Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time & Darkness

This page details pre-release information and/or media for Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time & Darkness.

Development Timeline#

2005 or 2006

• Prior to the official announcement of the Wii, the games were conceived as a split release between the DS and the Wii.

2007

• March 20 - IGN reports on Famitsu revealing a duo of new Pokémon games by Chunsoft, both for the DS, and featuring better dual-screen support and Wi-Fi connectivity.¹
• May 15 - Pokémon Fushigi no Dungeon Toki no Tankentai and Yami no Tankentai are fully unveiled.²
• May 17 - Chunsoft's official webpage for the games, along with the first three sub-pages, are backed up for the first time by the Wayback Machine, and contain the earliest known screenshots.³
• July 4 - The 4th sub-page of Chunsoft's official webpage is backed up for the first time.⁴ The June 29th snapshot of sub-page 3 indicates the sub-page had already been added by then.⁵
• August 3-5 - The games are playable at Pokémon Festa 2007, where their release date of September 13th is also revealed.⁶
• August 8 - Build date of Build 157.
• August 14 - Build date of Build 163.
• September 1 - The snapshots of Chunsoft's official webpage indicate that sub-pages 5 and 6 had been added sometime between early July and this date.⁷ The pages themselves wouldn't be backed up until mid-October.
• September 13 - Pokémon Fushigi no Dungeon Toki no Tankentai and Yami no Tankentai are released for DS in Japan.⁸ They get launched in Taiwan on the same day.⁹

2008

• January 16 - Nintendo's website posts a list of upcoming games, with Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness set for Q2 2008.¹⁰
• February 26 - The localized versions of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time & Darkness are revealed for an April 20th release.¹¹
• April 20 - Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time & Darkness are released for DS in North America.¹²
• June 19 - Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time & Darkness are released for DS in Australia.¹³
• July 4 - Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time & Darkness are released for DS in Europe.¹⁴
• December 11 - Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time & Darkness are released for DS in South Korea.¹⁵

Wii#

Prior to or in a very early point in development, the two versions were intended to be split between the Nintendo DS and the Wii, similar to how Rescue Team was split between the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS. This is discussed by game planner Kunimi Kawamura and director Hironori Ishigami in the developer interview included with the game's Official Perfect Guide released in Japan, on page 687:

最初はＤＳとＷｉｉの２機種で発売する予定でした

前作とはちがい、『時の探検隊』と『闇の探検隊』の２バージョンともニンテンドーＤＳで発売されましたね。

川村：最初は、今回もちがうハードで……具体的にはＤＳとＷｉｉで出そうとしていたんですよ。ただ、当時はまだＷｉｉが正式発表される前で、くわしい性能がわからなかったので、新ハードの性能を確認しながらゲームの仕様を固めていく流れだと作業的に間に合わない可能性が高いと判断して、Ｗｉｉでの制作は断念しました。

石神：ＤＳとＷｉｉでの２バージョンにすると、ゲームの基本的な処理の部分はプログラムを大きく変えずにすむんですが、２画面表示とタッチスクリーンの部分はどうしても変える必要があるんです。だから、まだＷｉｉで出そうとしていたころには、ＤＳの２画面表示をＷｉｉでどう表現するかとか、いろいろと検討していましたね。

川村：ほかにも、ＤＳのワイヤレス通信やＷｉ－Ｆｉ通信を使った遊びを突きつめてほしい、と石原（石原恒和氏:株式会社ポケモン代表取締役社長兼ＣＥＯ）から要望もあったりしたので、最終的にＤＳに一本化されました。

The initial plan was to release one game on the DS and one game on the Wii.

So, unlike the last Pokémon Mystery Dungeon game, both the Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness versions were released on the Nintendo DS. 

Kawamura: At first the idea was to put them out them on different hardware... specifically, the DS and Wii. However, this was before the Wii had been officially revealed and nobody knew its specs yet, so we decided that if we waited to see what the new hardware could handle and then solidified the game design, there was a good chance we wouldn't finish on time. So we ended up scrapping the Wii version.

Ishigami: Making one version for the DS and one for the Wii meant that we didn't have to make any large-scale changes to the game's basic logic. What we did have to change was the double-screen display and the Touch Screen features. Back when we were still planning to release a Wii version, we put a lot of consideration into how we'd replicate the DS's two screens on that hardware.

Kawamura: Ishihara (Tsunekazu Ishihara, president and CEO of The Pokémon Company) also requested we think about play styles that emphasized the DS's wireless communication and Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection features, which was another factor in our decision to consolidate the versions there.

Prerelease Screenshots#

Chunsoft#

The official Spike Chunsoft website still hosts a webpage with pre-sale information about the game. It has numerous development screenshots of mostly the beginning of the game, and written information about the game’s story, dungeons, items and gameplay.

Below are development screenshots with differences compared to the final game.

Wigglytuff#

May 2007	June 2007	Final

Among the development screenshots, two different variations of Wigglytuff’s ‘normal’ portrait are shown, which are different from the final game. In one version, which was a carry-over from Rescue Team, Wigglytuff has darker, almost black eyes. In another, Wigglytuff’s eyes are lighter, but still darker than the final version of the portrait. Additionally, Wigglytuff's character sprites still used a blue eye color (as in Rescue Team) in all of the development screenshots; they would be changed to green for the final game.

May 2007#

The following screenshots can be found on the main page and the first two sub-pages, dating to the middle of May on the original Japanese website.

Beach

May 2007	Final

The iconic meeting spot on the beach used to have a brush nearby, and the two rocks were slightly bigger and darker in color. The Krabby's bubbles were yet to be added to this scene.

Guild Exterior

May 2007	Final

The development screenshots show brown placeholder spots at the entrance of the guild. In the final game, the inner two brown spots have been removed, and the outer two have been replaced by totem poles. Additionally, the torches were lit during daytime.

May 2007	Final

Chimchar's left-facing portrait uses a simple flip of its right-facing portrait in this development screenshot. Chimchar was given unique left-facing portraits for the final game, to correctly show the swirl on its chest in both directions. This particular scene is also significantly brighter in this earlier build.

Wigglytuff's Guild B1F

May 2007	Final

This development screenshot exhibits some minor cutscene differences, along with some changes to text color.

More notably, Bidoof is shown using female sprites in this and all of the other development screenshots he appears in. This is likely to be a simple oversight rather than an earlier direction for the character, as his key art is shown on the same sub-page, using a male design.

May 2007	Final

The original design for the Outlaw Notice Board used a brighter board, and bricks with thick outlines. This would be entirely redrawn for the final game, blending in better with the surrounding walls. The floor surrounding Chimecho Assembly also included a stone floor which would be removed.

May 2007	Final

The Job Bulletin Board received a similar makeover.

Wigglytuff's Guild B2F

May 2007	Final

The second basement floor of the guild used to have more flower patches (top right in the development screenshot), and some were flipped (top left). The large red, white and blue flower patches would in most cases be replaced by a smaller variant, but the original larger flower tiles are still present in the Mess Hall.

May 2007	Final

Another comparison showing those same flowers completely being omitted in the final game. The flowers in the top right of the prerelease screenshot still exist in the final game, but have been moved slightly to the edge of the room.

Hero's Room

May 2007	Final

Nighttime scenes were originally brighter, and the development screenshot shows the hero having an inner monologue while using a portrait during this scene. The final game generally does not use portraits while characters are laying down.

Treasure Town

May 2007	Final

The "P" bags used thicker lettering, the flipped bag on the left was yet to be corrected, and the moving cloud shadows were yet to be added. In the bottom right of the screenshot, the 3 totem poles are missing and another placeholder can be seen.

May 2007	Final

Sunflora's default portrait used a slightly darker face and has some minor differences in shading on the lower face. While the final portrait instead lifts the lightest background color (#E3EBB7) for use on the face, the now-unused color (#FBFF7D) is still included in the final portrait's palette.

Curiously, the development screenshot also shows Marowak standing in front of the Marowak Dojo. In the final game, he is never found outside of the dojo, and the building is blocked off by a text notice before it first opens.

A closer comparison of Sunflora's portrait, as seen in the previous screenshot. This mockup of the prerelease portrait uses the final version's full palette.

Hidden Highland

May 2007	Final

Sub-page 2 (Challenge the awaiting "Mystery Dungeon"!!) includes a screenshot of what appears to be Hidden Highland, which is the only dungeon to use this tileset. This dungeon is of the ascending type in the final game, instead of the descending type seen in the development screenshot. Additionally, the early build shown on all of the page's screenshots use different spacing for HUD elements, use an earlier health bar, and use different spacing on the text in the message box. The gender of the enemy Pokémon is also not shown in this screenshot.

Other dungeons including Apple Woods, Foggy Forest and Temporal Spire are also shown using descending floors on the earlier pages, and appear to simply not be assigned correctly yet.

Beach Cave

May 2007	Final

This screenshot shows a different map icon being used for the leader Pokémon, and a brightly lit Beach Cave. This dungeon is set to use light darkness in the final game.

June 2007#

The following development screenshot can be found on sub-page 4 (Enter The Guild!), originally added to the Japanese website sometime before June 29th.

Guildmaster's Chamber

June 2007	Final

The torches were originally reused from the Guild's exterior and were again lit during daytime, while the chests and their contents used a larger design.

July/August 2007#

The following development screenshots can be found on sub-page 6 (More new systems introduced!), originally added on the Japanese website sometime between early July and September 1st.

Job Clients

July/August 2007	Final

Job clients talk without using portraits, similarly to the vast majority of clients in Rescue Team. Additionally, they are using the green text color for Pokémon species, rather than the light blue color used for characters. The Job Bulletin Board has already been redrawn by this point, matching the final game.

Explorer Maze

July/August 2007	Final

The fixed room used in the Explorer Maze originally used the same layout as the final floor of the Rescue Team Maze present in Blue Rescue Team. This has been redesigned for the final game, replacing the larger area of water with a few wall tiles and widening the usable area in the process. Light darkness was additionally added, and the seemingly out-of-bounds area on the right side of the room has been removed.

Build 157, dated August 8, 2007, uses the final version of this room.

Pokémon.co.jp#

More early screenshots can be found within Flash elements on the now-defunct official Japanese website for the games.

Team Glee#

Prerelease	Final

This early screenshot of the overworld segment preceding Mt. Bristle shows Team Glee, without Ledyba present. The team additionally occupied a different spot.

North American Manual#

NA Manual	Final

Page 45 of the North American manual for Explorers of Darkness includes an earlier screenshot referring to the Exploration Record as "Explorer History". The final string is a closer translation of "たんけんきろく", the term used in the Japanese versions.

References#