Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee Got Their Names From Famous Fighters
At
this point, most Pokefans probably know that these two Fighting types
were named after Jackie Chan and Bruce Lee – but this is also true for
their Japanese names. Hitmonchan’s alternate name (Ebiwalar) is a
reference to Japanese world champion boxer Hiroyuki Ebihara, while
Hitmonlee’s name (Sawamular) is derived from the world’s first
kick-boxer, Tadashi Sawamura.
Rhydon Was The First Pokemon Ever Created
Just
like how the rhino-esque creature is first on our list, Rhydon was also
the first Pokemon that was ever created by Game Freak. This was
revealed in an interview with Ken Sugimori, one of the original
designers for the first generation of
Pokemon titles. Despite its early creation, Rhydon is placed at 112th in the Pokedex.
Professor Oak’s Nidorino Has The Cry Of A Nidorina
Nidorino is one of the very first Pokemon that a new player ever saw when beginning their
Pokemon adventures. During the introduction to the
much-loved Pokemon Red/Blue, the
Pokemon
professor shows off his very own creature – a Nidorino. However, this
Pokemon doesn’t quite give off the right call, instead giving the cry of
the female Nidorina
Azurill Can Change Gender While Evolving
Due
to Azurill’s gender ratio meaning that 75% of the creatures are
female, but its evolution Marill containing the regular 50/50 chance
when assigning gender, there is actually a 1 in 3 chance that your
Azurill will become male when it evolves. Some fans have debated whether
this is a reference to some amphibians being able to change their
gender, but whether that’s true or not, this unique event will only
happen prior to Generation 6, suggesting that it may have been
unintentional.
Slowbro Is The Only Pokemon That Can Devolve
According
to the sometimes less-than-reliable Pokedex entries, Slowbro is unique
in its ability to return to its previous evolution Slowpoke. The
creature initially evolves when a Shellder latches on to Slowpoke’s
tail, and it seems like the process is reversed if the shell Pokemon
ever lets go.
(http://gamerant.com/weird-pokemon-facts-124/)
Meowth And Pikachu Are Opposite Pokemon
In the
Pokemon anime
series, Pikachu and Meowth are on opposite sites, with the latter
belonging to the notorious Team Rocket. However, the opposite theme runs
deeper than this alone. Pikachu is number 25 in the Pokedex whereas
Meowth is the reversed number 52. There is also the more obvious
association of the two being a cat and mouse.
Magneton Weighs A Lot More Than Three Magnemites

When
Magnemite evolves, it joins with two more of its kind to form Magneton.
Logically, as the Pokemon initially has a weight of 13.2 pounds, the
evolution should surely weigh about 3 times as much. In fact, Magneton
weighs over 10 times the weight of a single Magnemite, stacking up at a
whopping 132.3 pounds.
The move ‘Splash’ Is A Mistranslation Of The Japanese Word For ‘Hop’
Splash is the useless
Pokemon
move that performs almost no action whatsoever and can be learnt by
very few creatures, the most obvious of which being Magikarp. However,
despite its name, the move is actually a Normal-type, rather than a
Water-type move, and can be learnt by Pokemon such as Hoppop, Spoink,
and Buneary. This is because the Japanese version of the word was
mistranslated and should in fact be called ‘Hop’, which makes much more
sense.
Pikachu Can Talk And Learn Surf In Pokemon Stadium
Fans of the Nintendo 64 game
Pokemon Stadium that also owned a copy of
Pokemon Yellow were
able to transfer over the game’s signature monster from their GameBoy
Colours, in order have a Pikachu capable of learning Surf in-game. The
Pikachu would also speak with the same Japanese voice actor that still
voices Ash’s companion in the anime to this day (Ikue Otani). Once
Pikachu has learnt surf, gamers can play a Surfing Pikachu mini-game
back in
Pokemon Yellow.
Arcanine Was Intended To Be A Legendary Pokemon
The fire dog Pokemon
Arcanine was originally going to be a legendary creature, alongside the trio of Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres. In fact, in the
Pokemon anime’s second episode,
Pokemon Emergency!,
Ash sees an engraving of Arcanine along with the birds on a stone
tablet. The creature’s category is also named Legendary Pokemon, despite
it being able to be obtained by regular means.
Tangela Originally Couldn’t Use Vine Whip
When
Tangela is first introduced in episode 26 of the anime, Ash’s Pokedex
provides the following information: “Tangela, a Vine Pokemon. Its body
is wrapped in vines. The rest of its form is hidden beneath these
vines.” Somehow, despite this, the Grass-type could not use the move
Vine Whip in
Pokemon Red and
Blue. In modern games, Nintendo have corrected this oversight and Tangela now learns Vine Whip at level 7.
Koffing And Weezing Were Going To Be Named After American Cities
The
poison-type Pokemon Koffing, as well as it’s evolution Weezing, were
originally going to have very different names to their current labels.
In the
Pokemon Red and
Blue beta, the names initially laid
out for the two were ‘Ny’ and ‘La’, in reference to the air pollution
in New York City and Los Angeles.
Mewtwo Comes Before Mew In The Pokedex
Fan-favorite Pokemon
Mewtwo has taken on
many forms,
but the creature itself is a clone of the secret 151st Pokemon Mew. The
creature was a secret that even Nintendo was not initially aware of,
programmed in by Shigeki Morimoto two weeks before the original games
finished development. Although Mewtwo was created by cloning Mew, the
clone actually comes before it in the Pokedex. Mew has only ever been
available in events such as Nintendo’s current
mythical Pokemon distribution.
Ditto Is Most Likely A Failed Attempt At Cloning Mew
It’s
widely believed that Ditto is the result of a failed cloning attempt of
the legendary Pokemon Mew. The logic behind the theory comes from the
two creatures sharing the same base stats and weight, as well as using a
similar color palette both in shiny and non-shiny forms. The two
Pokemon both have access to Transform at level 1 and are the only two
creatures to learn the move naturally. Ditto can also only be found (at
least in the first generation games) in the Pokemon Mansion where Mewtwo
was successfully cloned, or in Cerulean Cave where the clone can be
fought and captured.
Clefairy Was Almost The Face Of Pokemon
The
fairy Pokemon Clefairy was originally set to be Ash’s starter Pokemon
in the anime, instead of Pikachu. Due to a last minute change, Pikachu
got the role instead, because of the creature’s popularity. This would
have made Clefairy the most recognisable Pokemon
in existence, rather than the electric mouse. While this would have made the anime closer to the
Pocket Monsters manga, Nintendo made the right choice teaming Ash with Pikachu. After all,
Detective Clefairy just wouldn’t have the same ring to it.
(http://gamerant.com/weird-pokemon-facts-124/3/)
Each Spinda Has A Unique Pattern Of Spots
All
right, so this isn’t technically a true fact. As it happens, Spinda
does have an incredibly large amount of variations due to its spots
forming a random pattern with each encounter and easily deserves its
spot on the
list of unique Pokemon,
but each one is not quite as exclusive as the Pokedex may have you
believe. Whereas some of the creature’s Pokedex entries claim that there
are over 4 billion types of Spinda to catch, there are actually
about 4,294,967,295 different variations, not including shinies.
Fishing Is Possible In Pokemon Red And Blue‘s Gyms
You’ve
all seen the Rhydon statues that sit just inside the first generation
gyms, but what you might not know is that you can fish for Pokemon
inside them. In
Pokemon Red/
Blue, using an Old Rod on any
Rhydon statue will cause the player to encounter a Magikarp. In the
Cerulean City gym, you can use any of your fishing rods, as well as fish
for Pokemon in the gym’s water areas. There’s no real reason why you’d
want to do this but it’s an interesting glitch for sure.
Psychic-Type Weaknesses Are Based On Common Fears
This
one is more of a fan theory than a true fact, but it’s certainly
plausible. Although Psychic-Types were hugely overpowered in the first
generation of
Pokemon, they do in fact have weaknesses in the
form of Ghost, Dark, and Bug-types. These types are all representative
of common fears, though if that’s the case I’m sure many people that
suffer from pyrophobia or aquaphobia may argue the case that Psychic
should be weak to Fire and Water-types too.
Wobbuffet’s Main Body Is A Decoy
Wobbuffet’s
Pokedex entries seem to suggest that there’s more to the blue
punching-bag than meets the eye. Many of the entries appear to imply
that the Pokemon’s main body is simply an inflatable decoy, and while we
see the creature speak in the anime series, the real body is the small
black tail with eyes that hides behind it. Because of this, Wobbuffet
cannot actually attack (other than by using struggle), but instead
counters opponent’s attacks by bouncing back at them in true
punching-bag style.
Smeargle Cannot Use TMs But Can Use Almost Every Move In The Games
The
Painter Pokemon Smeargle has not been able to make use of any Technical
Machines to learn moves since its introduction in Gen 2. It can,
however, utilize almost every known move, including signature moves, by
using Sketch to copy the last attack used by an opponent. There are
exceptions to the rule though; Smeargle cannot use Sketch to copy
Chatter or Struggle. Not only can Smeargle keep the copied move forever,
the creature can also pass it down to other Pokemon via breeding within
its egg group.
As a franchise,
Pokemon continues to impress and amaze the fans. Having older titles that still hold up today is part of the reason why
Pokemon has managed to sell
200 million copies of just its main series alone. That’s without taking into account the success of spin-off titles such as last month’s
Pokken Tournament and the upcoming
Pokemon GO. There’s sure to be many new facts to discover when
Sun and
Moon release
later this year, so be sure to stay tuned for information as it is
revealed. How many of our 20 facts did you already know? Are there any
others you can think of? Drop us a comment to tell us your thoughts.
http://gamerant.com/weird-pokemon-facts-124/1/
http://gamerant.com/weird-pokemon-facts-124/2/
http://gamerant.com/weird-pokemon-facts-124/3/
http://gamerant.com/weird-pokemon-facts-124/4/