Pokémon category
In a Pokémon's Pokédex entry, the category[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] (Japanese: 分類 classification) is a name which identifies the Pokémon based on one of its defining biological characteristics. Most often, the defining traits are part of the Pokémon’s physiology, special abilities, or behavior. It was previously also known as species.[9][10][11][12]
Because categories reference real-world animals, they may be viewed as metatextual clues about the inspiration for Pokémon, instead of in-universe data.
Before Generation III, the category was shown by just seeing the Pokémon, rather than upon catching it.
In Pokémon games prior to Generation III, the character limit for a category name was ten characters. This has since increased from Generation III onwards, with the longest English category name being observed to be thirteen characters long. In other languages, the longest category name is Pachirisu's German category "Elektrohörnchen" which is 15 characters long. This includes spaces but does not include "Pokémon".
List of categories
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Trivia
- Several Pokémon have had their categories altered between generations. This is primarily due to character limitations in earlier Pokémon games. Squirtle, as an example, was originally the "TinyTurtle Pokémon". It was later listed as the "Tiny Turtle Pokémon".
- It is likely that it was always intended for most of these Pokémon to have longer categories, as the TCG cards for those Pokémon used those longer categories in their info boxes. For example, Squirtle was a "Tiny Turtle Pokémon" and Meowth was a "Scratch Cat Pokémon" since their very first cards in Base Set. On the other hand, Celebi was known as a "Timetravel Pokémon" on its TCG cards until Triumphant, when its category was altered to "Time Travel Pokémon".
- The categories present in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen are cut off in early English releases of the games, most specifically those made up of more than one word with a space in between. This causes Pokémon like Pidgey to be listed as "Tiny Pokémon" rather than "Tiny Bird Pokémon". Internal game data lists the category the same as it appears in Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald and other games, indicating a glitch in the Pokédex where a blank space is confused for the terminating byte for the name. This was addressed in later releases of the game.
- The previous term, "species", should not be confused with a Pokémon species, since several different Pokémon can be identified by the same category in the Pokédex, no matter how distantly related. This term should also not be confused with the real world definition of species.
- Eight species of Pokémon are known as the Dragon Pokémon, making it the category with the most Pokémon species.
- Deoxys is the only Pokémon whose Japanese category name is written with characters from a foreign alphabet.
- In English, the category "Fox Pokémon" is shared by Vulpix, Fennekin, Nickit, and their evolutions. In Japanese, the category for Vulpix and Nickit's evolutionary lines is written in hiragana (きつねポケモン Kitsune Pokémon), while the category for Fennekin and its evolutions is written in katakana (キツネポケモン Kitsune Pokémon).
- Similarly, Regigigas and Eternatus have very similar category names in Japanese, with the only difference being in how they're written: Regigigas's category name is in hiragana (きょだいポケモン), while Eternatus's category name is in katakana (キョダイポケモン). In either case, the category name is pronounced the same: Kyodai Pokémon.
- Wimpod and Golisopod's categories in Japanese comprise a pun: the kana (そうこうポケモン Sōkō Pokémon) can be interpreted as either 倉皇 (bustle or hurry) or 装甲 (armored).
- Growlithe, Ponyta, Rapidash, Voltorb, Electrode, Mr. Mime, Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Typhlosion, Slowking, Lilligant, Darmanitan, Zorua, Zoroark, Braviary, Sliggoo and Goodra all have regional forms with different categories to their regular forms.
- Basculin, Hoopa and Calyrex are the only Pokémon with multiple categories that lack a regional form, both of which are from their respective form differences.
In other languages
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See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time, Darkness, and Sky
- ↑ In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity
- ↑ In Pokédex 3D Pro
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 On the official Pokémon Black and White site
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 On the official Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire site
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 On the official Pokémon Sun and Moon site
- ↑ 7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 7.10 7.11 On the Pokémon.com Pokédex
- ↑ In Camp Pokémon
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 9.4 9.5 On the official Pokémon Black and White 2 site
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 10.3 10.4 10.5 On the official Pokémon X and Y site
- ↑ In Pokémon Wave Hello
- ↑ Pokémon.com Pokédex (archive)
- ↑ Official Nintendo Hong Kong Pokémon Sun and Moon site
- ↑ Official Nintendo Hong Kong Pokémon Sun and Moon site
- ↑ Pokémon.com Pokédex (Dutch; archive)
- ↑ Pokémon.com Pokédex (French; archive)
- ↑ Pokémon.com Pokédex (German; archive)
- ↑ Pokémon.com Pokédex (Italian; archive)
- ↑ Pokémon Korea Pokédex (Korean)
- ↑ Pokémon.com Pokédex (Brazillian Portuguese; 2013 archive)
- ↑ Pokémon.com Pokédex (Brazillian Portuguese; 2016 archive)
- ↑ https://www.nintendo.ru/-/Nintendo-3DS/Pokemon-Sun-1092368.html#Pok_mon
- ↑ Pokémon.com Pokédex (Spanish; archive)