Plate
- If you were looking for the items in Pokémon Duel, see Pokémon Duel → Plates.
A Plate (Japanese: プレート Plate) is a type of item introduced in Generation IV. There is one Plate for each type (except ???, though a corresponding Arceus form exists as an error handler). They boost the power of the holder's moves of the corresponding type, and change Arceus and its signature move Judgment to that type.
There are 16 Plates in Generations IV and V, and 17 from Generation VI to Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl with the introduction of the Fairy type and the corresponding Pixie Plate. Pokémon Legends: Arceus introduces a Plate for the Normal type, the Blank Plate, as well as the Legend Plate, which allows Arceus to change its type at will when using Judgment, bringing the number of known Plates to 19.
In Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum, the 16 Plates known at the time are spread far and wide across Sinnoh, and an additional copy of each Plate can also be dug up in the Underground. In HeartGold and SoulSilver, the captain of the S.S. Aqua will give one away in index number order during each voyage after the player has all 16 Badges. In Pokémon Black and White, two of the Plates are given to the player by a treasure hunter in a house in Route 13. The treasure hunter will mention that he found the Plates in the Abyssal Ruins, where the player can find the rest of the Plates. In Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, these two same Plates can be found at Undella Bay, which is where the Abyssal Ruins and the remaining Plates also once again reside.
In Pokémon Legends: Arceus, held items do not exist as in-battle items in the game; instead Plates appear as Key Items and must be selected to change Arceus into the Plate's corresponding type. The Plates are scattered across Hisui, and collecting them serves as a notable quest throughout the game, with most of them being received from notable Pokémon the player encounters.
List of Plates
| Name | Debut Gen. |
Corresponding move type | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blank Plate | Blank Plate | VIII | Normal |
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Draco Plate | IV | Dragon |
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Dread Plate | IV | Dark |
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Earth Plate | IV | Ground |
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Fist Plate | IV | Fighting |
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Flame Plate | IV | Fire |
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Icicle Plate | IV | Ice |
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Insect Plate | IV | Bug |
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Iron Plate | IV | Steel |
| Legend Plate | Legend Plate | VIII | Special |
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Meadow Plate | IV | Grass |
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Mind Plate | IV | Psychic |
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Pixie Plate | VI | Fairy |
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Sky Plate | IV | Flying |
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Splash Plate | IV | Water |
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Spooky Plate | IV | Ghost |
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Stone Plate | IV | Rock |
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Toxic Plate | IV | Poison |
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Zap Plate | IV | Electric |
Engravings
When each Plate is obtained in Generation IV, a different engraving appears on the back of the Plate which reveals part of the myth of the creation of the Pokémon universe. No engraving is tied to a specific Plate; they will appear each one at a time depending on how many Plates the player has found so far, with the ninth Plate found using the same engraving as the first. In Platinum, after talking to the Hiker on the second floor of the Canalave Library, a book on the second floor with the engravings written in it will be left by the Hiker the player met in Oreburgh Mine during the Arceus-triggered event.
- "When the universe was created, its shards became this Plate."
- "The power of defeated giants infuses this Plate."
- "Two beings of time and space set free from the Original One."
- "Three beings were born to bind time and space."
- "Two make matter and three make spirit, shaping the world."
- "The Original One breathed alone before the universe came."
- "The powers of Plates are shared among Pokémon."
- "The rightful bearer of a Plate draws from the Plate it holds."
In the anime
Plates debuted in Journey to the Unown!, where Saturn and two Team Galactic Grunts placed three of them in a room located in the Solaceon Ruins, in order to obtain the Spear Key and awaken the Unown there. These Plates were specifically the Draco Plate, Iron Plate, and Splash Plate, which power up the three types of Palkia and Dialga (Dragon, Steel, and Water) combined.
All of the Plates present at the time reappeared in Arceus and the Jewel of Life, where they played a larger role. Referred to as Life Plates, these are a set of Plates that give life to Arceus, and also allow it to change its type. Arceus almost died when it lost all of the Plates after destroying a meteor that endangered the land that would become Michina Town. Damos found one of these lost Plates and returned it to Arceus, giving it the strength to recall the other 15 Plates. This heroic, selfless act earned its trust and prompted it to detach the Earth Plate, Splash Plate, Meadow Plate, Zap Plate, and Draco Plate, and merge them to form the Jewel of Life so Damos could make the land flourish.
The Splash, Flame, and Earth Plates appeared in a flashback in Hoopa and the Clash of Ages, where Ghris was seen using their combined powers to create the Prison Bottle.
In JNS01, Team Galactic was revealed to have acquired a Flame Plate, which they used, along with the Heatran Saturn had caught, to power a device a that would bring back Cyrus. However, in JNS02, the machine overloaded and backfired, causing Heatran to go on a rampage and swallow the Flame Plate.
Three Plates placed in the Solaceon Ruins
Arceus using its Plates
Three Plates used to create the Prison Bottle
In the manga
Pokémon Adventures
HeartGold & SoulSilver arc
The Plates were initially being collected by Petrel for Team Rocket's plan. After Silver stole the few Plates he had managed to find, Petrel decided to let him gather all 16 Plates, just to get them back at once later. With his Weavile leaving messages for Sneasel and Weavile across Johto, Silver soon indeed gathered all 16 Plates for himself. At the Sinjoh Ruins, Gold surrendered the Plates to Archer, who used them to seemingly take control of Arceus, ordering it to recreate Dialga, Palkia, and Giratina. When the Pokédex holders used their Pokémon's ultimate attacks to stop the creation, all the Plates were absorbed by Arceus.
The Pixie Plate has not appeared in the Pokémon Adventures manga.
Artwork
Underground
This is artwork of the Plates as seen in the Sinnoh Underground.
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| Draco Plate | Dread Plate | Earth Plate | Fist Plate |
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| Flame Plate | Icicle Plate | Insect Plate | Iron Plate |
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| Meadow Plate | Mind Plate | Sky Plate | Splash Plate |
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| Spooky Plate | Stone Plate | Toxic Plate | Zap Plate |
Global Link
This is artwork of the Plates as seen on the Pokémon Global Link.
Trivia
- Plates may have some relation to Shards, which are described as pieces of ancient tools. Their underground sprites likewise imply that they are broken parts of Plates.
- Arceus has the same total Pokéathlon stats (but distributed differently) for all Plates, except the Draco Plate which has a total 1 higher than other Plates.
- The Pixie Plate is the only Plate that can be obtained an unlimited number of times in a single game after Generation IV. It can be obtained repeatedly from Stow-on-Side's bargain shop in Pokémon Sword and Shield.
- Similarly, Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, Pokémon Platinum, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl are the only games where the player can obtain more than one of each plate in a single game, because in Generation IV they can be dug up from the underground indefinitely although they are somewhat rare.
- In Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, the Flame Plate is the only Plate that cannot be obtained outside of the Underground before obtaining the National Pokédex.
- There is a sprite for ???-type Arceus in the game data of the Generation IV games, but there is no associated ???-type Plate.
- When Plates were first seen in the anime in Journey to the Unown!, they were depicted with the same kind of square shape that they have in the games. However, in their later anime appearances, the Plates are depicted with a different, six-angle shape.
In other languages
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| Type-enhancing items | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 Items |
 Plates |
 Incenses |
 Orbs |
 Gems |
 Soul Dew |
| Held items |
|---|
| In-battle effect items Berries • Colored orbs • Drives • Power items Experience-affecting items • Gems • Incense • Mega Stones • Memories • Plates Stat-enhancing items • Type-enhancing items • Z-Crystals |
| Out-of-battle effect items Power items • Incense • Mail • Scarves |
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This item article is part of Project ItemDex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on all items. |
