Gender

The gender (Japanese: 性別 sex) of a Pokémon is a concept introduced in Generation II, though touched upon in Generation I. In Gold and Silver Versions, most species of Pokémon were assigned a gender, male (Japanese: オス male) or female (Japanese: メス female); however, the genders of some species of Pokémon were left unknown (Japanese: 不明 unknown). This feature allowed for Pokémon breeding, as well as introducing the concept of a Pokémon Egg to the series. Gender makes no difference in the stats of a Pokémon after Generation II, unless the two Pokémon are a different species entirely, such as Nidoran.

In Pokémon Crystal, a choice of between a male (Japanese: 男性 male) and female (Japanese: 女性 female) player character became available for the first time. However, both men and women have been featured in the Pokémon games since Generation I.

Pokémon

Gender differences

Main article: List of Pokémon with gender differences

Generation IV premiered minimal differences in sprite between two Pokémon of the same species. For example, a male Raichu will have the full tail seen in previous games, while the female is missing the very tip of it. Generations V and VI would introduce Pokémon with more drastic differences in appearance.

The only Pokémon with gender differences that are not just aesthetic is Meowstic, which has different learnsets and Hidden Abilities depending on its gender. The male Meowstic has Prankster and the female Meowstic has Competitive as its Hidden Ability. Furthermore the male Meowstic learns mostly status moves, with all of its gender-exclusive moves being status moves, while at the same levels, the female Meowstic learns mostly special moves, with only one of its gender-exclusive moves, Me First, being a status move. Below are Meowstic's learnsets.

Lv.	Meowstic♂  Psychic	Meowstic♀  Psychic
1	Quick Guard	Stored Power
	Mean Look	Me First
	Helping Hand	Magical Leaf
	Scratch
	Leer
5	Covet
9	Confusion
13	Light Screen
17	Psybeam
19	Fake Out
25	Psyshock
28	Charm	Charge Beam
31	Miracle Eye	Shadow Ball
35	Reflect	Extrasensory
40	Psychic
43	Role Play
45	Imprison	Signal Beam
48	Sucker Punch
50	Misty Terrain	Future Sight
55	Quick Guard	Stored Power
Moves in bold are STAB. Moves in italics do no damage.

Single-gender Pokémon

Related species

The Nidoran family is a special case in terms of gender. Introduced in Generation I, before gender was known for all Pokémon, Nidoran♀ and Nidoran♂ are considered separate species of Pokémon and indeed have many differences, from appearance to moveset. However, all Nidoran Eggs have a 50/50 chance of hatching into either Nidoran♀ or Nidoran♂, confirming that they are related.

Male	Female
Nidoran♂	Nidoran♀
Nidorino	Nidorina
Nidoking	Nidoqueen

In a manner similar to Nidoran, Eggs produced by Illumise may hatch into Volbeat. While Latias and Latios are in the Undiscovered Group in the games, likely due to being Legendary Pokémon, Latias have produced Eggs containing Latios in the anime, confirming that they are similarly related.

Male	Female
Volbeat	Illumise
Latios	Latias

Gender-based evolutions

Some Pokémon may have different ways of evolving depending on their gender. These Pokémon may therefore have one or more evolutions that can only be a single gender.

Pre-evolution	→	Evolved
Kirlia	Male only → Dawn Stone	Gallade
	Either gender → Level 30+	Gardevoir
Snorunt	Female only → Dawn Stone	Froslass
	Either gender → Level 42+	Glalie
Burmy	Male only → Level 20+	Mothim
	Female only → Level 20+	Wormadam
Combee	Female only* → Level 21+	Vespiquen

Other single-gender Pokémon

The following is a list of all Pokémon that are either 100% male or 100% female and have not been mentioned in an above section. In particular, these Pokémon have no explicit relation to a Pokémon of the opposite gender through evolution or breeding.

Male Tyrogue Hitmonlee Hitmonchan Hitmontop Tauros Throh Sawk Rufflet Braviary Tornadus Thundurus Landorus

Female Happiny Chansey Blissey Kangaskhan Smoochum Jynx Miltank Cresselia Petilil Lilligant Vullaby Mandibuzz Flabébé Floette Florges

In battle

The Love Ball is more effective when catching Pokémon that are of the same^GSC/opposite^HGSS gender of the player's Pokémon.

The following moves are dependent on gender:

Gen	Move	Category	Contest	Power	Accuracy	PP	Range	Description
II	Attract	Status	Cute	000—	100100%	1515 (max 24)	Normal	If it is the opposite gender of the user, the target becomes infatuated and less likely to attack.
IV	Captivate	Status	Beautiful	000—	100100%	2020 (max 32)	Normal	If it is the opposite gender of the user, the target is charmed into harshly lowering its Sp. Atk stat.
All details are accurate to Generation VII games. For details that have changed between generations, please see an individual move's page. Target data assumes user is in the lower left.

The following Abilities are dependent on gender:

Gen	Ability	Description
III	Cute Charm	Contact with the Pokémon may cause infatuation.
IV	Rivalry	Deals more damage to a Pokémon of same gender.
All details are accurate to Generation VI games. For details that have changed between generations, please see an individual Ability's page.

In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky, a male Pokémon has increased critical hit ratio. A female Pokémon has increased evasion.

Humans

Main article: :Category:Characters by gender

In the games

Choosing to play as male or female in Pokémon Black and White

Starting in Pokémon Crystal, players were given the option of choosing to play as a boy or girl Trainer at the start of the game. Since then, every game in the main series has included that choice. Starting in Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, the opposite-gender player character can also be encountered in the game.

Some Trainer classes have male and female variants, such as Swimmers, while others appear to be counterparts, such as Campers and Picnickers. Others, such as Kimono Girls, have no opposite-gender counterpart.

Game	Male	Female
C	Ethan	Kris
R	Brendan	May
S
FR	Red	Leaf
LG
E	Brendan	May
D	Lucas	Dawn
P
Pt	Lucas	Dawn
HG	Ethan	Lyra
SS
B	Hilbert	Hilda
W
B2	Nate	Rosa
W2
X	Calem	Serena
Y
OR	Brendan	May
AS

In side games

Many side games in the Pokémon franchise allow the player to choose between a male or female player character as well.

Game	Male	Female
Pokémon Card GB2	Mark	Mint
Pokémon Ranger	Lunick	Solana
Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia	Kellyn	Kate
Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs	Ben	Summer
Pokémon Conquest	Hero	Heroine

In the anime

In Kanto, O-Hina Town hosts a female-exclusive tournament during the annual Princess Festival. In Kalos, Pokémon Performers are exclusively female, as only girls may participate in Pokémon Showcases.

Trivia

Nidoran♀ and Nidoran♂ show genders twice in Generation II, but only once in Generation III onward

• In Generation II, a Pokémon's gender was determined through its Attack IV. Due to this, a female Pokémon could never have a maximized Attack stat (unless they were a member of an all-female species, such as Smoochum), because female Pokémon were given the lower portion of the IV range. This also prevented female Pokémon of a species with a gender ratio of seven males to one female, such as starter Pokémon or Eevee, from being Shiny, due to that also being based partly on the Attack IV. From Generation III onward, neither of these traits are determined by IVs, allowing for Pokémon species with two genders to have females with maximized Attack and simultaneously retain their chances of being Shiny.
• Although its English and French names suggest that it is exclusively male, Mr. Mime may be of either gender. This is due to the fact that it was given its name prior to the introduction of gender to the series.
• Since Azurill has a different gender ratio than Marill and Azumarill, one in three female Azurill will be male after evolving into Marill, dependent on the personality value of the Azurill in question, though this no longer happens in Generation VI.
• In the international versions of Generation II, due to how the battlefield display is programmed, Nidoran♂ and Nidoran♀ have their gender icon shown twice, once in their name, and once after the level. This does not occur in the Japanese and Korean games, however, as the gender icon was present after all Pokémon's names due to the shorter character limit there. This was addressed in all later generations, which prevent the gender icon from showing up when an un-nicknamed Nidoran of either gender is on the field.
• In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky, the gender of a wild Pokémon in a dungeon is determined by the current number of floor the player stands on. If the number is odd, all wild Pokémon that can be male will be male; if it is even, all wild Pokémon that can be female will be female.

See also

• List of Pokémon by gender ratio

In other languages

Language Title Mandarin Chinese 性別 Xìngbié Danish Køn Dutch Geslacht Finnish Sukupuoli French Sexe German Geschlecht Italian Sesso Korean 성별 Seongbyeol Norwegian Kjønn Portuguese Sexo Russian Пол Pol Spanish Género Sexo Swedish Kön

Male Language Title Mandarin Chinese 雄性 Xióngxìng Finnish Uros French Mâle German Männlich Italian Maschio Korean 수컷 Sukeot Portuguese Macho Spanish Macho Vietnamese Đực

Female Language Title Mandarin Chinese 雌性 Cíxìng Finnish Naaras French Femelle German Weiblich Italian Femmina Korean 암컷 Amkeot Portuguese Fêmea Spanish Hembra Vietnamese Cái

Unknown Language Title Danish Ukendt Dutch Onbekend Finnish Tuntematon French Inconnu German Unbekannt Italian Sconosciuto Korean 불명 Bulmyeong Norwegian Ukjent Portuguese Desconhecido Russian Неизвестно Neizvestno Spanish Desconocido Swedish Okänt

External links

• Sex on Wikipedia
• Gender on Wikipedia

References

Pokémon individuality
Level • Stats • Friendship • Gender • Ability (Hidden Ability) • Nature • Characteristic Effort values • Individual values • Go Power • Effort level Condition • Performance • Affection • Memory

This game mechanic article is part of Project Games, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon games.