Pokémon/Characters/Generation IV Families

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


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,[1] 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.

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.

  • The Ace: Infernape is fast, can do a lot of damage both with physical and special attacks, has useful STAB against many types and can be taught a wide variety of attacks, plus even a few very useful support moves such as Taunt. Anyone who likes to win won't regret picking this starter.
  • 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
  • Dork Age: Prinplup is literally a "dork age" for this evolutionary family, during which this starter will be very underwhelming, possibly even drag behind some of your other party members. As a Prinplup it seems to be stuck with the same mediocre moves for a long time (especially in Diamond/Pearl where its only Water type move until level 24 is Bubble, a 20 base power move!). Luckily it finally leaves this disappointing phase once it evolves into Empoleon.
  • 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.
  • Won't Work On Me: 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.

  • The Ace: To the other early game Com Mons found in Sinnoh. Many players will continue to use Starly & its evolutions throughout their whole Sinnoh adventure, and for good reason. It even ends up eventually learning Close Combat in order to punch through Steel types, which normally tend to wall Normal/Flying types pretty hard.
  • 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.
  • Won't Work On Me: 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.

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.

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.

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 readily available for the digging in the Diamond version and Platinum players whose trainer number ends in an odd number (1, 3, 5, 7, 9)

  • Cast from Hit Points: Rampardos' former signature move - Head Smash - is tremendously powerful with 150 base power, but it also deals a horrific 50% recoil damage to the user. Cranidos gets a weaker version of this move in the form of Take Down, only with 25% recoil damage.
  • Crippling Overspecialization: Its only focus is having a really high base Attack stat. Its slow speed and bad defenses combined though means that it could very well get knocked out before it can even make use of its Attack. Worse, having an Attack this high can be a detriment; if Rampardos gets confused, it could inflict huge amounts of self-damage. And if its opponent has Foul Play, then its power can be used against it.
    • To put its massive attack into perspective, Rampardos' Attack stat alone accounts for one third of its base stat total!
  • Dishing Out Dirt: Being a Rock-type, it has access to the popular Earthquake.
  • The Ditz: Cranidos may have had a thick skull, it apparently wasn't very bright.
  • Everything's Better with Dinosaurs: Finally, a fossil Pokémon that's actually based on dinosaurs!
  • Fossil Revival: If you can find a Skull Fossil, then Cranidos is yours.
  • Glass Cannon: It has the second-highest Attack in the game after Attack Forme Deoxys, but everything else [3] is rather lacking.[4]
  • Mighty Glacier: Its HP stat is fairly high, the same cannot be said of its poor Speed stat though.
  • Prehistoric Monster
  • Use Your Head: The preferred method of attack for both Pokémon; Cranidos also did so to obtain food when it roamed the world by headbutting trees to get their berries.
  • 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)

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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
  • Won't Work On Me: 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.

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.

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.

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.

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
  • Won't Work On Me: 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).
  • Won't Work On Me: 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...
  • 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 among 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 Cynthia's signature Pokemon.
  • Big Eater: What would you expect from names like those?
  • Dishing Out Dirt: A part Ground-type family. Garchomp also gets Sand Force when it Mega Evolves to boost its Ground moves further.
  • Everything's Even Worse with Sharks: Cave-dwelling, flying landsharks!
  • Flight: In their pokedex entry, at least...
  • 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...
  • 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.
    • Mighty Glacier: Becomes closer to this when Garchomp Mega Evolves, since it trades 10 points in Speed for extra Sp.Def, in addition to its Defense going up from 95 to 115. Gible was actually this (well, as far as basic forms go, 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.
  • Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Its final form looks like a shark, a dragon, and a jet had a threesome.
  • Our Dragons Are Different: Dragon landsharks.
  • Sand Is Water: Desert dwelling sharks.
  • Super Mode: Garchomp gained a Mega Evolution in X/Y, giving it large boosts to its Attack and Sp.Atk, but dropping its Speed slightly.
  • Weak to Magic: The whole line is weak to Fairy-types, after all. Garchomp also has fewer resists than any other Pseudo-Legendary.
  • Won't Work On Me: Against Electric-type attacks.

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...
  • 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[5] 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.
  • Won't Work On Me: 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.

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.

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.

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.

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). In battle it's decent at best; it certainly doesn't stand out amongst the countless other Water types.

  • 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
  • Won't Work On Me: To Water-type attacks thanks to Storm Drain.
  • The Generic Guy: It's a highly generic Water type that looks like a fish. It's so generic that even a lot of dedicated fans of the Pokemon series tend to forget about it completely.

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.

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.

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.

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:
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Won't Work On Me: 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.
  • Power Crystal: In the anime, the diamonds/pearls on their bodies glow when Dialga/Palkia use their Signature Moves.
  • 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?

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.

  • Anticlimax Boss: In Platinum. While it was a high leveled legendary encounter in Diamond/Pearl, for some odd reason its level when you encounter it in Platinum has been reduced. Guess to what level? 50? 40? 20? 10? Nope... LEVEL ONE. Poor Regigigas...
  • 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.
  • Joke Character: Out of the legendaries. Not only because of its unfortunate ability which holds it back, but also the fact it is a level one pokemon when you first encounter it in Platinum. Scary legendary boss fight it ain't.
  • 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
  • Won't Work On Me: 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.

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.
  • 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.

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.

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,[8] 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.
  • 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
  • Won't Work On Me: 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
  • 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.
  1. ↑ Contrast:Gold, Silver and Crystal, while giving the smallest number of new Pokémon, has fewer expies among them, most of the additions after the Com Mons are statistically viable, at least non-competitively, and is well liked for the variety of species encountered throughout the game, with 232 out of 249 non-event Pokémon at the time being obtainable by the player natively, which is everything but the Kanto starters, fossils and legendaries, and NPCs use the first plenty.
  2. ↑ 6 in Diamond/Pearl/Platinum, 7 in HeartGold/SoulSilver, 5 in Black/White, and its (supposed) inability to be useful enough in a serious fight can justify not letting it learn anything else.
  3. ↑ except for its Hit Points
  4. ↑ And its good HP stat is really only good for absorbing recoil from its own attacks; its pathetic defenses don't let it take hits from opponents very well, even with a lot of Hit Points.
  5. ↑ The move Close Combat lowers the user's defenses after being used.
  6. ↑ Heat Rotom benefits the most from this, as Overheat can hit a LOT of mons for great damage
  7. ↑ Allowing Rotom to hit with a decently strong Electric move and switch out
  8. ↑ being capable of learning pretty much every move that doesn't involve hands or arms
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