Pokmon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time (????????????? ????? Pokmon Fushigi no D anjon Toki no Tankentai?, lit.

"Pokmon Mystery Dungeon: Time Exploration Team") a nd Pokmon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness (????????????? ????? Pokmon Fushi gi no Danjon Yami no Tankentai?, lit. "Pokmon Mystery Dungeon: Darkness Explorati on Team") are a matched pair of Pokmon games for the Nintendo DS. The two games w ere released in Japan on September 13, 2007, and were released in North America on April 20, 2008.[1] They were released in Europe on July 4, 2008.[2] The game is very similar to its predecessors with the 'changing dungeon' aspect and story, but the story has more emphasis on exploration rather than rescuing. The story is also similar focusing on a human transformed into a Pokmon with amne sia with their partner Pokmon. Also like its predecessors, the game received mixe d reviews for its graphics and repetitive gameplay, but the story was praised. A spiritual sequel to Pokmon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team, new features incl ude the addition of Generation IV Pokmon, improved Wi-Fi functionality, and more touch-screen options. 491 of the 493 Pokmon are featured, as Shaymin and Arceus w ere not officially released at the time of the game's launch. A 21-minute TV special based on the game starring Kurumi Mamiya aired in Japan o n September 9, 2007 as a content of the program relating Pokmon, "Pokmon Sunday" p roduced by TV Tokyo Corporation. It was later dubbed in English in 2008. Playable Pokmon As with the previous games, the player takes on the role of a human who has been turned into a Pokmon, whose type is determined by a personality test.[3] A partn er Pokmon is also selected who will henceforth be referred to as "the partner". U nlike Blue Rescue Team and Red Rescue Team, the gender does not restrict the ava ilable selection of Pokmon for either the player or the partner, though both play er and partner may not be of the same type. The test sets the player as one of t he many natures in the mainstream games, and two Pokmon will be set to that natur e, one for male, one for female. The player may be Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, Pikachu, Meowth, Chikorita, C yndaquil, Totodile, Treecko, Torchic, Mudkip, Skitty, Turtwig, Chimchar, Piplup and Munchlax; a total of 16 Pokmon to choose from. Once chosen, the partner may b e any of the above Pokmon, with the exception of Pokmon of the same type of the pl ayer, Meowth, Skitty and Munchlax. Eevee, Machop, Cubone and Psyduck were remove d as starter Pokmon, though Eevee was again made available in the game's remake. Riolu was debated for a player Pokmon in Explorers of Time and Darkness, but the idea was eventually dropped, and Riolu was selected for the Explorers of Sky lis t. Basic gameplay The basic gameplay is unchanged from Blue Rescue Team and Red Rescue Team - play ers may use shops in Pokmon Square to link moves, save money, buy items, store it ems, and train in special "maze" levels (although the Pokmon running almost all o f these shops have changed). Players enter dungeons to complete missions, and du ring exploration they encounter hostile Pokmon. During the story portion, if eith er the player or his/her partner is defeated by running out of health, the team will be removed from the dungeon and lose all their money and half (or more) of their items. However, after beating the main story (and graduating) the team wil l only be removed if the team leader faints. Like previous installments, players may send out an SOS if they are defeated in the dungeon (certain dungeons will not permit this), which can be done either us ing passwords or DS Wireless Communications as before, but now it may be also do ne through Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. Players may also choose to be notified of friends in need of rescue by email or through the Wii Message Board.

New features New to this series is the option to temporarily send a team member to aid a frie nd who is in need - this allows a team to have more than four members. Defeated teams awaiting rescue may also engage in a "standby adventure" mode in which pla yers may revisit previous dungeons to raise funds and collect items, but without the ability to level up. Among new items introduced are treasure boxes, which require money to be opened and may contain rare items. Rare items, however, may only affect certain Pokmon. They can also be used to trade for rarer and more valuable items using a new sho p. New items are also introduced to account for new evolution methods which do n ot translate well from the main series to Mystery Dungeon (such as Probopass, Ma gnezone, Leafeon, or Glaceon). Pokmon eggs have been introduced to Mystery Dungeo n, where the newly hatched Pokmon will join the player's team. Finally, "Friend A reas" from Blue Rescue Team and Red Rescue Team have been eliminated in favour o f a more streamlined team management process. The Wonder Mail has also changed, the reason for this is that many were using Wo nder Mail to cheat in Blue Rescue Team and Red Rescue Team. Version exclusives As with all Pokmon games, some Pokmon are exclusive to one version, although they may be unlocked on the other through the exchange of Wonder Mail codes. The Pokmo n that are exclusive to Explorers of Time are Celebi, Combee, Lucario, Pachirisu , and Riolu, while the Pokmon exclusive to Explorers of Darkness are Burmy, Bunea ry, Lopunny, Mewtwo, and Rotom. Despite this, Celebi and Mewtwo are currently im possible to recruit except on their respective games. Also, some items are much rarer in one version than in another. Plot First Days in the Team The story begins with the player having been washed ashore by a storm. Meanwhile , his/her partner is nervous about joining the Wigglytuff Guild, as local "Dunge ons" (these are the levels in the game) have been revealed and open to explorati on. The player discovers not too long after that he/she has the ability to see thing s in the past and future, through contact with people or things. This leads to t he player rescuing an Azurill(residents), from Drowzee, a wanted criminal. Some time after, the partner tells the player the story of the Time Gears, the artefa cts that all Pokmon are to avoid lest time stand still. When a Time Gear is stole n, time in that area is frozen. Despite this, it is soon revealed that a mysteri ous thief is stealing the Time Gears, causing time to stop in various areas. The first proper mission that the team go on is to Drenched Bluff, to recover a Spoink's missing pearl. Upon finishing, the hero and partner receive a large rew ard, which a large percentage is promptly taken by Chatot as collateral for guil d training. The player and partner get quite excited when Chatot gives them an exploration m ission, to explore an "unexplored cave" called Waterfall Cave. Before this, Chim echo provides a new feature to the exploration team, allowing them to recruit ne w members. After Waterfall Cave, the player finds out that Wigglytuff has previo usly explored this cave. Time Gear Search A short time later, the whole guild mounts an expedition to Fogbound Lake. The p

layer recalls the place as being familiar, but cannot explain as to why. The gui ld encounters Uxie and discovers the location of a Time Gear, but are allowed to return home with their memories intact, on the condition that they not reveal i t to anybody else. The guild meets a famous explorer named Dusknoir, who explain s that the player's ability to see through time is called the Dimensional Scream . Not long after, Azurill and his brother Marill (whom the player meets earlier and saves from Drowzee) come to the guild, showing them a ransom note for an ite m (a Water Float) that they had been looking for. They then go to the Amp Plains and fight Luxray and the Luxio tribe, but get saved by Dusknoir. Dusknoir offer s his help in uncovering the secret behind the player's transformation and also offers his assistance in the hunt for Grovyle, who is stealing the Time Gears. S oon, the time gear at Fogbound Lake is stolen, and the whole guild splits up to look for Time Gears. The player's team eventually discover an underground lake, which is home to Mesprit and another Time Gear. However Grovyle appears and stea ls the Time Gear. Somewhere in the story, the player and the partner also activa te a dojo in which they can train in. Dusknoir determines that, the third lake guardian Azelf, the being of willpower, is likely to be guarding another Time Gear. Dusknoir further explains that as U xie and Mesprit were encountered in lakes, Azelf is also likely to be found in a lake area. The team arrives at the lake in the middle of Crystal cave, where th ey find Azelf about to be defeated by Grovyle. However, just as Grovyle is about to steal the Time Gear, Azelf activates a fail-safe trap, which prevents it fro m doing so. Grovyle then escapes, but with Dusknoir in pursuit. Back in town, Dusknoir reveals that he and Grovyle are from the future, and that Grovyle fled to the past to prevent from being captured, and intends to steal t he Time Gears so as to cause the Planet's Paralysis, an event turning the Pokmon world into a dark, dismal region filled with scared and corrupted Pokmon. Everyon e comes up with a plan to capture Grovyle, by luring him in with the Time Gear t hat still remains, but Dusknoir adds that he and the Lake Trio alone must battle Grovyle for capture. A few days later a report comes in, indicating that Grovyl e has been captured, and that Dusknoir plans to take Grovyle back to the future to face justice. The Time Gears have been returned to their rightful places, and Dusknoir has opened a Dimensional Hole to take Grovyle back to the future. Dusk noir bids farewell to the villagers, but suddenly grabs the player and partner, and drags them with him into the portal. Escape the Future The player and partner awaken, finding themselves in a prison. After escaping a near execution with Grovyle, they (now in the future) discover their world has b ecome paralyzed, despite the Time Gears being placed back in their respective sp ots. The two traverse through several dungeons until they catch up to Grovyle, h aving to rescue him from a rogue Spiritomb. After coming to compromise, Grovyle offers to share what he knows with the two heroes. They learn that the paralysis was caused by time breaking down before the theft of the Gears because of Temporal Tower, which gives structure to time itself. Wh en the tower collapsed, its head occupant, Dialga the Time Dragon, survived the collapse but became corrupted due to the flow of darkness that possessed and twi sted the minds of countless Pokmon. Now living as a tyrannical being known as Pri mal Dialga, it has sworn to preserve the dark future so as to maintain its fears ome form. It is also established that Grovyle has pure motives for collecting Ti me Gears, so as to prevent the planet's paralysis in Temporal Tower. This story contradicts Dusknoir's fallacies, and Grovyle exposes Dusknoir as a villainous a gent sent to the partner's world to capture him. Unsure but determined, the play er's team searches for a way back to the past. However, they are being pursued b y Dusknoir and his Sableye minions. The group eventually manage to find a shiny Celebi, who is a (close) friend of Grovyle, and finally arrive at the Passage of Time. Dusknoir ambushes the group, but Grovyle expresses hope for success- when

he traveled back to the past initially, he was joined by a human companion on h is mission. That partner was lost during their time travel, though Grovyle belie ves that even if he dies, the partner will be able to fulfill his mission for hi m. Dusknoir asks Grovyle to divulge the name of his friend, revealing that the p artner in question is actually the player. Dusknoir reveals he has known about t his for a long while: he was scouting all over the past world, collecting all of its history and information in order to find the two. He came across the player 's exploration duo at one point, and eventually discovered one of them had the D imensional Scream. After revealing their ability and name, Dusknoir carried out a plan which had the player itself betray Grovyle unknowingly and blackened Grov yle's reputation further. This plan worked out smoothly because the player could not recognize their foe when they saw him. Not defeated by the grim circumstanc es, the partner urges Celebi to transport them ahead of Dusknoir and into the Pa ssage. With little interference from Primal Dialga, they succeed, and Celebi esc apes. The Hunt for the Hidden Land Arriving back to the present, the group decides to stay at the partner's old hom e, due to Grovyle's presence potentially landing them in trouble. They plan thei r next move, which is to take the Time Gears. Grovyle tells the team that the pl ayer was his partner before the player turned into a Pokmon, explaining the stran ge voice heard near the Time Gear locations, the random visions, and the lack of Screams in the future due to no Time Gears there. They soon discover through re connaissance that time has still stopped in places where Time Gears are present, despite them being returned. It appears that the only way to restore time is to take the Time Gears to Temporal Tower. This is easier said than done, though; t he Tower is located in the Hidden Land, and no one knows where the Hidden Land i s. They eventually decide to reveal their return to the guild, so they can convi nce the guild to help them, and receive the lake guardians' Time Gears- they are , fortunately, met with friendly cooperation from all parties. They talk with To rkoal, the town elder, who tells them that to get to the Hidden Land, they need an item with an inscription on it, which is on the partner's Relic Fragment. Wig glytuff and Chatot have also seen this pattern, in Brine Cave. Inside Brine Cave 's Depths, Chatot is injured protecting the team from a Kabutops and two Omastar . The team manages to defeat the bandits, driving them off. Wigglytuff comes wit h the rest of the guild with Grovyle in tow, having collected the five time gear s needed to stop the collapse of Temporal Tower. Leaving Chatot in the Guild's c are, the team and Grovyle forge ahead. The Saviors of Time In Brine Cave, the team discovers a rock wall pointing out to sea, on which is a wall pattern similar to the one found on the Relic Fragment. When the Relic Fra gment is presented, a light shines out towards the sea. Just then, a Lapras arri ves. Lapras ferries the team and Grovyle to the Hidden Land. Arriving at the Hid den Land, Lapras tells them that in order to reach the Temporal Tower, they must take the Rainbow Stoneship, located inside an old ruin. Finding the ruin, they find a temple where, at the top, they find the Relic Fragment pattern. The team discovers that the temple itself is the Rainbow Stoneship, and in order for the ship to operate, the Relic Fragment must be slotted in one of the indentations. But before the partner can do so, they are captured by Dusknoir and the Sableye entourage. The team is able to defeat Dusknoir and the Sableye in battle, but wh ile the partner goes to activate the Rainbow Stoneship, Dusknoir warns that shou ld they succeed in their quest, the Pokmon of the future, including the player an d Grovyle, will be erased from existence, from being from a future that will no longer exist. Grovyle admits that this is the case, but that their sacrifice is worth the trouble if it means that the future can be saved. The player accepts t his fate, even though the player knows that the partner will not take it as easi ly as the player or Grovyle. Meanwhile, the partner succeeds in activating the Rainbow Stoneship, by putting

their relic fragment in it, but Dusknoir manages to recover and attack the playe r before either the player or Grovyle is on board. Just as Dusknoir tries to fin ish off the player, Grovyle intervenes, taking the blow. Dusknoir angrily decide s to slay Grovyle first, but in a move of desperation, Grovyle pushes Dusknoir t owards the Dimensional Hole, hoping that in his own defense of the player, Grovy le will ensure the success of the mission. Dropping the Time Gears, Grovyle push es Dusknoir and himself through the Dimensional Hole, transporting them into the future, but not without giving his last goodbye. The partner recovers the Time Gears, and the team proceed on the Rainbow Stoneship, with the player keeping si lent to the partner about his/her fate. With a heavy heart, the team head toward s Temporal Tower to take on their final mission. The team is able to defeat Primal Dialga, and head home, but on the way back, th e player begins to feel the effects of being slowly erased from existence. The p layer says goodbye to the partner and, in the only open dialogue spoken by the p layer character, conveys his/her last wish, to "tell everyone about what happene d, so nothing like this will ever happen again", as the player fades out of exis tence. After the credits, Dialga feels the partner's sorrow all the way from Tem poral Tower. Deeply moved by the partner's devotion and grief, Dialga intervenes and restores the player to the timeline, as thanks for bringing time back in co ntrol. The player reappears at the beach, where the partner is crying in front o f Bidoof. The partner runs over to embrace their best friend, overjoyed that the y are alive. After Story After the main credits, the player is told by Chatot at the next briefing that t hey may take an exam to graduate from the guild. Wigglytuff comments that they m ust defeat the "grandmaster of all things bad". The player goes to Mystifying Fo rest, where they fall into a trap. The cover to the trap closes and the "grandma ster of all things bad" sneaks in and circles around them. Bidoof lifts the lid of the cave, revealing that it is just the guild, with Wigglytuff as the "grandm aster of all things bad", though they all attempt (poorly) to convince the playe r otherwise. The player and partner defeat them, allowing them to continue forwa rd to find a treasure chest containing a Perfect Apple. They continue further wi th Teddirusa and Ursaring to Luminous Spring, where Teddirusa evolves into Ursar ing. The partner goes forward to evolve, but is told that neither the partner no r the player can evolve due to a distortion in space that they create. After ret urning to the guild, the player and the partner graduate- the player's team move s their own base of operations to Sharpedo Bluff. Afterward the player must resc ue Scizor from a Froslass to get the Secret Rank. They are slowly given more dun geons to explore, including a new training dungeon known as the Final Maze. Even tually, the player is told by Sunflora about a dungeon known as the Surrounded S ea. The player's team goes to the dungeon and finds an egg that hatches into a b aby Manaphy. They must feed it with Blue Gummis, but it eventually falls sick af ter being away from the ocean for so long. The player's team goes to Miracle Sea to acquire the cure-all Phione Dew. After fending off a Gyrados, the Phione giv e a Phione Dew to the player and Manaphy is cured. However, at Chatot's insisten ce, Manaphy is put in the care of a Wailren and returns to the ocean. After a fe w more days, Team Charm comes to the guild. It is revealed here that Wigglytuff was once a member of Team Charm. Lopunny, the leader of Team Charm, asks Wigglyt uff for a key shaped like an Unown they found in previous travels, saying that t hey think they found where it should go. Wigglytuff goes into his quarters, rumm ages around for the key, and returns with the key. Team Charm thanks Wigglytuff and begins to head out. The partner asks Lopunny if the player's team can come a long. This provokes the entire guild to ask if they could come. Team Charm agree s and heads out to open the door to Aegis Cave. Inside, they come across a room with a stone tablet in the middle bearing the inscription "ICE (in Unown letters ) Close your eyes and submit your proof." The guild and Team Charm proceed into the dungeon with the player's team following. Upon completing Aegis Ice Cave, th e player's team will come back to the stone tablet room. The player's team finds

Team Charm inspecting the stone tablet. After a brief conversation, Team Charm proceeds. If the player has picked up Unown Stones I, C, and E dropped by the co rresponding Unoun in the dungeon, the player should interact with the stone tabl et in the middle of the room and close their eyes. Following this, the stone tab let disappears and reveals a staircase, which a Regice is waiting to battle in. This process is repeated with ROCK and STEEL with Regirock and Registeel as boss es respectively. At the bottom of Aegis Cave, the player's team catches up with Team Charm. The statues in the room come alive, revealing 8 Bronzong, 8 Hitmonle e and a Regigigas, which are defeated with the help of Team Charm. After the bat tle is completed, Regigigas faints and a massive stone tablet appears, intstruct ing the player to let his aura flow into the ground. The player does so and Regi gigas gets up and tremors begin. The player's team and Team Charm flee the dunge on. Medicham notices a cave that appeared. Team Charm theorizes that the actual treasure is in there and heads off to find another treasure. Over the course of a few days, the player has dreams in which Cresselia tells the player that the p layer does not belong in this world, and that the distortion of space the player and partner have made will send the world into ruin unless they disappear. Fina lly, one day the Azurill they assisted a while back has a nightmare that he cann ot awake from, so the team locates the old criminal Drowzee, who is able to send the player and partner into Azurill's nightmare. At the end of this dream (a du ngeon in itself known as The Nightmare) the player sees Cresselia, who attempts to destroy them. Cresselia is interrupted by Drowzee and disappears. Back in the guild, the player and partner report their findings to the guild. However, when asked about a way to undo the distortion of space, the partner says that there is no way. The next morning, your partner suggests that they go talk to Lapras f or more information. Lapras is able to tell them that Palkia is the ruler of spa ce and that he resides in Spacial Rift. However, Lapras doesn't know where it is . The player and partner wake up the next morning and see Palkia whisking in and taking them away to Spacial Rift to destroy them. They fall into a chasm and pr oceed to complete Spacial Rift and defeat Palkia, who suddenly falls into a nigh tmare. They are asked by an unknown voice if they want to enter Palkia's nightma re and end up consenting. In Palkia's nightmare, Cresselia appears and proceeds to destroy them. However, another Cresselia appears and they then find out the C resselia in their dreams was actually Darkrai. Darkrai flees from the room and t ells the partner and player they must come to defeat him. They must venture with Cresselia to defeat Darkrai, who was behind the transformation of Primal Dialga , the player's transformation into a Pokmon, and the break in the space-time cont inuum. After defeating Darkrai, they may recruit Palkia, which allows the player and partner to evolve. Also, after some events in the post-story-mode, Manaphy returns and asks to join your exploration team. If this option is accepted, Mana phy leads to player to a new dungeon called the Marine Resort after a few days. Reception As of September 30, 2008, Pokmon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness combined to sell 4.12 million copies worldwide, according to Ninten do. The reviews for the game were mixed to positive. The games were scored as 59 out of 100 by Metacritic's review.[4][5] GameSpy gave the games a 4/5 star rati ng.[6] Both Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness have re ceived a rating of 7.5 from Nintendo Power.[7] Enhanced version Pokmon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky (????????????? ????? Pokmon Fushigi no Da njon Sora no Tankentai?, lit. "Pokmon Mystery Dungeon: Sky Exploration Team") is an enhanced version of Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness for the Ninte ndo DS. It was released in Japan on April 18, 2009; North America on October 12, 2009; Australia on November 12, 2009;[8] and Europe on November 20, 2009.[9] As with its predecessors, the game follows the story of a human who is mysteriou sly transformed into a Pokmon (determined by a personality test at the game's sta rt-up). Along with the starters from the previous game, five more are included a

s playable choices; Phanpy, Riolu, Shinx, Eevee, and Vulpix. Some, however, are only available to certain genders; Eevee, Skitty, and Vulpix are always female. Riolu, Phanpy, and Shinx are always male. However, 2 starters, Munchlax and Meow th were removed and can only be played as the partner. Many new gameplay feature s were incorporated into the game. There were extra dungeons added, the titular event Pokmon Shaymin featured on the box was added, and alternate forms introduce d in Pokmon Platinum (except for Rotom) were included. Explorers of Sky expands on the plot of Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkn ess, as well as exploring the background of several characters. New cutscenes we re added and some were changed. Five new Special Episodes are unlocked at certai n points in the game which add to the overall game (such as Wigglytuff's inspira tion to become an explorer, the induction of Bidoof into the guild, the formatio n of Team Charm, a special mission for guild member Sunflora, and the investigat ion of Grovyle and Dusknoir who team up after the battle at the Hidden Land, whi ch shows how Primal Dialga was defeated simultaneously in the present and the fu ture and how the future continued to thrive).