Unnecessary facts about Pokemon

Pokemon is such a deeply fascinating, if bizarre, franchise. Not only does it consist of more than 30 different main games (not counting spin-offs and other media such as anime or TGC), but it also focuses heavily on its huge collection of more than 1025 fictional creatures that players can capture, befriend, train and make them face each other in battle.

Due to its massive scale and long duration, Pokemon the franchise is filled to the brim with interesting tidbits, most of which don't really serve any purpose. There are a few facts that are completely useless from a game perspective, and yet are always fascinating to learn and spread. Hence the following ten Pokemon facts are perfect examples of this bizarre phenomenon.

Some Pokemon names are palindromes

Amazing fact that connects Ho-Oh, Eevee and Girafarig

For those who don't know, a palindrome is a word that reads the same backwards or forwards, and among the more than 1,000 Pokémon collections in the series, there are only five whose names fall into this oddly specific category: Eevee, Ho-Oh, giraffe, Alomomolaand Farigiraf.

While their unique names make these Pokemon stand out a lot more, there's only one where it makes a lot of sense: Girafarig. Since he has two heads, one on his neck and one on his tail, he is always facing his opponents, regardless of the direction he is actually facing. Girafarig's Generation Nine evolution, Farigiraf, follows the same naming convention but is slightly different as its second head covers and protects the first like a hoodie.

Some Pokemon can actually evolve

But only in game, never in game

Everyone is familiar with the concept of Pokémon evolution, a transformation that changes a Pokémon's biology while making it stronger and giving it additional properties (like a new type, new ability, etc.). Evolution has been permanent and irreversible since the beginning of the franchise, but strangely there are a few notable exceptions.

While none of the Pokémon can revert to their previous form in the game, five of them are technically able to transfer (according to their Pokedex entries): Slow bro and Slowdown can become a Slowpok if a Tail-biting Shellder falls on it. If one of ExeggutorSix heads fall from his tree-like body and become the new Exeggcute. Vanillux he can live on even if he loses one head, which would essentially turn him back into Vanilish. From Silvally is an artificial Pokemon that only evolves when its helmet is removed, and can revert to Type: Null if someone puts it back. Finally, it is said that at the very end of a Melmetal's lifespan, it will spread metal shards that will transform back into Meltan.

One Pokemon has over 4 billion variations

No two spins are the same

Pokemon fans are always trying to catch unique Pokémon variants, such as shiny ones or those with forms that were only distributed through events. However, there is one species that stands out for having an absurd amount of variations, even if the changes are purely aesthetic and have no in-game meaning.

Introduced in the third generation, Locker is a normal-type Pokémon whose spots change depending on each individual's personality value, meaning it has over 4.29 billion possible variations. As a result of this bizarre condition, each Spinda has its own spot design that makes it look completely different from the others, making this Pokemon a bit more interesting to find and catch in games (although the fact that it's ridiculously weak in battle doesn't help much).

Archeops' Base Stat Total holds a fascinating secret

Learning the Dewey Decimal System with Pokemon

Most of the time, a Pokemon's base stat seems to be an arbitrary number born from the sum of all of its individual stats. However, one of them hides a stunning little thing that makes it look like the designers at Game Freak gave it that particular number on purpose.

archeops total base stat is 567, which strangely matches the number of feathered dinosaurs in Dewey Decimal System (library classification system created to organize books): 567.9. Since Archeops is based on Archeopteryx, a feathered dinosaur believed to be the “ancestor of all birds”, it is very likely that this was an intentional reference.

Toxel is technically a small Pokemon

First introduced since the fourth generation (13 years ago)

A common misconception in Pokemon the fanbase believes that the only Pokémon that falls into the category baby Pokemon are pre-evolutions that were introduced after their respective evolved forms such as Pichu, Elekid, Magby or Bonsly. However, this couldn't be further from the truth as various baby Pokemon were introduced in the same generation as their evolutions, such as Togepi and Riolu.

The only creatures that fall into this specific category are those that cannot breed but evolve into a Pokémon that can. However, it is strange that Game Freak decided to stop featuring children after the fourth generation, but made a single exception in the eighth generation: Toxelthe pre-evolved form of Toxtricity, is a Baby Pokémon. This is one of the many reasons why fans believe that Toxtricity is meant to be Lucario's Galarian equivalent.

Cetitan has the longest cry of any pokemon

This title was held by Jynx for nine generations

The idea that Pokémon are only able to say their names in reality only applies to the anime, as in the original games they have distinct, animalistic cries instead. For more than 26 years, he held the record for longest crying spell in a series Jynxwhose characteristic sound was approximately 3 seconds long.

Unfortunately for Jynx, she lost that title in 2022 with the release Pokemon Scarlet and Violetwhich introduced Cetitan. The Terra Whale Pokémon's cry is exactly 4.007 seconds long, making it now the longest in the series. It's strange that both Jynx and Cetitan are ice-type pokemon.

Beheeyem can learn steel wings despite having no visible wings

Bizarre distribution of moves, probably caused by a programming oversight

Game Freak almost always tries to make some sense when it comes to deciding which Pokemon learns which moves, but there are exceptions, the biggest of which is undoubtedly By Behey and movement Steel wing. Despite having no visible wings or being in any way related to Steel, this Psychic-type alien Pokemon has been able to learn this damaging move since generation six.

There's a reasonable explanation for this quirk, though it's just fan speculation: Back in Gen 5, TM051 was Ally Switch, a Psychic-Type status move that makes sense for Beheye to learn. However, TM051 was changed to Steel Wing in Generation Six, meaning that Game Freak most likely forgot to remove said TM from Pokemon's lore. Unfortunately, since Steel Wing is a physical attack and Beheeyem's Attack stat is quite low, there is no context in which this move can be even remotely useful.

Paradox “Umbreon + Synchronoise”.

The Most Useless Move + Pokemon Combo in the Franchise

That cannot be denied Synchronous noise is one of the weirdest and most nonsensical moves in the entire franchise. This is a psychic-type damage move that only hits opponents who share at least one type with the user, but since most types resist themselves, there are few (extremely specific) cases where using Synchronoise can actually produce effective results in battle.

It's weird that Eevee can learn Synchronoise through breeding, that is Umbreon he is also able to learn it. There's one big problem, though: Dark-type Pokémon are completely immune to Psychic-type moves, meaning that Synchronoise is unable to deal damage to any opponent that shares this type with Umbreon. While it makes a bit more sense for some other Eevelutions to learn this move, it's still one of the most confusing (and admittedly funny) decisions in the entire franchise.

What would happen if a Pokemon could have all 18 types?

Oddly enough, it would only be weak for a rock type

The types are practically what define the whole Pokemon franchise, as each Pokemon can have one or two at a time, which determines their respective weaknesses. With more than 18 types in total, there are a large number of different matchups that make these games even more strategic and engaging.

Since the type of matchups can be calculated using math and logic, at one point, some Pokemon fans seemed to be asking themselves: what would happen if a Pokemon could hypothetically have all 18 types at once? What would it be weak to? Surprisingly, the answer is Rock type, because of how matchups work in this franchise. Another fun fact is that an impossible Pokemon that has all types will not be affected by any condition (like paralysis, burn, or poison), with the only exception being sleep (since no type is immune to the sleep condition).

Pokémon Champions' Female Gallade

The latest game had a bug that fans were quick to love

Gallade is one of the many Pokemon that can only be male, as it evolves exclusively from a male Kirlie. However, the newest entry in the franchise, Battle Simulator Pokemon Champions, had a weird bug at launch: in one of the NPC tutorials he uses a female Gallade, which should be technically impossible.

This so-called “transgender Gallade” quickly became a fan favorite, especially among those who are part of the LGBTQ+ community. Unfortunately it was eventually returned Champions' 1.0.3. Update and the result is that same Gallade is now male. Regardless of this sudden change, Gallade now remains one of the biggest LGBTQ+ icons of the franchise, right next to Azurill, a Pokémon that previously had a 25% chance to change gender when evolving in the third, fourth, and fifth generations.