YMMV / Shiren the Wanderer

• Adaptation Displacement: Gets it coming and going. Many players, unaware of the Japan-only Super Famicom release, make the logical-but-wrong assumption that Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team came first and therefore started the Mystery Dungeon series. Some of those who are aware make the equally logical (and equally wrong) assumption that Shiren on SFC started it all. In fact, the true first Mystery Dungeon game was a Dragon Quest spinoff.
• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • After knowing the full story of Shiren 3, one major antagonist's motives could be seen in a different light: Jofuku (aka Xu Fu) was a fortune-teller before Izanami contacted him, and by the end of his 2,000-year plan to destroy the moon Izanami's soul has been returned to her, all thanks to him teaching Kaguya the Tamafuri. One possible interpretation is that he saw the outcome of his scheme from the very start, and stuck to it to his dying breath since it will save a goddess and humanity in the end.
  • In the ending of Shiren 5, Shiren has earned the right to ask Great Reeva for a wish, just as he helped Jirokichi get his wish to undo Oyu's death. Considering the disappearance and reported death of his dad, Gimensha, that was mentioned in 3, it's a mystery why Shiren doesn't use his wish on anything related to that (such as revealing the reason his dad disappeared in the first place, undoing his death, or reviving him). It's implied that Sensei left Shiren and his mom when he "knew Gimensha wouldn't be coming back", which is presumably when Gimensha's death was reported. Did Shiren not make a wish out of respect for his dad's choices, or another reason entirely? There's also the fact that he didn't wish for anything period, which only raises more questions about his relationships with his mom (who became a widow) and Pekeji (whose claim of being Shiren's brother isn't referenced in 3).
  • Shiren 6 opens with Shiren suffering Easy Amnesia. This opens new interpretations of his actions in the games chronologically set later (4, GB2, 5, 3, and Princess Suzune).
• Annoying Video Game Helper: When a Mystery Dungeon game does not have full control over ally partners as an option, this trope rears its ugly head; in particularly dicey situations requiring careful decisions, your partners will wreak havoc if given the chance to act on their own. The devs seem to have gotten the message by Shiren 3, which offers said option.
• Anti-Climax Boss: The Tainted Insect, the Final Boss of the first game, has extremely high HP and Attack, gives off an amazing amount of EXP, and is otherwise a vanilla monster that falls to a Staff of Sloth as easily as nearly every other monster in the game. If you've reached this point, you've already dealt with much worse, and the status-inducing Skull Wraiths surrounding it are far more deadly than the Insect itself. In the Updated Re-release, its queen is even more anticlimactic since she's in a room all by herself and also has no special abilities.
• Broken Base: The third game. Fans are divided over the addition of an easy mode (due to party mechanics, you HAVE to pick it if you don't want an incredibly frustrating experience to the point where it's not even fun); the splitting of the game into multiple small dungeons as opposed to one segmented one; the retainment of levels after death; and, most of all, the game's grand story, abundance of Unskippable Cutscenes, and fleshing out of Shiren's background (as opposed to an Excuse Plot and Shiren being a Featureless Protagonist). Some enjoyed it, while others found it quite tedious.
• Demonic Spiders: The Ark Dragon. Its special ability is firing a homing blast of fire that goes through walls, does 50 damage that can only be reduced if you have a Dragon shield, and can target you from anywhere on the floor even if you're in another room. And they can use it indefinitely. The only way to survive that is to either use healing items or Invincible Herbs until you can find and kill them, or eat meat from the Inferno family. Seriously, using a Scroll of Removal against them is completely justified. Only in the first game can you use this same power after eating their meat. And their higher-level form, the Hell Dragon, is even worse, as it does 60 damage and is near-impenetrable unless you've upgraded your weapon to near max. Good luck surviving the last half of Fay's Final Puzzle, as the Ark Dragon and the other most goddamned of the Goddamned Bats start appearing in droves.
  • Cranky Tanks, which can attack twice in one turn, deal 50 damage apiece, and have splash damage, which can appear when their lower-level counterparts, Popster Tanks, manage to kill something, ally OR enemy. Keep in mind Popster Tanks also have splash damage and deal large amounts of damage, making it very easy for a Cranky Tank to appear in moderately crowded rooms. Also, like the Hell Dragon, it is impervious to all but the most upgraded of weapons.
  • Many other monsters are higher-level forms of Goddamned Bats. The Radishes eventually gain the ability to put you to sleep, leaving you a sitting duck unless you have a Sleepless Armband, and its max level form's effect, which turns you into an uncontrollable berserker, cannot be resisted. The Reapers learn to pass through walls while attacking twice, meaning they will home in on you from anywhere on the floor and be invulnerable if attacking you through a wall. The Skull Mages' effects turn from annoying to debilitating when they become third-level Wraiths (including ability sealing, Level Drain, turning you into a riceball, etc.), and become even worse as appropriately-named Skull Demons at Level 4 (who can drain 3 of your levels at a time, put you to sleep, and even blind you).
  • But what truly stands out about the game's Demonic Spiders is that several monsters are savvy enough to attack your inventory. That Shield you melded with multiple buffs, and would otherwise be a reliable defense in most other RPGs? A high-level multiplying Slime can dissolve those buffs away one by one, or an Armor monster can fling it away into another monster. That Herb of Revival you keep out to guard against an unlucky situation? Even the lowest-level Fowl can zap it into nothing, or a Gaze can hypnotize you into eating it. Kept a bunch of items in a Jar? Hope that Item Bandit doesn't turn it into a useless Weed. The Gazes themselves deserve special mention as they can render you helpless for turns on end while other monsters slowly whittle you away.
• Fanfic Fuel: The plot of Shiren 3 turns out to have been orchestrated by Jofuku, who existed in real life (as Xu Fu) before he mysteriously disappeared. The extent of his 2,000-year-old scheme (specifically, from 210 BCE to 1790 CE) implies that he meddled in all sorts of other events during the interim.
• Game-Breaker:
  • The Armband of Sight reveals all items and monsters on the map while equipped. Despite being a staple of the entire Mystery Dungeon series, this removes much of the "mystery" and thus challenge since it mitigates the risk of item hunting and getting ambushed by dangerous monsters. Experienced players consider even Fay's Final Puzzle in the first game won if you obtain this (and getting the Recovery Armband makes you win more). The one balancing factor is that it's a very rare item that generally only shows up in later floors.
  • Bufu's Cleaver in the DS rerelease of the first game^note since by the time you get it in the original Super Famicom game you have nothing else to use it on, while the DS version gives you three extra dungeons that permit the Cleaver. It randomly drops meat from any monster you defeat, said meat allowing you to transform into said monster. While you need to go through a difficult reset dungeon (Kitchen God's Shrine) to get it, it also teaches you just how busted it can potentially be when you take it out of the dungeon and meld it to a stronger weapon. Some of the monsters' abilities guarantee virtual invincibility under player control, especially since they are unaffected by traps. For instance, the Death Angel / Death Master can move and attack twice as fast while passing through walls, and monsters cannot fight back if you attack them while in a wall tile unless they can also pass through walls. Even the weaker Pacorepkin family can be broken just because it has the last ability as well. Even better, the Air Devil family makes you invisible, which means monsters will never attack you while you can slaughter them to your heart's content. The disadvantage of meat is that you can't use other items until you revert, but considering you already have a free pass to the stairs for one floor, this can be moot with the right monster. Because of this, it was nerfed in the third game to be a breakable weapon (at least until you make it unbreakable), and Meat was removed entirely in the fifth game.
  • You need to put in some effort to unlock the AI-controlled allies in Shiren 6, but they are extremely broken and can almost singlehandedly carry you through any dungeon that you're fortunate enough to find them in. Because they are found randomly and do not have their own equipment slots (except for Asuka), they have far superior stat scaling with levels compared to Shiren, who must rely on upgraded equipment to keep pace. Allies also require minimal management to upkeep due to lacking most of Shiren's mechanics and do not trigger traps. Each ally also has a unique specialty that makes them very busted; Seki has inherent Swift 1 and her melee attacks cause her to retreat 1 tile, Hibiki has unlimited Pellets with which she can assail foes with statuses and can heal Shiren every few actions, Tugai deals a crapload of damage and has a skill that inflicts a guaranteed Critical Hit, Porko has an unlimited supply of Porky's Rocks and can fight even in corridors, and Asuka can wear any sword and shield you throw at her.
• Goddamned Bats: Where to start? We have undead radishes that throw status-inflicting herbs at you, archers/tanks that kite you while firing projectiles, reapers that move twice as fast and hit hard, skeleton mages that throw all sorts of random effects at you... and at higher levels, many of them become outright Demonic Spiders as mentioned above.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • The Final Boss of Shiren 3 is revealed to be Izanami. In Japan, this actually predated Persona 4 using the same twist by one month (June 5, 2008 vs. July 10, 2008); in the US, where both games were published by Atlus USA, the latter predated the former by more than a year (December 9, 2008 vs. February 9, 2010)!
  • Shiren 3 and Zombie Land Saga have different takes on the same historical person: Jofuku, who's also known in real life as Xu Fu. The former has him as a major antagonist, while the latter reveals him to be the Big Good.
    • Said person also has more than a few similarities to Pious Augustus of Eternal Darkness: both were loyal subordinates to the first emperor of their respective empires (Qin Shi Huangdi, and Augustus) who interacted with higher powers (Izanami, and one of three Ancients), gained power as Dragons, and became Chessmasters with plans spanning two millennia. The only difference is that Jofuku already had powers before he became a Dragon, whereas Pious used to be a Badass Normal. Their plans' timeframes even overlap significantly (specifically, 26 BCE to 1790 CE); one can only wonder if they interfered in each other's plans to doom humanity.
• That One Level: Yamakagashi Pass in Shiren 6 quickly gained notoriety for its surprisingly brutal difficulty. The dungeon is infested with extremely dangerous enemies such as Ninjas and Curse Girls, monsters commonly exploited for their drops or abilities can't be found, items are difficult to acquire due to the relatively high presence of Fire Ninjas, and the boss is difficult enough that attempting to rush to the bottom floor will likely just get you killed.
• Underused Game Mechanic:
  • Shiren 3 introduced the Full Control mechanic, which allowed the player full control over Shiren, Asuka, and Sensei at any time (except when stealing from dungeon shops). Later games didn't bring it back, not even as a 100% completion reward (since by then there'd be no challenges left).
  • Completing the postgame arc of Shiren 3 also allowed challenging the postgame dungeons solo as any one of the trio, without the other two as mandatory allies. This also has yet to make a reappearance.