From Bulbapedia, the community-driven Pokémon encyclopedia.
A novelty Pokémon, also referred to as a gimmick Pokémon, is a term for a Pokémon that usually possesses some of the following characteristics:
- Does not evolve into or from another Pokémon
- Has a movepool limited to very few moves
- Has a unique ability
- Has below-average base stats
- Has another unique feature.
These Pokémon are often hard to come by, and may be simply given to the player once per game.
Although nearly all Pokémon can be used in a battle effectively, novelty Pokémon appear to be more added to flesh out the Pokémon world than to be actually used or as fodder for potential evolutions later. Many of these Pokémon became viable participants in Pokémon Contests after they were introduced in Generation III, and some fans believe that the introduction of contests were to give players a reason to use these weaker Pokémon.
List of novelty Pokémon
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Ditto
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Ditto only has one move - Transform - which lets it copy the appearance, types, moves, and stats (excluding HP) of its opponents. Before Generation V, Ditto was not very useful in battle, but is invaluable in breeding.
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| 201
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Unown
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Unown’s main purpose in the games is to be collected, a sidequest that consists of finding its 28 forms. Capable of learning only one move, it is nearly useless in battle and contests.
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| 225
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Delibird
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Delibird is capable of naturally learning only a single move and is the only Pokémon who can learn it naturally. Unlike Unown, it can learn other moves via TMs and breeding, but it is largely still considered a novelty Pokémon because of its low stats.
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| 235
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Smeargle
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Smeargle learns only one move repeatedly, but this move has the ability to permanently duplicate the moves of other Pokémon. Its stats and rarity may look dismal, but with the capability to learn every move, it is very useful in breeding egg moves to Pokémon, as well as using Baton Pass well.
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| 236
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Tyrogue
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Tyrogue is a novelty Pokémon due to the fact it is the only Pokémon to link two previously unrelated Pokémon into an evolution family. It is also the only Pokémon that evolves based on its stats.
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| 311 312
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Plusle and Minun
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Plusle and Minun were created to showcase the double battle addition to the series in Generation III. As such, they are difficult to use separately, owing to few other Pokémon possessing the ability to power them up. Like Marill, Pachirisu, and Emonga, they are considered to be a marketing tool, created to use the popularity of Pikachu (which they highly resemble) to promote Generation III.
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| 327
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Spinda
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Spinda’s main gimmick is the variable designs on its body, in a bit of an expansion of the Unown concept. However, because it has extremely low stats, and is of the ever-common Template:Type2, it is not considered to be very useful in battle.
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| 352
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Kecleon
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Kecleon has a unique ability that causes it to change types whenever it is hit by an attack; however, this ability makes it notoriously difficult to use in battles, as it can be taken advantage of for super-effective hits every time.
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| 370
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Luvdisc
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Luvdisc are known to be weak and have a poor moveset, but can be caught holding Heart Scales, which can be used to teach old moves.
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| 412 413
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Burmy and Wormadam
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Burmy, Wormadam, and their various cloaks are considered just to be an example of both the new location based evolutions and the gender based evolutions, as well as the items that can be received by collecting all three forms.
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| 422 423
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Shellos and Gastrodon
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Shellos and Gastrodon each have two different forms, West Sea and East Sea, that vary depending depending on what part of Sinnoh they are found.
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| 441
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Chatot
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Chatot is relatively weak compared to others of its type, and it also has a low catch rate, but it can use Chatter to repeat back messages recorded on the DS microphone.
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| 442
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Spiritomb
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Spiritomb was used to showcase the Sinnoh Underground from Generation IV, and is considered a novelty due to the unique way it is captured, by taking the Odd Keystone to the Hallowed Tower, and then talking to people in the Underground 32 times, then returning to the tower to battle a wild Spiritomb. It is also the second Pokémon with no weaknesses, after Sableye.
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| 489 490
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Phione and Manaphy
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Phione can only be obtained by breeding the event Pokémon Manaphy, with Manaphy being the only legendary Pokémon capable of breeding. Although Manaphy produces Phione eggs when bred with Ditto, Phione cannot evolve into Manaphy. Phione's stats are also inferior to Manaphy’s.
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| 493
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Arceus
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Arceus has a unique ability that enables it to change its Forme and type depending on the color of Plate it is holding. Arceus also has the highest base stat total of all known Pokémon.
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| 550
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Basslao
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Basslao is rather weak compared to others of its type, but it is the only Pokémon that has four different abilities. It also has two different forms, with the rarity of each form differing between Pokémon Black and White.
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| 555
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 Hihidaruma
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Hihidaruma
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Hihidaruma found in the Resort Desert have a unique ability which enables it to change between two different forms, the Active Mode and the Meditative Mode. Regular Hihidaruma do not have this ability however.
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| 648
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 Meloetta
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Meloetta
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Meloetta is the only Pokemon that can learn Ancient Song, a move which allows Meloetta to switch between its two Formes, its Voice Forme and its Step Forme.
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List of Pokémon formerly considered to be novelty Pokémon
| 063
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Abra
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Abra was a novelty Pokémon in the first generation as it and its evolutions were the only Pokémon capable of learning Teleport by level-up, and it was the only move Abra could learn by level-up, this made capturing wild Abra incredibly difficult.
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| 083
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Farfetch’d
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Farfetch’d was a novelty Pokémon in the first generation due to the fact it could only be acquired by an in-game trade, though it could be caught in the wild in Pokémon Yellow. After Generation I, Farfetch'd simply has common typing and dismal stats (none being over 65); in addition, Farfetch'd was given its own unique novelty item, the Stick.
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| 133
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Eevee
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Eevee was a novelty Pokémon in the first generation as it was used to showcase an evolution method, the Evolution Stones. Eevee was also the only Pokémon to have a branched evolution. After Generation I, Eevee has been relegated to simply having the most evolutions.
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| 183
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Marill
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Marill, like Plusle, Minun, Pachirisu and Emonga, is considered to be a marketing tool, created to use the popularity of Pikachu (which it highly resembles) to promote the Generation they appear in.
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| 302
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Sableye
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Sableye was the only Pokémon with no weaknesses until Spiritomb was introduced in Generation IV, though it still the only Pokémon to have the bizarre, but unique, ability: Stall.
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| 349
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Feebas
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Feebas was a novelty Pokémon prior to Generation V due to the fact that Feebas could only evolve into Milotic when its Beauty condition was high. In Generation V, Feebas can now also evolve by trading it while holding the Beauty Scale, though it remains the only Pokémon to evolve based on contest condition.
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| 417
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Pachirisu
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Pachirisu has very low offensive stats and none of its abilities have any effect in battle; like Marill, Plusle, Minun and Emonga, it is considered to be a marketing tool, created to use the popularity of Pikachu (which it highly resembles) to promote Generation IV.
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