The first Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games were released in 2005. Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team launched in Japan on November 17, 2005.
Chunsoft developed the games as a Pokémon spin-off within the Mystery Dungeon series. Unlike the main role-playing games, they place the player in the role of a Pokémon rather than a human Trainer.
Before the adventure begins, the player typically completes a personality test that determines which Pokémon they become. The games then focus on randomly generated dungeons, turn-based movement, item collection, and rescue missions.
Red Rescue Team was released for Game Boy Advance, while Blue Rescue Team was released for Nintendo DS. Their paired release echoed the version-pairing tradition of the main Pokémon games while introducing a different style of gameplay.