Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Time & Darkness

[edit]Playable Pokémon
As with the previous games, the player takes on the role of a human who has been turned into a Pokémon, whose type is determined by a personality test.[3] A partner Pokémon is also selected who will henceforth be referred to as "the partner". Unlike Blue Rescue Team and Red Rescue Team, the gender does not restrict the available selection of Pokémon for either the player or the partner, though both player and partner may not be of the same type. The test sets the player as one of the many natures in the mainstream games, and two Pokémon will be set to that nature, one for male, one for female.The player may be Bulbasaur, Charmander, Squirtle, Pikachu, Meowth, Chikorita, Cyndaquil, Totodile, Treecko, Torchic, Mudkip, Skitty, Turtwig, Chimchar, Piplup and Munchlax; a total of 16 Pokémon to choose from. Once chosen, the partner may be any of the above Pokémon, with the exception of Pokémon of the same type of the player, Meowth, Skitty and Munchlax. Eevee, Machop, Cubone and Psyduck were removed as starter Pokémon, though Eevee was again made available in the games remake. Riolu was debated for a player Pokémon in Explorers of Time and Darkness, but the idea was eventually dropped, and Riolu was selected for the Explorers of Sky list.

[edit]Basic gameplay

The basic gameplay is unchanged from Blue Rescue Team and Red Rescue Team - players may use shops in Treasure Town to link moves, save money, buy items, store items, and train in special "maze" levels (although the Pokémon running almost all of these shops have changed). Players enter dungeons to complete missions, and during exploration they encounter hostile Pokémon. During the story portion, if either 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 of their items.

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 using passwords or DS Wireless Communications as before, but now it may be also done 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.

[edit]New features
New to this series is the option to temporarily send a team member to aid a friend 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 players 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 Pokémon. They can also be used to trade for rarer and more valuable items using a new shop. New items are also introduced to account for new evolution methods which do not translate well from the main series to ''Mystery Dungeon. Pokémon eggs have been introduced to Mystery Dungeon'', where the newly hatched Pokémon will join the player's team. Finally, "Friend Areas" from Blue Rescue Team and Red Rescue Team have been eliminated in favour of a more streamlined team management process.