Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon asks a lot of its opening hours. You wake up as a Pokémon with no memory of being human, get chased by Beheeyem, and end up in Serene Village under a Nuzleaf’s roof. It is a slow, strange start for a game that eventually throws the fate of the world at you.
Twenty Starters and a Partner
Spike Chunsoft built this one for the Nintendo 3DS, and it is a dungeon-crawler at heart. You pick one of 20 Pokémon — every starter from all six main series generations, plus Pikachu and Riolu — then pick a partner from the remaining 19. The dungeons are procedurally generated, full of enemies and traps, and the roster runs to all 720 Pokémon released at the time.
That number is the selling point. It is also the problem. A roster that wide flattens the sense of discovery that made earlier entries feel like expeditions.
Serene Village to Revelation Mountain
The plot moves through clear stations: Serene Village, the Expedition Society, Revelation Mountain, the Voidlands. Ampharos inducts you and your partner into the Society. Pokémon are being turned to stone, Entei among them. The Society blames Krookodile, a local thug.
Then the turn lands. Nuzleaf paid Krookodile to go to Revelation Mountain. Nuzleaf was the one petrifying Pokémon all along. He and Yveltal petrify you, your partner, Suicune and Raikou, then destroy the spring that could undo it.
It is the best beat in the game, and it arrives after hours of fetch work.
Dark Matter and the Tree of Life
You wake in the Voidlands. The Society is mostly there. You learn the planet’s life source, the Tree of Life, was once nearly pulled into the sun by an entity now called Dark Matter. Manifestations of the Voidlands’ darkness attack. Raikou, Entei and Suicune save you and your partner; everyone else is incapacitated.
Escaping costs you. Your allies sacrifice themselves to get you out.
An escaped Beheeyem then explains that Dark Matter can possess Pokémon. The story keeps escalating past the point where the mechanics can carry it.
Release Schedule
| Region | Release date |
|---|---|
| Japan | September 17, 2015 |
| North America | November 20, 2015 |
| Europe | February 19, 2016 |
| Australia | February 20, 2016 |
What the Game Gets Right
The 3D characters and environments are a genuine step up from the flat sprites of its predecessor. The Harmony Scarves, the partner’s pariah status in Serene Village, the outsider bond between two characters who do not fit — that material has weight. The partner dreaming of the Expedition Society while the town writes him off is the emotional spine, and it holds.
The dungeons do not. Procedural generation here means repetition, and 720 Pokémon means most of them are noise.
Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon is a game with a strong middle and a bloated frame around it. The Nuzleaf reveal earns its place. The road there does not.
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