Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky is an outstanding Pokemon game. Originally launched in 2009, it’s the definitive edition of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Darkness, serving as the typical third generational instalment usually seen in the mainline series. 12 years on, I’m still not quite sure why it hasn’t been remade – I reckon it needs a Switch port more so than Diamond & Pearl.
A few weeks ago, I wrote about how Mystery Dungeon proves that Pokemon is capable of telling compelling stories. I’m not dissing the core games, mind – it’s just that the narratives are remarkably linear by necessity. Without going from Town A to Town B to Town C, how are you supposed to slowly build a decent team and take down the Elite Four in a climactic final showdown? I mean, there are rom hacks out there that prove a more conventionally open RPG structure works remarkably well in the mainline games, but whatever. Pokemon is the most successful entertainment franchise of all time, so Nintendo clearly knows what it’s up to.
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Still, I reckon most Pokemon fans will – or at least should – agree with the fact that Mystery Dungeon’s stories are just… better. As in, loads better. When Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX came to Switch last year, boasting an all new painterly art style and refined gameplay loop that catapulted it up alongside its 2020 contemporaries, people all over the world were stunned. It wasn’t a unanimous 10/10, or anything like that – it was just a nice, warm, fascinating spin on what Pokemon can possibly be. I saw some criticism of its relatively repetitive dungeons – it’s a roguelite, tho – and understood some of the flak directed towards how arcane learning its various mechanics can be, but overall it was an excellent remake of a brilliant game. The second I rolled credits, the first thing to cross my mind was just, “Nice one – Explorers of Sky when?”
For those who don’t know very much about this series, Explorers of Sky is part of Pokemon’s fourth generation. The original games, Red and Blue Rescue Team, were tied to Gen 3 despite bearing the namesake of Gen 1. Gates to Infinity and Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon were Gens 5 and 6, respectively, while Gen 7 had no new Mystery Dungeon game (boo). Rescue Team DX technically qualifies as Gen 8 alongside Sword & Shield, although obviously it’s a remake as opposed to a new entry.
If previous generations are anything to go by, it’s likely we won’t see an enhanced version of Explorers of Sky until Gen 9 drops, which will probably be 2022, if not 2023 depending on the influence of the pandemic. While that’s still pretty far out, the success of Rescue Team DX could have an impact on the prioritization of planned and in-development games – I mean, all it really needs to do is meet the standard of last year’s remake, which worked perfectly well for the climate it was launched in, right? Sure, there are a bunch of new Pokemon to add and the story is different, but the building blocks are there.
The main reason I think Explorers of Sky deserves a remake is because of how brilliant its story is. The genesis is similar to Rescue Team DX: you wake up one day and – oh no! – you’re a Pokemon. You fart around for a bit and end up bumping into your soon-to-be partner on the beach, at which point the two of you decide to join Wigglytuff’s Guild. As the names of the original two games suggest, it’s all about time and darkness – there’s been a rift in how time works and you can see the past and future via a weird phenomenon known as Dimensional Scream. Quite an intense term for a kids’ game, isn’t it? Cool, though.
I’m not going to post some laboriously lengthy summary of Explorers of Sky’s plot here, but I will say this: it makes Legendary Pokemon matter in a way that few other games do, and it’s a masterclass in establishing a bona fide PokeVillain. I love Treecko and reckon Sceptile is alright, but Grovyle, the middle evolution… that lad’s always been a bit of a snake. Now he’s off nicking Time Gears and battering Lake Guardians, and for what? Well, as it turns out, Grovyle is brilliant, actually, and who cares about Treecko and Sceptile? I didn’t give a Ralts about Grovyle when I originally did a Grass run of Gen 3, but now it’s my favourite middle evolution of the bunch – aside from Wartortle, it might actually be my favourite middle evolution in the series.
There’s so much more to the story than that, but I’d need to write another 5,000 words to do it justice. If you’ve got a DS or a Wii U handy, I’d urge you to check it out so that you can experience it for yourself instead. If not, here’s hoping that Switch port comes soon – Explorers of Sky is one of the best and boldest Pokemon games ever made.
