Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness

The player is washed ashore by a storm and is discovered by the partner, a timid Pokémon who dreams of forming an exploration team. After teaming up to recover the partner's Relic Fragment from some bullies, the player, who has lost all memories except their name and the fact that they used to be human, agrees to form an exploration team to piece together their identity. The two enlist at the Wigglytuff Guild and begin training as adventurers. During this time, the player discovers that they can have visions of the future or past. Eventually, the authorities alert the guild that a criminal named Grovyle has been stealing artifacts called the Time Gears, which stabilize the flow of time in each region and cause time to stop when stolen. The player and partner attempt to intercept Grovyle, but are defeated. Afterwards, the guild enlists the aid of a famous explorer named Dusknoir, who explains that the player's ability to see through time is called the Dimensional Scream. Dusknoir reveals that he and Grovyle are from the future and that if the Time Gears are stolen, the Pokémon world will become paralyzed and turn into a dark, dismal region filled with scared and corrupted Pokémon. With assistance from the guardians of the Time Gears, Uxie, Mesprit and Azelf, Dusknoir successfully captures Grovyle and returns the Time Gears to their rightful places. Back in town, Dusknoir opens a Dimensional Hole to take Grovyle back to the future to face justice and bids farewell to the villagers, but suddenly grabs the player and partner and drags them into the portal with him.

The player and partner awaken in a prison in the future. After escaping a near execution with Grovyle by Dusknoir, they discover the world is still paralyzed. They learn from Grovyle that the paralysis was caused because of the collapse of Temporal Tower, which also corrupted its head occupant, Dialga, into a tyrannical being known as Primal Dialga. Grovyle exposes Dusknoir as a villainous agent sent to the present to capture him and reveals that he and a human companion traveled back in time to take the Time Gears to Temporal Tower in order to save the world; this human is actually the player. With the help of Celebi, a friend of Grovyle, the group manages to escape Dusknoir's group and return to the present.

Arriving back to the present, the group enlists the help of the guild to take the Time Gears to Temporal Tower to restore time. While Grovyle gathers the Time Gears, the guild investigates Temporal Tower and discovers a way to reach the Hidden Land where it lies, using the partner's Relic Fragment. The player, the partner, and Grovyle travel to the Hidden Land, and are accosted by Dusknoir. He reveals to the player that if they succeed in changing the future, they and Grovyle will be erased from existence. Grovyle sacrifices himself to drag Dusknoir back to the future, and the player presses onward. They and the partner make their way to the top of Temporal Tower, defeat Primal Dialga and restore it to sanity, and replace the Time Gears and stop the planet's paralysis. On the way back, the player says a final goodbye to the partner before vanishing. After the credits, Dialga is deeply moved by the partner's grief over the player's death, and restores the player to the timeline as thanks for bringing time back under control. The player reappears at the beach and reunites with the overjoyed partner.

After the main story, the player and partner graduate from Wigglytuff Guild and move their base of operations to Sharpedo Bluff, the partner's old home. In Luminous Spring, they learn that neither the partner nor the player can evolve due to a distortion in space. After many missions and explorations, it is revealed that Darkrai was responsible for the events in the main story. The team, with the help of Palkia and Cresselia, defeats Darkrai, fixing the distortion and finally allowing the player and partner to evolve.

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky is an enhanced version of Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness for the Nintendo DS. It was released in Japan on April 18, 2009; North America on October 12, 2009; Australia on November 12, 2009;[4] and Europe on November 20, 2009.[5] It has since been re-released on the Wii U Virtual Console in Japan on July 20, 2016, in North America on June 23, 2016, and in the PAL region on August 18, 2016.

As with its predecessors, the game follows the story of a human who is mysteriously transformed into a Pokémon (determined by a personality test at the game's start-up). Along with the starters from the previous game, five more are included as playable choices; Phanpy, Riolu, Shinx, Eevee, and Vulpix. Some, however, are only available to certain genders; Eevee, Skitty, and Vulpix are always female, while Riolu, Phanpy, and Shinx are always male. However, 2 starters, Munchlax and Meowth were removed and can only be played as the partner.

Explorers of Sky expands on the plot of Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness and explores the background of several characters. The game also features the event Pokémon Shaymin, located in a new location called Shaymin Village. Explorers of Sky includes other new locations and dungeons, as well as the Sky Jukebox which allows players to play the game's entire soundtrack.

Reception
Aggregate scores Aggregator Score GameRankings 62.39% (Time)[7] 61.25% (Darkness)[8] 55.84% (Sky)[9] Metacritic 60/100 (Time)[10] 59/100 (Darkness)[11] 54/100 (Sky)[12] Review scores Publication Score Eurogamer 7/10[13] Famitsu 35/40[14] GameSpot 6.5/10[15] GameSpy [16] GamesRadar+ [17] IGN 6.5/10[18] Nintendo Power 7.5/10[19]

The reviews for the games were average to positive. The games were scored as 60 and 59 out of 100 by Metacritic for Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness respectively.[10][11] GameSpot gave the games a score of 6.5 out of 10, criticising the dialogue and inconsistent visuals, but praising the story, soundtrack, Wi-Fi features and easier difficulty.[15] IGN also rated the games 6.5 out of 10, criticising the repetitive and unoriginal gameplay but noted the story for its charm.[18] GamesRadar+ on the other hand gave a score of 2.5 out of 5 (below average), saying that "Explorers of Darkness/Time is a rental at best" and that "Pokémon fans are better served by playing more Diamond/Pearl while waiting for the next Pokémon Ranger game".[17] GameSpy gave the games a 4/5 star rating.[16] Both Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness have received a rating of 7.5 from Nintendo Power.[19] Explorers of Sky received mixed reviews, with the game receiving a score of 54 out of 100 on Metacritic.[12]

Combined worldwide sales for Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness passed 4.5 million copies on March 31, 2009.[20] 1.40 million copies of Explorers of Sky had been sold by March 31, 2010, bringing the total sales of the three games to over 5.90 million copies.[21]

A special episode of the Pokémon anime, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time & Darkness,[lower-alpha 4] was developed based on the game plot. Unlike previous special episodes, this does not take place in any continuity of the main storyline. It was first broadcast in Japan on September 9, 2007, as part of Pokémon Sunday.[22]

A sequel episode, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky - Beyond Time & Darkness,[lower-alpha 5] was first broadcast in Japan on April 12, 2009, also as part of Pokémon Sunday.[23]

• Official Site (in Japanese)
• Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Official Site (in English)
• Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness at Bulbapedia
• Personality Test