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Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red & Blue Rescue Team are the first two paired games in the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series, with Red being released on the Game Boy Advance, while blue was released on Nintendo DS, then both were re-released on the Wii U Virtual Console on February 11th, 2016.

The games adopt the roguelike video game style of the Mystery Dungeon game series developed by Chunsoft, while fusing it with the Pokémon world, creating rather unique and fun games in which the player themselves turn into a Pokémon and tags along different Pokémon to explore and complete dungeons as they progress through the story.

The pair between them feature all the Pokémon up to the third generation, which can be encountered in game and also recruited as friends by the player, to accompany them in their long adventure. Paired sequels were released for the games: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness.

Official Description

What if you woke up one day, and you were a Pokémon? What if all of a sudden you find yourself in a NEW world, where you can speak and interact with other Pokémon? The adventure begins when you and your partner Pokémon set out on rescue missions in a world ravaged by natural disasters. But what is your true purpose and destiny in this Pokémon world? That's the REAL mystery....

Story

The game starts out, as the player wakes up in the form of a Pokémon within a Pokémon world tormented by recent natural disasters, with no memories of themselves as human. The player befriends the first Pokémon they meet in the Pokémon world, with whom they venture into Tiny Woods and rescue Caterpie. The player and their friend decide to form a rescue team, and then head to Thunderwave Cave, where they rescue two Magnemite. One of the Magnemite decides to tag along and join the player's party, as the three Pokémon go to Shiftry's rescue at Mt. Thunder. There, they confront the legendary Lightning bird, Zapdos, and rescue Shiftry whom he has kidnapped.


The Team taking on Zapdos

Throughout their early adventures, the party meets with the Team Meanies, formed by Gengar, Medicham and Ekans, and who seeks to control the other Pokémon through lies and mischievous deeds, under the cover of a rescue team. The player's team also meets the top and most famous rescue team, called Team ACT and consisting of Alakazam, Charizard and Tyranitar, who are all very powerful Pokémon.

Confused and wanting to know the reason behind their transformation, the player and their team visit Xatu, the fortune teller, at the Great Canyon. There, they learn about the story of a human who once angered a Ninetales by grasping her tails. Furious, the Ninetales tried to lay a curse on the human, but his Gardevoir took the curse instead, saving her master. To the Ninetales surprise, the Gardevoir's noble act goes in vain, as the selfish human leaves her behind, despite her sacrifice. The furious Ninetale, then, reveals a prophecy: that the unworthy human shall be reborn as a Pokémon and once that happens, chaos shall spread as the world would lose its natural balance.

Discovering that the player was once a human too, the Xatu tells them that there must be a link between their presence in the Pokémon world and the disasters currently happening. Gengar from Team Meanies eavesdrops on the player, hearing all their conversation with Xatu and discovering their secret, which they decide to use for their advantage. The Gengar returns to town and convinces the rest of the Pokémon that the player is the human from the Ninetales legends, and that the natural disasters are all the player's fault.

Upon their return to the town, the player's team is confronted by Team ACT's Alakazam who informs the player that they have one night to leave, and that they will be later chased and killed for the harm they've caused, along with any Pokémon that sides with them.

The party leaves the town as wanted Pokémon, and head north east, in the effort of evading the rest of the rescue teams that are hunting them down. They dwell into Lapis Cave, meet Moltres at the Mt. Blaze and fight Articuno at the Frosty Forest. The fight is soon stopped, as an Absol interferes and joins the player's party. The player and their party reach Mt. Freeze' top, where they get attacked by Team ACT, only to be saved by the Nintales from the legend.

The Ninetales then reveals that the player isn't the human that it cursed, and that the chaos is being caused by Groudon's awakening. Team ACT decides to waste no time and head toward Groudon to defeat it, while the player's team head back to prove the player's innocence. At the town, Gengar's lie gets discovered and the player is deemed innocent.
 

The party resumes its work, and they managed to defeat a Mankey gang in Uproar Forest, while managing the convince the gang to help the player upgrade their team's base. Days pass without the ACT Team returning, with the town folks starting to worry and deciding to send another strong rescue team to help them, consisting of Blastoise, Octillery and Golem. This newly formed team gets also defeated, leaving no choice, but to let the player's party handle the case.

The player and his friends head to the Magma Cavern, to find only Alakazam from Team ACT still fighting, as the two others got defeated. Alakazam also gets defeated, and the player's party engage into a fight with Groudon, from which they leave victorious and return to the town as the glorious saviors.

Before they even finish celebrating, Xatu appears and announces that a gigantic meteor is traveling toward the planet and it is the real reason of the natural imbalance. The player then sees in their dream the Gardevoir from the legend, who tells them that the reason why they were transformed into a Pokémon, is that they are destined to save the Pokémon and the world.

After getting the information needed, the party heads to the Sky Tower, to visit the Sky Guardian Rayquaza who can destroy the meteor. They engage into a fight with it in order to convince it, and upon loosing, Rayquaza uses Hyper Beam on the meteorite, causing it to explode. The player was within the explosion's radius and gets thrown into the netherworld, but was surprisingly saved by Gengar.

Now that the Pokémon world is safe, the player must return to the human world, saying goodbye to their beloved friends and leaving, as the credits roll.

After the credits end, the player returns to their team's base, deciding to stay in the Pokémon world. The player and their party resume their adventure, visiting Luminous Cave and then the Stormy Sea where they defeat Kyogre. After exploring the Buried Relic, the team unlocks the Friend Areas feature and head to the Southern Cavern, Wyvern Hill and Howling Forest.

Upon returning to town, they meet with Spinda who informs the party about the mythical Mirage Pokémon and gives the player the Clear Wing. To gain more information about the Mirage Pokémon, they visit Xatu who reveals that they need to defeat the three legendary beasts, before they can meet the Mirage Pokémon. The group defeats Entei in the the Fiery Field, transforming the Clear Wing into Red Wing. They also manage to defeat Raikou, turning the Red Wing into a Sunset Wing. Finally, they defeat the last legendary beast, Suicune, at the Northwind Field, who turns the Sunset Wing to a Rainbow Wing.

With the three beasts defeated, the player's team head toward the unlocked Mt. Faraway and faces the Mirage Pokémon Ho-Oh. As the game progresses, the Kacleon Wares' TMs get stolen by a Latios who the player follows and defeats. The desperate Latios announces that Latias was lost in the Pitfall Valley and he needed the TMs to save her.

The player and his team decide to help him out and use the Teleport Gem to save Latias from The Pitfall Valley. Later on, Ekans and Medicham from Team Meanies, hear about a wish granting stone and try to get hold of it, by venturing into the Wish Cave, where the stone lies. They both get defeated and Ekans escapes, while Medicham gets stuck in the cave.
The player's team go to his rescue and earn the Wish Stone with which they summon a Jirachi. The team then hears from both Ekans and Medicham that Gengar was determined to reach the summet of Mt. Freeze. Gengar asks for the player's help to reach the summit, where they both meet with Ninetales. There, Gengar reveals he's the selfish human from the legend and is determined to correct his mistakes. They learn the place where his Gardevoir is and go to rescue her together.

When Gardevoir is finally free, she forgets everything about her past and her previous owner and decides to join the player's team. After the player recruits Ho-Oh, they get shown a cutscene where Charizard and Blastoise suffer a devastating loss at the hand of a uniquely powerful Pokémon in a dungeon. The player and their friends visit the dungeon and discover that the Pokémon is Mewtwo, who they now have to defeat.

After recruiting Zapdos, Articuno and Moltres, the player will unlock the Silver Trench where they will face Lugia. Once Lugia is recruited Xatu will await the player's team outside their base and tell them that he saw some strange Pokémon in the Meteor Cave. The player and their comrades head there to face their final Challenge, Deoxys.

Pokémon

All the Pokémon up to the third generation are present in the game and can be recruited in the player's rescue team. The player's Pokémon character will be determined with the quiz they take when starting the game and by their gender. Throughout the game, the player will face many Pokémon as dungeon Bosses while many others will act as town folks or even give missions to the player. Like all duo released Pokémon games, few Pokémon are exclusive to each version.

Playable Pokémon:

These are the playable Pokémon and the quiz attitude and gender answers needed to get them as characters:

Pokémon joining the player's team through scenario progression

Magnemite	Absol	Smeargle	Latios	Latias	Celebi

Story related Pokémon

These are the Pokémon the player has to talk to or visit, so that the story progresses:

Gardevoir	Xatu	Ninetales	Mankey	Munchlax	Butterfree	Spinda	Wynaut	Wobbuffet

Rescue Teams and their Pokémon members

Team A.C.T: Alakazam, Charizard, Tyranitar	Team Meanies: Gengar, Medicham, Ekans	Team Shifty: Shiftry, Nuzleaf, Nuzleaf
Team Constrictor: Octillery, Tentacruel, Cradily	Team Hydro:   Blastoise, Feraligatr, Swampert	Team Rumblerock: Golem, Graveler, Graveler

Pokémon the player faces as Bosses

Skarmory, Team Meanies, The three Mankeys, Regirock, Registeel, Regice, Entei, Suicune, Raikou, Groudon, Kyogre, Rayquaza, Jirachi, Zapdos, Moltres, Articuno, Ho-Oh, Lugia, Mewtwo, Deoxys

Exclusive Pokémon

Pokémon exclusive to the Red Rescue Team version:

Feebas	Mantine	Plusle	Porygon	Roselia

 
Pokémon exclusive to the Blue Rescue Team version:

Aipom	Lapras	Magikarp	Minun	Porygon2

Gameplay and Features

Gameplay:

Throughout the game the player, turned into a Pokémon, has to complete many missions and jobs with their partner, with the missions revolving around item delivery, escorting other Pokémon to certain locations or rescuing Pokémon. These missions are either triggered as the story progresses or found on the bulletin board. Most of the jobs take place in dungeons where the player may encounter wild Pokémon they can fight in turn based battles. During these battles, the Pokémon can use up to four moves, which they already know, using the A button. They can also throw rocks and items at their enemies.

When the player and their team enter a dungeon, they either have to finish the job and complete the mission there or go through all the dungeon's floors and find the exit. If the player or their partner falls, they will lose, while if only a secondary ally falls, the player may continue the dungeon exploration, with the ally returning later on to their friend area. The player does also get hungry during their exploration, which will result in them losing HP as they walk. This can be solved by eating food found in the dungeon or food already brought by the player.

Features:

Friend Areas : Each time the player finds a random partner in a dungeon and they manage to survive, a special Friend Area will be created for that partner, west of the player's Team Base, where it can be always found. There, the player may select which Pokémon they want to visit and can check their stats, give them items or asks them to join the team to explore dungeons.Friend Area

The Player's Home:

It is where the player's Pokémon lives. After the player manages to defeat the three Mankey and gives them the berries, they will rebuild the player's home and make it look like the Pokémon they're playing with.

The Central Town:

It's the main town, where several facilities can be found along with many township Pokémon. The facilities include :

• The Player's Team Base : Here the player can check their mail and sometimes receive Pokémon that want to join their rescue team.
• The Shop : It's where the player can buy TMs to teach to their Pokémon and its friends or buy items that might come in handy.
• The Pelipper Post Office : Players may send each other mail through this office.
• The Training Ground : Let's the player's rescue team train and level up.
• The Move Fuser : As the name states, the Gulpin running this facility helps the Pokémon fuse their moves, creating an improved combined version. It does also help them unfuse moves and remember old ones.
• The Bank : It's where the player can store their money and withdraw it.
• The Item Warehouse : The item storage where the player can deposit their valuable items.
• The Friend Circle : Here the player may gain information on different

Rescue Team Ranks:

The player's rescue team rank will progress, each time they gain points, which will depend on the category of the mission the player finished. Having a better rank, will help recruit wild Pokémon easier. The higher the rank, the easier the process.

Connectivity

Both games can be linked to each other, Pokémon Trozei or even a same game version, allowing the players to receive reward items and prize coins.
Pelipper Post Office Connecting to a player's game with the same game version or with the blue or red counterpart enables a few fun and very useful features. In fact, if a player faints within a dungeon, they can ask another player to rescue them, through an SOS Mail that is sent using the Wireless Mode or a Password. Upon receiving the SOS Mail, the other player can go to the other one's rescue by talking to Pelipper at the Pelipper Post Office. Once the rescue is complete, the fainted player will receive an A-OK Mail, enabling them to resume the dungeon exploration, at the same spot they fainted without losing any items.

Now that they're rescued, they can send a Thank-You Mail to their rescuer, along with a reward or gift from the items they have. Communicating with other players, also allows the Blue Rescue Team version owners to go to use the Unknown Dungeon functionality. After selecting the option at the main screen, both players will have to turn their DS out and wait while their teams go and complete a random dungeon, which may reward them with a rare item or a new Pokémon recruit.

Videos

Check out these Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Red & Blue Rescue Team videos including game intro's, trailers, TV commercials, music and more.

Unused Music from within the game files of Red & Blue Rescue Team

The opening/intro for Red Rescue Team on GBA

The opening/intro for Blue Rescue Team on DS

The trailer for the Wii U virtual console re-releases

Trivia & Facts

• Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team was the last Pokémon game to be released on the Game Boy Advance.
• The two games are the only pair to be released on different consoles.
• The games are also the first Pokémon titles in which the player can understand what the Pokémon are saying.
• Although the game covers only the Pokémon up to the third generation, it still showcases few Pokémon from the upcoming generations which weren't released yet. In fact, Munchlax was used as an NPC, while Lucario, Bonsly, Weavile and Mime. Jr had statues featuring them in the games.
• The artwork on both games' boxes are interlinked, as each of them features the respective game's rescue team looking at the other one through a hole.
• The pair allow the Pokémon to learn moves more than once, which is a rather unique feature that wasn't present in the other Pokémon games.

Sales figures

Within the first three weeks of its release, the games sold around 222 thousand copies. The number increased to 530 thousand copies within the 6th week. Both games sold a total of 740 thousand copies in Japan, 520 thousand in Europe and nearly 710 thousand in North America, reaching a global number of 2.06 million copies sold.

PMD Blue Rescue Team Logo JP

Review scores

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Red and Blue Rescue Teams recieved a lukewarm reception, earning average scores on major review websites. Let's take a look at these reviews:

• Craig Harris from IGN liked the game mechanics and gameplay, although he thought it could get repetitive at certain times, rating it 6.5/10, the equivalent of "Good" on the IGN scale.
• Frank Provo, on the other hand, was quite disappointed with the game, stating "it's nowhere near as diverse, slick, or fun as the canonical Pokémon role-playing games produced by Game Freak." and rated it 5.4/10, which equates to "Mediocre" on the GS scale.
• On Metacritic the pair earned a score of 62%, over 34 critics, a rather good score but not exceptional for Pokémon games.
• For Pokemon Dungeon, James Burton reviewed PMD Red Rescue team and scored it 4 out of 5 stars, Track Star 52 was also impressed with the games scoring them 4.5 out of 5 stars on our scale.

PMD Red Rescue Team Logo JP
Overall, although the games featured many fun mechanics and unique concepts, they might still disappoint many Pokémon fans, as the gameplay has been said to become repetitive and boring to a certain extent.

Media & Artwork

Box Art from PMD Red Rescue Team including numerous regional variations + editions
Box Art from PMD Blue Rescue Team including numerous regional variations + editions
Official Artwork Gallery from PMD Red & Blue Rescue Teams - A large gallery featuring many prominent Pokemon
Screenshots from Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team (Game Boy Advance)
Screenshots of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team (Nintendo DS)