Mystery Dungeon

Mystery Dungeon (不思議のダンジョン, Fushigi no Dungeon^?) is a series of roguelike video games, most of which were developed by Chunsoft, but with select titles in the series developed by other companies with permission from Chunsoft to use the name. Although all games in the series bear the Fushigi no Dungeon moniker somewhere in their Japanese titles, only the Shiren the Wanderer games contain original characters; all other license their characters from other role-playing game franchises. The first title, Torneko no Daibōken: Fushigi no Dungeon starred Torneko, a shopkeeper character from the same developer's Dragon Quest IV (Chunsoft being developer of the first five games). Mystery Dungeon games are notable for being among the few console games in the roguelike genre. The series has inspired similar titles in Japan, most of which appropriate their games mechanics from Mystery Dungeon, rather than Rogue itself.

Common elements

Most Mystery Dungeon games centre around exploring a dungeon with randomly generated layouts and fighting other characters therein in a turn-based manner; every time the player performs an action such as attacking or walking, the opponents also take action. Escape from the dungeon is usually only allowed in certain places, or through the use of certain items. Additionally, when the player loses the game the player loses all money plus half the player's items in the more forgiving variants, or loses everything and has to start from scratch in others.

Original characters

The series features an original cast on occasion, which has as its hero Shiren the Wanderer, who journeys with a talking weasel named Koppa, and during their adventures they meet many peoples such as Shiren's brother Pekeji, and Orya, a female character that blinds every man she meets.^[1]

Development

Games

Dragon Quest series

• 1993: Torneko no Daibōken: Fushigi no Dungeon – Super Famicom
• 1999: Torneko: The Last Hope (Torneko no Daibōken 2: Fushigi no Dungeon) – PlayStation; remade for Game Boy Advance in 2001
• 2002: Torneko no Daibōken 3: Fushigi no Dungeon – PlayStation 2; remade for Game Boy Advance in 2004
• 2006: Dragon Quest: Shōnen Yangus to Fushigi no Dungeon – PlayStation 2; developed by cavia, inc.
• 2006: Dragon Quest Fushigi no Dungeon Mobile - NTT docomo, au, Yahoo!

Shiren the Wanderer series

• 1995: Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer (Fushigi no Dungeon 2: Fūrai no Shiren) – Super Famicom; remade for Nintendo DS in 2006
• 1996: BS Shiren the Wanderer Save Surara (BS 風来のシレン　スララを救え, , BS Fuurai no Shiren Surara wo Sukue^?) - Satellaview
• 1996: Fūrai no Shiren GB: Tsukikage-mura no Kaibutsu – Game Boy; remade for Windows in 1999
• 2000: Fūrai no Siren 2: Oni Shūrai! Siren-jō! – Nintendo 64
• 2000: Fūrai no Shiren GB 2: Sabaku no Majō – Game Boy Color; remade for Nintendo DS in 2008 (Fushigi no Dungeon: Fuurai no Shiren DS 2: Sabaku no Majō)
• 2002: Fūrai no Shiren Gaiden: Onnakenshi Asuka Kenzan – Dreamcast; remade for Windows in 2002
• 2008: Shiren the Wanderer (Fūrai no Shiren 3: Karakuri Yashiki no Nemuri-Hime) – Wii; remade for PlayStation Portable in 2010
• 2010: Fūrai no Shiren 4: Kami no Hitomi to Akuma no Heso – Nintendo DS
• 2011: Fūrai no Shiren 5: Fortune Tower to Unmei no Dice - Nintendo DS

Chocobo series

• 1997: Chocobo no Fushigina Dungeon – PlayStation; remade for WonderSwan in 1999; developed by Square Co.
• 1998: Chocobo's Dungeon 2 (Chocobo no Fushigina Dungeon 2) – PlayStation; developed by Square Co.

Though developed by Square, both of the above were supervised by Koichi Nakamura, president of Chunsoft.^[2]

• 2008: Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon (Chocobo no Fushigina Dungeon: Toki Wasure no Meikyū) - Wii; developed by h.a.n.d.
• 2008: Sido to Chokobo no Fushigina Dungeon: Toki Wasure no Meikyū DS+ (Final Fantasy Fables: Cid and Chocobo's Dungeon DS+) - Nintendo DS; developed by h.a.n.d.

Pokémon series

Main article: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon

• 2006: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team & Red Rescue Team (Pokémon Fushigi no Dungeon: Ao no Kyūjotai & Aka no Kyūjotai) – Nintendo DS & Game Boy Advance
• 2008: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time & Explorers of Darkness (Pokémon Fushigi no Dungeon: Toki no Tankentai & Yami no Tankentai) – Nintendo DS
• 2009: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky (Pokémon Fushigi No Dungeon: Sora no Tankentai) - Nintendo DS
• 2009: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Keep Going! Blazing Adventure Squad, Let's Go! Stormy Adventure Squad & Go For It! Light Adventure Squad (Pokémon Fushigi no Dungeon: Susume! Honoo no Boukendan, Ikuzo! Arashi no Boukendan & Mezase! Hikari no Boukendan) - WiiWare

Individual Releases

• 2004: The Nightmare of Druaga: Fushigino Dungeon – PlayStation 2; co-developed by Arika
• 2004: Kidō Senshi Gundam: Fushigi no Dungeon – i-mode
• 2004: TwinBee Dungeon - Mobile phones; themed on TwinBee world

Reception

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team & Red Rescue Team sold over one million copies.^[1] The series has been both praised and criticized for its difficulty, and generally noted for the poor quality of the randomly generated levels, or "floors".^[3]

See also

• Azure Dreams

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Jack DeVries (03-04-2011). "'Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer Review". IGN. http://ds.ign.com/articles/856/856601p1.html. Retrieved 06-10-11. 
2. ^ ja:チョコボの不思議なダンジョン#.E6.A6.82.E8.A6.81
3. ^ Jack DeVries (02-02-2010). "Shiren the Wanderer Review". IGN. http://wii.ign.com/articles/106/1068074p1.html. Retrieved 06-10-11. 

External links

• Fushigi no Dungeon series at MobyGames