Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko‘s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- from SQUARE ENIX brings us an old-school roguelike dungeon crawler to the Nintendo Switch 2. Check out our Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko‘s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- review!

 

Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko‘s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- from SQUARE ENIX brings us an old-school roguelike dungeon crawler to Nintendo Switch 2. After Torneko Taloon, his wife, Tessie, and their son, Tipper, arrive in the town of “Select the town’s name,” he mentions that he wants to set up a new shop there by using all of the treasures he will work on collecting from the titular Mystery Dungeon. After Torneko meets with the King and he learns of his plan, the King sends Torneko on a mission to retrieve a special item at a smaller dungeon that is only 10 floors deep, so that he can prove he’s got what it takes to survive through the Mystery Dungeon. This all takes place after the events of DRAGON QUEST IV, in which Torneko was one of the main heroes.

This game was originally released in Japan for the Super Famicom – you know, the Japanese equivalent of what we know as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System – all the way back in 1993. It’s actually the first game in the beloved Mystery Dungeon series, which has had dozens of releases over the years, even diving into the Pokémon franchise with several games in the 2000s. Torneko’s Great Adventure: Mystery Dungeon remained a Japan-only release up until this remaster for the Nintendo Switch 2.

What can you expect from a classic Super Famicom game that has been remastered for Nintendo’s latest hybrid console? We’re getting enhanced visuals and lightning effects, a full English localization, orchestrated music, new cutscenes, and some quality-of-life improvements here and there that make for a better experience.

 

This is definitely not my first time playing a game in the Mystery Dungeon series. Along with playing a variety of the aforementioned Pokémon Mystery Dungeon entries, I’ve also had a chance to review Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island on the Nintendo Switch, as well as games that have been inspired by the Mystery Dungeon franchise, such as Death end re;Quest: Code Z on PlayStation 4.

Once your journey begins, you’ll be taking control of Torneko by using the left analog stick or the D-Pad, attacking enemies by pressing the A button. Since you’ll attack in the direction you’re facing, you might want to take a moment to press the Y button to change your direction so that you face your enemy. You can also press the L button to lock movement to the diagonals. If you have managed to collect an arrow, you’ll be able to shoot it by pressing the L button, so that you can damage enemies from a safer distance.

Enemies won’t move or attack unless you move or attack, so be sure to keep this in mind when taking on each floor of the Mystery Dungeon. Do know that if you’re defeated while exploring the dungeon, then you’ll end up being taken back to the start, losing all of your possessions as well as any experience that you’ve accumulated along the way.

Gaining experience points is important since it will allow you to level up, boosting your stats so that you can keep up with the more powerful enemies you’ll find as you go deeper into the dungeon. This, along with obtaining more powerful weapons and pieces of equipment, can definitely make a difference as you take on the randomly generated floors of the Mystery Dungeon. You’ll grow hungry as you explore and will need to eat something to fix that, or else you’ll start to lose some of your HP with every step you take, every move you make.

If you’re having a bit of a challenge when taking on this game, you will be able to use the game balance options so that more gamers have a chance of taking on this adventure. You can change the monster appearance rate, enable or disable monster dens, change the amount of gold and experience points you can get, as well as the appearance rate of items, bread, and traps. Adjusting the game balance won’t allow you to view replays of visits to the dungeon, and some gameplay data won’t be reflected in high scores, play records, or achievements.

Yes, this one features an in-game achievements system for you to work on as you aim to 100% it. What are some of the objectives that you’ll have to complete? You’ll unlock achievements by starting the initial smaller dungeon, recovering the crown jewels, securing all weapons, all shields, all rings, all arrows, all food types, all wands, all herbs and seeds, all scrolls, encountering all monsters, setting up your shop, expanding your shop four times, setting out on ten dungeon ventures, and acquiring a million gold coins, to name some examples.

Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko‘s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- from SQUARE ENIX brings us an old-school roguelike dungeon crawler to Nintendo Switch 2. After Torneko Taloon, his wife, Tessie, and their son, Tipper, arrive in the town of “Select the town’s name,” he mentions that he wants to set up a new shop there by using all of the treasures he will work on collecting from the titular Mystery Dungeon. After Torneko meets with the King and he learns of his plan, the King sends Torneko on a mission to retrieve a special item at a smaller dungeon that is only 10 floors deep, so that he can prove he’s got what it takes to survive through the Mystery Dungeon.

This all takes place after the events of DRAGON QUEST IV, in which Torneko was one of the main heroes. As long as you manage to enter the smaller dungeon and recover the treasure chest with the jewels from the royal collection that the King buried ten levels deep, you’ll be able to get a good idea of what it is that you’re getting yourself into.

Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko‘s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- is out on Nintendo Switch 2 with a $24.99 price tag. There’s also a Nintendo Switch version of the game available for the same price as a separate purchase. Do know that the save file for the Nintendo Switch 2 version of the game is not compatible with the Nintendo Switch version, and vice versa.

Disclaimer
This Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko‘s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- review is based on a Nintendo Switch 2 copy provided by SQUARE ENIX.