personality quiz that dictates which creature the player will play as. The answers match the player with one of several of the franchise’s more famous creatures, including Charmander, Riolu, Axew, and the mascot, Pikachu, just to name a few.
At the core of the game, as in past entries, is the player’s rescue team, comprised of the player, their partner, and other Pokémon that they come into contact with to do various missions for the inhabitants of the world.
The main story centers on the player, the player’s partner of choice, and their journey to join the Expedition Society, a league of elite Pokémon that rescue others and work toward uniting Pokémon around the world. However, the simple goal sends the player, their partner, and the entire Expedition Society on a whirlwind mission to save the world from the vicious Dark Matter.
The gameplay is similar to the previous “Mystery Dungeon” entries. The game boasts dozens of locales from high mountains to desert paradises and Easter eggs that give subtle tips of the hat to past “Mystery Dungeon” games.
The controls are user friendly, utilizing both of the main and touch screen of the 3DS for navigation. The new Alliance system that allows the player’s team to attack in tandem for boosted damaged. This comes in handy for the difficult boss fights the game features.
New to gameplay is the special in-dungeon item known as the emera that each gives the player a special boost for as long as long as they either stay alive or until the mission as completed. Also new the series is the Connection Orb system. As the player advances, they unlock the ability to recruit other Pokémon into their rescue team. In older titles, the player would have to buy friendship areas and chance running into other Pokémon that live in that area in hopes of recruiting them.
In “Super Mystery Dungeon”, when the player completes a task for a client, that Pokémon automatically joins the player. Through completing the connections in the world, more and more Pokémon of all strengths come to join the player.
The Connection Orb system simplifies growing the ranks of the player’s team, but unintentionally forces the player to sit their personal character out in favor of stronger ones on occasion, especially during the post-main story play. The graphics are easy on the eyes, but there are titles that show what the Nintendo 3DS is surprisingly capable of displaying.
“I haven’t played the games in a while. The new controls messed with me for a while, but it was fun once I got used to it,” said Dianne Blue, a sophomore criminal justice major from Chicago, Ill.
So far the game has earned mixed reviews from IGN and Metacritic, but proves to be a special gaming experience for fans of the sub-franchise.
