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Artwork from GSC
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Height
6′03″ Imperial
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1.9 m Metric
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6′03″/1.9 m Red-Striped
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0'0"/0.0 m Blue-Striped
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0'0"/0.0 m
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Weight
392.4 lbs. Imperial
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178.0 kg Metric
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392.4 lbs./178.0 kg Red-Striped
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0.0 lbs./0.0 kg Blue-Striped
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0.0 lbs./0.0 kg
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EV yield
HP 0
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Atk 0
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Def 0
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Sp.Atk 0
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Sp.Def 0
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Speed 0
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Base Exp.: 216
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Battle Exp.: 2161*
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Raikou (Japanese: ライコウ Raikou) is a Legendary Electric-type Pokémon. It is not known to evolve into or from any other Pokémon.
Raikou come with the ability Pressure which forces the opponent to increase PP usage.
It is, along with Entei and Suicune, one of the Legendary Beasts created by Ho-Oh after the burning of the Brass Tower.
Biology
Physiology
Raikou is a yellow tiger-like creature with black stripes that resemble lightning bolts and a white under-side. Raikou has a skinny, light-blue tail with a star-shaped formation at the end. Raikou appears to have a purple cape that is supposedly made of thunderclouds. Most of Raikou's face is white with a light-blue "X" on its face and a gray crest on its forehead. Raikou has red eyes and long fangs in its upper jaws that make its appearance similar to the sabre-tooth tiger.
Gender differences
Raikou is a genderless species.
Special abilities
Raikou has the ability to shoot bolts of lightning from the rain clouds on its back. Raikou can also attack using its fangs and has partial mental powers.
Behavior
Raikou is normally distrustful of humans due to the fact that humans have tried to capture the Legendary Beast of Thunder for many centuries. Raikou tends to show up either when there is a thunderstorm or when other Electric-type Pokémon are in danger.
Habitat
As a member of the Legendary Beast Trio, Raikou is constantly on the move and seems to lack any set place where they show up.
Diet
- Main article: Pokémon food
In the animeIn the manga
Raikou was awakened by Yellow along with its two counterparts, and the three raced around Kanto and Johto looking for trainers to help them defeat the Mask of Ice to free Ho-Oh. Raikou eventually pairs up with Lt. Surge, and later Gold.
Anabel also owns a Raikou in the Battle Frontier saga. It has been confirmed that it is the same Raikou as the one that befriended Gold. Raikou is more powerful than other Electric-type Pokémon in the manga because billowing thunder clouds follow it everywhere, allowing it to perform powerful attacks more quickly than regular Electric Pokémon.
In the TCGOther appearancesGame dataTrivia
- Raikou is the only Pokémon in the anime whose image on the Pokédex was of stylized art rather than Ken Sugimori's official artwork for it.
- In the Template:4Kids dub of the anime, Raikou's name is frequently mispronounced as rai-kuu rather than rai-ko.
- Raikou's sprites in Pokémon Gold and Silver portrayed it as having an orange cape and lacked the four-point star on its face. This was corrected in Pokémon Crystal, but the Crystal back-sprite still showed it with the orange cape, due to Gold, Silver and Crystal having the same back-sprites for each Pokémon.
- Raikou is the only one of the legendary beasts that has not had an appearance in a feature-length movie.
- Raikou is the only pre-Generation IV legendary Pokémon that Ash hasn't met in real life. However, he did see one's tail and a mecha-Raikou inside Wattson's Gym.
- Raikou is also currently the only Legendary Pokémon from Generation II to not appear in a feature movie (although a Ho-Oh featured in Lucario and the Mystery of Mew was Mew in disguise).
- In the anime, the four-pointed star on its face is blue, in the games it is white/light blue.
Origin
Raikou's appearance resembles the Tiger with its stripes and coat color. However due to its extremely long canine teeths, some suspect it is based on the extinct feline sabertooth tiger.
Name origin
The name in Japanese could be taken to mean 雷光, raikou, lightning. It could also be a combination of 雷 rai, thunder and 皇 kō, emperor. This Pokémon is also based on a demon of Japanese lore, the 雷獣 raijū.
In other languagesRelated ArticlesExternal links