Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness tell the same story, with the same dungeons and the same characters. Only a few Pokémon are exclusive to each version, and the rarity of some items varies. Here is the list of differences and how to work around them.
The exclusive Pokémon
| Explorers of Time | Explorers of Darkness |
|---|---|
| Celebi | Mewtwo |
| Combee | Burmy |
| Butterfree | Beedrill |
| Pachirisu | Buneary |
| Riolu | Lopunny |
| Lucario | Rotom |
#0251CelebiGrassPsychicTime
#0150MewtwoPsychicDarkness
#0448LucarioSteelFightingTime
#0479RotomElectricGhostDarkness
Getting the other version’s Pokémon
The exclusives can be worked around with Wonder Mail. A mission received from a friend whose client is a Pokémon missing from your version makes it appear: the Pokémon you encounter are those of the original cartridge. For Butterfree and Beedrill, you can also simply evolve Metapod or Kakuna, which are present in both versions. See Connection and passwords.
What is identical
- The story, its twenty chapters and its postgame.
- The starter Pokémon and the personality test. See Starter Pokémon.
- Wigglytuff’s Guild, Treasure Town and their shops.
- The legendaries, except for Celebi and Mewtwo. See Legendaries.
And Explorers of Sky?
The third version, released in 2009, adds Vulpix, Eevee, Phanpy, Shinx and Riolu as starter Pokémon, five Special Episodes and new dungeons. The details are on our What’s new in Explorers of Sky page.
