It is not known to evolve into or from any other Pokémon.
Ditto uses the move Transform to copy the opponent's moves, types, form, and non-HP stats. It can breed with any Pokémon other than the Pokémon in the Undiscovered group and itself, including male Pokémon and some genderless Pokémon, to produce eggs of the other's species.
In its natural state, Ditto is a purplish free-form shape blob with vestigial facial features. It also appears to have two vestigial, handless 'arms' protruding from its body. However, it can take the form of anything, even inanimate objects.
Ditto is capable of transforming into an exact replica of any other Pokémon (an ability that is also shared with Mew), or indeed any physical object. However, if Ditto tries to transform into something based on memory, it may get some of the details wrong. Ditto will also be unable to remain in a transformed state if it starts laughing. Frequently, a Ditto appears that can't transform its face. This fact is seen in the anime, as well as in Pokémon Snap (in which several Ditto are transformed into Bulbasaur), and Pokémon Diamond and Pearl (in which, during the Game Cornerslot machine game, a Clefairy with a Ditto's face will occasionally appear instead of a real Clefairy). In rare cases it will lack the ability to increase or decrease in size, thus rather than creating exact duplicates, it will create (usually) miniature versions. Ditto cannot mimic the strength of another Pokémon. Ditto's ability to breed with any non-legendary Pokémon is also useful for creating Pokémon eggs of rarer Pokémon that it may be difficult to get a mate for, such as the starter Pokémon.
Behavior
Ditto's primary defense mechanism is its ability to rearrange its cellular structure. This permits it to transform into essentially any other physical object. When two Ditto meet in the wild, they will attempt to transform into each other. This tendency makes Ditto a unique Pokémon in battle, as it will adapt the form and abilities of its foe. Ditto is best able to transform into something if it has a model to work from. Although Ditto can transform via memory, it has a tendency to forget important details, particularly with its foe's face.
Ditto live in very diverse habitats, the most common being caves and forested areas. However, Ditto are never far from civilization or people. There have even been sightings of Ditto in places such as the Pokémon Mansion. They have been documented living in Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh and Unova.
Ditto first appeared in Ditto's Mysterious Mansion. Duplica and her Ditto used to perform for people, but the two hadn't had an audience since people saw that Ditto couldn't change its face. Ditto fixed that problem near the end of the episode, when captured by Team Rocket.
Duplica found another Ditto sometime before Imitation Confrontation that she named Mini-Dit. This second Ditto could transform into an exact mirror image of anything, but it couldn't change its size.
Ditto, the Transform Pokémon. Ditto has the ability to reconstruct its entire cellular structure into whatever it sees.
In the manga
In The Electric Tale of Pikachu manga
Duplica and her Ditto are seen in The Electric Tale of Pikachu. Finding Ditto appealing, Misty decides to capture one of her own, but the plan is called off when Pikachu goes missing. Ditto also featured in a minicomic in which it transforms into Ash, harasses Misty and thereby getting Ash into a lot of pain.
Ditto is one of the members on Green's team. As a master of transformation, Green uses Ditto extensively in her schemes, such as morphing over her face to disguise her appearance (like when she infiltrated the Silph Co. building disguised as Sabrina), camouflaging into its background for subterfuge, as well as forming a protective shield with Green's umbrella.
Ditto is seen later used by Team Rocket, to lure Crystal and Eusine away from Suicune, and smother them when discovered. It was, however, defeated by Crystal's Hitmonchan, Hitmonee.
Ditto was originally intended to be one of the Pokémon randomly released from a Poké Ball. It would have transformed into a copy of the user's character and aided them in battle. However, processing problems forced its removal before the game's release. Ditto can be still be unlocked through the debug menu (which is only accessible through the use of Action Replay), though it does not do anything other than give 7-8% damage to those who touch it.
As for its official status, Ditto only appears as a random trophy and as a cameo in the Tournament Mode menu. In Winner Out or Loser Out tournaments, holding down L and R and pressing A will give the player a random character and color. The usual character image will instead be taken by a picture of Ditto.
Trophy information
Every Ditto has the ability to copy a Pokémon's entire cell structure in an instant and become its exact replica. They're terrible at remembering techniques, but when they use Transform, they temporarily learn all of their foe's moves. If a Ditto starts to laugh, it weakens and can't hold its transformation.
Game data
NPC appearances
Ditto in Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs
Pokémon Pinball: Ditto appears on the Red Table blocking the evolution cave, once the evolution arrows are lit, it moves out of the way, allowing the player to evolve one of the Pokémon they have captured.
Pokémon Trozei!: Ditto serves as a "wild card", meaning it can Trozei with any Pokémon and must be used to get rid of Jammer Balls. One will appear when a Trozei is made with more Pokémon than necessary and multiple appear at the beginning of a new round in Endless and Forever mode to clear out the remaining Pokémon.
Ditto rearranges its cell structure to transform itself into other shapes. However, if it tries to transform itself into something by relying on its memory, this Pokémon manages to get details wrong.
Ditto is the only Pokémon to date with a catch rate of 35. However, prior to Generation V, if Ditto transforms into another Pokémon, its catch rate will become that of the new Pokémon.
Ditto and Manaphy are the only Pokémon that are both able to breed yet unobtainable through breeding. Ditto, however, is the only one of the two that is not available at level 1 legally (legitimately the lowest level it is able to be is 10, in Generation II and its Generation IV remakes).
In Pokémon Snap, Ditto takes the form of Bulbasaur in the Cave stage. The player can cause them to return to their Ditto form by hitting them with an object. When the player takes their picture, Ditto has the same eyes when it is transformed as when it is not. This trait is shared by Duplica's Ditto in the anime, although it was understood that this was not natural. Ditto cards from the EX Delta SpeciesTCG expansion also have this trait.
Ditto is one of two Pokémon to have two different species-specific items associated with it, the other being Clamperl. Ditto's two associated items, the Metal Powder and Quick Powder, seem to be the same colors as Ditto's normal and Shiny forms, respectively.
In Pokémon Rumble, since Transform was not programmed into the game, Ditto can only know Struggle. Since PP does not exist in Rumble, this makes Ditto the only Pokémon in Rumble that can use Struggle.
Ditto is the most common Pokémon in Pokémon Trozei!, appearing in every area. This is due to its ability to transform, enabling the player a way to advance further if no links are available before Ditto appear.
In Generation II, Ditto's back sprite depicts its full body.
Ditto shares the move Transform with Mew, along with also sharing the same color, both Shiny and not, as well as having the same weight.
In Weird Al Yankovic's Polkamon, Ditto is mentioned twice.
It has the smallest movepool of all Pokémon, learning only one move, Transform, and being unable to learn any other moves through TMs, HMs, and Pokémon breeding (as it cannot breed). It shares this distinction with Unown; however, Ditto can potentially expand its movepool through the use of Transform.
Glitches
Index 000 post-capture
In Generation I, if the player manages to capture an 'M, an invisible wild Ditto will still be in battle with the player where 'M was before, and the battle will not end.
The primary method of the Mew glitch involves having a wild Ditto transform into the player's Pokémon, as this copies the Special stat, which is used to modify the species of Pokémon encountered.
Transform assumption glitch
In Generation I and II, any Pokémon that uses Transform is regarded as a Ditto in its new form; this means that if the player catches a Mew or a glitch Pokémon which has used the move Transform instead they will obtain a Ditto because a wild Mew cannot be legitimately encountered. This system was later changed in Generation III so that the event Mew on Faraway Island is not caught as Ditto if it uses Transform.
By trading any Shiny Pokémon to a Generation I game, having a wild Ditto transform into that Pokémon, then catching and trading the Ditto into a Generation II game, the Ditto will be Shiny.
In the sixth issue of Best Buy's @Gamer magazine, Game Freak developers Junichi Masuda and Ken Sugimori revealed that Ditto was originally based off of the iconic smiley face. Its eyes and mouth are exactly like ":)", which is an emoticon representing the smiley.
Additionally, Ditto strongly resembles an amoeba, a single-celled organism with no definite shape. This may emphasize its ability to alter its cellular composition. This could also explain why Ditto is unavailable through breeding, since single-celled organisms reproduce differently from multi-cellular plants and animals. It also could partially be based on an undifferentiated cell, a cell in the body that can change into any other cell by sampling it. It could also have been based on a blob or a rubber ball.
Name origin
A ditto is a substitute for repeating what was previously written or said. It was also a common name for copies of master documents created by mimeograph machines. Ditto's Japanese name is a combination of metamorph, monster, and possibly transformation. Alternatively, it came from the prefix 'meta-' (which means 'to encompass all', which Ditto's Transform move does do to Pokémon) and the word 'monster', bringing to mind a parallel of the suffix '-mon' - standing for monster.
This Pokémon article is part of Project Pokédex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each Pokémon species, as well as Pokémon groups and forms.
Metal Powder (100%)
Quick Powder (50%)
For other sprites and images, please see Ditto images on Bulbagarden Archives.
