Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Sky

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky^[a] is an enhanced version of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness released for the Nintendo DS in 2009. As a sister game, and sometimes referred to as the definitive edition to the aforementioned games,^[1] additional features include the addition of the missing Generation IV Pokémon, further character development for a few side characters in content known as Special Episodes, and a few quality of life improvement for options, items, and other gameplay related features.

Gameplay – Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Sky

See also: Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness § Gameplay

Serving as a sister game to Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness, a lot of new content was added in Explorers of Sky. 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. Moreover, 2 starters, Munchlax and Meowth, were removed from the playable roster and can only be picked as the partner.

New features – Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Sky

Lookalike items will start to appear early in the game; they have different effects from their original counterparts, and are distinguished by having a letter swapped or changed in its name (for example, while an Oran Berry heals 100 HP to its eater, an Oren Berry deals 10 damage). A new location appears in the only town during the story’s progression named Spinda Café.

It serves as a location to make drinks, recycle items, find new optional dungeons, obtain rare items and new missions, and see team members and recurring Pokémon hanging around. After completing the game’s main story, the remaining Generation IV Pokémon that were not present in Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness, for example, both forms of Shaymin, the Origin form of Giratina available only for a few dungeons, and Arceus in the form of a statue in Destiny Tower, have returned since their in-game debut in Pokémon Platinum, which was released the year after the original games.

Development – Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Sky

With the success of Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness worldwide, and the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series selling over 10 million copies sold by the end of 2008, a sister game was announced half a year after the release of Shiren the Wanderer 3 for the Wii in Japan.^[6]

Release – Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Sky

Explorers of Sky was released in Japan and Taiwan on April 18, 2009; North America on October 12, 2009; Australia on November 12, 2009;^[14] and Europe on November 20, 2009.^[13] No release for South Korea was announced throughout 2009, even if its predecessors had one. It was later re-released, along with Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team and Red Rescue Team, 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.^[17]

Reception – Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Sky

Publication	Score
1Up.com	C+[22]
Famitsu	35/40[27]
GamePro	5/10[24]
Hardcore Gamer	5/10[23]
IGN	4.9/10[25]
Jeuxvideo.com	13/20[28]
Nintendo Life	[29]
Nintendo Power	8/10[20]
Official Nintendo Magazine	7/10[21]
RPGamer	2/5[26]
RPGFan	83%[30]

In its initial release in 2009, Explorers of Sky received mixed reviews with the game receiving a score of 54 out of 100 on Metacritic.^[18] However, more recent reviews rated this game with slightly higher scores than average.^[29][30] In the video game magazine Famitsu, the game obtained the Platinum Hall of Fame, with a total of 35 points out of 40 by the writers.^[31]