Gengar is a dark-purple Pokémon with a roundish body. Gengar's hands now connect to the rest of its body and it now has a pair of legs. Gengar has a spike-covered back. Gengar's eyes are red and its mouth is usually curled into a sinister grin.
Gender differences
None.
Special abilities
Gengar has the same abilities in battle as a Haunter, only stronger. The presence of a Gengar can cool the temperature of the surrounding area by 10°F. Since Gengar is a fully evolved Pokémon, it can use Hyper Beam and Giga Impact.
Ash first saw a Gengar in person in Lavender Town in The Tower of Terror while searching for a Ghost-type Pokémon to fight Sabrina with. Due to a close call, Ash got to spend some unexpected time with the ghostly trio, Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar.
In Pokémon Special, Agatha has two Gengar on her team. One of them was used to attack Green and Koga from the shadows, draining the latter's life force as it possessed his shadow.
Another Gengar was seen at the beginning of the FireRed and LeafGreen saga in Template:PSV. It was used by a kid from Pallet Town in an attempt to capture a Nidorino, thus replicating the opening sequence of the Generation I video games.
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gengar is the leader of Team Meanies. While often accompanied by Ekans and Medicham, Gengar will often act alone and spends much of the game causing trouble, even convincing the village to exile the hero, blaming him or her for the natural disasters. However, it is later revealed that he is the cursed human.
Pokédex entries
This Pokémon was unavailable prior to Generation I.
Sometimes, on a dark night, your shadow thrown by a streetlight will suddenly and startlingly overtake you. It is actually a Gengar running past you, pretending to be your shadow.
Sometimes, on a dark night, your shadow thrown by a streetlight will suddenly and startlingly overtake you. It is actually a Gengar running past you, pretending to be your shadow.
Deep in the night, your shadow cast by a streetlight may suddenly overtake you. It is actually a Gengar running past you, pretending to be your shadow.
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"Phantom" was the original English name for Gengar.
In earlier generations, Gengar was darker in color. This may have had to do with the limited color scheme of the Game Boy and Game Boy Color, however.
In Generation II, Gengar gains a tuft of hair on its head.
Gengar, along with Nidorino (who it battles in the beginning of Red, Blue Green, FireRed and LeafGreen) and probably other Pokémon, originate from the old manga, Capsule Monsters which is considered ancestor to the Pokémon franchise.
By using the dongle method, Gengar is the first Pokémon that requires to be evolved through trading can be caught in the wild at the Old Chateau. Other Pokémon that evolve through trade still have to be done this way. The only other Pokémon that a player can get a final stage Pokémon without trading is Steelix which is also wild in Sinnoh.
Gengar could possibly be the shadow of Clefable, as they have similar body shapes.
Gengar's Sugimori artwork looks more similar to Gengar's shiny sprite rather than its regular sprite.
As Gastly, Haunter and Gengar were the only Template:Type2s in Generation I, and as well part Poison, many assumed falsely that Ghost Pokémon were weak to Template:Type2 moves. This was cleared up by the introduction of Misdreavus in Generation II and other pure-Ghost Pokémon in subsequent generations.
The spikes on Gengar's back were not visible in its Generation I back sprite. However, this is probably due to the bad quality of most back sprites in Generation I.
Even though Gengar is part Poison-type, it could not learn any Poison-type moves by level-up.
Origin
It seems to be simply based on general cartoonish ghosts, and possibly on a distorted shadow of a human being like shadow people. The overall appearance could also be an homage to the Cheshire Cat. Gengar also has some similarities to Gremlins with both looks and personality (violent, rude, and wild).
Name origin
Gengar's name is probably a shortening of doppelgänger - a ghostly double of a person. This is a fitting name for a Pokémon with a habit of pretending to be a person's shadow.
Some also suspect that, like Kangaskhan, Gengar's name may be partially based on Genghis Khan, founder of the Mongol Empire, what with Gengar's chaotic and dangerous behavior towards others for its own amusement.
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 Gengar images on Bulbagarden Archives.
