Take a trip back to the Mystery Dungeons of the Pokémon universe as Chunsoft and Nintendo prepare the third installment of this exciting series for a Nintendo DS launch later in the year…

So you enjoyed the dungeon exploring in Blue and Red Rescue Team, Explorers and Time and Explorers of Darkness? Well good news then! It’s nearly time to become Explorers of Sky.

Waking up a bit confused, players once again find that they have been transformed into a Pokémon (we’ve all had that dream, right?) and before long another Pokémon trots along to help you in your predicament. Rather than try to turn back into a human again, both Pokémon decide to partner up and form a rescue team. Well you would, wouldn’t you?

Setting out on an adventure of exploration and discovery there’s some fun Pokémon action to be had in Explorers of Sky, building up to a mission where you must save the world from destruction.  Pokémon and team up with a partner Pokémon. Together the two set out on an adventure of exploration and discovery, ultimately saving the world from destruction. With additional Pokémon to become, new “Special Episodes” and enhanced communication features, this is a grand adventure with a moving story and stunning finale. This game is a great starting point for players to enter the world of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon and for returning players to discover even more secrets.

If you have played and enjoyed the previous games in the series, the exciting thing about this installment is the new chapters of the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon storyline you get to play through, and the interesting Special Episodes.

You will become one of 19 Pokémon in this game, which one is again determined by a series of questions that will determine your personality, and then match you up with a similar Pokémon to yourself. These include five additional starter Pokémon – Phanpy, Vulpix, Riolu, Shinx and Eevee. Then you will be able to interact with the full National Pokédex list of 493 Pokémon as you roam through the dungeons. All the starter Pokémon from the previous Mystery Dungeon games including Team Rocket regular Meowth and Munchlax now pop up as a starter too!

As well as the hoardes of Pokémon you will encounter as you explore, there are lots of new items to uncover and use in the right places. You then have the ability to trade these items with your mates through the local DS wireless connection. You can even trade with players who have the Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness games! Nintendo isn’t telling us what happens if you do, just that it can be done – how exciting!

Nintendo just loves to add in wireless extras to their games to show off the DS’s capabilities, and one cool addition to the Explorers of Sky game is the abiilty to download a single demo dungeon to a friend’s Nintendo DS or DSi. This will make you really popular at school!

It doesn’t end there either – new Special Missions can be downloaded via Wi-Fi, or you can go back to rescue fallen friends in their games – this part in ingenius and shows what really makes the Nintendo DS a special console.

How you ever been exploring dungeons in one of these games and thought, “Wow, I really like this music that’s playing the background!” No? Oh well, you won’t enjoy the new Sky Jukebox that has been included in this game then. This piece of kit will allow you to play any of the music you have encountered at the click of a button. That’s the Sky Jukebox at the bottom of this page – cool eh?

The one place that you will be spending a lot of time in Explorers of the Sky is this new Spinda’s Café location. It is full of interesting things to play around with. There’s Spinda’s Drink Stand for one, this is a place where you can make your own food to beef up your team before you set out exploring, and it’s also the place that gives you access to the Unexplored Land.

It’s in the Explore Recycle and Big Treasure area where you will do your item trading. Anything you’ve picked up that you don’t want yourself can be recycled here, and the more you recycle, the better the items you will be offered in return will be. There’s also a clever lottery system that will grant you free items if you hold the winning ticket!

Popping up randomly in dungeons you will find a place called the Secret Bazaar. This is another new location as is run by a Kirlia. There are various stalls inside the bazaar that you may find useful on your mission. Visit Mime Jr.’s stall to get some food, build up energy and restore your health, give Swalot’s place a try to get some Luck Pockets that often have useful items inside, Lickilicky’s stall will clean anything you’ve got in your inventory and Shedinja’s stall is the place to head for if you want a quick exit from this particular dungeon.

We’ve also seen a location called Destiny’s Tower where you will find a statue of Arceus. The storyline here involves an item called the Time-Space Orb, but what you do with the orb and whether you meet a real-life Arceus is left to be discovered when we get our hands on the game in a few months time.