New Pokémon Nintendo Switch Online Game Could Be A Great Sign For The Future

Summary Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Team Rescue is coming to the Nintendo Switch Online service on August 9.

Adding classic Pokémon games to the Nintendo Switch Online library could attract a wider audience and appeal to fans.

The current lack of Pokémon titles on the service may be rectified with the addition of Mystery Dungeon: Red Team Rescue.

Pokémon has been around for a while and not just its mainline games. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon is a long-running spin-off series that is now eleven titles strong and allows players to be a Pokémon rather than a trainer. The games present a completely different perspective on the world of Pokémon, which is in part why the series is still going almost twenty years on, and the first title in the series, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Team Rescue, is making a return to the Nintendo Switch via its online service.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Team Rescue will be arriving on the Switch on August 9.

It seems as though every gaming platform has some sort of paid-for service to access a library of games and online functionality. Nintendo Switch Online, and its added Expansion Pack includes a growing library of over 100 classic titles from the NES, SNES and Game Boy eras, with Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Team Rescue in particular being the last Pokémon game released on the Game Boy Advance.

Related 10 Nintendo DS Games That Should Come To Nintendo Switch The Nintendo Switch Online library could definitely benefit from the addition of some Nintendo DS games, and some would be especially compelling.

Adding Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Could Be A Great Sign For The Future

Who Does Like A Walk Down Memory Lane?

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Pokémon has a plethora of classic titles, especially from the Game Boy era. If Nintendo is to continue the trend of adding games like Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Team Rescue, it could provide a convenient place to revisit the classics. The classics in question are likely to remain in the Game Boy Advance era at the latest for the time being, since the Red Team Rescue version of the game was used and not the Blue Team Rescue version that was on the DS, likely to avoid the issue of having to port over a two screen display.

The Blue Team Rescue variant of the game was largely the same as the Red Team version, but made use of the DS' extra power and two screens.

Currently, classic Pokémon games, like the first three generations of the main series, can only be played if players still have the Game Boy and Game Boy Advance. Versions of them can be accessed on PC either through the ROMs, like with PokéMMO, or through emulation, but not everyone wants to play a Nintendo game on the PC. If Nintendo put more classic Pokémon titles on its online service, it could allow for the service to appeal to a wider audience, given that Pokémon is the biggest franchise around.

Related The Ugliest Pokémon Of Every Type, Ranked With over 1,000 different Pokémon now existing, it is unfortunate that each type is home to a few of the ugliest creations in the franchise.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Team Rescue (and the Blue Team variant) has already received some love from Nintendo. The pair got a full, 3D remake for the Switch in early 2020, titled Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX. This made sense given its classic status and how unique the game was at the time, being a dungeon crawler, rogue-like spin-off where players are the Pokémon instead of the trainer, and it seems to be a game that is a safe bet for Nintendo to revisit.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Could Lead To More Classic Games For Switch Online

It Currently Lacks Many Pokémon Titles

The Nintendo Switch Online game list is quite extensive, having games from the NES, SNES, Nintendo 64, Game Boy, and Game Boy Advance. There are classic titles from key franchises, like Mario, Zelda, and Metroid, but there are also some obscure titles, like Battle Toads or Spanky's Quest. Oddly enough, there is a distinct lack of Pokémon titles, which is especially strange given that the Game Boy and Game Boy Advance have a well-known association with Pokémon.

Related Pokémon GO: All Regional Exclusives & Where To Find Them In Pokémon GO, some Pokémon are region-exclusive to certain regions, countries and even biomes. To catch them, Trainers will need to travel the world.

There doesn't seem to be much of a rhyme or reason for the lack of Pokémon games on the Nintendo Switch Online service. There are more Zelda and Mario games than one can shake a stick at, yet the lovable Pocket Monsters are nowhere in sight. It isn't even a case of wanting to sell remakes instead, which Pokémon have plenty of, given that Mystery Dungeon: Red Team Rescue has a remake, but is still ending up on the Nintendo Switch Online Library.

Hopefully, this will begin a trend of adding more classic Pokémon games to the Nintendo Switch Online Library to make up for the current lack of these titles. This online service is a great way for players to access old-school games without having to dig out their old consoles and play with poor resolution. With the addition of Mystery Dungeon: Red Team Rescue, it could bode well for fans of the classics while drumming up interest in Legends: Z-A when it finally launches.