This review contains spoilers
Note: In case this matters to my review when talking about difficulty, I was a Bulbasaur and my partner was a Pikachu.
The Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games are very important to me and have always been a childhood favorite of mine. Explorers is the game I have the most love (and nostalgia) for, but Blue Rescue Team was actually my first in the series. I could never beat the final boss as a kid, so for the longest time the ending of this game was unknown to me despite the fact I also own both Red and DX, as I had never beaten those either. Recently I decided to do a marathon of this series both as a way to finish the games I never beat and to re-experience one of my favorite games again, and I decided to start with the version of this game I didn't grow up with. I'll compare the differences of the two versions later in a review of Blue, this will just be a review of both games in general. Now enough with the intro, here's the review:
First of all, replaying this game was a bit of whiplash after not having played this game or any other PMD game in several years. The mechanics of this game suffer a bit from "first game syndrome", and while most of it is minor stuff like only being able to take three of your own Pokemon into a dungeon or not being able to make your teammate eat a berry without them holding it first, it definitely threw me off and the berry thing cost me a few boss battles. These are mostly nitpicks for me though; the rest of the game is the standard PMD experience, and as usual, it's pretty good! For the most part the game is not too easy but not super difficult either, but I did feel like there was a pretty big difficulty spike during the wanted fugitives arc as I suddenly went from breezing through the game to constantly having to restart my GBA. Maybe it's because I was Bulbasaur and none of my moves were particularly effective against the legendary birds or their dungeons, or maybe it's because I completely lacked Reviver Seeds, but I was entirely dependant on my partner's Thunder Wave and the Bullet Seed TM I randomly picked up in a dungeon. Speaking of Bullet Seed, multi-strike moves are broken in this game; they deal about the same amount of damage as an average one-strike move per attack and they don't stop if they defeat an opponent. This worked well for me but it also gave quite a few dungeon Pokemon the ability to defeat me twice in one turn which I really didn't enjoy.
Like any PMD game, the story is good and is probably the major reason I recommend this series to anybody. It may not seem like anything special compared to later games in the series, but this was the one that started the whole trope of a human turning into a Pokemon, so at the time of release the story was probably quite a bit more noteworthy. It has a great general concept, protagonists, setting, and climax; the ending definitely made me tear up a little. My main issue with the story though is that it feels so short! I felt like I was flying through the story at a way faster speed than when I played the game as a kid, and as much as I enjoy the fugitives arc, I feel it would've been a lot more impactful if the story had given you more time to bond with your partner. I understand if the game was held back by the GBA's limits, since Explorers is much longer despite being on the same system as Blue, but I feel like the game potentially could've been artificially extended by making more optional missions mandatory for story progression. I know some people didn't like this about Explorers and found the amount of days between story events to be tedious, which is completely understandable, but I find it's a good way to encourage players to level up their team and collect items before harder challenges occur. There was a stretch of the game where I unlocked a new dungeon every in-game day, and I couldn't help but feel like I was supposed to take a break and grind for a few missions instead of continually rushing into the story (and that's probably why I struggled so much when my team became fugitives). The game does start slowing down a bit near the end, which was very much appreciated in preparation for Sky Tower, but I still ended the game feeling like its characters were underutilized and could've had more development or interactions.
Now this brings me to the postgame, which... I have some issues with, to be honest. I'll say this first in case it affects the review, but I did not encounter or recruit every legendary, I only recruited Kyogre, completed the Rainbow Wing quest, rescued Latias, and broke Gardevoir's curse. I also attempted recruiting Mew but I completely forgot to buy Final Island and I didn't bring an Escape Orb so uh, that was about two real life days I wasted trying to clear a 99 floor dungeon. Anyways. The postgame doesn't really have much of a story, it's mostly various difficult dungeons you can play and occasional cutscenes that come with them, but my biggest complaint is how the game treats your partner after giving you the ability to switch leaders. They're instantly treated like a regular Pokemon, even their dungeon dialogue changes, and they show up in cutscenes and events significantly less. I'm not saying the game should've made you and your partner mandatory playable characters for the entirety of the game, I think it's cool you can switch up your team however you want, but I just wish your partner was acknowledged more in the postgame when they're present. That being said though, the one thing I really enjoyed from the postgame is the conclusion it gives to Gengar and Gardevoir. It also made me realize how poorly Team Skull was handled in Explorers since they just completely vanish from the game after Brine Cave. Team Meanies wasn't my favorite when I started the game but they really grew on me by the time I reached the postgame.
Overall, I think this is a pretty solid PMD game! Maybe it's not the first game I'd recommend to someone wanting to try the series, but it's one I'd recommend to someone who has already played the series before. It does take a while to get used to the old mechanics and some of its quirks, but if it throws you off too much, the remake is always an option. The game may not have aged the best, but it's definitely still worth a play and is a great Pokemon game. Finally beating the final boss for the first time after playing the game so many years ago was a really gratifying moment for me, and I enjoyed my playthrough of this game very much. Now, lets see if I'm good enough to beat the game with my original Blue save file...
The Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games are very important to me and have always been a childhood favorite of mine. Explorers is the game I have the most love (and nostalgia) for, but Blue Rescue Team was actually my first in the series. I could never beat the final boss as a kid, so for the longest time the ending of this game was unknown to me despite the fact I also own both Red and DX, as I had never beaten those either. Recently I decided to do a marathon of this series both as a way to finish the games I never beat and to re-experience one of my favorite games again, and I decided to start with the version of this game I didn't grow up with. I'll compare the differences of the two versions later in a review of Blue, this will just be a review of both games in general. Now enough with the intro, here's the review:
First of all, replaying this game was a bit of whiplash after not having played this game or any other PMD game in several years. The mechanics of this game suffer a bit from "first game syndrome", and while most of it is minor stuff like only being able to take three of your own Pokemon into a dungeon or not being able to make your teammate eat a berry without them holding it first, it definitely threw me off and the berry thing cost me a few boss battles. These are mostly nitpicks for me though; the rest of the game is the standard PMD experience, and as usual, it's pretty good! For the most part the game is not too easy but not super difficult either, but I did feel like there was a pretty big difficulty spike during the wanted fugitives arc as I suddenly went from breezing through the game to constantly having to restart my GBA. Maybe it's because I was Bulbasaur and none of my moves were particularly effective against the legendary birds or their dungeons, or maybe it's because I completely lacked Reviver Seeds, but I was entirely dependant on my partner's Thunder Wave and the Bullet Seed TM I randomly picked up in a dungeon. Speaking of Bullet Seed, multi-strike moves are broken in this game; they deal about the same amount of damage as an average one-strike move per attack and they don't stop if they defeat an opponent. This worked well for me but it also gave quite a few dungeon Pokemon the ability to defeat me twice in one turn which I really didn't enjoy.
Like any PMD game, the story is good and is probably the major reason I recommend this series to anybody. It may not seem like anything special compared to later games in the series, but this was the one that started the whole trope of a human turning into a Pokemon, so at the time of release the story was probably quite a bit more noteworthy. It has a great general concept, protagonists, setting, and climax; the ending definitely made me tear up a little. My main issue with the story though is that it feels so short! I felt like I was flying through the story at a way faster speed than when I played the game as a kid, and as much as I enjoy the fugitives arc, I feel it would've been a lot more impactful if the story had given you more time to bond with your partner. I understand if the game was held back by the GBA's limits, since Explorers is much longer despite being on the same system as Blue, but I feel like the game potentially could've been artificially extended by making more optional missions mandatory for story progression. I know some people didn't like this about Explorers and found the amount of days between story events to be tedious, which is completely understandable, but I find it's a good way to encourage players to level up their team and collect items before harder challenges occur. There was a stretch of the game where I unlocked a new dungeon every in-game day, and I couldn't help but feel like I was supposed to take a break and grind for a few missions instead of continually rushing into the story (and that's probably why I struggled so much when my team became fugitives). The game does start slowing down a bit near the end, which was very much appreciated in preparation for Sky Tower, but I still ended the game feeling like its characters were underutilized and could've had more development or interactions.
Now this brings me to the postgame, which... I have some issues with, to be honest. I'll say this first in case it affects the review, but I did not encounter or recruit every legendary, I only recruited Kyogre, completed the Rainbow Wing quest, rescued Latias, and broke Gardevoir's curse. I also attempted recruiting Mew but I completely forgot to buy Final Island and I didn't bring an Escape Orb so uh, that was about two real life days I wasted trying to clear a 99 floor dungeon. Anyways. The postgame doesn't really have much of a story, it's mostly various difficult dungeons you can play and occasional cutscenes that come with them, but my biggest complaint is how the game treats your partner after giving you the ability to switch leaders. They're instantly treated like a regular Pokemon, even their dungeon dialogue changes, and they show up in cutscenes and events significantly less. I'm not saying the game should've made you and your partner mandatory playable characters for the entirety of the game, I think it's cool you can switch up your team however you want, but I just wish your partner was acknowledged more in the postgame when they're present. That being said though, the one thing I really enjoyed from the postgame is the conclusion it gives to Gengar and Gardevoir. It also made me realize how poorly Team Skull was handled in Explorers since they just completely vanish from the game after Brine Cave. Team Meanies wasn't my favorite when I started the game but they really grew on me by the time I reached the postgame.
Overall, I think this is a pretty solid PMD game! Maybe it's not the first game I'd recommend to someone wanting to try the series, but it's one I'd recommend to someone who has already played the series before. It does take a while to get used to the old mechanics and some of its quirks, but if it throws you off too much, the remake is always an option. The game may not have aged the best, but it's definitely still worth a play and is a great Pokemon game. Finally beating the final boss for the first time after playing the game so many years ago was a really gratifying moment for me, and I enjoyed my playthrough of this game very much. Now, lets see if I'm good enough to beat the game with my original Blue save file...