Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness[b] are a matched pair of Pokémon games for the Nintendo DS. The two games were released in Japan in September 2007, and in North America and Europe in 2008. A third version, Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky, was released in 2009.
As a sequel to Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team, new features include the addition of Generation IV Pokémon, improved Wi-Fi functionality, and more touch-screen options. 491 of the 493 Pokémon are featured, as Shaymin and Arceus were not officially released at the time of the game's launch.
In terms of gameplay and premise, the Explorers installments are largely similar to their Rescue Team predecessors, where a human-turned-Pokémon joins an Exploration Society and explores shifting dungeons, fighting hostile Pokémon through turn-based combat. The games received praise for their storyline, soundtrack, and Wi-Fi functionality, but were criticized for repetitive gameplay. The three games had accumulated worldwide sales in excess of 5.9 million copies as of 2010, then 6.37 million copies after 2010.
