Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Explorer's Guide

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon - Explorer's Guide is a 79-page guide book for the video games Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness. The book primarily covers early-game details on the story and mechanics, but also includes developer interviews and a tie-in manga by Ken Sugimori. The book has two versions corresponding to the two versions of the games, and each version has slightly different content.
Each book was originally available as a pre-order bonus with the matching version of the game. Each guide was also available in bundles with their matching game at Wal-Mart stores.
__TOC__
==Contents==
Both versions:
* Prologue
* Welcome to the world of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon
* Brimming with great new features
* The differences between "Time" and "Darkness"
* A look at some Pokémon in the story
** Hero & Partner
** The Guild's members
** Exploration 
** The Thief ()
** Postal Pokémon ()
** Pokémon you meet while training (Spoink, Marill, Azurill, Magnezone, Torkoal)
* A total tell-all about guild life!
* A full investigation into an exploration team's work
* Learn the characteristics of Pokémon
* Help friends by communicating
* Exclusive content collection:
** Original manga for Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness featuring Team Poképals by Ken Sugimori of Game Freak
** 10 questions with executive producer Tsunekazu Ishihara
** Additional information (the games' release date, as well as ads for Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team, , and )
** Sticker sheet
Time only:
* Dungeon walk-through for Drenched Bluff
* 10 questions with scenario writer & game designer Shinichiro Tomie
Darkness only:
* Dungeon walk-through for Beach Cave
* 10 questions with director Seiichiro Nagahata
==Version differences==
* The Time version generally has a blue color scheme, while the Darkness version uses a red color scheme. This applies to the cover, the borders of pages and infographics, and even the colors of Team Poképals' scarves and the treasure chest in the included manga.
* The Time version uses an image of a and a discovering a treasure chest for the "prologue" page, and an image of a and a triggering the gem trap in Waterfall Cave at the start of the "exclusive content collection". In the Darkness version, these images' positions are swapped.
* Most screenshots will use a player-partner pair that matches the book/game's cover: the Time version will use a player and partner, while the Darkness version uses a player and partner.
** The Time version fully commits to this idea, but several screenshots in the Darkness version still use the Time version's team, notably: the screenshots for Chansey Day Care and Marowak Dojo (page 11), and most of the screenshots in the diagram of Wigglytuff's Guild (pages 38-39).
* In the section discussing version differences, each version of the book highlights exclusives in the corresponding game version:
** The Time version mentions , , , Vile Seeds, and Foe-Hold Orbs.
** The Darkness version mentions , , , Violent Seeds, and Foe-Seal Orbs.
==Staff==
Planning & Production
Editorial
* Studio M, LLC
Design
* Cue Factory, LLC
Special Thanks
* Ken Sugimori (Game Freak, Inc.)
English Localization
* Kim Moore
* Seth McMahill
* Steven Grimm
* Kristin Kirby
* Cory Conner
* Pokémon USA
* Nob Ogasawara (uncredited) 
Publisher
* Nintendo of America Inc.
==Trivia==
* In Tsunekazu Ishihara's interview, he mentions that players can register their cell phone number to receive messages about rescue missions (page 76). However, such a service was not available for North American players.
===Errors===
* 's page (page 15) incorrectly lists and as moves it can learn. This list appears to be a copy of 's moves from a later page (page 18).
* On 's page (page 20), there is a screenshot of a player and Cyndaquil partner, both -types. This team composition is not possible in the final game, as the player and partner cannot have the same type. The guide even mentions this restriction on an earlier page (page 14).
* The book states that the games' release date would be April 21, 2008, but the official Pokémon website states the release date as one day earlier (page 78).
* The description for has a typo, referring to as "the Pokémon that rule space", rather than "the Pokémon that rules space" (page 79).
==References==
Pokémon.com (US)
Interview with Nob Ogasawara by ANMTV. Posted on YouTube on September 28, 2022.
Category:Strategy guides