Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity is the ninth game in the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series and the first for the Nintendo 3DS. The player is a human who has a dream about a Munna being chased by a Hydreigon and calling for help. The human then wakes up in a strange world and discovers they have been turned into Pokémon, and starts plummeting down through the sky to the ground! When they wake up, they find another Pokémon leaning over them and asking if they are okay. After introductions, the player accompanies this Pokémon through a cave to a desolate plot of land, which the Pokémon purchases. The Pokémon tells the player their dream of creating a Pokémon Paradise, and asks the player to help them. The player agrees and they become partners.
The game is similar to previous entries in the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series, but there are several new features. The Pokémon the player transforms into can be chosen by the player. The choices are Snivy, Tepig, Oshawott, Pikachu, and Axew. The player’s partner can also be chosen, the choices being whichever four of those same five Pokémon the player didn’t become. The game is rendered entirely in 3D, and takes advantage the the Nintendo 3DS’s built-in 3D capabilities. The game also utilizes the AR (Augmented Reality) features. By using the Ar feature on round objects, a portal called a Magnagate opens up. This means there is an unlimited amount of Mystery Dungeons that can be explored within the game. TMs (Technical Machines) can now be reused as much as the player wants, reflecting the change in their function in the main series Pokémon games. Moves now have ranks, and will progress toward the next rank each time it is used. Another new feature is mini-games, which are hosted by Beartic. Depending on how well the player did, they may receive different prizes from completing mini-games.