Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon: Partners, Expeditions, and Alliances

A village opening leads toward an expedition

Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon appeared in Japan in 2015 and reached Europe in 2016 on Nintendo 3DS. The story begins around Serene Village before broadening into the work of the Expedition Society. A mystery involving Pokémon being turned to stone gives the journey its larger stakes. As in the other Mystery Dungeon adventures, the player is a Pokémon within the community, rather than a Trainer directing it from outside.

For a spoiler-light introduction, those starting circumstances are enough. Our editorial reading is that the village and the expedition provide two scales of relationship: the people you first know and the wider world you later investigate. Knowing the answer to the central mystery is not necessary to decide whether that journey interests you. A good introduction should explain the invitation without resolving the destination.

Twenty starting options create many partnerships

Nintendo’s official description presents twenty possible Pokémon for the opening hero and partner choices. It also emphasizes the broad range of Pokémon that can be befriended during the adventure. Such roster descriptions refer to the species known when the game was created. They should not be interpreted as including every Pokémon subsequently introduced in later generations or every entry in today’s national Pokédex.

Choose a partnership for both personality and curiosity. A favorite Pokémon can make the early hours appealing, while an unfamiliar partner provides a reason to learn something new. Avoid importing assumptions from another game about the exact role that species must perform. Mystery Dungeon’s movement, positioning, and expedition structure can make a familiar Pokémon’s abilities matter in different situations from a standard Trainer battle.

Alliance attacks make cooperation explicit

Super Mystery Dungeon includes Alliance attacks, bringing team members together for coordinated action. The game still uses changing dungeon layouts and turn-based exploration. These two features give a useful picture of its rhythm: the floor presents an uncertain situation, while the party offers ways to respond together. A team is therefore more than a row of independent Pokémon whose attacks happen to share a menu.

When deciding whether to use a coordinated action, first identify the problem it is meant to solve. Is the priority removing a threat, reaching a safe position, or preserving the team’s ability to continue? Naming the goal makes the result easier to evaluate. The same habit helps with ordinary turns, where a small positioning choice may matter more than selecting the attack with the largest apparent effect.

Understand the 3DS release in its own context

This is a Nintendo 3DS adventure, separate from Gates to Infinity and from the later Switch release Rescue Team DX. Nintendo 3DS eShop new purchases ended in 2023, so older references to downloads should be read as historical information. Super Mystery Dungeon is not an expansion that can be applied to an earlier Mystery Dungeon save, and owning a different entry does not provide its story.

Readers interested in a large network of Pokémon relationships can use this title as a contrast with Rescue Team’s rescue organization and Gates to Infinity’s Paradise project. That comparison is more helpful than judging every entry by how many species it advertises. Our series guide puts the different premises together, while the individual partner pages provide visual and evolutionary context. The adventure itself is best left to reveal its larger mystery in order.

Sources & further reading

• Nintendo Super Mystery Dungeon game profile · Checked 2026-10-04
• Pokémon Japanese game catalog and original release year · Checked 2026-10-04
• Nintendo Gates to Infinity game profile · Checked 2026-10-04