Legendary beasts

Raikou, Entei and Suicune

The legendary beasts is the collective term used to refer to the trio of Entei, Raikou, and Suicune.

History

A direct counterpart to the Generation I trio, the beasts find their master in Ho-Oh, who revived them when Ecruteak City's Brass Tower burned. They are said to embody the three events that happened to the tower: the lightning that struck the tower, the fire that burned in the tower, and the winds and rain that put it out. It is unknown whether these three were already a Suicune, Raikou, and Entei before they were revived, or whether Ho-oh actually reincarnated them from three non-legendary Pokémon. It is speculated, however, that the three that Ho-Oh created are not the only members of their respective species, but rather, are the original individuals that gave rise to their entire populations. In Celebi: Voice of the Forest, Professor Oak speaks about the Suicune in question as if the Pokémon was only part of a species. Pokédex entries also state that an Entei is born every time a volcano erupts, which clashes with the myth that Entei's roar can cause volcanoes to erupt. In Pokémon Ranger, an Entei statue was brought to life when the player completes all four challenges of the Jungle Relic. It was later captured by Gordor, along with the other two beasts, showing that Fiore might have its own trio of beasts. In Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs, the legendary beasts play an important role in the game's progress as well.

Of the three beasts, Suicune finds the most independence, appearing as a version mascot on the box art of Crystal, and taking an expanded role in that game. Suicune also appears in Celebi: Voice of the Forest as a protagonist, while Entei was the first of the three to have a movie appearance, in Spell of the Unown. Raikou was delegated to a more minor role, appearing as the central character in The Legend of Thunder!, where Jimmy, not Ash, encountered it. However, Misty's Togepi and a Houndoom did see the silhouette of a Raikou in Houndoom's Special Delivery. The Legendary Beasts made their first group appearance in the thirteenth movie, Zoroark: Master of Illusions, albeit in Shiny form. By transferring the Shiny legendary beasts given away by promotional events to Pokémon Black and White, players are able to battle and capture the Pokémon Zoroark, who will transform to a member of this trio during the battle.

Availability

The legendary beasts and Zoroark

The beasts are available in several of the Pokémon games. The three (reduced to just Raikou and Entei in Crystal) are available roaming Johto in Generation II and their remakes. Each has a base stat total of 580, divided among the stats as 115-115-100-90-85-75, in different orders.

They are also found in FireRed and LeafGreen, where one of the trio is roaming the Kanto region. The type of the one that happens to roam Kanto is the one that is super effective against the player's choice of a starter Pokémon. To be specific, Raikou appears to Trainers who chose Squirtle, Entei to those who took in Bulbasaur, and Suicune to those who chose to go with Charmander. They appear in the Generation III side series game, Pokémon Colosseum, where they are transformed into Shadow Pokémon by Cipher and owned by the admins Dakim, Venus, and Ein.

In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team, each of them is the boss of one of the three sacred fields, requiring the Clear Wing to enter this trial in the first place. After the player defeats Entei at Fiery Field the Clear Wing becomes the Red Wing, allowing access to Raikou's Lightning Field, defeating it turns the Red Wing into the Silver Wing, Suicune can then be fought at Northwind Field and defeating it will change the Silver Wing into the Rainbow Wing allowing access to Mt. Faraway so the player can battle the beast's trio master, Ho-Oh.

Similar movesets

Lv.	Raikou  Electric	Entei  Fire	Suicune  Water
Start	Bite
	Leer
8	ThunderShock	Ember	BubbleBeam
15	Roar		Rain Dance
22	Quick Attack	Fire Spin	Gust
29	Spark	Stomp	Aurora Beam
36	Reflect	Flamethrower	Mist
43	Crunch	Swagger	Mirror Coat
50	Thunder Fang	Fire Fang	Ice Fang
57	Discharge	Lava Plume	Tailwind
64	Extrasensory
71	Rain Dance	Fire Blast	Hydro Pump
78	Calm Mind
85	Thunder	Eruption	Blizzard
Moves in bold are STAB. Moves in italics do no damage.

Base stat comparison

Pokémon	Raikou	Entei	Suicune
HP	90	115	100
Attack	85	115	75
Defense	75	85	115
Sp. Atk	115	90	90
Sp. Def	100	75	115
Speed	115	100	85
Total	580	580	580

Trivia

The legendary beasts and Eusine, as seen in the intro of Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver

• Many refer to them as legendary cats or legendary dogs, depending on if they personally see feline or canine features in the individual Pokémon. However, they are more likely based on many different creatures and mythological deities, such as Raijū, the Chinese guardian lions, and the qilin. On top of that, they also seem to have been stylized to fit the classic idea of three jungle cats or jungle beasts-- the tiger, lion, and cheetah (or leopard).
• The legendary beasts are the first legendary Pokémon to get a special battle theme. In HeartGold and SoulSilver, each legendary beast was given their own remixed version of the original legendary beast music from Generation II. The three songs are similar, but use different instruments: Suicune's uses bells, Entei's uses an electric guitar, and Raikou's uses synthesized music.
• A representation of the legendary beasts was used as the set symbol for the Neo Revelation card expansion.
• Entei and Raikou are the only pure Fire-type and Electric-type legendary Pokémon, respectively.
• The initials for the three beasts are the same as the initials for the three Hoenn-based games: Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald. In addition, their battle theme exists in Ruby and Sapphire coding.