Gender

Gender (Japanese: 性別 sex) is a characteristic of Pokémon and humans in the Pokémon world.

In Generation I games, Nidoran♀ and Nidoran♂ were the only Pokémon shown to have a gender. Starting in the Generation II games, most Pokémon have a gender (including Pokémon previously transferred from Generation I games): male (Japanese: オス male), female (Japanese: メス female) or non-binary (Japanese: 非バイナリの性別 not binary gender ); however, some species of Pokémon are gender unknown. The gender mechanic is fundamental to Pokémon breeding.

In the core series games, starting in Pokémon Crystal, the player can choose between a male (Japanese: 男性 male) or female (Japanese: 女性 female) player character. However, human men and women have appeared in all core series Pokémon games. Though only in the English versions of Pokémon GO, Blanche uniquely is the only human character not to have a specified gender.

Pokémon

In the core series

Determining gender

One factor that determines gender is each Pokémon species's gender ratio, which is approximately how likely a Pokémon is a specific gender instead of the other.

Generation II

In Generation II, a Pokémon's gender is determined based solely on its physical Attack IV when compared to its gender ratio. A Pokémon is female if its physical Attack IV is less than or equal to its species' gender ratio, otherwise it is male. For species that are exclusively one gender or gender unknown, the calculation based on the physical Attack IV is ignored.

Due to this calculation, it is impossible to obtain a female Pokémon with high physical Attack, unless the Pokémon is a member of an all-female species like Jynx or Chansey. Starter Pokémon and others with a gender ratio of seven males to one female suffer the most, with the maximum physical Attack IV for a female Pokémon of those species being 1.

Pokémon from the Generation I games are assigned a gender using the same process when transferred to the Generation II games, used in Pokémon Stadium 2, or transferred from the Virtual Console games to Pokémon Bank. As a result, a Pokémon maintains its gender when transferred between the Generation I and II games (even though the gender is not shown in the Generation I games, aside from Nidoran♀ and Nidoran♂).

Attack IV		Nominal ratio (♂:♀)	Frequency
Male	Female		Male	Female
N/A	N/A	Gender unknown
0-15	N/A	Male	100.0%	0.0%
2-15	0-1	7:1	87.5%	12.5%
4-15	0-3	3:1	75.0%	25.0%
8-15	0-7	1:1	50.0%	50.0%
12-15	0-11	1:3	25.0%	75.0%
N/A	0-15	Female	0.0%	100.0%

Example
For two Cyndaquil obtained from Professor Elm:

Pokémon	Gender	HP	Attack	Defense	Speed	Sp. Atk	Sp. Def
Cyndaquil A	♀	20	10	9	12	11	10
		13 (1101)	1 (0001)	3 (0011)	10 (1010)	9 (1001)
Cyndaquil B	♂	19	11	10	12	11	10
		6 (0110)	14 (1110)	7 (0111)	11 (1011)	2 (0010)

Generations III to V

00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000

From Generation III to Generation V, a Pokémon's gender is determined by the personality value's lowest eight digits (the lowest byte, highlighted in red above) of p in binary form. Mathematically, this can be derived by calculating p % 256. Below, this value will be referred to as p_gender.

In a Pokémon species' data structure, there is a value called the gender threshold, a byte with a value ranging from 0 to 255. With the exception of a few special cases, p_gender is compared to the gender threshold to determine if the Pokémon is male or female.

If the gender threshold is not a special value (0, 254, or 255), p_gender is compared to the gender threshold. If p_gender is greater than or equal to the gender threshold, the Pokémon is male, otherwise it is female. Because the comparison to determine gender is greater than or equal, Pokémon are slightly more likely to be male than they would be according to the ideal ratios.

If a species has a gender threshold of 255, all Pokémon of that species are gender unknown (such as Magnemite). If a species has a gender threshold of 254, it is a female-only species (such as Nidoran♀). If a species has a gender threshold of 0, it is a male-only species (such as Nidoran♂).

Gender threshold		Nominal ratio (♂:♀)	Frequency
Binary	Decimal		Male	Female
11111111	255	Gender unknown
11111110	254	Female	0.00%	100.00%
‭‭11100001‬	225	1:7	(No species)
10111111	191	1:3	25.39%	74.61%
01111111	127	1:1	50.39%	49.61%
00111111	63	3:1	75.39%	24.61%
00011111	31	7:1	87.89%	12.11%
00000000	0	Male	100.00%	0.00%

From Pokémon Emerald onwards, if a Pokémon with Cute Charm is in the first place in the party (even if fainted), there is a 66.7% chance that the game will force an encountered Pokémon to be the opposite gender to the Pokémon with Cute Charm if it can be that gender. This does not affect a swarming Pokémon species or Pokémon found in Hidden Grottos.

Generation VI onward

From Generation VI onward, the gender threshold is compared to a random number between 1 and 252 (inclusive) instead of p_gender (which is between 0 and 255); this causes Pokémon with a "1:1" gender ratio to actually be distributed according to the ideal ratio. All other Pokémon are more likely to be the more common gender than they would be according to their nominal ratio.

Gender threshold		Nominal ratio (♂:♀)	Frequency
Binary	Decimal		Male	Female
11111111	255	Gender unknown
11111110	254	Female	0.0%	100.00%
‭‭11100001‬	225	1:7	11.11%	88.89%
10111111	191	1:3	24.60%	75.40%
01111111	127	1:1	50.00%	50.00%
00111111	63	3:1	75.40%	24.60%
00011111	31	7:1	88.10%	11.90%
00000000	0	Male	100.00%	0.00%

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 two Pokémon with gender differences that are not just aesthetic are Meowstic and Indeedee, who have different learnsets and sets of Abilities depending on its gender.

Meowstic

The male Meowstic has Prankster and the female Meowstic has Competitive as its Hidden Ability. At certain levels, they learn different moves from one another: the male Meowstic learns status moves, while the female Meowstic learns special moves. In Generations VI and VII, female Meowstic learned one gender-exclusive status move, Me First.

Meowstic Male  Psychic  Keen Eye or Infiltrator Hidden: Prankster HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 74 48 76 83 81 104

Meowstic Female  Psychic  Keen Eye or Infiltrator Hidden: Competitive HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 74 48 76 83 81 104

Lv.	Meowstic♂  Psychic	Meowstic♀  Psychic
1	Mean Look	Magical Leaf
	Scratch
	Leer
	Fake Out
	Disarming Voice
9	Confusion
12	Helping Hand	Stored Power
15	Charm	Charge Beam
18	Covet
21	Psybeam
24	Sucker Punch
29	Role Play
34	Light Screen
	Reflect
39	Psyshock
44	Imprison	Extrasensory
49	Quick Guard	Shadow Ball
54	Psychic
59	Misty Terrain	Future Sight
Moves in bold are STAB. Moves in italics do no damage.

Indeedee

Indeedee differs more drastically by gender than Meowstic, with male and female Indeedee having slightly different base stats as well as learnsets. Male Indeedee have higher Attack, Special Attack, and Speed, while female Indeedee have higher Defense, Special Defense, and HP. While male Indeedee can learn the TM and TR moves Power Swap, Trick Room, Magic Room, Wonder Room, Tri Attack, and Encore, female Indeedee can learn Light Screen, Reflect, Safeguard, Guard Swap, and Baton Pass. The Egg Move Extrasensory is exclusive to male Indeedee while the Egg Moves Psycho Shift and Heal Pulse are exclusive to female Indeedee.

Indeedee Male  Psychic  Normal  Inner Focus or Synchronize Hidden: Psychic Surge HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 60 65 55 105 95 95

Indeedee Female  Psychic  Normal  Own Tempo or Synchronize Hidden: Psychic Surge HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 70 55 65 95 105 85

Lv.	Indeedee♂  Psychic  Normal	Indeedee♀  Psychic  Normal
1	Stored Power
	Play Nice
5	Encore	Baton Pass
10	Disarming Voice
15	Psybeam
20	Helping Hand
25	After You	Follow Me
30	Aromatherapy
35	Psychic
40	Calm Mind
45	Power Split	Guard Split
50	Psychic Terrain
55	Last Resort	Healing Wish
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, Nidoran Eggs have a 50/50 chance of hatching into either Nidoran♀ or Nidoran♂.

Female

Nidoran♀  Poison  Poison Point or Rivalry Hidden: Hustle HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 55 47 52 40 40 41

Nidorina  Poison  Poison Point or Rivalry Hidden: Hustle HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 70 62 67 55 55 56

Nidoqueen  Poison  Ground  Poison Point or Rivalry Hidden: Sheer Force HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 90 92 87 75 85 76

Male

Nidoran♂  Poison  Poison Point or Rivalry Hidden: Hustle HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 46 57 40 40 40 50

Nidorino  Poison  Poison Point or Rivalry Hidden: Hustle HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 61 72 57 55 55 65

Nidoking  Poison  Ground  Poison Point or Rivalry Hidden: Sheer Force HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 81 102 77 85 75 85

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.

Female

Illumise  Bug  Illuminate or Swarm Hidden: Prankster HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 65 47 75 73 85 85

Latias  Dragon  Psychic  Levitate HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 80 80 90 110 130 110

Latias Mega Evolution  Dragon  Psychic  Levitate HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 80 100 120 140 150 110

Male

Volbeat  Bug  Oblivious or Tinted Lens Hidden: Prankster HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 65 73 75 47 85 85

Latios  Dragon  Psychic  Levitate HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 80 90 80 130 110 110

Latios Mega Evolution  Dragon  Psychic  Levitate HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 80 130 100 160 120 110

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	Method	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 (Male Combee never evolve) → Level 21+	Vespiquen
Salandit	Female only (Male Salandit never evolve) → Level 33+	Salazzle

Eviolite will always work on Combee and Salandit, regardless of their gender and whether they are able to evolve.

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, although some of them may have a counterpart such as with Braviary and Mandibuzz.

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

Female Happiny Chansey Blissey Kangaskhan Smoochum Jynx Miltank Cresselia Petilil Lilligant Vullaby Mandibuzz Flabébé Floette Florges Bounsweet Steenee Tsareena Hatenna Hattrem Hatterene Milcery Alcremie

Single-gender forms

Certain forms of Pokémon are exclusively one gender. These forms are often based on established Pokémon characters. None of the Pokémon with these forms can breed.

Male Pikachu in a cap Battle Bond/Ash- Greninja

Female File:Spr 6o 025 C.png Cosplay Pikachu Spiky-eared Pichu

In battle

The Love Ball is more effective when catching Pokémon that are of the opposite (or same in Generation II, due to a programming error) 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	Cute	000—	100100%	2020 (max 32)	Many Others	If any opposing Pokémon is the opposite gender of the user, it is charmed, which harshly lowers its Sp. Atk stat.
VIII	G-Max Cuddle	Physical		VariesVaries	000—%	011 (max 1)	Normal	Deals damage and all opponents of the opposite gender of the user become infatuated.
VIII	G-Max Cuddle	Special		VariesVaries	000—%	011 (max 1)	Normal	Deals damage and all opponents of the opposite gender of the user become infatuated.
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	Becomes competitive and deals more damage to Pokémon of the same gender, but deals less to Pokémon of the opposite gender.
All details are accurate to Generation VII games. For details that have changed between generations, please see an individual Ability's page.

In side series games

Pokémon Stadium 2

Pokémon Stadium 2 may connect to Generation I or Generation II core series games via the Transfer Pak, and is compatible with Pokémon genders. While Generation I games don't identify Pokémon genders (other than Nidoran♀ and Nidoran♂), the gender displayed in Pokémon Stadium 2 is the same as in the core series Generation II games, which is determined by the Pokémon's physical Attack IV when compared to its gender ratio.

For instance, a Pikachu from Pokémon Red, Blue, or Yellow is shown as either male or female in Pokémon Stadium 2.

In spin-off games

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series

Red and Blue Rescue Team

In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team, there is no gender displayed for any Pokémon other than Nidoran♀ and Nidoran♂. There are no gender-based game mechanics in battle, therefore Attract and Cute Charm are able to infatuate any opponent.

Explorers of Time, Darkness, and Sky

In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky, male Pokémon, as well as gender-unknown Pokémon (such as Magnemite), have a 1.5x bonus applied to move's base critical rate before other modifiers are applied, and at the same time all moves that target them have 263/256 (~1.03x) accuracy multiplier if no other accuracy or evasion modifiers are in effect. Barring those that are gender-locked, Pokémon encountered on odd dungeon floors will always be male, and Pokémon encountered on even floors will always be female.

In the anime

Prior to the introduction of the gender mechanic in the games, some Pokémon were already shown to be male or female. For instance, Meowth from the Team Rocket trio is male, while Meowzie is female.

Humans

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

Main article: :Category:Characters by gender

In the games

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.

Certain in-game events may differ depending on the player character's gender. For example, in Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, Curtis will be encountered if the player is female, and Yancy if the player is male. In Pokémon X and Y and Generation VII, availability of different clothing is gender-specific. Also, only the female player character has the option of changing their lip color using lipstick stored in a Makeup Bag in Generation VII.

Outside of battle facilities, the gender of a non-playable character often determines the default gender of their Pokémon. If the Pokémon's species has an even 1:1 gender ratio, then its gender will match its Trainer's; if the gender ratio is skewed, then the more common gender of the species will be used. Prior to Generation VII, Trainer classes for Double Battles are treated as male, even if both Trainers are female.

For some Trainers, especially Gym Leaders and the Elite Four since Generation V, the default genders have been overridden to give their teams a more balanced gender distribution. Oddly, the Elite Four in FireRed and LeafGreen and Gym Leaders in Emerald all use male-dominant teams in rematches, even though the female Trainers use all-female teams in their initial battles. In HeartGold and SoulSilver, Bugsy uses all-female teams despite being male.

Game	RGBY	FRLG	GS	C	HGSS	RS	E	ORAS	DP	Pt	BDSP
Male
	Red		Ethan			Brendan			Lucas
Female	N/A		N/A
		Leaf		Kris	Lyra	May			Dawn
	BW	B2W2	XY	SM	USUM	PE	SwSh	LA
Male
	Hilbert	Nate	Calem	Elio		Chase	Victor	Rei
Female
	Hilda	Rosa	Serena	Selene		Elaine	Gloria	Akari

In the side games

Pokémon Stadium series

In Pokémon Stadium 2, the player character is usually represented by a nameless, faceless boy, who previously appeared in the original English release. If the player is using a Pokémon Crystal Game Pak, however, the boy's portrait is exchanged for a girl's.

Game	Stadium 2
Male
Female

Pokémon HOME

This article is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this article to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Needs the Crystal, FRLG, Emerald, Platinum, HGSS, and B2W2 sprites that were added in an update

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The player can select an avatar from the overworld sprites of eight of the core series protagonists. The gender of the avatar is stored with the Original Trainer with any gifts received.

Game	HOME
Male
Female

In spin-off games

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

Game	Card GB2	Ranger	Ranger SoA	Ranger GS	Battle Revolution	Conquest	GO	Masters EX
Male
	Mark	Lunick	Kellyn	Ben	Nate	Hero	N/A	Scottie
Female
	Mint	Solana	Kate	Summer	Cyndy	Heroine	N/A	Bettie

In the anime

In Kanto, O-Hina Town hosts a female-exclusive tournament during the annual Princess Festival. Porta Vista also hosts a beauty pageant for women only, known as the Beach Beauty and Pokémon Costume Contest. 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

• Several Pokémon beside Nidoran were mentioned to have genders in Generation I games, prior to the introduction of the gender mechanic:
  • A Beauty in Route 13 asks "I wonder which is stronger, male or female Pokémon?"
  • In the French version, one of the Pokémon Mansion journals reads "Mew is now a dad (or a mom?). The newborn was named Mewtwo." (French: Mew est papa (ou maman?). Le petit fut baptisé Mewtwo.)
  • Some early Pokédex entries specifically mention female Kangaskhan. ("The female raises its offspring in a pouch on its belly.", from Japanese Pokémon Red and Green, as well as FireRed; "The female raises its young in its belly pouch for around three years.", from Japanese Pokémon Stadium, as well as Pokémon Stadium) This may imply that there are male Kangaskhan as well, although they are not seen in Pokémon media.
  • Seaking's Pokédex entry from Pokémon Yellow mentions male Seaking. However, this game was released after the Pokémon Gold and Silver Spaceworld '97 demo, which already had Pokémon with genders.
• 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. Because of this, their Hidden Power is always a physical type. 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; however, its name predates the introduction of gender to the series.
• Since Azurill has a different gender ratio than Marill and Azumarill, one in three female Azurill used to become male after evolving into Marill, dependent on the personality value of the Azurill in question, though this no longer happens since 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.
• One non-player character, Beauty Nova in Pokémon X and Y, is implied to be transgender. She says that she was reborn as a Beauty after originally being a Black Belt (a male-only Trainer class); in the Japanese versions, she credits this transformation to medical science.
• Despite being treated as gender-unknown Pokémon, Solgaleo and Lunala are described as being the male and female final forms of Cosmog, respectively.

In other languages

Language Title Chinese Cantonese 性別 Singbiht Mandarin 性別 / 性别 Xìngbié Danish Køn Dutch Geslacht Finnish Sukupuoli French Sexe German Geschlecht Greek Φύλο Fýlo Hebrew מין Min Indonesian Jenis Kelamin Italian Sesso Korean 성별 Seongbyeol Malaysian Jantina Norwegian Kjønn Polish Płeć Portuguese Sexo Russian Пол Pol Spanish Sexo Género Swedish Kön Thai เพศ Phet Turkish Cinsiyet Vietnamese Giới tính

Male

Language Title Chinese Cantonese 雄性 Hùhngsing Mandarin 雄性 Xióngxìng Danish Han Finnish Uros French Mâle German Männlich Hebrew זכר Zakhar Indonesian Jantan Italian Maschio Korean 수컷 Sukeot Malaysian Jantan Norwegian Hann* Mannlig* Polish Samiec Portuguese Brazil Macho Gênero Masculino (XY126) Portugal Macho Spanish Macho Swedish Manlig Thai ตัวผู้ Tua phu Turkish Erkek Vietnamese Đực

Female

Language Title Chinese Cantonese 雌性 Chīsing Mandarin 雌性 Cīxìng / Cíxìng Danish Hun Finnish Naaras French Femelle German Weiblich Hebrew נקבה Nekeva Indonesian Betina Italian Femmina Korean 암컷 Amkeot Malaysian Betina Norwegian Hunn* Kvinnelig* Polish Samiczka Portuguese Fêmea Spanish Hembra Swedish Kvinnlig Thai ตัวเมีย Tua mia Turkish Dişi Vietnamese Cái

See also

• List of Pokémon by gender ratio

External links

• Sex on Wikipedia
• Gender on Wikipedia

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.