Very charming if basic dungeon crawler that is great to play while watching or listening to something else on the side.
+ bright and colorful presentation befitting the series
+ reasonable main story length (12-15h) bolstered by substantial post-game content
+ many quality of life improvements over the original (far from perfection, however)
+ enjoyable albeit luck-based Pokémon collecting
+ manageable difficulty with divisive but purposeful auto saves
- immediately repetitive, cheerful soundtrack
- superficial story that plays out in a formulaic manner
- cheap animations with noticeable clipping
- often frustrating AI that ruins runs and disincentives the otherwise comfortable auto movement
- terrible input lag

PMD DX might be one of the best remakes of a game I've ever played. Even though I've never experienced the original, from what I can tell DX absolutely realizes the gba titles to its truest potential. Every aspect of this game has a ton of love and care put into it and to my knowledge the only thing that ended up being cut was the Friend Zones you could walk around in, which is understandable at the very least. The rest is near flawlessly recreated, particularly the artstyle and music which both manage to capture the feeling of the older pmd games and yet be elevated to what their native home consoles couldn't preform.

DX seriously may be one of the best looking games on the switch. Even the basic dungeons are so pleasing to look at, the watercolor art really lends itself well to the kind and emotional spirit of pmd. I frequently had to stop just to gawk at the environments. It's so obvious that a lot of love went into this entry, and this isn't even mentioning the music, which I think was brilliantly remastered. Mixing the original gba soundfont with a new orchestrated version of the soundtrack was a really smart move; the music alone is enough to make me cry and it really elevates the more emotional scenes. On my second playthrough, I also noticed how well the cutscenes were animated which felt weird for a pokemon game. Rayquaza, the star falling, and all the other legendary intros just looked so gorgeous. DX is made of many good things, and I can tell that it's very much a loveletter to the series as a whole.
The gameplay itself though, I think this game is probably as good as its gonna get. Naturally, it can get pretty repetitive and it's not really something you can play nonstop, but that's alright. For some reason I had a huge issue with Sky Tower though; I was severely underleveled and kept getting wiped out. I'm not sure how this even happened but I've learned that pmd really, really, really sucks when you have to grind. It is so frustrating and I honestly contemplated knocking the game down a star because of it, but in the end I couldn't really bring myself to since the rest of the game went off without any interruptions. Just... make sure you're at least level 35 before the final dungeon or flygon will knock your teeth in.
DX is definitely one of the higher quality pokemon games that have come out recently along with the new Pokémon Snap, so I would recommend this to anyone who feels like they've lost their love for the series, since this game is what rekindled my own feelings for it back in 2020 when it released. As good as this game is, I can only hope that we'll live to see a remake of Explorers in this style... one can dream ):

As someone who played 75% of this game countless times as a kid without finishing it, it was awesome to see this game remade into a title that holds up much better today.
This is seemingly the only Pokemon series where the pokemon themselves have actual character, where you can actually be emotionally invested without seeing them as just a statistic that you create your own backstory for.
The music in this game is incredible and the general sound is a blast to the past in the best way possible.
My main problem with this game is that, while the gameplay is fun, it is waaaaaaaaay too easy. No boss fight lasted longer than 1 minute and I was never in any real danger.
It's a shame that this is a repeated theme for Pokemon in the modern day; that no matter the genre / playstyle, these games are way too easy and don't offer any harder difficulties.
Also I got treecko so that was a massive bonus

A resounding meh from a Pokemon fan. The dungeons are all the same and I was going crazy by the 6th hour. My guy, Meowth pretty much just walks up to any enemy, I press A and combo 2 moves with one press to kill them. (One being fury swipes).

What I'm saying is Pokemon charm and a cute art style cant excuse a bland dungeon crawler. Much like Pokemon Rumble, its a total nostalgia thing. If you love the originals, this is a great remake. If you've never played it, try a better dungeon crawler like Etrian Odyssey where character building actually feels like a core part of the game. Mystery Dungeon doesn't supply the freedom, challenge and rewards that make the genre special.

Although to clarify, I dropped the game in its last act because I kept waiting for it to get good. I should have bailed for Shiren the Wanderer befote I even left the store with this. Just mediocre and shallow in a genre that needs insane depth.

Improved boss battles
Love the art style and the visuals of the game
good music
decent gameplay loop
horrendous balancing
decent story and mediocre cast