😵‍💫 (Leslie//Lucas) 🚬

I'd say play the whole series, but spread out with a good break between entries, and play the entries in any order you'd like (They're self-contained stories for the most part), based on the following traits and what you think would appeal to you first: Rescue Team is the shortest and probably least impressive entry, but the remake makes it beginner friendly, and the postgame had lots of content too... not that you'd really tackle the postgame, based off how you're wording other posts. Explorers of Sky's Special Episodes are very much worth the trouble of unlocking, but note that they're designed for players who played Time/Darkness in terms of difficulty. Still, Explorers of Sky has the most comfortable balance of robust gameplay and well-written story, even if both sides can still feel flawed at times (Mainly in the postgame for the story's case; again, you can probably get a more concise experience by leaving it after the main story and Special Episodes). Gates to Infinity would be my favorite for its story and characters (The characters in all these games are quite fun, but here especially so, to the point where it really changed me as a person), but the gameplay is simplified to a fault; still has the appealing points of earlier games, at the cost of some depth that's clearly a case of wanting to get 3DS newcomers into the series, but some won't mind this aspect, since it also increases accessibility. Super Mystery Dungeon has what I consider to be the most engaging gameplay, to the point of addiction, but after a certain point is what I'd consider to be PMD's first major example of series stagnation regarding same-y plot points, so you better love that gameplay a lot to get the most out of it, because it ultimately carries the whole thing, with a lot of content to play around with, including a lot of postgame while also meeting character cameos from previous games for sidequests. If all of this sounds intimidating, you have a godsend at your disposal throughout the whole series that not enough people use, even during replays: The in-game dictionary, accessible with specific buttons (I think X or Y?) to highlight colored terms in all of the menus. Pressing A on the highlighted terms tells you what that thing does, allowing you to understand the gameplay and item usage (Even for stuff you thought was worthless, such as negative effect edibles you can throw at enemies to give them the effect instead) far quicker than just trial-and-error; once you get it down, every PMD game shouldn't be too hard to handle, maybe you'll even find something powerful enough to make it a breeze!

Oh, and the WiiWare Adventure Squad trilogy, while very fun in its own right, notably starts out more difficult than the rest, and is completely non-story focused; something for those who loved the Mystery Dungeon franchise gameplay (Not just Pokemon Mystery Dungeon) and want more of it, not those looking for an elaborate story with lively characters; there isn't even a protagonist to follow in it! In that regard, you can safely skip this one, since not many people talked about it as a result of being Japan-exclusive and not getting a fan-translation until the previous year or two.