Gastly appears to be nothing more that a black ball of ghostly matter that is surrounded by a purple glow of smog. Gastly has big, white eyes and a mouth with a pair of fangs in it. Gastly's face is similar to Cloyster's, but the two Pokémon aren't related.
Gender differences
None.
Special abilities
Due to having a body made of gas, Gastly can slip into any place it wants. However, Gastly's body will dwindle away when exposed to a strong wind (but it can probably regenerate itself later). A Gastly is capable of toppling an Indian Elephant within two seconds by enveloping it in poisonous gas.
There have been claims that on rare occasions, a Gastly can gain the ability to speak like a human and transform itself, but these rumors have yet to be proven true. However, it apparently can communicate with telepathy.
Behavior
As a Template:Type2 Pokémon, Gastly tend to be pranksters that go scaring people just for the fun of it.
Gastly first appeared in The Ghost of Maiden's Peak. This Gastly had the ability to talk and shape-shift. He kept posing himself as the spirit of the woman which legend said turned to stone after many years of waiting for her love to return to her. Gastly kept on toying with the minds of young men. Brock and James just happened to become victims of Gastly's trickery.
An Officer Jenny owned a Gastly in Pikachu Re-volts. This Gastly appeared to be the only Pokémon not affected by the psychic wave caused by Butch & Cassidy's Drowzee.
A pair of Gastly were among a group of Ghost Pokémon living in an abandoned mine in Fear Factor Phony. The Ghost Pokémon couldn't stand the partying Psychic Pokémon that lived in the nearby town, so they created a Haunter-like illusion to scare everyone away.
Gastly, the Gas Pokémon. Some researchers believe this Pokémon is a Multidimensional being.
In the manga
Gastly first appears in Template:PSV of Pokémon Special, possessing the corpses of dead Pokémon in Pokémon Tower. Red's Bulbasaur manages to defeat it by sucking up the surrounding air with its bulb, along with Gastly's gaseous form, and expelling it in a SolarBeam.
The Mask of Ice also used a Gastly in his team to capture Celebi, due to its type advantage. It was purposed to possess intruders that entered the Ilex Forest. Later, during the fight at the Indigo Stadium, it took out Suicune using its Curse technique, locking Suicune and Misty inside Suicune's crystal wall. It was later defeated by Eusine's Haunter.
Gastly is largely composed of gaseous matter. When exposed to a strong wind, the gaseous body quickly dwindles away. Groups of this Pokémon cluster under the eaves of houses to escape the ravages of wind.
Gastly is largely composed of gaseous matter. When exposed to a strong wind, the gaseous body quickly dwindles away. Groups of this Pokémon cluster under the eaves of houses to escape the ravages of wind.
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As shown in the anime episode The Tower of Terror, it is able to create hands out of its gas around the black matter.
Gastly is the first Ghost Pokémon in National Pokédex order; its evolutionary line comprise the only Ghost-types present during Generation I.
Despite all of them being Poison type, Gastly together with its evolutionary family are not able to learn Template:Type2 moves by leveling up.
Gastly's evolution line is the only Ghost-type family that requires the Silph Scope to be seen. Therefore, they must be the only ones that are invisible normally while in the wild; and only in their native region of Kanto.
The Gastly family is the only one of the original four trade-evolution families (its own, Geodude's, Abra's, and Machop's) which does not appear in all regional Pokédexes, being absent from Hoenn's.
In Generation I, Gastly appeared to be a cloud of gas with no visible solid parts. This changed in Yellow.
Origin
It seems to be simply based on general cartoonish ghosts, or maybe a will o' the wisp.
Name origin
Gastly's name origin may be a combination of gas and ghastly, dreadfully frightening or horrible. Its Japanese name Ghos (ゴース) is simply a shortened form of ghost and may also incorporate gas into its name. Its French name is a corrupt version of phantom.
In other languages
German: Nebulak - Referring to Nebel (fog or mist) and nebula.
French: Fantominus - From fantôme (ghost). The rest may come from minus, which is a pejorative expression, meaning useless, or waste of time.
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 Gastly images on Bulbagarden Archives.
