The Mystery Dungeon franchise is one of the most prolific in video game history. Not only are there tons of official Mystery Dungeon games, but there are also countless spin-offs and clones that sport the same basic mechanics. It all had to start somewhere, and for this franchise, it was actually a rather odd place. Torneko, or Taloon as he's known to some, was a party member from Dragon Quest IV. A rotund merchant with a habit of goofing off, he isn't exactly the character you'd think would headline his own spin-off franchise, but Mystery Dungeon wouldn't exist without him. Torneko's Mystery Dungeon is the first game in the franchise, but it's never had an official North American release until this release, Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko's Mystery Dungeon - Classic HD. It's very neat to see where it all began.

Torneko moves to a new town with his family to open a shop. This town is home to a constantly shifting dungeon full of dangers and treasures. An accomplished hero, Torneko decides to venture into the dungeon to brave its depths, gather its treasures, and return to the surface to sell them at a hefty profit. Of course, there's something more to the dungeon beyond random treasures, but Torneko's profit-seeking ways drive him to discover the ultimate treasure.

If you've never played a Mystery Dungeon game, they're a turn-based roguelike title where the central idea is that you're exploring large randomly generated dungeons where enemies only move and take action when you do. Your overall goal in Torneko is to collect rare and valuable items and successfully return them to your shop, so you can sell them to upgrade and improve your shop. Death is common, and every time you die, you restart at level one and lose any equipment you may have gathered. There's very little in the way of metaprogression; it's mostly about unlocking new dungeons, so this is a game where it's essential to learn the ins and outs of combat.

A major element of the game is that combat is rarely a good idea because engaging in a fight is dangerous. Torneko can attack enemies directly in front of him and find limited arrows to shoot at distant enemies, but almost every foe has specific gimmicks that make them risky, such as stealing items, poisoning you, teleporting you to random locations, and exploding. Even the weakest and most generic enemies can gradually grind down your health, which slowly replenishes over time or immediately with rare healing items.

That is where consumable items come into play. You can find special items that have a potent but limited effect when used. A staff may be able to teleport enemies, freeze them in place, or make them confused. A scroll might power up your equipment or give valuable buffs. An herb can heal you or unleash a powerful flame breath attack that kills all but the strongest of foes. You'll find these items regularly, and the game thrives on "use it or lose it" logic. Knowing when and where to use your tools is important, but using them is the key to success, as there are far too many dangerous foes that can turn a great run into a loss.

This leads to a game that is tremendously interesting in its moment-to-moment gameplay. Every situation requires you to genuinely think about your arsenal and what you can do to minimize the amount of danger you're in. The turn-based nature of the game also means you're free to consider your options. Learning each enemy's gimmicks and how to best counter them is a slow and gradual thing, and mastering the game will involve a few deaths, especially if you're new to the genre.

Since Torneko is one of the earlier games in the genre, it's also one of the spicier ones when it comes to difficulty. Enemies are dangerous and hit hard, and one of the things the game keeps underlining is that Torneko is a merchant, not a warrior, and he shouldn't be fighting fair. Even the tutorial dungeon, which is usually a trivial affair in Mystery Dungeon games, can easily kill you if you attack the wrong enemy or hesitate to use your items. You need to be more proactive with item use and utilize them sooner than you would in even the earliest Shiren titles. I think this is a plus, as it avoids the slow ramp-up that often comes with games, but it may be a shocker if you're new and get killed on the fourth floor.

One feature that might make the game more appealing to those who normally find roguelikes to be intimidating is the addition of a cheat menu that lets you modify all sorts of things, such as the frequency of Monster Houses appearing or the consequences of death. While the game is clearly balanced around the default options, it's nice to give players the chance to adjust some of the rougher parts of the game if they want to streamline the experience. I can't recommend streamlining the game too much, as the difficulty and challenge is part of the game, but if you'd like to give yourself some small advantages, it can go a good way toward blunting the game's difficulty for those who are new to the genre.

Unfortunately, Torneko has two very serious problems; one issue has to do with the nature of the game, and the other is unique to the HD version. The problem is that it's the original Mystery Dungeon game, but the mechanics are new. With dozens of other games on the market that use the same gameplay mechanics, there's very little to make it stand out, aside from the natural fun of a Mystery Dungeon game. Considering the relatively hefty $25 price tag, it's very difficult to recommend it over something like Shiren the Wanderer, which is basically the same game mechanics but with more polish and features.

For some reason, the HD port of Torneko adds a ridiculous amount of slowdown to the pacing of the game. When text boxes appear, they linger for several seconds, and during that time, you can't interact with anything. It basically slows everything to a crawl, and standard combat goes from swift and breezy to agonizingly slow. This same slowdown applies to other things, like the "missed hit" sound taking a ridiculously long time to play, or even the act of moving diagonally has notable input lag that can make it easy to make a misstep that can get you killed. It's never clear when the game returns control to the player.

This comes very close to ruining the game because it takes one of the big advantages of Mystery Dungeon games (they're swift and breezy) and slows it down to a crawl. This isn't a problem with most games in the series or even the original versions of Torneko, so I can't figure out why they changed the pacing so severely. If you're a total newcomer to Mystery Dungeon titles, then it might not stand out as much, but it left me feeling bored despite the core gameplay being solid.

Visually, Torneko HD isn't much of an improvement over the original game but still largely charming. The entire thing has been given a very light 2DHD makeover, mostly visible in the dungeons having more detail and depths to the walls, but the bones of the SNES original are still present. The Dragon Quest art style is bright, colorful and cute, and the distinctive and memorable monsters work well and are instantly recognizable. The music is fairly common Dragon Quest-flavored instrumental music, but it's a good fit for the slow pace of Mystery Dungeon.

Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko's Mystery Dungeon - Classic HD is an excellent, if bare-bones, Mystery Dungeon game that's held back by some awkward porting issues. The core gameplay is still incredibly fun, and it's easy to understand why it became a massive franchise. However, the slow pacing drags it down compared to other games in the franchise and makes it a tad difficult to recommend over a Shiren or similar title unless you're a huge Dragon Quest fan. If nothing else, it's great to play the game that started it all in English, and hopefully a few patches can smooth out the rough spots.

Score: 7.0/10