Palkia is a light purple theropod-like Pokémon with stripes and markings of a darker shade and gray underarms and waist. It has round purple-striped plates on its shoulder area, where two pink pearls lie encrusted with a gray rim encircling them and fins in their back. Palkia’s arms have extended formations resembling gauntlets and a purple band around each wrist. Palkia has a long neck, a pointed white crest on the top of its head that extends to its wings, two strong horn-like tusks on the sides of its jaw, and a powerful tail. As seen in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness, Palkia travels by creating a large yellow sphere from its two pearls, then using it to fly very fast.
Palkia has the ability to warp space, though it was said to create alternate realities as well. Palkia lives in a different dimension, making its behavior nearly impossible to study. However, Palkia has been seen in violent conflicts with its counterpart, Dialga. It has been known to be very protective of its home as well. Palkia is the only known Pokémon that can learn Spacial Rend.
Palkia, along with Dialga, was summoned by Cyrus in order to create a new world. With the combined efforts of Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum, the two Pokémon were stopped. The same Palkia would later appear in the Platinum and HeartGold & SoulSilver chapters
In the Arceus and the Jewel of Life manga
In the Arceus and the Jewel of Life manga adaptation, Palkia, along with the members of its trio, was summoned by Sheena to help Ash and his friends. Palkia soon engaged in a battle with the other members of its trio with Arceus.
Palkia occasionally appears on the Spear Pillar stage as one of three Pokémon that controls it. It only appears on the stage when the ground on the upper levels have a purple tinge to them. Unlike Dialga and Cresselia, it'll use its powers to distort the stage however possible. Some examples include tilting the stage, turning the stage completely upside down and reversing the screen itself (the last two will cause the movement controls to be reversed temporarily). It often shoot beams in the cave below, dealing a lot of damage to the players that get caught in the blast.
Trophy Information
"A Spatial Pokémon. In the Sinnoh region, this Pokémon has been revered for many generations, much like Dialga. Dialga warps time, but Palkia has control over space. It lives between parallel dimensions and is known for its power, rumored to be able to warp space. It can use Spacial Rend to rip through the very space an enemy resides in, damaging the foe at the same time. It is Pearl's mascot."
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U
Palkia is set to appear as a Pokémon released from a Poké Ball. It will use Spacial Rend, which will flip the stage for a time, once sent out. Other information is not known at this time.
Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia: Palkia appears as a bonus boss during one of the Ranger Net extra missions. Palkia was injured from a battle with Dialga and entered Hippowdon Temple. In its pain, it warped the space of the Almia region and caused all of the locations of Almia to be shuffled together.
Pokédex entries
This Pokémon was unavailable prior to Generation IV.
Palkia has the highest base stat total of all Water-type Pokémon.
The gems on Palkia's shoulders resemble Pale Spheres.
Dialga, Palkia and Giratina are the only legendary Pokémon to be met at a level that is not divisible by 5, Dialga appearing at level 47 in Diamond, Palkia appearing at level 47 in Pearl, and Giratina appearing at level 47 in the Distortion World encounter in Platinum.
Palkia, along with Dialga, may be based on the Shinto legend of Izanami and Izanagi, who are said to have created one island with a spear, erected a pillar on it, and from there created the islands of Japan. Appearance-wise, Palkia is likely based after a European dragon combined with a pearl. Its appearance may also be derived from the Plateosaurus or other bipedal dinosaurs such as Oviraptor or Gigantoraptor due to its head crest and reminiscent body form.
Name origin
Palkia is derived from the Japanese spelling of pearl, パール pāru.