Pseudo-legendary Pokémon
Pseudo-legendary is a term commonly used to refer to any Pokémon that has a three-stage evolution line, two types, as well as a base stat total of 600. Pseudo-legendaries are more powerful than many other non-legendary Pokémon, if only for their base stats, and in particular, have an outstanding Attack stat. They also have incredibly diverse movepools and can usually be obtained only in their first form. Due to this, raising them is difficult since they require a lot of experience to level up. Since the pseudo-legendaries are very powerful, they are commonly used by many Trainers in their teams. Three of the five pseudo-legendaries Pokémon are Template:Type2.
List of pseudo-legendaries
There are five Pokémon considered to be pseudo-legendaries. The following shows the pseudo-legendaries, their types, and the Pokémon they evolve from.
Characteristics
With the exception of Garchomp's evolution family, the pseudo-legendaries are usually situated next to the legendary trios in the Pokédexes of their respective Generations. In both the National Pokédex and Johto Dex, the evolutionary lines of Dragonite and Tyranitar are located just after the legendary trio and before the Ubers of their respective generation (they are located next to each other in the Johto Dex). Similarly, the Salamence and Metagross lines are located next to each other right before the legendary golems in both the National Pokédex and Hoenn Dex.
Besides Metagross, the pseudo-legendaries have a double weakness to one type: in the case of Dragonite, Salamence, and Garchomp the double weakness is to Template:Type2 moves, while Tyranitar has a double weakness to Template:Type2 moves.
All of the pseudo-legendaries also have an immunity to one type. For Dragonite and Salamence it is Template:Type2, for Tyranitar it is Template:Type2, for Metagross it is Template:Type2, and for Garchomp it is Template:Type2.
In the games
These Pokémon are used in-game almost exclusively by the final members of the Elite Four and Champions. Dragonite is used by Lance, the final Elite Four member in Generation I and FireRed and LeafGreen; it is used again by Lance as the Champion in Generation II. Tyranitar is used by Blue, the Champion, but only in the second round of the Elite Four in FireRed and LeafGreen. Salamence is used by Drake, the final Elite Four member in Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald. Metagross is used by Steven Stone, the Champion in Ruby and Sapphire, and ex-Champion in Emerald. Lastly, Garchomp is used by Cynthia, the Champion in Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum.
Pseudo-legendaries are obtainable in the wild strictly in their first form for the first two games of their generation. However, Dragonair is obtainable in the wild in most games where Dratini is (all but Red, Green, and Blue). Likewise, Pupitar is available in the wild in Crystal. Gabite is also found in Victory Road in Platinum.
Pokémon Colosseum
In story mode, Shadow Metagross is used by Nascour and Shadow Tyranitar is used by Evice; it is notable that the two Cipher leaders have positions comparable to those of the final Elite Four member and Champion, respectively. Pokémon XD complemented the list of pseudo-legendaries as of Generation III by featuring Shadow Salamence (used by Eldes) and Shadow Dragonite (used by Miror B.). Another commonality is that all four pseudo-legendaries have Shadow Rush as one of their Shadow Moves.
In the anime
All the pseudo-legendaries have appeared in the anime.
- Dragonite debuted as a silhouette in Mystery at the Lighthouse, but appeared physically in Mewtwo Strikes Back.
- Tyranitar debuted in Celebi: Voice of the Forest.
- Salamence debuted in Jirachi: Wish Maker.
- Metagross debuted in Destiny Deoxys.
- Garchomp first appeared belonging to Cynthia in Top-Down Training!.
Trivia
- Although pseudo-legendaries are used almost exclusively by the final members of the Elite Four and Champions, there are two minor exceptions in Pokémon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum: a male Trainer on Route 229 uses Salamence, and a female Trainer on Route 224 has Metagross, serving as cameo appearances for the movie characters Butler and Rebecca, who used these pseudo-legendaries in their respective movies. Another Trainer on Route 227 uses a Dragonite.
- Before Generation III, pseudo-legendaries had the maximum base stat total attainable by non-legendary Pokémon. Generation III introduced Slaking, whose base stat total of 670 matches that of the legendary Kyogre, Groudon and Regigigas. However, Slaking's Truant ability tones its effectiveness down to the degree of being perceived as weaker than the pseudo-legendaries.
- Each of the pseudo-legendaries has Attack as its highest base stat.
- Each pseudo-legendary family has at least one blue-colored member.
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