What was the first Pokémon Mystery Dungeon game release?

The first Pokémon Mystery Dungeon release was Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team and Red Rescue Team.

The paired games launched in Japan on November 17, 2005. Blue Rescue Team was made for Nintendo DS, while Red Rescue Team was made for Game Boy Advance. They shared the same core adventure but used different systems and offered version-specific features.

The series adapts the Mystery Dungeon formula into a Pokémon setting. Instead of playing as a conventional human Trainer, the player becomes a Pokémon and explores randomly generated dungeons through turn-based gameplay. The story begins after the protagonist mysteriously transforms into a Pokémon.

Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness were later entries, not the beginning of the spin-off series. Rescue Team DX is a modern Nintendo Switch remake of the original pair, so its title should not be used for the first release.