Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time & Darkness

Prototype Info Prerelease Info Notes Debug MenuSo many options that they needed their own page. Debug RoomsDo the Mankey Dance. Unused DungeonsTest Dungeon, dummies... and Bidoof! Unused PokémonTurns out Shaymin was here the whole time. Unused GraphicsVarious dungeon tilesets, miscellaneous sprites and more. Unused PortraitsRescue Team leftovers galore, as well as some other surprises... Unused AnimationsMany more Rescue Team leftovers, with a light sprinkling of new. Unused MovesPokémon used is watching! Unused AudioThe music and sounds that didn't make the cut. Regional DifferencesLocalizations and revisions.

Debugging Features#

Script Debug Mode#

To do: Look into this further. A sub-page has already been written for the feature in the leaked debug build; check for differences in the retail versions.

It is possible to activate a debugging mode for scripts by using the following Action Replay code:

This most notably allows access to the scenario selection menu by selecting "New Game", which will let the player jump to various chapters and sections of the game's story. If enabled during regular gameplay, it will also allow access to various debug menus for features such as the Marowak Dojo.

If the personality quiz is skipped, the game will default to Charmander and Bulbasaur in the hero and partner roles respectively. The default team name will be used, as well as the following default character names, which can only be seen in the final games by using this menu:

"Dinsdale" originates from Nob Ogasawara's alias, "Doug Dinsdale", named after the two Piranha Brothers from Monty Python's Flying Circus. Nob Ogasawara was the main translator for Explorers of Time and Darkness as well as all mainline Pokémon games up to Platinum.

Unused Skills#

Multitype#

Arceus's ability, Multitype, exists dummied out within the game's data. While it has the usual placeholder text of "$$$" as its name and a blank description in the English versions, in the Japanese versions the original name of
"マルチタイプ" was retained, and it includes a proper description:

じょうきょうに
よって タイプが へんかする

Interestingly, the ability's description in the Japan-only Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games released on WiiWare, which did include Arceus, appears to have been copied from its unused description in Explorers of Time and Darkness.

Unused IQ Skills#

To do: In Sky, Parry Expert has a similar effect to the Pass Scarf, while the other skills (including PP Checker) do nothing. Is Time and Darkness any different?

The following IQ skills have no surviving descriptions in either English or Japanese. PP Checker was previously used in Rescue Team, where it would prevent an AI-controlled Pokémon from using any move with no PP left, or any linked move with 1 PP left; its logic is now carried out by Exclusive Move-User. All other IQ skills were created (and scrapped) during the development of Explorers.

Unused Tactics#

To do: In Sky, "Keep your distance" keeps its fully functional effect from Rescue Team, while the rest are unimplemented and use identical behavior to "Let's go together". Verify if Time and Darkness are the same.

All of the following tactics are unused leftovers from Rescue Team. Out of these, "Keep your distance" is the only tactic that was used in the previous game. Curiously, both "Group safety" and "Keep your distance" received updated descriptions in both English and Japanese.

いっち だんけつ

All for one

できるだけ１ひきで こうどうせず
なかまたちと かたまって こうどうする

The Pokémon will try to avoid being
alone. It will try to stay with the team.

そろえば あんしん

Group safety

できるだけ１ひきで こうどうせず
おなじしゅるいの なかまと
かたまって こうどうする

The Pokémon will try to avoid being
alone. It will try to stay with friends
of its own species.

はなれて ていさつ

Keep your distance

まったく こうげきをしないで
てきポケモンと きょりをおいて
いどうする

The Pokémon will try to keep its
distance from enemies. It still stays on
the move, if necessary, and won't attack
in any way.

Unused Items#

To do: Verify the attack power of the Gold Fang, Cacnea Spike and Corsola Twig in Time/Darkness. They are verified in Sky as using the unique 7, 10 and 15 values respectively.

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: As can be seen on Explorers of Sky's page, there is much more to this. It seems an unchecked validity flag is responsible for turning the unused items into Plain Seed clones. Finding some way to enable the items' validity flags in Time/Darkness would be very much worth it, as numerous unused items got overwritten in Sky.

There are many spots in the item list that were likely occupied by unused items at some point in development. Unfortunately, it appears that the developers cleaned out the list very thoroughly before the game's release, replacing all but three unused items with rather unremarkable placeholder Plain Seed clones. All of these clones are more-or-less the same as one another: They are referred to as a Plain Seed in the inventory, and have the placeholder text "$$$" in both their mini-description and full description. It is edible like the regular Plain Seed item, but when thrown, it deals 1 damage to its target, rather than being eaten. The only invalid item which has anything different is 0x000, which instead has the text "No Information Available." in its full description.

The only exceptions are three straight throwing items that were left in the game, which also use a unique sprite and color palette combination; the Gold Fang, Cacnea Spike and Corsola Twig. These three items were previously attainable in Blue Rescue Team through the Unknown Dungeon feature, but cannot normally be obtained in any of the Explorers games. Curiously, they have all been updated to use a higher attack power, which along with their unusually intact state suggests that the items were cut later in development.

The hexadecimal IDs for all of these items are listed below. To see them for yourself, use this AR Code (US):

94000130 FFFB0000
1229AEF4 00000???
D2000000 00000000

94000130 FFFB0000
1229AE34 00000???
D2000000 00000000

Replace "???" with the hexadecimal ID for any of the items, then press Select while in-game to overwrite the first slot of your Treasure Bag with the item.

The IDs for the useable throwing items are: 0x004, 0x005 and 0x006. The invalid items can be spawned by using the following IDs: 0x000, 0x00B through 0x00F, 0x02B, 0x044, 0x062, 0x068 through 0x06B, 0x071, 0x072, 0x074 through 0x076, 0x089, 0x08A, 0x0A6 through 0x0AC, 0x0AF through 0x0B1, 0x0B3 through 0x0B5, 0x0B8, 0x0B9, 0x0C2, 0x0C6, 0x0CD, 0x0DB, 0x0E0, 0x0E2, 0x0EC, 0x102, 0x103, 0x125 through 0x12C, 0x144, 0x153, 0x159, 0x15D, 0x161, 0x168, 0x169, 0x16B, 0x301 and 0x339.

In addition, all items beyond ID 0x3E5 are placeholder Plain Seeds, likely as a result of a failsafe.

Unused Text#

Unused Dungeon Dialogue#

There are a large number of personality groups used for in-dungeon dialogue. The guest Pokémon that temporarily join the player during the story each have their own unique personality group as well, and all include a single line (except for Cresselia, who has three lines) for leveling up. Guest Pokémon are unable to gain experience or use Joy Seeds, leaving these lines unused.

Unusually, while Cresselia switches to personality group 15 after recruitment in the Japanese versions of Time and Darkness, Cresselia instead keeps using group 26 even after recruitment in the international versions, meaning the translated lines are used. This change would be carried over to all versions of Explorers of Sky. All of the other Japanese lines apart from Chatot's would eventually be used in Sky's Special Episodes, but retranslations would be used in English rather than the lines seen here.

よし！ レベルアップだ！

There! Leveled up!

やった♪ レベルアップだ♪

Well! ♪ I've leveled up! ♪

やったぁ！ レベルアップでゲス〜！

Aw, shucks! I've gone and leveled up!

ウフフッ！ レベルアップだわ！

Giggle! You made me level up!

うん！ レベルアップしたわ！

よし！ レベルアップ！

レベルアップです！

Shiny Celebi#

Dungeons that take place in the Future World (including Deep Dusk Forest) have an obscure mechanic; any allied Pokémon that are spoken to here are programmed to only use their first two lines in each conditional category. This solves the issue of the partner potentially mentioning the hero's name in Grovyle's presence, but since Celebi only shows up as a guest here, most of her dungeon dialogue goes unused for this reason. However, it is possible to see these lines by using cheats or Wonder Mail exploits to recruit a (normally-unrecruitable) shiny Celebi.

Chunsoft appears to have been aware of the lines' lack of use, as their self-published Official Extra Guide only lists her used Japanese lines.

[kind:0]なんかに
やられないわ！

わたしは だいじょうぶよ。
しんぱいしないで。

[CS:N]ジュプトル[CR]さんが いっしょだし
ちょっと たのしいかも♪

わたしのことより じぶんたちの
しんぱいを したら？

ゆだんすると あぶないわ。
きをつけて。

このさきに ときのかいろうが
あるわ。

No [kind:0] that we meet
will have its way with me!

I'm all right! Nothing to worry
about!

Oooh! With that manly [CS:N]Grovyle[CR]
here, I may even enjoy this a little!

Oh, don't fuss over me! Why not
worry about your own well-being?

Don't take anything for granted.
This is dangerous. Be careful!

The Passage of Time is ahead!

すこし ダメージが あるけど
しんぱいしないで。

わたし まだ へいきよ。
すこし たいりょくが へってるだけよ。

このていどの ダメージで
よわねなんか いえないわ。

I've taken a little damage.
Nothing to worry about.

I can keep going. My health is
only slightly worn down!

No whining from me! Not for
this little bit of damage!

ねえ たすけて……。
かなり ダメージが……。

うう…くるしいわ……。
はやく かいふくして……。

うう……これいじょう
もちこたえられるかな……わたし……。

Please, help... Damage runs deep.

Oof! I'm ruined! Heal me, please!

How much more...can I take...?

Unused Job Strings#

This needs some investigation. Discuss ideas and findings on the talk page. Specifically: There may be more out there.

There are a handful of unique job titles and summaries for treasure-hunting jobs referring to rare items, four of which are never generated by the games. It is possible to generate a Wonder Mail password for a job that will use these strings by using a third-party tool and setting the Mission Type to 04, the Mission Flag to 01, and the Target Item to one of the items listed below.

The strings were very likely intended for use by official Wonder Mail, but none were ever distributed for the Golden Mask, Golden Seed and Amber Tear. However, a (region-free) password was distributed in March 2008 for the Wonder Gummi, which uses similar job title and summary strings that can only be seen this way.

None of the unique job strings for the four items can be seen in Explorers of Sky; while the strings are still present in the ROM, any generated treasure-hunting jobs that refer to these items (including the Wonder Gummi) will use generic lines instead.

でんせつの [CS:I]おうごんかめん[CR]を さがそう！

うしなわれた こだいぶんめいに つたわる
でんせつの かめんです！ ぜひごいっしょに！

Let's find the legendary [CS:I]Golden Mask[CR]!

It's a legendary mask, rumored to be from a
long-lost civilization. Please join me!

[CS:I]おうごんのタネ[CR]を さがそうぜ！

[CS:I]おうごんのタネ[CR]という なんだか ものすごい
タネが あるらしいんだ！ だれかいっしょに！

Let's search for the [CS:I]Golden Seed[CR]!

They say the [CS:I]Golden Seed[CR] is an incredible
seed... Someone join me! We have to find it!

[CS:I]こはくのなみだ[CR]を みつけよう！

ひほうちゅうの ひほうと いわれる
いにしえの たからものです！ ぜひ！

The [CS:I]Amber Tear[CR] must be found!

It's an ancient treasure that's said to be
the most precious of precious things! Join me!

Unused Control Characters#

The Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games have control characters which can add graphics to a textbox or alter the text. While many of them are used generously throughout the game, there are a few that remain unseen.

Unused Color Set Characters#

The special characters [CS:A] through [CS:Z] are internally used in the game's messages to change the color of text. The character accepts any capital letter as a valid color, but a few of these letters are never actually used in the game.

The control character itself is just plain text, so one can view these colors by adding the specified control character to any text in the game using a hex editor (just make sure to add [CR] to the end of the string, this resets the color and things can break if it's missing). You can also use the following AR code to see them, but don't save your game with this on, or it will be permanent (US):

022A333B 5D??3A53
022A3337 435B0000
022A333F 46524354

022A327B 5D??3A53
022A3277 435B0000
022A327F 46524354

Replace "??" with the hexadecimal for any of the listed letters below. This changes your Hero's name to "TCRF", displayed with whichever color you picked. It's worth mentioning that the "Message Color" option in the ADEBUG room has a list of some of the font colors and their usage, which includes some of these unused characters, hinting at what they may have originally been intended for.

Developer Emblems#

Also present in the files are these two graphics:

The first one is called by the control character [M:D0]. This kanji symbol means "Placeholder", and quite fittingly, it is placed at the beginning of a few placeholder lines of text in the files. The three places where it is used are: the "Event Transmission 1" and "Event Transmission 2" lines, which are placeholder titles for Wonder Mail obtained through events, and the "Did you need something?" string, which seems to appear whenever the game tries to call a message that doesn't exist.

The second one is called by [M:D1]. This kanji means "Unimplemented", and is prefixed to many lines that relate to scrapped features. There are way too many instances of this one to list them all, but some examples are: many of the unused dungeons, many placeholder talking messages for party members, and some error messages. There are also several parts of the move/item/etc. name lists that seem to have been overwritten with several copies of this icon.

While both of these control characters and their graphics still exist in the English versions, the graphics themselves can only load into textboxes in the Japanese versions. In the English releases, if one of these control characters is present, it will simply be ignored.

Leader Switching#

In-dungeon leader switching is a feature present in most post-game dungeons in Rescue Team. It is still present in Explorers, but goes unused since the relevant dungeon flag is disabled on all of the games' dungeons. Strings for leader switching are still present and are used if the current dungeon's leader switching flag is enabled through ROM or RAM editing.

The second and third strings are used while attempting to switch while holding unpaid merchandise in Kecleon Shops and while thieving from one respectively. The latter string has been reworded since Rescue Team.

リーダーこうたいできなかった！

The leader couldn't be switched!

まだ しはらいが すんでいないようだ！

You haven't paid for the merchandise yet!

どろぼうちゅうは こうたいできない！

You can't switch leaders while thieving!

[string:0]が リーダーに なった！

[string:0] became the leader!

Exploration Results#

All of the unused results messages from Rescue Team are still present and equally unused in these games, but there's also a single new one:

ゆうばくにまきこまれて たおれた

was caught in an explosion and fainted.

This is internally assigned to damage from the ability Aftermath, but said damage always leaves the target with at least 1 HP remaining in the final game, so the message can never be seen.

Save Data Formatting#

In addition to the "Deleting the saved game data" message, there are also some other messages which cannot normally be seen:

Deleting all saved game data.
Please don't turn off the power.

This message is displayed after selecting "Break data" from the Debug Menu.

Clearing all saved game data.
Please don't turn off the power.

This message is displayed after selecting "Initial product data" from the Debug Menu.

The saved game data has been destroyed.

Seen after selecting "Break data" from the Debug Menu and waiting for it to finish.

The saved game data has been cleared.

Seen after selecting "Initial product data" from the Debug Menu and waiting for it to finish.

Oddities#

Swapped Music Tracks#

While they appear to be simply numbered when browsing the game's filesystem, the BGM tracks within the game also include more descriptive and apparently truncated 15-character name strings. A handful of these internal names are mismatched with their used locations, heavily suggesting some significant reshuffling of the game's music took place later in development.

The official titles for these tracks are sourced from the Sky Jukebox in Explorers of Sky; none of the tracks had official titles prior to Sky's release.

Anti-Piracy#

Watch on YouTube The Korean versions of Explorers of Time and Darkness utilize the DS Protect anti-piracy library to ensure that it is not being run off a flashcart or emulator. If any of the DS Protect checks fail, the game performs the following behavior to render itself nigh-unplayable:

• When starting a new save file, the game will randomly crash at several points throughout the beginning of the game. The currently known points where it may crash are: Selecting a partner, entering Beach Cave for the first time, initiating the boss battle in Beach Cave, and entering Wigglytuff's Guild for the first time.
• If the game is instead loaded using a working save file, it will randomly crash at the following known points: Entering Wigglytuff's Guild B2F from the hallway leading to the crew rooms, entering Treasure Town from Sharpedo Bluff, accessing the Chimecho Assembly, opening the dungeon list, and attempting to enter any dungeon.
• When in a dungeon, the background graphics may randomly decide to scramble upon entering a floor. This only lasts for one floor, and does not seem to have any other side effects.

The Korean versions of the games use the earliest recorded version of the DS Protect library, sometimes dubbed version 1.00 or 1.02, making them among the first games to use this library.

References#