Squirtle is a small, tailed bipedal Pokémon. However, it has also been shown to be able to walk on all fours. They resemble a light blue turtle with their most notable feature being the hard shell on their back. This shell forms and hardens on its back after birth. They could perhaps be distantly related to some other turtle-like Pokémon, such as Torkoal and Turtwig, but Squirtle seems to only be closely related to their evolutions.
Squirtle's shell is an extremely helpful defensive tool. They can withdraw into the shell to block physical attacks. Their smooth, hard shell and head also aid them in other ways, such as minimizing their resistance in water to increase their swimming speed, and allowing them to launch attacks like Rapid Spin and Skull Bash.
Squirtle is a natural-born swimmer. However, due to their size, it's easier for them to transport something small (like a Pikachu) than to carry their Trainer.
Their jaws may not look like much, but they are strong enough that a Squirtle can learn to use a Bite attack.
Squirtles' tail seems to resemble that of a squirrel's tail, which allows them to use moves such as Tail Whip and Aqua Tail.
Gender differences
None.
Special abilities
Squirtle can spray water from its mouth. At first, it may only be able to spray foam and bubbles, but with time it can learn to spray water jets like Water Gun and Hydro Pump. If it withdraws, it can still spray water out the holes in its shell.
Squirtle are domestic Pokémon, raised to be distributed as starters by Professor Oak. As such, they are regarded as well-behaved Pokémon. They are not regarded as the easiest or hardest for a Trainer to raise, since they are not as mild-mannered and easy as Bulbasaur but they are not as rash and hard as Charmander.
They are very loyal to their groups, but they get along better with other Pokémon than with humans, and can sometimes have a bit of an attitude towards humans. It is far from uncommon for them to start or join larger groups, such as the Squirtle Squad in Here Comes the Squirtle Squad and a civilization of Squirtle and its evolutions in Beach Blank-Out Blastoise.
Squirtle are scarce in the wild. Sometimes they can be found living on secluded islands in the ocean or swimming in the rivers of deep canyons, but their chief habitat seems to be small freshwater ponds and lakes. Overall they are found far more often in urban settings, usually in the ownership of Trainers. Kanto is the most likely place to find them.
The first real Squirtle appeared in Here Comes the Squirtle Squad. The Squirtle Squad were a gang of rogue Squirtle who were deserted by their Trainers. Ash befriended and captured their leader, while the rest of them became a firefighting group. Squirtle stayed with Ash until The Fire-ring Squad!, when it returned to the Squirtle Squad.
Squirtle was mentioned in the first episode of the anime, Pokémon - I Choose You!, as one of the three starter Pokémon new Trainers in Pallet Town can choose from. Ash dreamed of owning one, and it was his first choice of a starter. However, when he arrived at Oak's lab, he found out it was too late, as another Trainer who started the same day had already taken it. It was shown battling and defeating Samurai's Metapod.
It wasn't until The Ties that Bind that it was revealed that the Trainer who took Squirtle was none other than Gary Oak, Ash's rival. By then, it had already evolved into a Blastoise.
Other
In Journey to the Starting Line, a set of the three Kanto starter Pokémon in which a boy named Gilbert was supposed to choose from as his starting Pokémon were scared off by Ash's Tauros. Professor Oak, Tracey, Delia, and Gilbert had to split up and find the three missing Pokémon. Squirtle was the second one found. The Tiny Turtle Pokémon was stuck in a tree that was hanging over a cliff. Ash's Bulbasaur managed to catch the Squirtle before it could fall off the cliff.
Squirtle. This Tiny Turtle Pokémon draws its long neck into its shell to launch incredible waterattacks with amazing range and accuracy. The blasts can be quite powerful.
Ash's Squirtle has been featured in the manga The Electric Tale of Pikachu. It first appears in the chapter You Gotta Have Friends. Squirtle's capture is not shown in the manga, it is simply stated when it appears from its Poké Ball that "Ash has been busy since the last comic".
A Squirtle is a supporting character in the Magical Pokémon Journey manga. He first appears in the chapter Christmas Wishes. Squirtle admires Almond and refers to him as his "big brother".
Green stole a Squirtle from Professor Oak, which she nicknamed Blasty. It has since evolved into Wartortle and then Blastoise more quickly than the others, possibly due to her innate talent in evolving Pokémon, as acknowledged by the Masked Man.
Green's Blastoise is never shown in its Squirtle form in the manga (save the contents page of the third volume). Its first appearance, as a Wartortle, is in Wartortle Wars, returning as a Blastoise in Zap, Zap, Zapdos.
Squirtle is seen on the stage Pokéfloats and is the first Pokéfloat to appear. Play begins on its head and arms until it slowly leaves off the bottom of the screen. After traveling through all the Pokéfloats, the screen will be empty for a few seconds before Squirtle pops up and the cycle begins again.
Trophy information
Retreating into its shell and spitting water at its foes is Squirtle's trademark response to danger. It's one of the three Pokémon that Trainers can receive from Professor Oak in Pokémon Red and Blue. Squirtle evolves into Wartortle and then Blastoise, ramping up its water powers with each evolution.
Squirtle is a playable Pokémon used by the Pokémon Trainer. It can use Waterfall to recover from falls as well as Withdraw, in which case it retreats to its shell and shoots water from the back of it propelling him forwards. It also uses Water Gun to push enemies with a stream of water. Squirtle is a lightweight and uses various attacks using its shell and Template:Type2 moves to combat its foes. It uses Hydro Pump in Red's Final Smash, Triple Finish.
"A Tiny Turtle Pokémon. In times of danger, it pulls its arms and legs inside its shell to protect from enemy attacks. When it conceals its neck, it also shoots a powerful stream of water from its mouth. Its shell not only protects its body, but also reduces water friction when in the water. When leveled up, it evolves into Wartortle."
Game data
Pokédex entries
This Pokémon was unavailable prior to Generation I.
Squirtle's shell is not merely used for protection. The shell's rounded shape and the grooves on its surface help minimize resistance in water, enabling this Pokémon to swim at high speeds.
Its shell is not just for protection. Its rounded shape and the grooves on its surface minimize resistance in water, enabling Squirtle to swim at high speeds.
Niue released a one-dollar coin featuring Squirtle as part of a commemorative promotion for the Pokémon franchise, with Squirtle on one side and the nation's coat of arms on the other.
As a species, Squirtle has been trained the most of all Kantostarters by main anime Trainers, with Ash, May, and Gary each owning one.
Statistically, Squirtle is the slowest Pokémon out of the three Kanto starters, and in Super Smash Bros. Brawl it does have the slowest running speed of all of Pokémon Trainer's Pokémon though its attacks are generally faster than Pokémon Trainer's other two Pokémon, these two being Kanto starter evolutions.
Squirtle's family is the only Pokémon family that can learn Bubble and cannot learn BubbleBeam, except in Generation I, where BubbleBeam was a TM.
Squirtle is a combination of squirt (to spray or little, tiny) and turtle, for its turtle-like appearance. It may also derive from squirrel, in relation to its tail.
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.
For other sprites and images, please see Squirtle images on Bulbagarden Archives.
