Nintendo has announced that beloved dungeon-crawler Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team is making its way to Nintendo Switch Online next week.
Naturally, just like any other Game Boy Advance game on the service, you’re going to need the Expansion Pack addon to play this one, but assuming you’ve got it, the dungeon-delving RPG will be available to enjoy on August 9th, which is next Friday.
Like many other Pokemon games, Red Rescue Team has a different-colored counterpart, but Blue Rescue Team was a Nintendo DS exclusive, and since DS games haven’t yet come to Switch Online (and are unlikely to do so, although we can hope things will change for the Switch 2), you’ll have to content yourself with Red Rescue Team.
Like other games in the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series, Red Rescue Team revolves around roguelike-style dungeon-crawling, with dungeon layouts and enemy placements changing each time you and your team of Pokemon explore them.
Storywise, the game sees the player transformed into a Pokemon themselves and stricken with amnesia, setting out on a journey to discover their true identity alongside a partner Pokemon. It’s essentially a Pokemon isekai story. What’s not to love?
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team were remade for Switch as Rescue Team DX back in March, but needless to say, this version isn’t the Switch remake; it’s the GBA original in all its crunchy retro pixel goodness.
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team is coming to Nintendo Switch Online on August 9th. It joins a Game Boy Advance lineup that also includes Fire Emblem, Metroid: Zero Mission, and the Golden Sun games.
If you want to play Red Rescue Team, you’ll need the Switch Online Expansion Pack, which also grants access to libraries of N64 and Sega Genesis games, as well as DLC for games like Splatoon 2 and Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
The game’s announcement for the service comes at the same time as the release of Nintendo’s first-quarter financial information, which has seen profits and sales drop ahead of an expected Nintendo Switch 2 announcement sometime in the next few months. Stay tuned for more.