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 ):

Reviewed on Mar 02, 2023


4 Comments


1 year ago

I still need to go back to play through the remake, I've played through the demo years ago but keep forgetting to commit to a full play. I remember getting a bit turned off that standard attack from the original PMD got removed in the remake, so I'm curious how they'll compensate for that.

1 year ago

Ohh right I knew I was forgetting something. Yeah, they did take out the standard attack but I never really had an issue with it. It might become an issue on the 100 floor dungeons but for most of the game it's pretty much fine. I'd say it's well worth it :D I hope you check it out, I love seeing peoples thoughts on pmd
I really need to play this, I've been a Mystery Dungeon fan for a long time and this looking this good is almost like I dream come true, I just for some reason never got it. Great review! And if they remake Explorers of the sky I'd probably combust out of sheer excitement

1 year ago

@DemonAndGames yeah you should totally try it! After Gates and Super this game is honestly feels like a dream, it's so good. And yeah, if Explorers got this treatment I'd literally never want anything else out of pmd lol, I'd be satisfied. Thank you!!