Mystery Dungeon


 * ''Dungeon redirects here. For the Unknown Dungeon in Kanto, see Cerulean Cave. For the Unknown Dungeon in Kalos, see Unknown Dungeon (Kalos).

Mystery Dungeons (Japanese: のダンジョン Mystery Dungeon), commonly abbreviated to dungeons, are areas in the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series.

Dungeons are where rescues, jobs and other explorations take place, along with where Pokémon can be battled and recruited. Dungeons can be found all throughout the Mystery Dungeon world.

Dungeons are labyrinth-like structures with 3 to 99 floors that the player must traverse to complete missions and are home to many hostile Pokémon. They change layout every time they are entered, making it impossible to predict how to get through beforehand. Dungeons may also have floors with set conditions such as weather effects or reduced sight.

The term "Mystery Dungeon" is only treated as a proper noun in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity; it is capitalized normally in all other Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games.

Floors
Floors consist of multiple rooms that are interconnected by hallways. Using a turns the whole floor into a single room.

Each time a player visits a dungeon, its floor layout and the items inside it are randomized. Dungeons consist of multiple floors and waypoints, which can be traversed between by using stairs. Tiny Woods has the fewest floors, with only a total of 3 (discounting the Explorer Maze of the Marowak Dojo which has one). The dungeons with the most floors have 99; they are Joyous Tower, Buried Relic, Purity Forest, Wish Cave, Silver Trench, Western Cave, Zero Isle South, Zero Isle Center, and Destiny Tower.

To advance in the dungeon, players must find the stairs which take them to the next floor. In the earlier games, enemy Pokémon's levels increase as the player progresses through the dungeon's floors.

Boss floor
Some dungeons feature floors that only contain a boss or bosses which the player must defeat. These bosses are commonly Legendary Pokémon. Boss floors usually appear at the end of dungeons; however, in dungeons such as Buried Relic they appear between full floors, but still take a floor number. Some bosses can only be battled the first time the player explores the dungeon, as part of the storyline; other bosses appear until they are recruited (or every time if they cannot be recruited). Some bosses cannot be recruited the first time the player explores the dungeon. These bosses will have higher-than-usual HP.

One these floors, the player cannot be rescued if they faint. Prior to Gates to Infinity, Wonder Orbs cannot be used on these floors.

Treasure Floor
Treasure Floors are similar to boss chambers in that they usually only appear at the end of dungeons, but instead of containing a boss they simply contain one or several items. In the earlier games, there is a warp zone that allows the player to leave the dungeon (or proceed to the next floor if it is not the last floor).

Golden Chambers
In Explorers of Time, Darkness and Sky, a Golden Chamber can replace a specific floor in a dungeon when a taking a job to find a Golden Chamber. Golden Chambers all look exactly the same, and contain two Deluxe Boxes in the center which can only be accessed by crossing or removing the water, or moving through or destroying walls. These Deluxe Boxes will contain one of several rare items.

Treasure Memo floor
A Treasure Memo floor replaces a specific floor in a dungeon when a taking Treasure Memo job, which can only be found in bottles found on the. Treasure Memo floors contain one Deluxe Box which will contain one of several rare items. There are 30 different possible layouts for Treasure Memo floors. To reach the Deluxe Box, the player must either cross or remove water, move through or destroy walls, use a Key, or any combination of the above depending on which layout the floor uses.

Outlaw Team floor
In Explorers of Time, Darkness and Sky, an Outlaw Team floor replaces a specific floor in a dungeon when taking a job to arrest an outlaw team. There are 5 different possible layouts for Outlaw Team floors. Like boss floors, Wonder Orbs cannot be used and the player cannot be rescued if they faint.

Challenge Floor
In Explorers of Time, Darkness and Sky, a Challenge Floor replaces a specific floor in a dungeon when accepting a Challenge Letter. There are 5 different layouts for standard Challenge Floors, but legendary challengers each have their own unique layout. Like boss floors, Wonder Orbs cannot be used and the player cannot be rescued if they faint.

Secret Bazaar
In, the Secret Bazaar is a special floor that can only be accessed via Secret Stairs. It can appear in any dungeon in which the Secret Stairs do not lead to a Secret Room. It contains several different kinds of services.

Secret Room
In Explorers of Sky, a Secret Room is a special floor that can only be accessed via Secret Stairs. It only appears in Mystifying Forest, Mt. Travail, Marine Resort, Lake Afar, Happy Outlook, Mt. Mistral, Shimmer Hill, Lost Wilderness, Midnight Forest, and Zero Isle East.

Rooms
Rooms are rectangular-shaped areas that players may traverse through. They may contain Pokémon, items, Poké, stairs, Kecleon Shops, or all of the above. Other tiles may also be present within a room. Monster Houses and appear randomly in rooms of dungeons that are unlocked later in the game. When a player arrives at a floor, they always appear in a room.

When inside, the room the player is in will be completely illuminated. All actions in the room can be seen from any point. The hallways leading out of the room can also be seen, and the first tile of each hallway leading from the room is illuminated by the room. When a room is entered, everything in it is recorded on the floor map.

Special floors like boss floors will only contain one room which makes up the whole floor, and is not the size of a regular floor.

Treasure Chambers
Some dungeons may also contain locked doors that can only be opened with a Key. These locked chambers usually contain HMs or evolution items.

In Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon, keys are not required to open locked doors, which are instead opened by the client of the mission. Unlike previous games, the locked door allows access to a flight of stairs that leads to a newly discovered dungeon.

Hallways
Hallways are long and narrow areas that connect rooms to each other. They are recorded on the floor map only as the player traverses it.

They are typically one tile wide, which prevents Pokémon from passing one another without destroying the walls or being able to pass through walls. Since the space in hallways is very narrow, items will not spawn in hallways, but can be placed there. Traps also will not appear in hallways, and traps cannot be created here by moves like.

In dungeons like Beach Cave, where visibility is limited, an illuminated circle will appear around the player, allowing them to only see one or two tiles in each direction more clearly. When the player battles an enemy Pokémon, only teammates within visibility will also attack. If a teammate outside of visibility is battling an enemy Pokémon, only the teammate will appear on-screen until the enemy Pokémon is in the circle.

Waypoints
Waypoints are one-room, mezzanine-like floors that connect one part of a dungeon to a deeper part. Waypoints in a dungeon usually indicate that a boss will be present at the end; however, that is not always the case. Waypoints often connect dungeons to a "deeper" or "peak" of the dungeon.

In the earlier games, a waypoint usually contains a Kangaskhan Rock (only Aegis Cave's waypoint lacks one), most of which have only the saving function available, although some waypoints such as the Crystal Cave/Crystal Crossing waypoint allow item storage as well. Waypoints also have the option of returning to Treasure Town or Pokémon Square, or to the entrance of the dungeon in Special Episodes, or when the player is a fugitive, on the guild expedition, or in the future.

Since Gates to Infinity, the Kangaskhan Rock is replaced by a Deposit Box, and there is no option of backtracking.

Restrictions
Dungeons may place restrictions on an exploration team in order for them to enter it. Possible restrictions are:
 * All team members are temporarily reduced to level 1/5 (their level is restored when they leave the dungeon), and their moves temporarily become the moves they would normally have at that level (they can be changed upon leveling up, but will reset after exiting the dungeon).
 * Only a certain number of Pokémon may enter. If this restriction exists, it is usually in the form of only allowing the team leader, or team leader and one teammate to enter.
 * Only the original team leader and original team partner may enter.
 * Only a certain number of items may be brought into the dungeon. Excess items are lost (or transported to the Deposit Box) if they are brought in.
 * Items may not be brought into the dungeon (excludes held items in Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team). Any items brought into the dungeon are lost or transported to the Deposit Box if this restriction applies.
 * Poké may not be brought into the dungeon. Any Poké brought into the dungeon is lost if this restriction applies.
 * Pokémon cannot be recruited in the dungeon.

Time
Exploring a dungeon usually counts as one day in a game; however, there are a few notable exceptions (such as fleeing through Lapis Cave, Mt. Blaze, Frosty Forest and Mt. Freeze as a fugitive; climbing Sky Peak; and exploring Mt. Horn, Foggy Forest and Steam Cave on Wigglytuff's Guild's expedition).

Number of turns
When exploring a floor, a team can only stay on the same floor for only a limited amount of turns. If the team stays on the same floor for too many turns, winds will start blowing. There will be three warnings before the team is blown away by a strong gust of wind, causing them to fail and lose all of their Poké and half of their items. The number of turns a team can stay on a floor can vary, depending on the dungeon.

Fainting
Explorers or rescue teams can faint in dungeons.

In the earlier games, if the leader, original partner (before beating the game), or any client Pokémon faints and is not revived, the entire team is transported out of the dungeon. All of the team's Poké is lost, along with anywhere between half and all of the team's items (exactly which ones are randomly decided).

In Super Mystery Dungeon, the whole team (excluding the client) must be defeated before the entire team is transported out of the dungeon. If the team loses, all of the player's Poké and items are lost.

In certain games, fainted teams can be rescued through Pelipper Island.

Training mazes
Training mazes are a second, much less common type of dungeon that can only be found in the Makuhita Dojo and Marowak Dojo. While their floors, items and Pokémon are randomized every time they are visited, there are a few special things about them. They otherwise are the same as standard dungeons.


 * Traveling through training mazes does not count as an in-game day, unlike other dungeons.
 * If a player faints in a training maze, items and money that were collected inside them are kept rather than lost.

Meowth Theater
In Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon, the Meowth Theater is a shop that is located in Lively Town that enables the player to play five different special dungeons as if they were being recorded like a movie.

Pokémon
All dungeons contain enemy Pokémon, which appear randomly. Each dungeon has its own unique set of Pokémon, which is based on the area in which the dungeon is located. Most Pokémon found in dungeons fit a theme, usually a type theme. The levels of the Pokémon in the dungeon get higher as the player enters dungeons unlocked later in the game.

Enemy Pokémon can interact with the player or other enemy Pokémon in various ways:
 * Sleeping enemy Pokémon will not move or attack until a member of the player's party steps on a directly adjacent tile or attacks it.
 * Enemy Pokémon are capable of throwing items and catching thrown items.
 * Enemy and  can use wands.
 * Enemy Pokémon may defeat wild and evolve.
 * Enemy Pokémon can perform with other Pokémon in the same room.
 * Enemy can warp in and use  to heal other wild Pokémon.
 * Enemy can be disguised as an item. When the player tries to pick up the item, the Ditto will  into the player and confuse the whole team.

Dungeon flooring
All floors are mostly covered by ordinary ground. Normal or ordinary ground tiles may be covered with aesthetic effects, such as grass or rocky terrain, and may be traversed by any Pokémon. Traveling across normal tiles does not produce any side effects, even if they do appear to have extremely rocky terrain. However, this terrain does affect moves such as, , and.

Special terrain that only certain Pokémon can cross also exist. They are water, lava, pit, and wall.

and Secret Stairs sometimes appear hidden on the floor.

Demo Dungeons
There are six dungeons that are only accessible in the demo of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky sent via DS Download Play. These six dungeons are Little Plains, Mt. Clear, Challenge River, Trial Forest, Guiding Sea, and Hidden Shopkeeper Village. The demo can be downloaded from a Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky game or the. In these dungeons all Pokémon are male and some of the sounds such as when picking up items have been replaced with another sound.