It's Critter Time!

Ah, Mystery Dungeon games… some of you might be familiar with them! Perhaps the crossover known as “Pokemon Mystery Dungeon” rings a bell? Or is the origin of the franchise - “Shiren The Wanderer” more familiar to you? Maybe one of the other spin-offs?

Regardless! All Mystery Dungeon games follow the core principles of being a rougelike RPG dungeon crawler (hence the name). You go into semi-randomly generated dungeons, wander around while collecting items, fighting foes, dodging traps, leveling up, and progress to the next floor until you complete the dungeon, then you start again. The process sounds simple enough, right? And it is! For the most part.

You see, these games typically have a difficulty curve that is more like a difficulty spike, which is all part of the fun! From randomized room layouts, to increasingly hard enemies, to boss battles and intense story beats - it all ups the stakes! And that’s not even getting into the bonus content of EXTRA HARD DUNGEONS!
Imagine completing an entire dungeon all without your old items and equipment… Or going through one but you were reset to level 1 when you entered it… Or what about a marathon of 99 floors? It’s typically optional, but it’s there if you like the challenge!

All in all, I highly recommend the franchise! My number 1 game just about ever - “Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers Of Sky” is part of it, and it’s ENDLESSLY GOOD (especially the story)!

Resources about the Mystery Dungeon franchise:
https://mysterydungeonwiki.com/wiki/My ... chise_Wiki
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mystery_Dungeon

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon is a funny series for me in particular. I don't really like mainline Pokemon games, and I find most Mystery Dungeon games to be a bit bland compared to the roguelikes I grew up with, but mixing the two made something that was just right level of stimulation for a chill time in the dungeon.

I kinda slot Mystery Dungeon in the same box as Dragon Quest. They're high quality and stay true to their roots and formula, with a bit of spice on each new entry. That really appeals to some people, but I crave more novelty than they provide.

Mixi Blacksand wrote: Mon Jul 14, 2025 6:37 pm

I kinda slot Mystery Dungeon in the same box as Dragon Quest.

Fitting since I’m pretty certain the first Mystery Dungeon game was a Dragon Quest spin-off.

such a special series and one close to my heart, probably the first game that made me cry at the end. being able to BE the pokemon????? such a game changer, and incredible for self expression. the art, music, story UGHHHHHHH getting emotional just thinking about it

as much as a roguelike pervert i am i love mystery dungeon games but am cursed to be complete dogshit at them lmao. i was giving the latest shiren a spin a while ago and it was like i'd completely forgotten how to play the genre in general

i'd also come across Ed-0: Zombie Uprising some time back and was very surprised to find out that despite it looking the kind of ps2 bargain bin character action thing you'd pass over in a preowned section, its an honest to god mystery dungeon game. like they took a shiren game, filed the serial numbers off, and made it play in real time

like its not good by any stretch, its rough as shit, but its a thing that exists

dragongirlfangs wrote: Mon Jul 14, 2025 6:48 pm It's been a few years, but I used to speedrun Pokemon Mystery Dungeon - Blue Rescue Team! I've only ever been a fairly casual speedrunner, but I'd love to get back into running these games :3

That’s so neat! I love love love speedrunning - even though I don’t have the skill to do it myself lol
Lmk if you decide to get back into it :3

mircatz wrote: Mon Jul 14, 2025 7:49 pm such a special series and one close to my heart, probably the first game that made me cry at the end. being able to BE the pokemon????? such a game changer, and incredible for self expression. the art, music, story UGHHHHHHH getting emotional just thinking about it

FR THO
I still sometimes play my copies of Sky and Time, and I’ve started a save file on a fangame too and every moment is just so so good

I dove SUPER hard into Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer for DS. It was a lot of fun, figuring out how to use what I had in my inventory, to squeak past a horrifically difficult situation!

I think I ended up completing the Final Puzzle some 3 or 4 times.

After this game, I sought out and acquired Torneko: The Last Hope, managing to play all the way through its main quest at least. [It was interesting, like I was playing through what could've been a Super NES CD game.] And this game was my gateway back into the Dragon Quest games, starting with IV and V on the DS.

[Side note: I stan Dragon Quest's Archdemons, and also Orcs.]

I have Shiren: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate on my Switch, though it's in my backlog. I do also want to get the succeeding game at some point as well.

I actually haven't played much of the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games, but I have watched streams of them. They certainly seem deserving of their praise!

okay critters lets go find mew

I played a decent bit of Shiren The Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate on Steam. (What a mouthful!) It's neat! It's got some obscure mechanisms and you sometimes get pretty unlucky runs, but I suppose that's part of the charm.

Fun fact: if you get caught in an explosion, all the onigiri in your inventory becomes grilled onigiri.

I got into the Mystery Dungeon games with Chocobo's Dungeon 2 on PSX and since then I've been a casual fan of them. Though oddly enough I could never fully get into the Pokemon ones.

My first Mystery Dungeon experience (before I knew what a Mystery Dungeon game was) was Digimon World 2 for the PS1. The battles are standard turn-based JRPGs, but the dungeoncrawling is almost entirely mystery dungeon-inspired.

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky was one on my favorite games as a kid and teen. It still is, but I haven't played it in a while. Maybe I should?
Also this series definitely helped make me a furry lol.

The Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games in particular are a therianization nuclear bomb, I feel like every person I know who is super attached to them is alterhuman in SOME way. They really said "what if YOU were the Pokemon" and changed the trajectory of millions of children's lives.

I don't know if I'd play non-Pokemon ones just because I'd be craving PMD the entire time due to Therian Reasons, but I really want to try more of them out! I've only played Explorers of Sky so far, it was my childhood darling and my favorite game of all time to this day. I unfortunately lost my copy, and copies today go for... well, it's not exactly ideal.

I really like the gameplay! I don't think I'd be too good at the challenges, but it's really nice exploring dungeons and getting to the the top. I like trying to max out the guild rank when I'm done with the main and side story, though I'm doing it very slowly whenever I feel like opening it back up. I need to find a way to have multiple saves so I can play through again when I feel like it, or so I can mod one of the copies to play as a rattata for therian reasons (I'll be real, I'll probably use the wonder mail exploit to get decent TMs if that happens )

I just have to say though, the full-room attacks are complete bull. I love to walk into a giant room and immediately get hit with silver wind from the 3 Pokemon in there </3

I had no idea PMD was such a bombshell for people. I guess I was already firmly furry by the time I played it, and I never identify *as* the player character. And here I thought it was just a cute dungeon crawler!

vurrsys wrote: Tue Jul 15, 2025 8:22 pm The Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games in particular are a therianization nuclear bomb, I feel like every person I know who is super attached to them is alterhuman in SOME way. They really said "what if YOU were the Pokemon" and changed the trajectory of millions of children's lives.

I don't know if I'd play non-Pokemon ones just because I'd be craving PMD the entire time due to Therian Reasons, but I really want to try more of them out! I've only played Explorers of Sky so far, it was my childhood darling and my favorite game of all time to this day. I unfortunately lost my copy, and copies today go for... well, it's not exactly ideal.

I really like the gameplay! I don't think I'd be too good at the challenges, but it's really nice exploring dungeons and getting to the the top. I like trying to max out the guild rank when I'm done with the main and side story, though I'm doing it very slowly whenever I feel like opening it back up. I need to find a way to have multiple saves so I can play through again when I feel like it, or so I can mod one of the copies to play as a rattata for therian reasons (I'll be real, I'll probably use the wonder mail exploit to get decent TMs if that happens )

I just have to say though, the full-room attacks are complete bull. I love to walk into a giant room and immediately get hit with silver wind from the 3 Pokemon in there </3

Yes! PMD was DEFINITELY something that helped start me on my journey as both a furry and an otherkin. I vividly remember seeing the advertisement on TV for the explorer games and being like “OMG… ME? AS A POKEMON? MOM PLS BUY THIS FOR ME”

The gameplay is so entertaining - I always get stuck in a loop of going on missions in dungeons, selling items I got from said dungeons, taking on more missions, and etc. until I’ve been playing for hours LOL

If you want multiple saves I’d recommend an emulator! There’s also a editor program specifically for PMD:EOS called SkyTemple which has functions that can allow you to add new Pokemon - and has a frequently updating fan made database of sprites.

And yeah, full room attacks can be scary! I’ve fainted quite a few times to earthquake and magnitude in particular… But the plus side is - you can use them too! Have a Skitty with Blizzard, or Pikachu with Discharge, and you’re typically good to go!

vurrsys wrote: Tue Jul 15, 2025 8:22 pm The Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games in particular are a therianization nuclear bomb, I feel like every person I know who is super attached to them is alterhuman in SOME way. They really said "what if YOU were the Pokemon" and changed the trajectory of millions of children's lives.

making me do some thinking about myself xD

I love the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games! Both me and my partner played through more or less all the DS and 3DS ones (though they have a bit of a different reaction to, I think the first DS one, Blue&Red Rescue Team? Anyhow, when you finish the game it rewards you mechanically by letting you swap out your previously-mandatory companion, and moves them to your stable of party members... which thematically basically means they go "okay bye", lose their personality and just become Another Random Pokemon that only says generic lines, which bummed them the heck out after they spent the game befriending them!).

I never did get into the Shiren games, despite trying to repeatedly (Koppa!), but the whole store-stuff-in-jars mechanical layer is too much unfun busywork for me.

On the other hand, the Wii Chocobo's Dungeon? Ohboy! Fantastic rearrangements of some of the best tunes in the FF series, and you dress up an adorable Chocobo? Perfect, no notes, I still have the soundtrack on my meta playlist.

Not Pokemon therian in any way but the PMDs definitely hit Brain Buttons. We also think the kind of closeness you end up having with your partner in those games hits some very ace notes.

Anyway have been wanting to get into Shiren at some point because we know some people who really like them but they're super difficult to figure out without help

I only got into the MD games with Switch, starting with Chocobo and then Pokémon and oh my god I loved both. They manage to scratch both the Final Fantasy and the Pokémon itch at the same time without being overly complicated.

... Man, I want to replay them now.