In the Generation I and II games and their remakes, wild Snorlax can be found sleeping in inconvenient locations throughout Kanto. In order to catch one, a Trainer must first awaken it with music from either a Poké Flute or Pokégear set to the Poké Flute channel. A sleeping Snorlax makes a return in Pokémon X and Y, in which it is blocking the player's way on Route 7.
Snorlax is a huge, bipedal, dark blue-green Pokémon with a cream-colored face, belly, and feet. Its body is composed of mostly its belly, where most of its fat reserves accumulate. Its head is large, with small, pointed ears and two pointed teeth protruding from its lower jaw. It has large, hind feet with three claws and a circular brown paw pad, and its arms and five foreclaws are short.
Snorlax is often found in mountains and forests. It wakes up only to eat, requiring 900 lbs. (400 kg.) of food per day before returning to its slumber. It is not a picky eater, as its strong stomach allows it to eat even moldy food without feeling any ill effects, even being able to handle Muk's poison. It can even eat while it is resting. Snorlax is docile enough to let children and small Pokémon bounce on its large stomach.
Multiple alternately colored Snorlax appeared in Snorlax Snowman. These Snorlax were adapted to more frigid climates that were seen in the episode. One in particular was befriended by Pikachu and his friends.
In The Garden of Eatin', a Snorlax was causing trouble for a man named Marcel by eating the bananas in his Slakoth Banana Garden. Marcel's newly evolved Vigoroth defeated the Snorlax, allowing him to capture it. Afterwards, Marcel made an attraction around his new Snorlax: a relaxation room.
A Snorlax appeared in PK13, where it ate Corphish's bananas that were on sale.
A Snorlax appeared in A Marathon Rivalry!, under the ownership of Daniel. It took part in the Pokéathlon and managed to win the race by a very small margin due to its belly, being followed closely in second by Pikachu.
A Snorlax appeared in Pikachu and the Pokémon Music Squad. It was sent rolling down a hill with Chespin and Pancham running on top of it to avoid falling off. It took the cooperation of Pikachu, his friends, and several forest Pokémon to stop Snorlax's descent.
Red encountered a Snorlax in File 3: Giovanni by playing the Poké Flute. He was able to catch it and later used it in his Gym battle against Giovanni, where it was quickly defeated by Giovanni's Rhyhorn's Horn Drill.
When released from a Poké Ball, Snorlax will ascend into the air before descending over a large area of the screen with a Body Slam that sends any opponent underneath flying.
Snorlax does the same maneuver as it did in the previous game, but covers a smaller area.
Snorlax is also a Poké Float. It is lying down asleep and so fighting occurs on its head and belly.
Melee trophy information
Snorlax love to sleep and love to eat: these portly Pokémon get grumpy if they don't get 888 pounds of food per day. After snacking out, they always nap. They have cast-iron stomachs and can eat moldy and even rotten food with no digestion problems. They are the heaviest Pokémon on record, weighing in at over 1,000 pounds.
Snorlax once again performs the same maneuver as the previous games.
Brawl trophy information
"A Sleeping Pokémon. It's the ultimate loafer. Sometimes children like to play on top its big belly. Once in a slumber, not even the hardest rain or the fiercest wind will wake it. Snorlax recovers health and restores its physical state by sleeping, and it proves daunting with its damaging Snore attack. Snorlax is the king of Sleeping Pokémon."
Snorlax reappears as a Poké Ball summon in these games, behaving the same way as before.
Trophy information
NA: This sleepy, Normal-type Pokémon is huge! It eats more than 900 lb. of food every day. Most of the time not spent eating is spent sleeping. That big, round body comes in handy when it's brought onto a Smash Bros. battlefield—the Body Slam attack will send anyone who gets hit flying into the air!
PAL: Snorlax is often referred to as the Sleeping Pokémon, and there's a good reason for that! This giant loafer spends almost all its time snoozing, getting up for just long enough each day to scoff up a tidy 400kg of food. In this game, it soars into the air and uses its Body Slam attack, smacking into fighters like a giant wrecking ball.
Snorlax reappears as a Poké Ball summon, retaining its behavior from past games. It also appears as a Spirit. In the Spirit Battle: Snorlax (depicted as a giant grey King K. Rool) is immobile (implying that it's asleep) but has 500 HP and slowly regains HP (either referencing Rest or Leftovers). The player fails if they cannot KO Snorlax before the time runs out.
Game data
NPC appearances
Pokémon Ranger: Snorlax will be seen sleeping throughout the game, effectively cutting off certain areas until later on. It will eventually remain in a cave in the Sekra Range. Once the rest of the Ranger Browser has been completed, it will wake up and can be captured.
Snorlax's typical day consists of nothing more than eating and sleeping. It is such a docile Pokémon that there are children who use its expansive belly as a place to play.
Snorlax's typical day consists of nothing more than eating and sleeping. It is such a docile Pokémon that there are children who use its big belly as a place to play.
Snorlax's typical day consists of nothing more than eating and sleeping. It is such a docile Pokémon that there are children who use its expansive belly as a place to play.
In HeartGold and SoulSilver, if the player interacts with a Snorlax that is walking with them while at Mt. Silver, the message "SNORLAX is feeling very eager" will appear. This is due to Red, who is also at Mt. Silver, owning a Snorlax as well. While the player is on Mt. Silver, unique messages will also appear if the player interacts with a walking Pikachu or Charizard.
Snorlax has the highest base stat total of all Pokémon that can hatch from an Egg.
Snorlax may be loosely based on hibernatingbears, giant pandas, or teddy bears. It may also be based on the cave bear. It may also be based on a food coma, as it eats large quantities of food, then takes a nap (symptoms of a food coma). Snorlax also shares traits with sloths, who are often portrayed as lazy and sleepy creatures.
Name origin
Snorlax is a combination of snore and lax or relax.
Kabigon may come from an alternate reading of sleep, 寐 bi, and a corruption of 鼾酔 kansui (snoring) or 憩う ikou (rest). It may also incorporate 黴 kabi (mold), noting the fact that Snorlax will eat anything, even moldy food. Kabigon is also based on the nickname of Game Freak programmer Kōji Nishino, which is the reason his game appearance uses Snorlax as his highest-leveled Pokémon in Black 2 and White 2.
In other languages
Language
Title
Meaning
Japanese
カビゴン Kabigon
Kabigon may come from an alternate reading of sleep, 寐 bi, and a corruption of 鼾酔 kansui or 憩う ikou.
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.