It is currently the final Pokémon in the National Pokédex as of Generation IV. Like Darkrai and Shaymin before it, Arceus was not officially recognized by Nintendo until February, 2009, the year of its debut movie. It was later revealed by the official site on August 3rd, 2009.
Arceus is also known as "The Original One," as it is said that it created Sinnoh, and possibly the entire Pokémon universe, along with the lake guardians and dragon trio. The only legitimate way to get Arceus is with the Azure Flute, which has yet to be distributed officially, or through a Nintendo event.
Arceus is an equine being similar to a Qilin or Centaur. Its body is white with a gray, vertically-striated underside, the pattern of which has similar recurrences on the underside of Arceus's mane, tail, and face, and Arceus's four pointed feet are tipped with gold hooves. Its mane is quite long, jutting away from its head, and its face is gray, with green eyes and red pupils, and a green circular pattern below its eyes. Arceus also has a streak of gold coloration on its head, and ears that point upward. Its neck is fairly long, with two pairs of extrusions to the sides, and a flap-like feature on the neck's underside that is colored white like much of the body. It also has a golden cross-like wheel attached to its body by its round abdomen, which changes color along with its eyes and hooves based on Arceus's current type. The wheel also has four jewels attached to it. The pattern of striated gray of Arceus's underbelly resumes past Arceus's waist, the underside of Arceus's limbs also being gray in coloration, and with extrusions at the tops of the legs. Arceus's tail is fairly like its mane in shape and coloration.
Gender differences
Arceus is a genderless species.
Special abilities
File:Arceus Formes.gifAn animation displaying Arceus's different colorings while holding plates
Arceus is multifarious; it can change forms and types with the use of the special plates.
Arceus is the only known Pokémon who can learn Judgment outside of Sketch or Transform. Arceus can also use many attacks of various types, but to a lesser extent than Smeargle or Mew. Arceus is also the only non-Dragon-type Pokémon other than Smeargle who can learn Draco Meteor, although it must become a Template:Type2 (by holding a Draco Plate) in order to learn it.
According to the anime, its power can also bring back things that it once destroyed or make certain things to vanish into thin air. Arceus also has the ability to halt time.
Behavior
While normally a kind, heroic and benevolent Pokémon, Arceus does not suffer fools gladly, and will attack in a violent rampage if betrayed or deceived. It also holds long grudges if angered.
Arceus made its debut in Arceus and the Jewel of Life. It was angry at the people of Michina Town for Damos's unwitting betrayal of it in ancient times, and so attempted to destroy the land. When Ash and his friends are teleported by Dialga to ancient times, they directly influence the event, changing the future for the better so that Arceus will stop its destruction.
In Battle Finale of Legend!, although Arceus is neither seen nor named, the Red Chain is said to contain the power of 'The Original One'. Using the Red Chain, Cyrus takes control of Dialga and Palkia by causing a red ring similar to the one surrounding Arceus' body to appear around their bodies.
Arceus appears as a central character in the Movie 12 manga adaptation, reprising its role from the film. After Arceus saved the world from a meteor, Damos took care of it. It gave Damos the Jewel of Life to make the land of Michīna rich and fertile. Damos then betrayed Arceus, and it has been outraged ever since.
Arceus appears in the TCG in all nine elemental types, and a player can have as many Arceus cards in their deck as they like, unlike all other cards in the game (besides Basic Energy cards). Cards based on Arceus first appeared in the Arceus expansion set.
Game data
Pokédex entries
This Pokémon was unavailable prior to Generation IV.
At level 80, Arceus is the second highest level non-glitch Pokémon available for capture. The highest is Magikarp which can be caught at up to level 100 in Pokémon Platinum. It is, however, still the highest level legendary Pokémon available for capture.
Arceus's English name has had three different pronunciations. Before it was officially revealed, fans pronounced it as "AR-see-oos", as does Pokémon Battle Revolution. Then, a promotional trailer for Arceus and the Jewel of Life pronounced it as "Ar-SAY-us". Its official pronunciation was then revealed in a Pokémon.com mailbag as "ARK-ee-us". Its original pronunciation is still in popular usage, however, and isn't considered to be incorrect.
Arceus's base stat total is 720, higher than any other Pokémon. Previous Pokémon, among them Mewtwo, have only had a maximum total of 680.
Arceus has the highest base experience yield of all Pokémon, tied with Happiny, Chansey, and Blissey. That means an Arceus would yield 13,933 experience points when defeated if it is at level 100 and belongs to a Trainer.
The code for Diamond and Pearl has sprites for Arceus using its Multitype ability with all 18 types, including Template:Type2. It is disputed whether the ???-type Arceus is obtainable, as there is no plate in the code that can be used for this. It is possible this sprite was programmed in to prevent game crashes caused by tampering with Arceus's type.
Arceus's signature move, Judgment, is the only move that Arceus is guaranteed STAB for, as it is always the same type as Arceus itself. However, on the battle screen, Judgment is always displayed as a Template:Type2 attack.
Even though it is said that Arceus created the world with its thousand arms, it is not shown to have any arms at all, nor can it learn hand-based or arm-based moves.
Furthermore, Arceus is the only trio master of two differenttrios.
Arceus is the only Pokémon to never officially receive a DPBP number, although it or one of its forms probably would have been assigned DPBP#532 had that system continued to be used.
The ring around Arceus's body appears to have a malevolent counterpart in the embodiment of the Red Chain, as a red version of it is shown to ring Dialga and Palkia around the middle when Cyrus takes control of them in DP152.
Arceus is one of three Pokémon that can learn all of the HM moves, including ones which no longer have that status. The two others are Mew and Smeargle through Sketch.
Arceus is the one who is rumored to have prevented all Pokémon in the future from disappearing in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky. Dialga explains that "it was no miracle" that they were saved, and that "a greater power" saved them all. Arceus is the leader of the dragon trio, of which Dialga is a member.
Origin
Arceus is particularly based on a creator deity, present in many world cultures. It may also be a reference to the Chinese mythical creature, the Qilin. Its myth is nearly identical to that of the Pangu, the Chinese creation deity.
Arceus may also be inspired by (or a representation of) Avalokiteśvara who, in Buddhism, is either pictured with eleven heads and one thousand arms (the latter of which is mentioned in Arceus's flavor text) or in a white four-armed manifestation (which could look similar to Arceus's Normal form).
Some inspiration may have come from a horse, because of its Platinum sprite and attack movements in Pokémon Battle Revolution.
Name origin
Arceus's name may come from the words arch (highest) and deus, which is Latin and Greek for god. It may also have a root in the Latin word arcanus, which means secret; sacred mystery.
Arceus's name may also come from the word archaic (ancient), which comes from the Greek arkhaios, and is derived from the ancient Greek word for "beginning", arkhē. It could have also come from the Latin word archetypus (original). Alternatively, Arceus's name can be seen as a portmanteau of Zeus, the most powerful of Greek gods and arch (highest).
Another theory may be the combination of Zeus and Ra spelled backwards. Zeus being the king of gods and Ra being the solar god and creator. Those two qualities are shared by the Pokémon.
Arceus's name is pronounced with a soft "c" by the announcer in Pokémon Battle Revolution; in keeping with its probable name origin, it is pronounced with a hard "c" in television commercials and in Arceus and the Jewel of Life.
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.
Rowap Berry (100%)
