History YMMV / PokemonMysteryDungeonExplorers

* LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt: For as dark as this game could get, did anyone really expect a ''Pokemon'' game would actually [[spoiler: kill off the main character for good]]?

* CatharsisFactor: After you and your partner have been bullied and messed with by Team Skull, it's quite satisfying to see them on the ground and knocked out after getting [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomped]] by Guildmaster Wigglytuff after the expedition.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: The role of Giratina. You would think that [[spoiler: Giratina would be the game's TrueFinalBoss, what with being a Pokémon on par with Dialga and Palkia, as well as having a pre-established relationship with Dialga, Palkia, and Arceus.]] Obviously, if the game were to have a greater villain, Giratina would be the one, right? Nope, [[spoiler: Giratina is a mere treasure-guarder, while Darkrai, a lesser legendary with the same stat total as pseudo-legendaries, no relation to Dialga / Palkia / Arceus beyond the one movie and no plausible way to overpower the likes of Dialga, is the TrueFinalBoss. To be fair, Darkrai being unrelentingly evil was VERY well-received.]] In fact, when you recruit Giratina and talk to him in Spinda's Cafe, he's a [[DarkIsNotEvil perfectly friendly guy and more than willing to help out in your adventures.]] Not exactly Ultimate Evil material...

* TheScrappy: You'll be hard-pressed to find someone who actually likes Team Skull, especially Skuntank. Being an unrepentant bunch of [[HateSink Hate Sinks]] who go out of their way to cause the Hero and Partner much grief [[ForTheEvulz just 'cause]] is one thing, but their status as TheUnfought and their overall irrelevance to the plot[[note]]The '''only''' time where they actually move the plot along is when they lure the Hero and Partner into a trap at Amp Plains, which leads to Dusknoir saving them and giving some exposition. Other than that? The Perfect Apple incident amounts to nothing because the Hero and Partner are chosen for the expedition ''anyway'', their attacking Wigglytuff goes nowhere, and so does their trying to steal the Relic Fragment at Brine Cave.[[/note]] cements them as this. The introduction of a vastly more popular (and human) Team Skull in Gen 7 is like the final nail in the coffin. It's a common sentiment among fans that the change they'd want most in a potential ''Explorers'' remake is to be able to finally give Team Skull the beatdown they deserve.

* AntiClimaxBoss: Unless you're really playing with the worst possible duo to fight that boss, [[spoiler:Kabutops and the Omastar brothers]] in the Brine Cave. They're dramatically hyped-up in-story as "vicious Pokémon" that Chatot and Wigglytuff barely managed to ''survive'' encountering in the past. They also [[spoiler:take out Team Skull effortlessly]]. They all happen to be Rock/Water types, though, so if you or the partner is a Grass type, the battle is pathetically easy. Even some Fire type starters can win the battle without much difficulty, especially if they're able to exploit the Rock type of the enemies, for example, with Fighting-type moves (Focus Punch can deal massive damage to them, if not [[OneHitKill one-hit-kill]] the [[spoiler: Omastar brothers]]). And then there is Discharge with [[SeriesMascot Pikachu]] and Shinx.

* AnticlimaxBoss: Unless you're really playing with the worst possible duo to fight that boss, [[spoiler: Kabutops and the Omastar brothers]] in the Brine Cave. They're dramatically hyped-up in-story as "vicious Pokémon" that Chatot and Wigglytuff barely managed to ''survive'' encountering in the past. They also [[spoiler: take out Team Skull effortlessly]]. They all happen to be Rock/Water types, though, so if you or the partner is a Grass type, the battle is pathetically easy. Even some Fire type starters can win the battle without much difficulty, especially if they're able to exploit the Rock type of the enemies, for example, with Fighting-type moves (Focus Punch can deal massive damage to them, if not [[OneHitKill one-hit-kill]] the [[spoiler: Omastar brothers]]). And then there is Discharge with [[SeriesMascot Pikachu]] and Shinx.

** Sandshrew and Sandslash, while not posing much of an offensive threat, can be a source of immense frustration if they spawn on a floor with Sandstorm thanks to their Sand Veil ability.

** The wild Politoed are okay in the main series games, but here, they may as well be [[TheDreaded The Dreaded]]. There is [[ThatOneAttack one attack]] that they can use to almost ''guarantee'' a defeat: '''[[BrownNote Perish Song]]''', a move that, if it hits, [[YouAreAlreadyDead automatically defeats you]] in [[RuleOfThree three]] turns. Sure, the attack may have low accuracy, but if you happen to encounter a ''horde'' of these cursed frogs, and they start [[{{Whoring}} spamming this attack like no tomorrow]], it will eventually hit at least ONCE.

** Drowzee was this in the main series thanks to its Pokédex entries; the mission where you have to rescue a child from him only escalated his status as one. His line is also memetic on its own.

* TheScrappy: You'll be hard-pressed to find someone who actually likes Team Skull, especially Skuntank. Being an unrepentant bunch of [[HateSink Hate Sinks]] who go out of their way to cause the Hero and Partner much grief [[ForTheEvulz just 'cause]] is one thing, but their status as TheUnfought and their overall irrelevance to the plot[[note]]The '''only''' time where they actually move the plot along is when they lure the Hero and Partner into a trap at Amp Plains, which leads to Dusknoir saving them and giving some exposition. Other than that? The Perfect Apple incident amounts to nothing because the Hero and Partner are chosen for the expedition ''anyway'', their attacking Wigglytuff goes nowhere, and so does their trying to steal the Relic Fragment at Brine Cave.[[/note]] cements them as this. The introduction of a vastly more popular (and human) Team Skull in Gen 7 is like the final nail in the coffin.

** Both Glameow and Purugly can annoy you with status moves like Swagger, Charm, and Hypnosis. They can also take a more direct approach and eviscerate you with Fury Swipes.
** Bronzor and Bronzong can't be hit super-effectively, so it can easily survive whatever you throw at it and put you out of commission with Hypnosis, Confuse Ray, or Imprison.

** Both genders of Nidoran in Mystifying Forest can rough you up, simply due to the surprise factor. The dungeon spawns plenty of low-level unevolved Pokémon, so you'll likely have your guard down... right before Nidoran tanks your strongest hit and wipes out more than half your HP bar with Poison Jab.
** Speaking of the Nidoran family, Nidoqueen in Concealed Ruins and World Abyss pack the brutal Earth Power, which can strike your whole team for massive damage and lower their special defence, leaving them more vulnerable to the second Earth Power. It should say a lot that one or two Nidoqueen is more threatening than the [[spoiler: ''Giratina'']] at the end of World Abyss.

** Ominous Wind is widely hated when encountered on enemy Drifloon and Drifblim, and for good reason: it can strike your entire team, it executes twice thanks to the Unburden ability, and it has a good chance to increase the user's speed, allowing it to attack with Ominous Wind yet again. Of course, it is just as devastating when you're the one using it.

** Palkia in the postgame can be troublesome if he feels like spamming Spacial Rend, which, like Roar of Time, hits the whole map, deals obnoxiously high damage, and, being a Dragon-type move, is resisted only by Steel-types, which neither you nor your partner can be at that point. Unlike Dialga's Roar of Time, however, he doesn't have to spend a turn recharging. In addition to this, he has the usual massive pool of HP, can stop your attacks with Intimidator, and has a single type weakness that no starter Pokémon can readily exploit. Fortunately, Hunger Seeds aren't an uncommon find in Spacial Rift, so you can cheese him out with Hungry Pal if all else fails.

* ThatOneComponent: On its own, Aegis Cave isn't a difficult dungeon. The real problem comes from the fact that you need to collect Unown Stones (dropped by the Unown in the dungeon) corresponding to the Regi Trio's typings to proceed. Firstly, all 28 Unown spawn, even the ones whose stone has no relevance to the puzzle. Secondly, even if one comes across the right Unown, it isn't guaranteed to drop its corresponding stone anyway, leading to a repetitive slog of the dungeon.

** Temporal Tower (and, by extension, Temporal Spire) may perhaps hold one of the most punishing [[DifficultySpike difficulty spikes]] in recent years, thanks to a myriad of reasons. The final stage of the main story is long as hell and filled to the brim with deadly traps and enemies (most infamously, Porygon's evolutionary line, which will constantly spam Agility and Discharge). Not to mention it only allows you and your partner in, meaning if either one of the two are any sort of weak to the many traps and strong Pokémonin the dungeon, then [[ForcedLevelGrinding grinding]] for experience or items will be required until a winning combination has been made.

** Quicksand Cave can be brutal for the first time through. Just like Northern Desert, there are two food sources in the dungeon, one of them being [[PoisonMushroom Grimy Food]]. Sandstorms regularly appear on certain floors, which allows Sandslash to avoid most of your moves because of Sand Veil. The other half of the dungeon, Quicksand Pit, is even worse, as past a certain points, Hippopotas start to show up, which means guaranteed sandstorms on each floor. And then at the end, you have to fight Mesprit, who despite being only level 18, hits surprisingly hard with her Psychic-type moves, which can also end up hitting even harder if you or your partner are Riolu or Bulbasaur. Bringing lots of food and Reviver Seeds is key to getting through this dungeon without tearing your hair out.

* CharacterPerceptionEvolution: Though Dugtrio's longing for the sea was initially seen as him wanting to set out to a place unreachable to him, VideoGame/PokemonScarletAndViolet introducing the Water-type Wugtrio brings to mind the idea of him wanting to be like his convergent counterpart.

* HarsherInHindsight: [[spoiler: Darkrai revealing how the player and Grovyle were separated. Darkrai attacked them returning to the past, and the player was separated after [[TakingTheBullet they shielded Grovyle from the attack]]. The scene made harsher is Grovyle's HeroicSacrifice against Dusknoir, where he similarly shields the player and then is forced to separate himself permanently from his partner. Hammering the point home is both characters using the same boss theme]].

* FridgeHorror: When you first meet her, Celebi makes an off-hand comment about how [[spoiler: Grovyle]] needs to hurry up because she's tired of being stuck in such a [[CrapsackWorld dreary world.]] [[spoiler: Once you learn that Grovyle will be effectively erasing their existence, her words take on a borderline suicidal undertone]].

* TrueArtIsAngsty: As noted several times throughout this page, the game's sad and heartfelt story is widely considered the best thing about it.

* TierInducedScrappy: Cresselia. She comes along with you to Dark Crater, but her stats aren't particularly up to scratch compared to the enemies you'll encounter (aside from her special defense stat). This means you'll generally be spending a lot of time shielding her from harm, making the first trek through Dark Crater feel more like an EscortMission. To make things worse, she also takes part in the final battle against [[spoiler: Darkrai, who she has a type disadvantage against]].

* CriticalDissonance: Critics gave it a tepid-at-best reception, criticizing the repetitive gameplay and the presentation in the visuals and sound for using the assets from the GBA prequel. Fans on the other hand have given it CultClassic status for its powerful and moving story, and it is widely considered to be among the best ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' spin offs.

** Primal Dialga is widely remembered among the fanbase, particularly after the release of ''Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire'', which introduced Primal Groudon and Kyogre (Primal in both versions, as oppose to English only), as this opened up the thought of the cover legends of the next set of remakes in line -- the Sinnoh games -- having the Primal forms from this game. [[note]] Primal Palkia doesn't exist, and Primal Dialga is known as Dark Dialga in Japanese, but the fanart alone speaks volumes.[[/note]]

** Porygon2 and Porygon-Z are infamous for spamming Discharge and Agility, which can potentially end your run right then and there, if you encounter them in a monster house.

** Porygon-2 and Porygon-Z are infamous for spamming Discharge and Agility, which can potentially end your run right then and there, if you encounter them in a monster house.

* SignatureScene:
** [[spoiler: The player character's death]] in the ending.
** The reveal of the [[spoiler: BadFuture and Dusknoir's betrayal]] is a shocking plot twist, and a punch in the gut for those who wanted to believe that [[spoiler: a pure Ghost-type could have been one of the good guys]].
** [[spoiler: Grovyle's HeroicSacrifice]], cementing him as one of the most memorable characters in the franchise's entire history.

** [[spoiler:Dusknoir is Primal Dialga's right-hand man who pursues the player and Grovyle into the past. [[VillainWithGoodPublicity He poses as a friendly explorer]] while using his knowledge of the future in order to pick up information. He successfully deceives Treasure Town into helping him capture Grovyle, thereby dooming the future to paralysis, and even drags the amnesic player back to the future as a precaution. Once Grovyle, the player, and their partner escape, Dusknoir allows them to find Celebi, intending to capture her once she reveals herself. He brings along Primal Dialga to accompany him and the party is barely able to escape him. Despite his ruined reputation, he lies in wait in the past, and forces Grovyle to sacrifice himself by dragging them both back to the future. Once they arrive in the future, he earns Grovyle's trust, and lures him into a trap in an attempt to [[GrandTheftMe hijack his body]]. If it wasn't for [[HeelFaceTurn the conscience he'd developed convincing him otherwise]]; Dusknoir's plan would have gone off flawlessly.]]

* TheScrappy: You'll be hard-pressed to find someone who actually likes Team Skull, especially Skuntank. Being an unrepentant bunch of [[HateSink Hate Sinks]] who go out of their way to cause the Hero and Partner much grief [[ForTheEvulz just 'cause]] is one thing, but their status as TheUnfought and their overall irrelevance to the plot[[note]]The '''only''' time where they actually move the plot along is when they lure the Hero and Partner into a trap at Amp Plains, which leads to Dusknoir saving them and giving some exposition. Other than that? The Perfect Apple incident amounts to nothing because the Hero and Partner are chosen for the expedition ''anyway'', their attacking Wigglytuff goes nowhere, as does their trying to steal the Relic Fragment at Brine Cave.[[/note]] cements them as this. The introduction of a vastly more popular (and human) Team Skull in Gen 7 is like the final nail in the coffin.

* TheScrappy: You'll be hard-pressed to find someone who actually likes Team Skull, especially Skuntank. Being an unrepentant bunch of [[HateSink Hate Sinks]] who go out of their way to cause the Hero and Partner much grief [[ForTheEvulz just 'cause]] is one thing, but their status as TheUnfought and their overall irrelevance to the plot[[note]]The '''only''' time where they actually move the plot along is when they lure the Hero and Partner into a trap at Amp Plains, which leads to Dusknoir saving them and giving some exposition. Other than that? The Perfect Apple incident amounts to nothing because the Hero and Partner are chosen for the expedition ''anyway'', their attacking Wigglytuff goes nowhere, as does their trying to steal the Relic Fragment at Brine Cave.[[/note]] cements them as this.

** Aegis Cave it isn't that difficult compared to the above. But basically you have to gather Unown Stones to spell out the types of the generation 3 Regis, which isn't easy at all. First all of the 28 Unown can spawn, even the ones that serve no utter purpose in the dungeon. When you do manage to find a useful one, they aren't even guaranteed to drop a stone. So you are mostly just going to be traversing the same floors again and again.

* BetterOffSold: Most bands provide useful passive buffs for the Pokémon who wears it. However, every Pokémon can only wear one at a time. Given that you find these bands everywhere, you're better off selling them - and they pay nicely, compared to most other items.

** FinalBoss Primal Dialga is notorious for being one of the hardest final bosses in the franchise. His typing is very strong defensively (Dragon / Steel resists just about every common attacking type and is only weak to Fighting or Ground, which are realistically only available through TM); at Level 48, he could easily be more than 10 levels higher than you; he packs a ton of HP and powerful attacks; and he has the Intimidator IQ Skill, which causes every 1 out of 3 of your close-ranged attacks to fail (unless you are Riolu). But, worst of all, he has Roar of Time, a deceptively accurate move that deals absolutely ludicrous damage, is impossible to resist (there are no Steel-type starters) and ''hits the whole map'', meaning he can dish out an instant TotalPartyKill before you can even approach him. The upside to this is that he will leave himself vulnerable for the next turn, but prepare for him to spam it nearly every turn he can. You better hope you brought a ton of consumables and Reviver Seeds, because if you lose you have to clear [[ThatOneLevel Temporal Tower]] again.

** Temporal Tower (and, by extension, Temporal Spire) may perhaps hold one of the most punishing [[DifficultySpike difficulty spikes]] in recent years, thanks to a myriad of reasons. The penultimate stage of the main story is long as hell and filled to the brim with deadly traps and enemies (most infamously, Porygon's evolutionary line, which will constantly spam Agility and Discharge). Not to mention it only allows you and your partner in, meaning if either one of the two are any sort of weak to the many traps and strong Pokémonin the dungeon, then [[ForcedLevelGrinding grinding]] for experience or items will be required until a winning combination has been made.

* EightPointEight: IGN's review of Sky, giving the game a 4.5 as a result of claiming that it was just a rehash of Time/Darkness, bashing on the graphics and presentation due to using the assets from the GBA games, as well as the sounds, and the fact that the reviewer had only played up to Apple Woods. The reviews in general are mixed, and Time/Darkness wasn't much better, only getting a 6.5 from IGN, for example.

* FridgeHorror: When you first meet her, Celebi makes an off-hand comment about how [[spoiler: Grovyle]] needs to hurry up because she's tired of being stuck in such a dreary world. [[spoiler: Once you learn that Grovyle will be effectively erasing their existence, her words take on a borderline suicidal undertone]].

* CompleteMonster: [[spoiler: [[TheChessmaster Darkrai]] serves as the true BigBad. He was responsible for the collapsing of Temporal Tower that lead to the BadFuture, tortures an innocent child with violent nightmares to lure out the PlayerCharacter and their partner, and makes several attempts to assassinate them so he can try his plans again. One of his most heinous acts involves trying to have the heroes willingly commit suicide by tricking them into thinking their existence is threatening the space-time continuum due to time travel shenanigans. A ManipulativeBastard par excellence, he has no regrets for his crimes and wishes nothing more than the complete and utter destruction of the world, just so he can rule the tattered remains.]]

* HilariousInHindsight:
** Wigglytuff proves his CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass credentials by defeating Team Skull in an off-screen battle. It becomes even more impressive as of ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'', which makes Wigglytuff a Fairy-type and thus particularly weak against the Poison-type attacks that constitute Team Skull's primary offense.
** In ''Sky'', most evolutionary families get a 3-star exclusive item that, when in the inventory, has the Pokémon healed by damaging moves of a certain type, instead of taking damage. Said type is usually one that would deal super effective damage otherwise, but there are exceptions. One of such is the Bronzor evolutionary family, who get healed by Ghost-type moves, which dealt neutral damage to them [[note]] Because of the way Abilities work in these games, they normally had no weaknesses [[/note]]. Fast-forward into Generation VI, and now Bronzor and Bronzong are indeed weak to Ghost-type moves thanks to the changes in the type chart.
** Two localization-only examples. Koffing, Zubat and Skuntank's team was named "Team Skull" in the English version, which ended up being the name of the villainous team in ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon''. Similarly, "Primal Dialga" (who was called Dark Dialga in Japan) became this after the remakes of ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'' introduced Primal Reversion.

* FridgeLogic: In a world where the sun never shines, the water doesn't flow and the seasons are non-existent, how do the native Pokémon stay alive when their food sources are frozen in time and thus can't grow anything?
** Maybe Celebi uses the Passage of Time to travel to the past and get whatever food and water they need.
** Apples, berries, and seeds randomly generate in the future dungeons just as well as they do in the past dungeons. Whether or not this is some kind of weird GameplayAndStorySegregation may be up to interpretation, though.
** The randomly generated food in dungeons would give inhabitants of the BadFuture some things to eat, but since food still isn't quite plentiful, it's very likely that starvation is an issue for many Pokémon. Notice that in the dungeons in the future, nearly 1/3 of the encountered enemy species are [[FridgeHorror Ghost-type...]]
*** Bonus points go to Spiritomb for being [[ManySpiritsInsideOfOne a fusion of 108 deceased people/Pokémon souls]].