Ghosts in the Pokémon world

Ghosts (Japanese: ゆうれい ghost) are disguised Pokémon, and in one case, the soul of a deceased Pokémon, that live in Lavender Town's Pokémon Tower.

In the games

The Marowak ghost as seen in Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen.

In Generation I and FireRed and LeafGreen, before getting a Silph Scope, several unidentified ghosts (in reality Gastly, Haunter and Cubone) appear in the Pokémon Tower. Another stronger ghost is revealed to be a mother Marowak, which haunts the tower as a result of its death at the hands of Team Rocket.

The identity of the ghosts can be revealed with an item called the Silph Scope; without the device, battling the ghosts is impossible. Whenever the player orders an attack against an unknown ghost, the player's Pokémon will be too scared to move. Instead of being attacked, the ghost will say "Get out…. Get out…." Before the battle against Marowak's ghost, a similar message appears, saying "Be gone… Intruders…"

In addition, ghosts cannot be caught without being identified first. If one tries to throw a Poké Ball at a ghost, it dodges, and the message comes up "It dodged the thrown Ball! This Pokémon can't be caught!". Even Master Balls fail to capture the ghosts. Although most ghosts can be captured with the help of the Silph Scope, the Marowak's ghost cannot, even if it is unmasked.

During the course of the game, the player must obtain the Silph Scope and battle the undead Marowak to calm its spirit. After the Rocket Grunts who killed it are defeated, Mr. Fuji will express his gratitude to the player.

Sprites

Literal ghost Sprites File:000G.png Image from Generation I Image from Generation III

In the anime

File:Literal ghost anime.png

Ghosts in The Ghost of Maiden's Peak

In the anime, a ghost of the same sort appeared briefly in The Tower of Terror. Later, a Haunter takes Ash's and Pikachu's souls out of their bodies after they have been struck by a chandelier. Here it is shown that ghosts can fly around and remain in the form they took while living; however, living beings cannot see them.

Other ghosts appeared in The Ghost of Maiden's Peak, including the titular character. A ghost girl was featured in Ghoul Daze!. Both of these ghosts had malicious intent, and were portrayed, in contrast to the Ghost Pokémon that Ash met in Lavender Town, as villains. The ghost of an Orange League champion was featured in A Shipful of Shivers.

Pokédex entries

Episode Pokémon Source Entry EP023 Ghost Ash's Pokédex Ghost Pokémon are in a vapor form. Their true nature is shrouded in mystery.

Trivia

• One of Missingno.'s forms in Generation I utilizes the ghost sprite.
• In Generation I, players can exploit a glitch to make the ghost reveal itself. In battle, simply check the stats of any Pokémon, then return to the battle. The ghost will turn into either a Gastly, Haunter, or Cubone. This has no other effect, though, and it still cannot be battled or captured.
• In Generation I, ghosts did not have a cry. In Generation III, ghosts emitted the cry of the Pokémon they would be after the Silph Scope was used.
• Despite being disguised, in Generation I, the Pokédex would still record seen data on the Pokémon it is under the disguise.
• In Generation I, the player can exploit a glitch to get past the mother Marowak without the Silph Scope. If the player encounters the ghost and uses a Poké Doll, they will be free to advance.
• In Generation I, if the player played the game in color, the ghost would have the same palette as the Pokémon the ghost disguise hides. This means it could have been seen with two different (legitimate) palettes: that of Gastly and Haunter, and that of Cubone and Marowak. If the ghost appeared due to a glitch, a third palette would be used.

In other languages

• Spanish: Ghost*

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