Pokémon/Characters/Generation IV Families

A list of Pokémon who debuted in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl.

Introducing 107 new Pokémon, this gen is the second smallest, only second to Generation II. However, due to it introducing a whopping 29 Pokémon related to older Pokémon, it stands, at 78 Pokémon, as the smallest generation going by its own Pokémon (and, in fact, is just half the size of Generation V).

This gen is also the one that introduced the largest number of legendaries, with 5 event families, the 2 expected trios, and 3 misc legends, including one unrelated to anything else. Due to that being together with the expected Expies, a healthy number of one-note Pokémon you'll never look at twice, and a good chunk of the new Pokémon being missing from the Sinnoh dex in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, leading to massive repetition in Pokémon that you run into, this gen gives the feeling of being smaller than any other.

For other generations, go here.

Turtwig, Grotle, and Torterra (Naetle, Hayashigame, and Dodaitoise)


A small, green turtle with a sprout on its head, its evolution gains shrubbery on its (much bigger) shell, while its final evolution gains a Ground-type, as well as becoming a massive turtle with what could be described as a small forest on its shell. While this starter evolution line manages to have both a strong Defense (stats-wise anyways, Grass comes with a large number of weaknesses, and its Special Defense is a bit faulty) and offense, it is the slowest fully evolved starter at 56 base Speed. It gets Rock Polish, which helps it overcome the poor Speed...if it can live long enough with its poor defensive type and not that great defenses.


 * Dishing Out Dirt: Torterra
 * Everything's Better with Dinosaurs: As it evolves, it becomes more like an ankylosaur than a turtle/tortoise.
 * For Massive Damage: Torterra suffers 4x damage from Ice-type attacks. This is the only thing that really hurts its tanking abilities, but hoo boy, is it a big one.
 * Gentle Giant: The largest starter Pokémon, Torterra are said to let smaller Pokémon live on its back.
 * Green Thumb: The first Grass-type in the Sinnoh Dex.
 * Mighty Glacier
 * Lightning Bruiser: "Torterra used Rock Polish!"
 * No Sell: Electric type attacks don't work on Torterra
 * Signature Move: As a Grass starter, it can learn Grass Pledge and Frenzy Plant.
 * Shout-Out: To the World Turtle
 * That's No Moon: Torterra are often confused for walking forests and/or mountains.
 * Turns Red: Overgrow boosts Grass attacks when health becomes low.
 * Turtle Island: Torterra, in a much smaller form.
 * Turtle Power

Chimchar, Monferno, and Infernape (Hikozaru, Moukazaru, and Goukazaru)


A small, red monkey with a flame for a tail, Chimchar's evolutions could be summarized as getting bigger, gaining blue and white fur, growing golden adornments on its body, gaining a Fighting type, and growing a scalp that bursts into flame. As you can guess, this line eschews defense for pure Speed and offense, making it a valuable asset to any team.


 * Bare Fisted Monkey: As Fighting-types, Monferno and Infernape are quite adept at hand-to-hand combat.
 * Character Select Forcing: Need a Fire-type on your team and aren't playing Platinum? Didn't pick Chimchar? TOO BAD - hope you like Ponyta!
 * Everything's Better with Monkeys
 * Fartillery: Chimchar's "tail" is actually lit monkey gases.
 * Flaming Hair: Infernape
 * Fragile Speedster: Even faster than Primeape (among Fighting-types, its Speed is second only to Step Forme Meloetta), but still can't take hits well. Oddly, it has slightly better defenses than Blaziken. (Emphasis on "slightly".)
 * Glass Cannon: While it isn't quite as physically strong as Blaziken, it still packs enough of a punch to seriously threaten most opponents, and its speed cannot be described as "mediocre". But it still can't take hits well.
 * Incendiary Exponent: Infernape's head is on fire. What more do you need?
 * Pint-Sized Powerhouse: At a little over 3 feet tall, Infernape is the smallest fully evolved starter in its normal stance; its size when standing erect is never specified.
 * Playing with Fire: First Fire-types in the Sinnoh Dex.
 * Shout-Out: Infernape, to Journey to the West (see above).
 * Signature Move: As a Fire starter, it can learn Fire Pledge and Blast Burn.
 * Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Has the same elemental combination with the Generation III Fire starter (Fire/Fighting). Both starter families also have Glass Cannon stats.
 * Turns Red: Blaze boosts Fire attacks when health becomes low.

Piplup, Prinplup, and Empoleon (Potchama, Pottaishi, and Empert)


A small blue penguin, Piplup's evolutions give it golden ornaments on its head and claws, as well as a darker shade of blue and the addition of the Steel-type. This starter's main strengths seem to be a resistance to many types (Water/Steel gives 11 resistances and one immunity) and a strong Defense.


 * Chrome Champion
 * Everything's Better with Penguins
 * Extra Ore Dinary: Empoleon.
 * Making a Splash
 * Mighty Glacier
 * Becomes a Lightning Bruiser by using Agility. Throw in a Petaya Berry boost and it can wipe out your entire team.
 * The Napoleon: Piplup more so than its evolutions, despite the names. Its Dex entries suggest it is particularly pompous and prideful - perhaps it just mellows out as it grows up.
 * No Sell: Empoleon, against Poison-type attacks.
 * Pride: According to the Pokédex, most Trainers have a hard time fully befriending them because they're so stuck up and full of themselves.
 * Prongs of Poseidon: Take a closer look at Empoleon.
 * Signature Move: As a Water starter, it can learn Water Pledge and Hydro Cannon.
 * Stealth Pun: Empoleon has the same base height as its namesake.
 * Turns Red: Torrent boosts Water attacks when health becomes low.

Starly, Staravia, and Staraptor (Mukkuru, Mukubird, and Mukuhawk)


Sinnoh's regional bird. The Starly family is a three-staged family, much like the Pidgey family, but it proves itself to be far stronger. Gaining access to a number of powerful attacks such as Brave Bird and even more unusually, Close Combat, a fighting type move which effectively covers its weakness to Rock, Ice and Steel types, which most of his feathered brethern have problems with.


 * Bare-Fisted Monk: Staraptor notably has Close Combat in its arsenal.
 * Big Badass Bird of Prey: Just look at Staraptor!
 * Com Mons: Surprisingly, it's pretty good in a fight.
 * Expy: The Pidgey stand-in of the Sinnoh region.
 * Flight
 * Glass Cannon: And its best attacks either damage it or reduce its defenses. Defenses that are already so poor that even having Intimidate doesn't make up for their fragility. Its Dream World Ability, Reckless, increases the power of its recoil moves, which naturally increases the amount of recoil as well, furthering Staraptor's reputation as a "live hard, die young" kind of fighter.
 * To put this into perspective, its most powerful attack is Brave Bird, which does recoil damage. It can actually OHKO itself when using it against a Blissey.
 * Idiot Hair: Starly and Staravia; becomes a mohawk-pompadour upon evolution to Staraptor.
 * Magikarp Power: Combined with Crutch Character, of all things. This thing starts off useful (like most early birds), tends to become slightly inferior to the rest of the team in its 20s, but once it's fully evolved, it becomes a powerhouse. Staraptor also learns the very powerful Fighting-type move Close Combat when it evolves, which by itself puts it head and shoulders above all other Normal/Flying Pokémon.
 * No Sell: Against Ground- and Ghost-type attacks.

Bidoof and Bibarel (Bippa and Beadull)


A chubby beaver-like Pokémon. Bidoof is likely one of the first Pokémon to be encountered. Its plain, somewhat goofy look and its commoness has earned the ire of many players, which somehow launched it to a memetic status. While it isn't outwardly the coolest Pokémon, it's still an extremely useful Pokémon to have as an HM slave. An extremely appropriate role since it is based on a very industrious rodent.


 * Boring Yet Practical: Considered the de-facto HM Slave, due to its ability to learn most of the HMs. (See Joke Character and Lethal Joke Character below.)
 * Butt Monkey: Bidoof.
 * Com Mons
 * Expy: Of the Rattata line.
 * The Generic Guy: Bidoof.
 * Joke Character: Not to quite the same extent as Farfetch'd or Luvdisc, but Bibarel's all-around mediocre stats mean that most competitive players don't even look at it once.
 * Lethal Joke Character: Thanks to their abilities, Unaware and Simple. Unaware lets them ignore an opponent's stat buffs, while Simple doubles the effect of stat buffs on them. Its Dream World ability, Moody, makes it even more so, with proper strategy and a little luck.
 * Making a Splash: Bibarel.
 * Non-Elemental
 * No Sell: Against Ghost-type attacks.

Kricketot and Kricketune (Koroboshi and Korotock)


Bug Pokémon based on crickets, Kricketot use their antennas as xylophones and knock them together to produce music. Once it evolves, it becomes more slender and gains markings that make it resemble a violin. Its arms also become blade-like, which it can use either as bows to produce melodies, or swords to slash opponents with.


 * Big Creepy-Crawlies
 * Crutch Character: But worse at that than the different caterpillars.
 * Instrument of Murder: Kricketune is essentially a walking violin with a Badass Mustache.
 * Magikarp Power: Kricketot starts out knowing only two moves (it gets to learn Bug Bite if you're playing the later IV games), and weak stats. When it evolves into Kricketune, however, it does learn a few decent moves...
 * Joke Character: ...but it still can't hold its own in a real fight.
 * Boring but Practical: ...though having access to both False Swipe and Sing makes it very useful for catching Pokémon...
 * Overshadowed by Awesome: ...which Parasect, Breloom, and Smeargle do better anyway thanks to Spore.
 * Musical Assassin: Kricketune.

Shinx (Kolink), Luxio, and Luxray (Roentora)


Shinx is an electric lion cub that that can be found very early on in the Diamond and Pearl games. As it grows up, its fur grows into a mane that's thicker on the males. It is able to discharge electricity through its claws, fangs and fur. While a bit slow for an electric type, its attack and special attack are not too bad.


 * Combat Pragmatist: Can learn a few Dark-type moves naturally.
 * Mon Bites Mon: Most of the Dark-type moves it learns involves biting.
 * Cute Little Fangs: Shinx
 * Cute Kitten: Shinx
 * Dark Is Not Evil: Many players think Luxray should be part Dark because its mostly black, but they are forgetting that all Dark-type Pokemon have malicious traits to them.
 * Expy/ShoutOut: If you imagine Shinx's fur being white, you can't help but think that the result looks a little familiar.
 * Fire, Ice, Lightning: Learns Thunder Fang naturally and can be bred to know Fire and Ice Fang.
 * King of Beasts
 * Light'Em Up:Shinx's fur can glow with light when it's in danger.
 * Mighty Glacier: Similar to Ampharos, Luxray is slow for an Electric-type. However, it has excellent Attack and good Special Attack with moves to abuse for both.
 * Panthera Awesome: Particularly the latter two forms.
 * Ridiculously Cute Critter: Shinx
 * Shock and Awe
 * X-Ray Vision: Luxray's Dex entry says that they can see through walls.
 * Gameplay and Story Segregation: However, it doesn't learn the move Foresight.

Cranidos and Rampardos (Zugaidos and Rampard)


Based on a Pachycephalosaurus, this dinosaur Pokémon has an extremely thick skull which it uses to smash things with. If there is a single thing that this Pokémon does well, it's definitely smashing things. Rampardos has the highest attack stat of any non-legendary Pokémon, making it 2nd if you do include legendaries. Unfortunately, it is held back by its speed and defenses, which prevent it from steamrolling everything in its path. Its fossils are readly available for the digging in the Diamond version and Platinum players whose trainer number ends in an odd number (1, 3, 5, 7, 9)


 * Dishing Out Dirt
 * Everything's Better with Dinosaurs: Finally, a fossil Pokémon that's actually based on dinosaurs!
 * Fossil Revival
 * Glass Cannon: It has the second-highest Attack in the game after Attack Forme Deoxys, but everything else is rather lacking.
 * Prehistoric Monster
 * Use Your Head
 * Yin-Yang Clash: Cranidos and Rampardos represent the unstoppable spear from the Han Feizi, with Shieldon and Bastiodon playing the unbreakable shield.

Shieldon and Bastiodon (Tatetops and Trideps)


Another hard-headed dinosaur Pokémon, much like Crandios, it is revived from a fossil, but unlike its counterpart, this Pokémon uses its head for defense. In fact, Bastiodon's crest resembles a castle wall. Its defensive stats are really high, but it comes at the expense of its attack and speed stats. However, its defensive capablities is hindered by its typings of Rock and Steel. It is based on a ceratopian dinosaur. Its fossil is readly dug up in Pearl versions and Platinum versions where the trainer number ends in an even number (0, 2, 4, 6, 8)


 * Dishing Out Dirt
 * Everything's Better with Dinosaurs
 * Extra Ore Dinary
 * For Massive Damage: 4x weakness to Fighting- and Ground-type attacks. Thankfully, it can learn Magnet Rise (just don't ask how) to counter the latter.
 * Fossil Revival
 * No Sell: Against Poison-type attacks.
 * Prehistoric Monster
 * Stone Wall: So freaking much.
 * Use Your Head
 * Shield-Bash: Has a shield for a head.
 * Yin-Yang Clash: See Cranidos.

Burmy, Wormadam, and Mothim (Minomutchi, Minomadam, and Garmale)


Burmy is an odd Pokémon with a strange way of evolving. It starts off as a simple worm that covers itself with whatever is around at the time, be it leaves, sand or even building insulation. Once it evolves, female Burmy fuse with their current covering to become Wormadam, which vary by type depending on what it was covered with: leaves form a Plant Cloak and it's part Grass, gravel forms a Sandy Cloak and it's part ground while the building insulation becomes a Trash Cloak and it's part Steel. Male Burmy on the other hand cast off the cloak and grow wings to become Mothim which are, naturally, a Flying type.


 * Bizarre Sexual Dimorphism: Female Burmy become Wormadam, males become Mothim.
 * Truth in Television: Female bagworms are immobile and encased on a cocoon, while males fly around.
 * Divergent Character Evolution: Burmy is statistically homogeneous without regards to form or gender, but, upon evolution...
 * Mighty Glacier: Plant and Sandy Cloaks Wormadam, in the special and physical sides respectively.
 * Stone Wall: Trash Cloak Wormadam, which is right in between the Plant and Sandy Cloaks.
 * Fragile Speedster: Mothim.
 * Elemental Powers
 * Blow You Away: Mothim.
 * Extra Ore Dinary: Trash Cloak.
 * Dishing Out Dirt: Sandy Cloak.
 * Green Thumb: Plant Cloak.
 * For Massive Damage: Plant Cloak is super-weak to Fire and Flying, Trash Cloak is badly hurt by Fire, and Mothim has that classic crippling weakness to Rock that makes Bug/Flying Pokémon the unfavorites of the Pokémon world.
 * Flight: Mothim
 * No Sell: Trash Cloak Wormadam, against Poison-type attacks; Sandy Cloak Wormadam, against Electric-type attacks; Mothim, against Ground-type attacks.
 * Also, Wormadam's hidden ability Overcoat makes her immune to hail and sandstorm damage.
 * Psychic Powers: Wormadam and Mothim naturally learn a few Psychic-type attacks.

Combee and Vespiquen (Mitsuhoney and Beequeen)


Combee is a small bee Pokémon that is comprised of three individuals arranged in a honeycomb like shape. They can stack on top of eachother to form a hive at night. They are attracted to nectar and sources of honey, which makes them easy to find by slathering a tree with honey. Only females are able to evolve into Vespiquen, which is a queen bee with a beehive for an abdomen. It has the stats for tanking, but its typing leaves it with many weaknesses to exploit.


 * Bee-Bee Gun: Vespiquen's attack order.
 * Everything's Worse with Bees: Though Vespiquen looks more like a wasp (the first part of its name is from the Latin word "vespa," meaning wasp, and its coloration and body structure is more on par with a wasp's than a bee's).
 * For Massive Damage: Rock-type attacks will wreck it.
 * Flight
 * Healing Factor: Vespiquen's Heal Order.
 * Hive Mind: The Combee commanded by a Vespiquen are this.
 * Item Caddy: Combee has the Honey Gather ability.
 * Metal Slime: Female Combee.
 * Multiple Head Case: Combee
 * No Sell: Against Ground-type attacks.
 * One-Gender Race: Female Combee become Vespiquen.
 * Signature Move: Attack Order, Defend Order, and Heal Order for Vespiquen. As of Gen V, it's the only Pokémon with more than two signature attacks.
 * Stone Wall: Vespiquen has high defenses (both equal) and good attack stats (both equal). Her speed is very low, at base 40. She also has the Pressure ability, which causes moves to use 2 PP instead of one, which does make her a good staller.
 * Zerg Rush: the "Order" moves are basically this.

Pachirisu


A member of the widespread family of electric rodents, Pachirisu is a squirrel. It's pretty fast, but it doesn't exactly have much in the way of offense. Its best attack is Super Fang, which will cut the opponent's HP in half regardless of defense, which is always useful.


 * Everythings Nuttier With Squirrels
 * Kid Appeal Character
 * Shock and Awe: Well, it is...
 * Expy: The Pikaclone of Generation IV. Even some Canon sources Lampshade its similarity to Pikachu.
 * Speedy Stone Wall: Like Jumpluff, it has solid Speed and defenses, but its offensive stats aren't very good.
 * Luckily, it can get Super Fang, which cuts the opponent's HP in half, and Bide, which lets it soak up blows and then retaliate for twice the damage it took; as such, it doesn't have much need to rely on offensive stats.
 * Item Caddy

Buizel and Floatzel


Water-typed otters with forked tails and yellow rings on their bodies that can inflate to make makeshift life preservers and rafts. They are extremely quick, especially in the rain, but suffer from a low defense. It's not a bad choice for a water type.


 * Fragile Speedster: Taken to ludicrous levels in a rainstorm; seriously, with Swift Swim active, Floatzel is even faster than Speed Forme Deoxys, making it the fastest Pokémon in the game. Only Jumpluff (with Chlorophyll, which boosts its speed in sunlight) can boast a similar accomplishment, and without any weather boosts, Floatzel is actually faster than Jumpluff. Plus, Floatzel is tied with Starmie for being the fastest Water-type ever.
 * Making a Splash
 * Shout-Out: Possesses twintails that seem to act like propellers? Ring any bells?
 * Playful Otter
 * Water Types Are Blue: Not in this case.
 * Youkai: the Kamaitachi.

Cherubi (Cherinbo) and Cherrim


A Pokémon based on cherries, Cherubi is a cute Pokémon that has an undeveloped twin growing on its other stem. This twin contains the nutrients for Cherubi and when it's withering, it means it's close to evolving. When it does evolve, it becomes Cherrim and its appearence changes depending on the weather. Most of the time it remains closed up bud-like state, but when it is sunny, it changes into a more open form and it becomes more powerful. Unfortunately, in the same way that cherry blossoms symbolize the beautiful yet brief fragility that is life, Cherrim's stint on the battle field lasts just as long. Especially when a fire Pokémon is the opponent.


 * Cherry Blossoms
 * Cue the Sun
 * Green Thumb
 * Petal Power

Shellos and Gastrodon (Karanakushi and Tritodon)


Sea Slug Pokémon that are famous for coming in two forms: Long ago, the species was split into two populations by the mountain range going down the middle of Sinnoh. Each population developed its own characteristics: Those on the western side became pink while those on the eastern side became blue. This is a direct reference to nudibranchs which also vary greatly in shape and color.


 * Dishing Out Dirt: Gastrodon.
 * For Massive Damage: From Grass-type attacks.
 * Making a Splash
 * Mighty Glacier: Gastrodon.
 * No Sell: Against Electric-type attacks and Water (thanks to the new form of Storm Drain).
 * Stock Ness Monster: Despite being sea slugs.

Drifloon and Drifblim (Fuwante and Fuwaride)


A Ghost/Flying type that can only be caught on fridays. Despite its cute appearence, Drifloon is famous for trying to kidnap people by floating off with them, but being so lightweight, they don't really succeed in doing so. Being balloons, they have a massive HP stat, but thin-skinned defenses.


 * Action Bomb: Can learn Explosion naturally, and can also have the Aftermath ability.
 * Adult Fear: One Pokédex entry states that they kidnap children (much like Hypno, without the hypnotism)...
 * In the Japanese version, it is outright said that they take children to the world of the dead.
 * Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: Drifloon tries to kidnap children, but it's so light, the kids end up tagging it along like a common balloon. Drifblim, in contrast, can actually carry the kids off the ground.
 * Flight
 * No Sell: Against Normal-, Fighting- and Ground-type attacks.
 * Our Ghosts Are Different: Balloon-ghosts. Perhaps they're the lingering spirits of popped balloons...
 * Refuge in Audacity: Nicknaming either one of them "Hindenburg" (and having either one of them with the Explosion attack) was already a pretty common joke, but then they got an exclusive Dream World Ability, Flare Boost, that increases their Special Attack while Burned -- and right in step with the games that debut the series's equivalent of America, too. Oh, the Humanity!...
 * Soul Power
 * Stone Wall: Subverted. Driflim boasts a monstrous HP stat but its defenses are like that of a balloon and offensive stats are quite nice as well.
 * Supernatural Is Purple

Buneary and Lopunny (Mimirol and Mimilop)


Buneary and Lopunny are cute rabbit Pokémon with chocolate brown fur and a tan fuzz that covers the tips of their large ears, legs and other parts. This Pokémon is very fast and graceful. Buneary need to evolve with high happiness.


 * Cute Clumsy Mon: They can have the ability Klutz.
 * Everythings Better With Bunnies
 * Jack of All Stats
 * Non-Elemental
 * No Sell: Against Ghost-type attacks.
 * Playboy Bunny: Lopunny is said to be based on them.
 * Unsettling Gender Reveal: With male Lopunny.

Glameow and Purugly (Nyaruma and Bunyat)


Glameow is a thin cat Pokémon with an extremely long tail that it keeps in a corkscrew position while its evolved form is far heftier and it keeps its forked tail clasped around its midsection to make it appear bigger. Appropriately enough, both Pokémon have a repuation of being extremely well... Catty.


 * Acrofatic: Purugly retains its stellar speed after evolution and gaining almost 90 pounds.
 * Cats Are Mean
 * Cute Kitten: Glameow. Purugly, however, is Exactly What It Says on the Tin.
 * Fragile Speedster
 * Jerkass: Their characterization is that of a spoiled cat.
 * Non-Elemental
 * No Sell: Against Ghost-type attacks.

Stunky (Skunpoo) and Skuntank


Skunk Pokémon with weaponized stink glands. In addition to being extremely smelly, the chemicals that it produces also have explosive and flammable properties. Their typing leaves with with a single weakness to Ground attacks.


 * Action Stink Bomb: Both Stunky and Skuntank can be taught Explosion and Selfdestruct, as well as having the Ability Aftermath.
 * Casting a Shadow: Both of them
 * Playing with Fire: They learn Flamethrower by level up, despite not being Fire-types (though see Smelly Skunks below)
 * No Sell: Against Psychic-type attacks.
 * Smelly Skunks: And smellier still knowing that both can Self-Destruct/Explode and use Flamethrower. Can you imagine the smell of a skunk that exploded or can shoot fire from its rear glands?
 * Poisonous Pokémon

Bronzor and Bronzong (Doumirror and Doutakun)


A bronze mirror and bronze bell respectively. They are famous for having amazing defenses, in addition to being Steel/Psychic types, which should leave it with only 2 weaknesses, it can have one of 2 abilities which can neutralize damage or comepletely negate it. These tough defenses relate to the legend of a bronze mirror whose owner did not want to give away which was melted (with great difficulty) down into a bronze bell, which later caused trouble for the temple it was for due to being haunted.


 * Animate Inanimate Object
 * Extra Ore Dinary
 * No Biological Sex
 * Power Floats
 * Psychic Powers
 * Stone Wall: One of the best examples. Plus, whichever ability they possess will reduce the damage taken (Heatproof) or be completely immune (Levitate) to one of their two weaknesses.
 * In the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon spinoffs, all Pokemon can use two abilities at once, including this line, giving it NO weakness!
 * Weather Control Creature: While this species doesn't have weather-summoning as an innate ability, they still have access to both Sunny Day and Rain Dance, alluding to a Dotaku.

Chatot (Perap)


An eighth note headed parrot Pokémon with the unique ability to parrot languages, including human ones. Its best known move, Chatter is one that can be recorded using the Nintendo DS's microphone. Its effect depends on how loud the recording is.


 * Early-Bird Cameo: A bit literally, although it was late into the Battle Frontier season.
 * Game Breaking Bug: Being just slightly better than Farfetch'd, it is not a powerhouse in the battlefield. However, the cry changing properties of Chatter can actually break the game due to glitches, and therefore it is banned from use in Random Wifi.
 * Glass Cannon: For a single-stage bird that can only be caught late in the game (if you don't trade) its stats aren't all too bad. It's no Staraptor, for sure, but it's not terrible either.
 * Make Me Wanna Shout
 * No Sell: Against Ghost- and Ground-type attacks.
 * Polly Wants a Microphone
 * Repeat What You Just Said
 * Signature Move: Chatter. In fact, it is one of the three moves that can't be learned by Sketch (the others being Struggle and Sketch), making it one of the two (along with Sketch) completely exclusive to itself.
 * Urban Legend of Zelda: Was widely believed to be the first pure Flying type before the truth was revealed. They were close...

Spiritomb (Mikaruge)


A collective of 108 malevolent spirits bound to a rock. While most Pokémon are found by just walking into long grass, Spiritomb isn't encountered that way. You need a special stone called the Odd Keystone, which needs to be placed in a certain shrine. Then you have to go into Sinnoh's Underground and talk to (interact) with 32 other people over the local wireless (NPCs don't count). Only then will Spiritomb be released for capture. The effort that goes into triggering the Spiritomb to be released may be great, but you are rewarded with a Pokémon with no elemental weaknesses and high defenses. A tricky combination indeed.


 * 108: Spiritomb is formed from 108 evil spirits that are bound together to the Odd Keystone (compare with Ninetales from Generation I, which is said to be the reincarnation of nine saints). In addition, Spiritomb weighs 108 kilograms, its Sinnoh region Pokédex number is 108, and its base Defense and Special Defense are 108. 108 is considered a mystical number in Buddhism (108 is said to be the number of temptations one must overcome to reach nirvana).
 * Casting a Shadow: It fits into the traditional idea of a shadow elemental, unlike most Dark-types who are based on criminals, trickery, impending doom, and evil (cf. Honchkrow, Absol, Scrafty, Weavile, Cacturne, Shiftry, etc).
 * No Sell: Much like Sabeleye in Generation III, Fighting, Psychic, and Normal types are utterly powerless against it under normal fighting circumstances (and Spiritomb holds the distinction of being one of the few Pokemon that doesn't take 2x or more damage from any type thanks to being part Ghost and part Dark).
 * Our Ghosts Are Different: It's not one ghost; it's 108 spirits forever encased in a keystone as punishment for the evil those spirits have committed in life.
 * Sealed Evil in a Can: Spiritomb is said to be formed from the souls of 108 people who were evil in life and now are bound to the Odd Keystone for eternity as punishment.
 * Shout-Out: It looks a tad like Giygas. If only its shiny form was red and black...
 * It was originally going to be named Phantomb.
 * Soul Power
 * Stone Wall: It has no elemental weaknesses and quite good defences.
 * Supernatural Is Purple

Gible (Fukumaru), Gabite, and Garchomp (Gablias)


Dragon Pokémon that superficially resemble sharks with limbs, they are found in caves with geothermal heating. Gible looks somewhat silly due to its pudgy appearence, but as it evolves, it gets "sharper" and dangerous-looking. It is the fastest of the Pseudo-legendaries and its stats are in just the right places to make it an extremely powerful threat.


 * Badass: There's a reason it's the Champion's signature Pokemon.
 * Big Eater: What would you expect from names like those?
 * Dishing Out Dirt
 * Everything's Even Worse with Sharks: Cave-dwelling, flying landsharks!
 * For Massive Damage: To Ice-type attacks, but too bad most Ice- and even Water-types have trouble getting to hit Garchomp with those. And then there are the Yache Berry sets...
 * Flight: In their pokedex entry, at least...
 * Magikarp Power: In Diamond/Pearl, where they can only be caught after the sixth gym, at which point they're rather underleveled. Not as much as most pseudo-legendaries, though, since Gible/Gabite evolve earlier than their predecessors and they don't have any limitations as severe as Beldum's Take Down only phase.
 * Platinum made Gible available immediately after the second gym at the same levels as in Diamond/Pearl and added high level wild Gabites in Victory Road, arguably turning the line into an Infinity-1 Sword considering how effective Garchomp is.
 * Lightning Bruiser: And so good that the unofficial metagame banned it in standard battles, in both generations, simply because the metagame revolved around this guy.
 * Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Its final form looks like a shark, a dragon, and a jet had a threesome.
 * No Sell: Against Electric-type attacks.
 * Our Dragons Are Different: Dragon landsharks.
 * Sand Is Water: Desert dwelling sharks.

Riolu and Lucario


The most iconic Pokémon of the Gen IV games, Riolu and Lucario are fighting type Pokémon that possess the unique power of sensing the aura of all living things. Riolu is only able to sense it in ripples and uses it to sense the feelings of others from far away. As it evolves though, it becomes part Steel and it fully realizes its unique power and can utilize it in the forms of powerful attacks. Lucario was the first non-legendary Pokémon to be the star of its own movie and was also put on the roster of Super Smash Bros. Brawl.


 * Aura Vision: Even the legendary Solid Snake couldn't hide from Lucario...
 * Badass: Lucario, as opposed to its pre-evolution, one heck of a...
 * Cute Bruiser: Riolu
 * Bare-Fisted Monk: Gets the usual vast array of punching moves expected of a Fighting-type.
 * Big Badass Wolf
 * Breakout Character: Lucario became one of the most popular and prominently marketed new Pokémon and is considered the unofficial Mascot of the 4th generation, even netting itself a playable role in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. For this reason, it got an Expy (Zoroark) in Pokémon Black and White, which Nintendo and Game Freak are trying to market in the same way.
 * Early-Bird Cameo: the star of the 8th Pokémon movie.
 * Extra Ore Dinary: Lucario
 * Glass Cannon: It can hit hard from both the physical and special sides, and has respectable Speed. However, it has trouble withstanding neutral attacks, and its Close Combat abuse often renders its many resistances moot.
 * Kamehame Hadoken: Aura Sphere
 * Aura Storm, which is Lucario's Final Smash in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
 * Aura Sphere, and the powered-up version, Spirit Bomb, are in Project M.
 * Ki Attacks
 * Magikarp Power: Riolu has quite low stats and a much smaller movepool than Lucario, even by pre-evolution standards.
 * No Sell: Against Poison-type attacks.
 * Sdrawkcab Name: When written in katakana. "Lucario" reversed is "Oricalu"--which is close to how the English word "oracle" would be written in katakana.
 * Shout-Out: Lucario is quite clearly based on the Egyptian god Anubis in terms of physical appearance.
 * Signature Move: Aura Sphere is strongly associated with Lucario, although it can be learned by a handful of other Pokémon. Lucario still retains the strongest association with the move, being the Aura Pokémon and all, as well as one of the few non-legendaries that can learn it.

Hippopotas and Hippowdon (Kabarudon)


Hippopotami that prefer to bathe in pits of sand rather than pools of water, these ground types have the ability to instantly produce large quantities of sand through holes in their bodies, so much in fact, they create a sandstorm when they enter battle. Much like real hippos they also possess very strong jaws and a very aggressive nature. Males tend to be lighter in color while females are darker.


 * Dishing Out Dirt
 * Elemental Baggage: Having a body filled with sand helps with the execution of their attacks, regardless of battlefield.
 * Fire, Ice, Lightning: Learns the three fang attacks (Ice, Fire, and Electric).
 * Mighty Glacier
 * No Sell: Against Electric-type attacks.
 * Sand Is Water: Desert hippopotami.
 * Palette Swap: The gender differences amount to this... with the same base palette (well, in Hippopotas's case, that is; Hippowdon has a true coloration difference), which is Truth in Television considering that hippos actually are differentiated by gender based on their hide color.
 * Weather Control Creatures: Has the Sand Stream ability, like Tyranitar.

Skorupi and Drapion


Skorupi is a Poison/Bug type that can be found in either arid enviroments such as deserts or wet ones such as swamps. Unusually, instead of two pincers and a stinger tail, it has two stingers and a pincher tail. When it evolves into Drapion, it loses its Bug typing for a Dark typing and it becomes incredibly fierce. It has the ability to either be an incredible attacker with the Sniper ability (increases the damage of critical hits) or an incredible defender with Battle Armor (prevents critical hits). Either way, this Pokémon can be devestating when played right.


 * Abnormal Limb Rotation Range: Drapion
 * Beware My Stinger Tail
 * Big Creepy-Crawlies: Even if Drapion is not a Bug-type per se.
 * Casting a Shadow: Drapion
 * Fire, Ice, Lightning: Learns the three fang attacks.
 * Four-Legged Insect
 * No Sell: Drapion's Dark/Poison pairing will make Psychic-types quiver in fear; the same can't be said for Skorupi, unfortunately.
 * Poisonous Pokémon
 * Scary Scorpions: Both of them, but, according to the Pokedex, Drapion can crush a car with its claws.

Croagunk and Toxicroak (Greggle and Dokurog)


Pokémon that draw inspiration from poison-dart arrow frogs, Croagunk and Toxicroak are Poison/Fighting type. Meaning that it takes quad damage from psychic attacks. Luckly, it does learn several dark moves to make up for this weakness. Despite their creepy appearence and possessing a potientially fatal poison, it proves to be a very popular Pokémon among some circles.


 * Bare-Fisted Monk: Gets the usual Fighting array of punching attacks.
 * Combat Pragmatist: Despite not being a Dark Type
 * For Massive Damage: One Psychic blast is all it takes to destroy it thanks to its Fighting/Poison type.
 * Frogs and Toads
 * Getting Crap Past the Radar: The coloration of Croagunk's fingers. Made more blatant with Toxicroak.
 * Glasgow Grin: Croagunk and Toxicroak are well known for their weird grins.
 * The Hyena: They have a perverse grin stuck on their face, and their cries even sound like a giggle.
 * Mascot: of Pastoria City. It shows, too.
 * Poisonous Pokémon
 * Sarashi

Carnivine (Muscippa)


An odd resident of the Pastoria Marsh, Carnivine is a venus flytrap that has the ability to float off the ground. How this is achieved is not explained, but it waits in the canopy of trees for insects to wander into its large mouth to catch and digest them.


 * Green Thumb
 * Jack of All Stats: Mostly balanced stats, except for Speed.
 * Man-Eating Plant
 * No Sell: Against Ground, thanks to its Levitate ability.
 * Perpetual Smiler
 * Power Floats: Has the ability Levitate. Why? Um, because the Kool-Aid man is red?

Finneon and Lumineon (Keikouo and Neolant)


Fish with the features of neon tetras and butterfly fish. These Pokémon have fins that resemble butterfly wings and have the nickname "The Beautifly of the Sea". They also can use these wing fins in the same way (that is, use certain bug moves like Silver Wind and U-Turn). Most people assume that it's like Magikarp because (a) it's a fish Pokemon, and (b) it's seen as completely useless in battle.


 * Alluring Butterfly Fish
 * Expy: Their stats and avaliability makes them seawater counterparts of the Goldeen line.
 * Fragile Speedster
 * Irony: As one can easily go through the entirety of Sinnoh games without ever encountering a wild one, it's most noted for being completely forgettable.
 * Ironically, their Storm Drain ability makes them incredibly useful in numerous late-game dungeons in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky, such as the Surrounded Sea and Miracle Sea.
 * Lumineon does have one thing going for it since 5th gen improved Storm Drain (it now not only draws water attacks to the user, but prevents them from doing damage and provides a Special Attack boost) - it is, by a significant margin, the fastest user of this ability. It still has a narrow movepool, and its Special Attack is still the weakest of all Storm Drain users, but it might be able to do something.
 * Making a Splash
 * No Sell: To Water-type attacks thanks to Storm Drain.

Snover and Abomasnow (Yukikaburi and Yukinoou)


Evergreen tree Pokémon that are often mistaken for yeti, Snover and Abomasnow have friendly dispositions despite being ice Pokémon. They also produce snowstorms when they enter battle.


 * An Ice Pokémon
 * Green Thumb
 * For Massive Damage: Fire-type attacks will turn this Grass/Ice Pokémon into melted snow and smoldering ash (see Kryptonite Is Everywhere below).
 * Kryptonite Is Everywhere: Has a whopping six weaknesses (Rock, Steel, Fighting, Bug, Poison, and Flying) and one double weakness (Fire), a record only matched by the Grass/Psychic types like Exeggcute, Exeggutor, and Celebi (all of whom at least have six resistances as opposed to Snover's and Abomasnow's measly four).
 * Mighty Glacier: Literally and figuratively
 * Mix and Match Creatures
 * When Pine Trees Attack
 * Yeti: Abomasnow is the Pokémon world's version of The Abominable Snowman.
 * Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Male and female Snover can be told apart by the color of their mid-section, brown for males and white for females. In addition, female Abomasnow have thicker/longer fur on their upper torso than males do.
 * Weather Control Pokémon: Has the ability Snow Warning.

Rotom


A very strange and mysterious Pokémon. Rotom is an odd lifeform whose body is comprised of electrical energy. Being made of energy, this allows it to enter and inhabit electrical appliances, causing them to go haywire. Its moves, and later on its typing, changes depending on what machine it chooses to inhabit. Only one of these Pokémon can be found and you need to lure it out of a certain TV in a haunted house to get it. It was first discovered by a scientist named Charon when he was only a boy.


 * Elemental Powers
 * An Ice Pokémon: Frost Rotom
 * Blow You Away: Fan Rotom
 * Green Thumb: Mow Rotom
 * Making a Splash: Wash Rotom
 * Playing with Fire: Heat Rotom
 * Shock and Awe: Rotom and all of its forms
 * Soul Power: Normal Rotom
 * Energy Being
 * Flight
 * Haunted Technology
 * No Biological Sex
 * No Sell: Against Normal, Fighting and Ground-types, though all of its special forms lose the Normal and Fighting immunities.
 * For Massive Damage: It is possible to bypass Rotom's Ground-type immunity. Heat Rotom takes it the worst.
 * Our Ghosts Are Different: Rotom isn't so much a ghost as it's a plasmatic force that likes to possess machinery.
 * Power Floats
 * Retcon: Rotom's alternate forms in Gen V, from always being Electric/Ghost to Electric/[type fitting the appliance].
 * Fridge Brilliance: Rotom loses its Ghost type upon possessing an appliance. When a ghost possesses an object or a person, it can't do the stereotypical ghostly things like phasing through walls or letting objects pass through them, but will make the object or person act out of character.
 * Awesome Yet Practical: Rotom's alternate forms get pretty useful attacks, with a nice ability that negates its main weakness. Add this to the new move Volt Switch, and Rotom has become a very excellent and rounded Pokémon.
 * Department of Redundancy Department: Its fan form is part Flying-type, which makes it immune to Ground-type attacks, and retains the ability Levitate, which makes it also immune to Ground-type attacks.
 * Sdrawkcab Name
 * Shout-Out: to Pulseman.
 * Technopath: Rotom possesses household appliances.
 * Unique Enemy: Much like Snorlax or Sudowoodo, but shares its Leitmotif with Legendary Pokémon, leading to some confusion.

Uxie, Mesprit (Emrit), and Azelf (Agnome)


The first set of legendary trios of Sinnoh. Unlike other legendary trios, these three are prominent in the backstory and play a vital role in the game's plot. They are also all the same typing of Psychic and have a shared origin: They were all born from the same egg that was brought into the newly formed universe by the "original one". Each of them gave humankind a gift to make their lives fufilling: Uxie gifted humankind with knowledge, and the wisdom to solve problems, Mesprit gifted humankind emotion and with it, the ability to empathize with others, and Azelf gifted humankind with willpower and the drive to overcome any of life's challenges. According to the Pokedex, anyone who messes with either of these three Legendaries will suffer the following fates: Uxie can wipe away the memory of anyone who tries to look in its eyes, Mesprit will make anyone who messes with it lose its will to live and become emotionless, and Azelf turns anyone who abuses it to stone for 1000 years. Each of these three Pokémon reside in the three lakes that is at each corner of the Sinnoh region. The player character appears to develop the strongest bond with Mesprit, and unlike the other two, it plays a "game" with the player and roams the map.


 * Eyes Always Shut: Uxie. Justified in that if it opened its eyes, anyone who started into them would be struck with amnesia.
 * Infinity-1 Sword: With Nasty Plot, Azelf is nearly as powerful in-game as many of the Purposefully Overpowered legendaries.
 * Lightning Bruiser: Like the birds and the beasts, they have overall high stats all around.
 * Glass Cannon: Azelf is designed like this, although its defenses are higher than most Glass Cannon Pokémon.
 * Jack of All Stats: Mesprit, with also some Mighty Glacier flavor.
 * Stone Wall: Uxie is designed like this, although its offense is quite good by Stone Wall standards.
 * No Biological Sex: Although the second pair of Mystery Dungeon games treat Mesprit as female and Uxie and Azelf as male, though they're still genderless for the purpose of Attract, adding further fuel to the "sex unknown, not non-existent" interpretation for legendaries.
 * Olympus Mons
 * Power Trio
 * Pint-Sized Powerhouse: They are among the smallest Pokémon, but their stats are as expected of a legendary trio.
 * Psychic Powers
 * Single Specimen Species: Likely, as special creations of Arceus.

Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina


The Legendary trios that appear on the boxes of the Sinnoh based games. Dialga, Palkia and Giratina represent the fundamental laws of the Pokémon universe. Dialga represents time while Palkia represents space. These two Pokémon were apparently created by an "original one", and with them, time began to flow and space began to expand. Giratina is different in that it represents the opposite of these laws, anti-matter so to speak, and it is unknown how it relates to the space-time legend of the Sinnoh region. All three dragons reside in their own "pocket dimensions". At the climax of either Diamond or Pearl, the main legendary (Dialga for Diamond, Palkia for Pearl) is pulled out of their dimension by the Big Bad and you must battle it and defeat/capture it. In Platinum, the Player, the Champion and the Big Bad are brought into Giratina's dimension, where the laws of nature don't apply, it also has a unique forme that it takes when traveling in its dimension.


 * Ascended Extra: Giratina was just a Bonus Boss in Diamond and Pearl; in Platinum, he actually has a role.
 * Black Sheep: Guess who.
 * Casting a Shadow: Giratina, in the same vein as the Gastly family (Has Ghost attacks with a Dark type feel to them). Hell, its signature move is even called Shadow Force.
 * Dark Is Not Evil: Giratina. A godlike Ghost-Dragon monstrosity that lurks in an alternate universe and can be seen floating near cemetaries. But, it's more aggressive than evil and only attacks when it feels its home dimension (IE: The Distortion World/Reverse World) is under threat.
 * Expy: Version mascots, and a Bonus Boss that becomes important in the third version. Sound familiar?
 * Giratina also shares traits with monsters from H.P. Lovecraft, most notably, Yog-Sothoth (Both are beings that dwell in an alternate universe, can barely (if at all) be comprehended by humans, and are said to be the "rulers of dimensions").
 * Dracolich: Giratina is Ghost/Dragon and has spikes resembling ribs.
 * Eldritch Abomination: Giratina, up to and including being found in an Eldritch Location in Platinum. Dialga and Palkia, too, considering that they are the living embodiments of universal laws.
 * Giratina takes this even further when you consider its an inter-dimensional dragon-ghost consisting of anti-matter that dwells in an alternate universe and is the "god of dimensions". In other words, you can essentially call it the Pokemon version of Yog-Sothoth.
 * Elemental Powers:
 * Extra Ore Dinary: Dialga.
 * Making a Splash: Palkia.
 * Soul Power: Giratina.
 * Everything's Better with Dinosaurs: Dialga is likely based on Camarasaurus or Brachiosaurus, and Palkia is some kind of large theropod, probably Tyrannosaurus Rex.
 * Infinity+1 Sword: Giratina in Diamond and Pearl, Palkia and Dialga in Platinum.
 * Larynx Dissonance: Dialga has a cry that sounds like a very high-pitched scream in the games.
 * Lightning Bruiser: Again, their bad stats are good compared to most things.
 * Mighty Glacier: All three of them fall within this cathegory, with Giratina's altered forme being closer to Stone Wall, while Palkia is closer to Glass Cannon.
 * No Biological Sex: In the main games. Dialga and Palkia are genderless in gameplay but identified as male by other characters in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers.
 * Noodle Incident: The "violence" that resulted in Giratina being labeled the Renegade Pokemon, getting banished to the Distortion World, and its monument alongside Dialga's and Palkia's in Eterna City being removed.
 * No Sell: Dialga, against Poison-type attacks; Giratina, against Normal- and Fighting-type attacks (Origin Forme also has immunity to Ground-type attacks).
 * Number of the Beast: A bit subtle, but Giratina's Altered Forme has six legs, six ribs, and six spikes on its wings. This also ties into its overall Satan motif.
 * Olympus Mons
 * Our Dragons Are Different
 * Our Ghosts Are Different: Not too different, though; much like ghosts in some fiction, Giratina can supposedly be seen in cemeteries when it's not in the Distortion World.
 * Physical God: Arguably beyond that, considering that they are the embodiments of time, space, and antimatter, respectively.
 * Our Gods Are Greater: Giratina is greater than Dialga and Palkia.
 * Power Crystal: In the anime, the diamonds/pearls on their bodies glow when Dialga/Palkia use their Signature Moves.
 * Power Trio
 * Purposefully Overpowered: Restricted in the Battle Tower, most official tournaments, and random Wifi.
 * Reality Warper: All three of them in different ways.
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning: All three of them. Highlighted with an ominous glint whenever Dialga or Palkia appears on the Spear Pillar stage in Super Smash Bros..
 * Satan: Giratina's pretty much as close to this as a Pokemon can be.
 * Shoulders of Doom: Palkia.
 * Signature Move: Roar of Time for Dialga, Spacial Rend for Palkia, and Shadow Force for Giratina.
 * Single Specimen Species: Subverted; Arceus can make more of each if brought into HeartGold/SoulSilver.
 * Space Is an Ocean: Palkia, the master of space, is a Water-type Pokémon. Allegedly because pearls = water.
 * Their secondary types allude to the three phases of matter: Steel = solid, Water = liquid, and Ghost = gas.
 * Super OCD: Giratina is obsessed with maintaining balance between the Pokemon Universe and the Reverse/Distortion World to the point where it will violently attack anything that it sees as a threat to either. To be fair, though, destroying either dimension would result in the end of existence.
 * It even attacked Dialga after its (Dialga's) fight with Palkia caused some sort of pollution to form in the Reverse World.
 * In the games, it's hinted that Giratina was so obsessed with maintaining order between dimensions that Arceus had to banish it to an alternate dimension, which it then formed into the Reverse/Distortion World.
 * Sword of Plot Advancement: All three in their respective versions, although it's possible to simply defeat them instead of catching them.
 * Takes One to Kill One: Giratina has the odd privilege of being the only dual-type Pokémon whose types are both weak against themselves (at least until a Ghost/Psychic type, a Grass/Fire type, or a Steel/Fire type can be created)
 * Time and Space Masters

Heatran


A Pokémon that has a body made out of molten steel. It inhabits the imposing Stark Mountain, an active volcano on an island off the coast of Sinnoh. Not much is known about it aside from apparently being formed just after the Sinnoh region was formed and magma pooled in the spot that would become Mt.Stark. The fact that it can come in both genders would suggest that there are more then one but you still only encounter one at the very end of the game's main story. Perhaps it was not intended to be a Legendary in the first place?


 * Awesome Yet Practical: One of the few Pokémon to come close to, or even surpass, the popularity of Gyarados in competitive battling.
 * Ceiling Cling/Wall Crawl
 * Extra Ore Dinary
 * Feed It with Fire
 * For Massive Damage: Takes hits from Ground-type attacks rather badly.
 * Giant Space Flea From Nowhere: Pretty much the sole legendary to not have any backstory other than being deep in a volcano and hard to catch.
 * Magma Mon
 * Mighty Glacier
 * No Biological Sex/One-Gender Race: Averted: it's the only legendary that can have both genders.
 * No Sell: Against Poison, and Fire due to its ability Flash Fire
 * Playing with Fire
 * Signature Move: Magma Storm
 * Unique Enemy: The fact that it can come in both genders may suggest that there's more then one, but you still only encounter one in a playthrough.

Regigigas


At the very bottom of the Snowpoint Temple, there is a giant mysterious statue. If you bring three members of a legendary trio from a previous game with you to the statue, it will activate and reveal itself to be Regigigas. Apparently its slumber did a number on it because its ability prevents it from using its full power for several turns, but once those turns are up, it can be a force to be reckoned with.


 * Blessed with Suck: Its Slow Start ability, and the fact that a common Fighting type can take it out with one kick or punch, much like the Regi Pokemon from Genration III (all of which have types that are weak to Fighting).
 * Golem
 * Difficult but Awesome: Well, at least that was the intention, as a VERY good Pokémon stat-wise that would be hindered and kept away from brokenness by its trait. However, said trait is so hindering that it's too difficult to use Regigigas effectively against an intelligent opponent (especially when you can't use items for healing). Lacking Rest and Protect does not help, as it makes waiting for the ability to wear off without being KO'd first very difficult.
 * If you can remove the trait, which can be done in Double Battles with a little planning, you can bring it up to its full potential. You can tell that Game Freak wants you to do this, as ability-changing moves work on it (unlike Slaking's Truant). It's made even easier to do in Pokémon Black and White. (Whimsicott with the Prankster Ability used a +1 priority Worry Seed. Not to mention the addition of Simple Beam and Entrainment for more ways to change a Pokémon's ability.) You could also use Heal Pulse to help Regigigas survive until Slow Start wears off naturally.
 * Meaningful Name: Both parts of its name derive from Latin -- Regi comes from "regis" or "king," while "gigas" means "giant." Quite literally, it is the King of Giants (owing to its role as master of the other golems).
 * Mighty Glacier: Starts out as this...
 * Lightning Bruiser: ...and turns into this if you manage to get rid of the effects of its ability. Added emphasis on the "if".
 * No Biological Sex
 * No Sell: Against Ghost-type attacks.
 * Pokémon Popsicle
 * Required Party Member: In Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum Versions, Regirock, Regice, and Registeel of the Hoenn region are needed in order to wake Regigigas up. Platinum Version also features an additional situation that is inverted, with a special-event Regigigas being the requisite for accessing the Hoenn golems within the Sinnoh region.
 * Signature Move: Crush Grip. (Even though you would really expect it to be learnable by Pokémon such as Arbok, Dragonite, Tangrowth, Octillery, Seviper, and Serperior.)
 * Super Strength: Legend claims that it was able to tow entire continents with rope. It does indeed have an excellent Attack stat, though Slow Start cuts it in half (changing it from "freakin' incredible" to "decent, but nothing to write home about".)
 * Super Rope: What the rope in question would have to have been for it to move the continents.

Cresselia


After then main story has ended and you go to Canalave City, there is a boy who is suffering from endless nightmares. In order to save the boy from this terrible fate, his father will take you to a mysterious island known as Full Moon Island. There, you encounter a mysterious Pokémon that flies off as soon as it spots you, leaving behind a special feather called a Lunar Wing. You use the Lunar Wing to heal and comfort the boy from his nightmares and all is well again. Although now you can encounter the elusive Cresselia as it roams the Sinnoh region.


 * Foil: to Darkrai.
 * Lunacy
 * Combat Medic: It learns a few decent Psychic-type and Ice-type attacks.
 * One-Gender Race: Female.
 * Opposites Attract: She gets shipped with Darkrai quite often. Whether or not it's depicted as Foe Yay usually depends on what canon you're looking at.
 * Psychic Powers
 * Signature Move: Lunar Dance
 * Stone Wall
 * Sweet Dreams Fuel: Its feathers grants pleasant dreams to anyone who touches it.

Phione and Manaphy


Manaphy is a Pokémon that can only be found under the most extraordinary of circumstances: reports of a strange jelly egg washes upon a shore in a far off region, but is unable to be hatched there, it must be transfered to a land far away from its place of its discovery (Read: It's only available by playing a down-loadable mission from one of the Pokémon Ranger games and transferring its egg to a Gen IV game). Its egg is unique in that it uses a special sprite from all other Pokémon eggs in-game. Once it hatches, you are now the proud owner of a legendary. One that has the ability to swap the minds of people around, among other things. But what is most unusual is that it is the only legendary released so far that is able to breed, that's right, Breed. However, you are not able to get more Manaphy in that fashion. Instead, you get a creature called Phione, which is similar, but not quite the real deal. Both Pokémon are based on sea angels, free-swimming sea slugs that is popular with the Japanese for some reason (they think it's cute).


 * Flip-Flop of God: Is Phione a Legendary Pokémon or not?
 * Freaky Friday Flip: Manaphy's Heart Swap, but in battle it just switches stat boosts.
 * The depiction of Heart Swap in Super Smash Bros. Brawl is a more accurate representation of this trope. Good luck getting Manaphy to show up, though - you'll need it.
 * Expy: Mew stand-in.
 * Jack of All Stats: Standard Mew stand-in.
 * Master of None: Phione is a worse Glalie with a better typing.
 * Making a Splash
 * No Biological Sex
 * Poor Man's Substitute: Phione is like Manaphy, but with 20% less on base stats (effectively making it equal to Glalie stat-wise), and without the cool moves, and it's not like Manaphy's movepool was vast to begin with.
 * Purposefully Overpowered: Restricted in the Battle Tower, official tournaments, and random Wifi. Phione gets the treatment due to being related to Manaphy and nothing else, though.
 * Signature Move: Heart Swap for Manaphy.
 * Single Specimen Species: The only legendaries that outright avert this in the games; Phione can be bred freely and Manaphy can be acquired by finding its eggs in the Pokémon Ranger games.
 * Super Prototype: Well, they're not artificial, but Phione is basically the weaker mass-produced version of Manaphy in gameplay terms, since you can get as many Phione as you want by breeding, but can't get more than one Manaphy per event.

Darkrai


Remember Cresselia? The legendary Pokémon that can grant good dreams and peaceful slumber? This is its opposite. Darkrai exhibits the horrifying power of nightmares. It causes unending nightmares for those around it. However, it is merely a defense mechanism, one it can't shut off, so it hides itself away from others. However, it still beckons to certain individuals. In the same way that Cresselia represents the crescent moon, Darkrai represents the new moon and is most active on the blackest of nights. It can be a powerful ally if befriended.


 * The Atoner: In the main games, it exiles itself because of its ability, and makes sure that its Foil is nearby at all times.
 * Casting a Shadow: Like Spiritomb, it fits into the traditional idea of a shadow elemental, unlike most Dark-types, who mostly represent evil, crime, trickery/manipulation, or impending doom.
 * Dark Is Not Evil: In the main games, its power over nightmares is a self-defense mechanism. It even serves as the hero of the 10th movie!
 * Dark Is Evil: Its Mystery Dungeon counterpart, however...
 * Depending on the Writer: In the main games and according to the Pokédex, it's an extremely shady yet well-meaning Pokémon (and is in fact The Hero of one of the movies), but in the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Explorers games, he's an Omnicidal Maniac. In Poke Park Wii, he's a bad guy, but far, FAR less monstrous than he was in PMD.
 * Before the movie was released, he seemed to be planned as being the only truly evil Pokemon, much like Mewtwo was: Willingly inflicting deadly nightmares on a child, seeking revenge on the player character, and the fact that instead of self-exiling himself to New Moon Island, he wanders the earth on moonless nights spreading terrible nightmares, he was possibly the only Pokemon that could truly fit the Monster part of "Pocket Monster." However, it seems his brief stint in Dark Is Not Evil is coming to an end, and he's becoming the default Big Bad for Pokemon games through Character Rerailment.
 * Eldritch Abomination: A wraith-like entity capable of causing nightmares by merely existing.
 * Foil: See Cresselia.
 * Late to the Punchline: see Giratina's entry.
 * Nightmare Fuel: Invoked, as noted above, Darkrai harbors no ill will and it is merely a defense mechanism that it has no control over.
 * No Endor Holocaust: You'd think that Darkrai would Mind Rape the entire Dream World just by existing there. It doesn't.
 * No Biological Sex: Except in Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, where, despite being genderless for gameplay purposes, the villanous Darkrai is identified as male.
 * Opposites Attract: See Cresselia's entry.
 * Power Incontinence: The after battle text in Platinum implies Darkrai can't control it's nightmare inducing powers and that is the reason it isolates itself on a uninhabited island with Cresselia nearby.
 * Purposefully Overpowered: Restricted usage in the Battle Tower, official tournaments, and random Wifi.
 * Signature Move: Dark Void.
 * Truth in Television: His ability, Bad Dreams, gives so horrible nightmares that physically hurts the victim. Nightmares can stress the brain so much that it can't control cardiac rhythm, causing fibrilation and cardiac arrest (a condition called S.U.N.D.S. -- Sudden Unexplained Nocturnal Death Syndrome).

Shaymin


This tiny creature resembles a hedgehog but instead of a coat of spines, it has tufts of soft vibrant grass and two pink flowers on both sides of its ears. It is a timid Pokémon that is rarely ever seen by humans, but where it is found, lush green meadows filled with all sorts of wild flowers are said to be there. It has a special kind of reaction to a certain flower known as the Gracidea Flower, which is commonly given as a sign of gratitude. The pollen of said flower allows it to transform and fly freely. It then makes it way towards other remote meadows.


 * Blow You Away: Sky Forme only.
 * Expy: This is the first generation in which we get two Mew stand-ins, though Shaymin only fits in its Land Forme.
 * Fan Nickname: Sky Forme is often referred to as Skymin.
 * Flight: Sky Forme.
 * For Massive Damage: Clip its wings with Ice-type attacks in its Sky Forme.
 * Many Ice-type attacks can literally clip Skymin's wings. If Shaymin is ever frozen while in its Sky Forme, it immediately reverts to the Land Forme.
 * Glass Cannon: Sky Forme.
 * Green Thumb
 * Nature Spirit
 * Jack of All Stats: Land Forme.
 * Luck-Based Mission: Like Togekiss and Jirachi before it. Shaymin's Sky Forme has serene grace and a high rate flinching move with it's high speed anything slower than it will not attack 60% of the time.
 * No Biological Sex
 * No Sell: Against Ground for Sky Form
 * Power Gives You Wings: or, in this case, exposure to Gracidea flowers.
 * Purposefully Overpowered: Restricted usage in the Battle Tower, official tournaments, and random Wifi.
 * Ridiculously Cute Critter: Shaymin's Land Forme in general.
 * Shaymin Needs Prayer Badly: The event item used to acquire Shaymin (Oak's Letter) makes the PC pray for its blessing.
 * Signature Move: Seed Flare.
 * Two Winged Hedgehog: Sky Forme.

Arceus


Here it is. The one mentioned many times in Sinnoh myths as the "original one". If there is a single Pokémon that is the strongest of all, this is probably it. This is Arceus. This Pokémon is somehow responsible for shaping the Sinnoh region and possibly the rest of the Pokémon world. In its normal state, it is a normal type with stats of 120 all around, making it the Pokémon with the highest stats total. But with the use of special plates that have been scattered across the world, it can become any one of the 16 other types, depending on which plate it draws its power from. Shortly after hatching from an egg that had been drifting in the formless cosmos, it created two or three other Pokémon to maintain the physical nature of the universe, and then it created three more to mantain the spiritual nature of life. It then drifted off into a deep slumber, but it still awaits for someone in the hall of origin...


 * Boring but Practical: Sure, it can change its type, but at the expense of using its item slot for a relatively weak bonus. Plus, having STAB Extreme Speed is pretty sweet.
 * Confusion Fu: Has the third largest movepool in the game, equally high stats in everything, and can be of any type. Knowing that the opponent has Arceus won't give you any hint about how to beat it.
 * Cosmic Egg
 * Elemental Powers: It is Non-Elemental by default, but with the help of special plates, it can change its type to Grass, Fire, Water, Electric, Poison, Bug, Flying, Ground, Rock, Fighting, Psychic Powers, Ice, Ghost, Dragon, Steel or Dark.
 * Its signature move, Judgment, changes its type according to the held plate as well.
 * Fan Nickname: "God Llama" or "God Pony".
 * God: The closest thing in Pokemon to this, considering it created the universe.
 * It should however be noted that it much more closely resembles Eastern creation mythos, in that Arceus was the vector for the Universe's creation but really doesn't seem to care much about what happened afterwards.
 * Eldritch Abomination: Arceus has a somewhat variable form, considering some versions of it's origin describe it creating the world with "1000 arms", is pretty much incomprehensible to humans, and slumbers above a mountain waiting to be awoken.
 * Considering that God is also described as incomprehensible...
 * Holy Hand Grenade: Judgment.
 * It Is Pronounced "Tro-PAY": In Japan, it's pronounced Ar-say-oos. The English version of Pokémon Battle Revolution uses Ar-see-us. Lastly, the movie and official website use Ark-ee-us.
 * Lightning Bruiser: Even among Lightning Bruisers. What with it being God and all.
 * Mind Screw: The Sinjoh Ruins event in HeartGold/SoulSilver where Arceus creates a new Dialga/Palkia/Giratina. First it starts off somewhat normal, with Unown flying around the area and Arceus glowing. Then a closeup of its face covers the screen before fading away, and its battle music from the Sinnoh games begins blaring as a montage of images of real life begin flashing across the screen all the while Arceus' overworld sprite and a strange pattern of lines overlap them. Some of these images are: Space, a forest, a rainbow, an erupting volcano, a lightning storm skyscrapers, train tracks, a highway intersection, blood cells, a solar eclipse, and finally the Earth itself. Never before has such a thing as this occurred in any medium of Pokémon.
 * Missing Secret/Dummied Out: No country ever legitimately got the Azure Flute event programed into the game, and with the release of Generation V (and end of Generation IV), it is likely that it never will be released.
 * It was discovered that Arceus has a ???-type sprite hidden in the games code, although there is no corresponding plate for it. Although it could just be a fail-safe just in case someone were to change its type to that.
 * No Biological Sex
 * No Sell: Against Ghost without a plate, against Electric with an Earth Plate, against Ground with a Sky Plate, against Psychic with a Dread Plate, against Normal AND Fighting with a Spooky Plate, and against Poison with an Iron Plate.
 * Palette Swap: What its different formes (according to type) account to, appearance-wise.
 * Pals With Arceus: You can take it to Dr. Footstep and find that it finds you to be a true friend and Trainer.
 * Physical God
 * Creation Myth
 * Olympus Mons: Pokémon-God.
 * Purposefully Overpowered: Restricted usage in the Battle Tower, official tournaments, and random Wifi.
 * Shrug Of Arceus: All three of Arceus' name pronunciations, noted in the It Is Pronounced "Tro-PAY" entry, are correct.
 * Signature Move: Judgment
 * Single Specimen Species
 * Truly Single Parent: In the Sinnoh Mythos, it is said that it created Dialga, Palkia, Giratina, Mesprit, Uxie, and Azelf. Whether or not it created other Legendaries is still up for debate.
 * In Pokemon Heartgold and Soulsilver it will even create an egg containing either Dialga, Palkia, or Giratina if you take it to the Ruins Of Alph.