Machamp is a bipedal, humanoid Pokémon with four well-muscled arms. Its skin is bluish gray, and it has red eyes and pale yellow lips. On its head, there are three, brown ridges right above its eyes. It has two arms on each side of its body: a pair located in the normal position, and another pair directly above that attaches on the top of the shoulders. It has black markings that resemble briefs along with a golden power-save belt. Its legs have considerable muscle tone, and its feet have two toes.
Machamp punches extremely fast, throwing five hundred punches a second. With only one hand, it can move a mountain. Because of its four arms, it can hit from a multitude of angles and pin all of its foe's limbs at once. However, it has poor dexterity, and cannot handle delicate work without its arms becoming tangled. It is a rash Pokémon that rushes into action without forethought. Machamp can be found living in the mountains.
Morrison battled against a Machamp belonging to a very muscular Trainer named Gavin during the Hoenn League in From Brags to Riches. Morrison's Gligar managed to defeat Gavin's Machamp.
Several Machamp and Machoke appear as construction workers in Bibarel Gnaws Best!.
A Machamp appeared in The Forest Champion!. It is the rival of Ash's Hawlucha and the previous champion of the forest where they lived. Machamp was tricked by a ruffian pair of Ursaring and Conkeldurr into having a rematch with Hawlucha, but when the two troublemakers interfered with their duel, Machamp took them out with a single move and called off the fight. Machamp was later seen watching Hawlucha agree to join Ash, promising to look after the forest in the Wrestling Pokémon's stead.
Blue has a Machamp that debuted as a Machoke in A Tale of Ninetales. It was accidentally traded with Red, along with Blue's other Pokémon, when Red and Blue's Poké Balls got mixed up. Under Red's ownership, Machoke evolved into Machamp before being returned to Blue.
Another Machamp appeared in Can You Diglett? as a silhouette when Agatha and Lorelei explained to Red about how Pokémon and people can't coexist with each other.
In Make Way for Magikarp, Bruno used a Machamp that, unlike all other Machoke who evolve from trade in this manga, had kept on its power-absorbing belt to be used later. With this power, it defeated Red's Poli before it was defeated by Vee as a Jolteon. It briefly returned in the HeartGold & SoulSilver arc to participate in a Pokéathlon match against Gold.
Machamp is a Power-type playable character in Pokkén. Specializing in close range combat, Machamp deals incredible damage in exchange for a slow walk speed and lack of projectiles. Moves it can use include Wake-Up Slap, Karate Chop, Bulk Up, Cross Chop, Submission, and Close Combat. In Burst form, it can use the Burst Attack Dynamic Fury.
Machamp has the power to hurl anything aside. However, trying to do any work requiring care and dexterity causes its arms to get tangled. This Pokémon tends to leap into action before it thinks.
Machamp is known as the Pokémon that has mastered every kind of martial arts. If it grabs hold of the foe with its four arms, the battle is all but over. The hapless foe is thrown far over the horizon.
Machamp has the power to hurl anything aside. However, trying to do any work requiring care and dexterity causes its arms to get tangled. This Pokémon tends to leap into action before it thinks.
Machamp is known as the Pokémon that has mastered every kind of martial arts. If it grabs hold of the foe with its four arms, the battle is all but over. The hapless foe is thrown far over the horizon.
In the Pokémon Red and Blue beta, Machamp was originally known as "Ju-Doh". This name is a corruption of judo, a fighting style.
In Pokémon Yellow, a NPC will trade a Machoke for Cubone, which will then evolve to Machamp. This is the only time an NPC trade will result in an evolution in a game released outside of Japan.
Including games released in Japan, it is one of three trades that will result in an evolution.
Machamp could be seen as a counterpart to Alakazam. They are both the last stage of a three-part evolutionary family, both were introduced in Generation I, they reach their final stage by trading, and they both have a 75% male gender ratio. Also, Alakazam excels at the Special Attack stat, while Machamp excels at Attack. Moreover, a girl in Oreburgh City will trade her Abra in exchange for a Machop.
Machamp also can be seen as a counterpart to the Conkeldurr evolutionary line. Both of them are Fighting-type Pokémon whose Attack is their highest stat. They both have below average speed. They share the same base stat total. They both have same gender ratio, they both have three-evolutionary stages, and they both reach their respective final-evolutionary stage through trading.
Origin
Machamp appears to be based on a bodybuilder or wrestler. Seeing as it has more than two arms and blue skin, Machamp might also be based on a Hindu god, perhaps Shiva or Vishnu.
Name origin
Machamp may be a combination of macho (Spanish for overly masculine or chauvinist) and champion. Macho has come to mean tough or masculine in English. Akin to Mr. Mime, the masculine attribute has no reflection on gender assignment, as both species can be male and female; however, Machop's evolutionary line does have a 3:1 male:female ratio, making the species predominantly—but not entirely—male. The name may also incorporate the term Mach, referring to the high speeds at which Machamp can dole out its powerful punches.
Kairiky is a corruption of 怪力 kairiki (superhuman strength). It is worth noting that kairiki is the Japanese name of Strength.
Star Piece (100%)
For other sprites and images, please see Machamp images on the Bulbagarden Archives.
