It is currently the final Pokémon in the National Pokédex. Like Darkrai and Shaymin before it, Arceus was not officially recognized by Nintendo until February, 2009, the year of its debut movie. It was later revealed by the official site on August 3rd, 2009, making all Pokémon in the games officially revealed.
Arceus is also known as "The Original One," as it is said that it created Sinnoh, and possibly the entire Pokémon world, along with the lake guardians and dragon trio. The only legitimate way to get Arceus is with the Azure Flute, which has yet to be distributed officially, or through a Nintendo event.
Arceus is an equine being similar to a Qilin or Centaur. Its body is white with a gray underside, and its four pointed feet are tipped with gold hooves. Its mane is quite long and its face is gray with green eyes with red pupils. It also has a golden cross-like wheel attached to its body, which changes color along with its eyes and hooves based on Arceus's current type. The wheel also has four jewels attached to it.
Gender differences
Arceus is a genderless species.
Special abilities
File:Arceus Formes.gifAn animation displaying Arceus's different colorings while holding plates
Arceus is the only known Pokémon that learns Judgment via level-up. Arceus can also use many attacks of various types, but to a lesser extent than Smeargle or Mew. Arceus is also the only non-Dragon type Pokémon other than Smeargle who can learn Draco Meteor, although it must become a Template:Type2 (by holding a Draco Plate) in order to learn it.
Arceus made its debut in Arceus and the Jewel of Life. It was angry at the people of Michina Town for Damos's unwitting betrayal of it in ancient times, and so attempted to destroy the land. When Ash and his friends are teleported by Dialga to ancient times, they directly influence the event, changing the future for the better so that Arceus will stop its destruction.
In DP152, the Red Chain takes on the appearance of the ring that surrounds Arceus's body when it is wrapped around Dialga and Palkia. Despite this, Arceus itself does not appear.
In the manga
Arceus appears as a central character in the Movie 12 manga adaptation, reprising its role from the film. After Arceus saved the world from a meteor, Damos took care of it. It gave Damos the Jewel of Life to make the land of Michīna rich and fertile. Damos then betrayed Arceus, and it has been outraged ever since.
Arceus appears in the TCG in all nine elemental types, and a player can have as many Arceus cards in their deck as they like, unlike all other cards in the game (besides Basic Energy cards). Cards based on Arceus first appeared in the Arceus expansion set.
Game data
Pokédex entries
This Pokémon was unavailable prior to Generation IV.
Arceus is capable of learning the following moves:
Moves in bold get STAB for the Template:Type2, meaning that Arceus must be holding the Mind Plate. Judgment, the type of which is dependent on the plate Arceus is holding (or lack thereof) will always receive STAB, while damaging moves of other types can receive STAB depending on which plate Arceus holds.
At level 80, Arceus is the second highest level non-glitch Pokémon available for capture. The highest is Magikarp which can be caught at up to level 100 in Pokémon Platinum. It is, however, still the highest level legendary Pokémon available for capture.
Arceus's English name has had three different pronunciations. Before it was officially revealed, fans pronounced it as "AR-see-oos", as does Pokémon Battle Revolution. Then, a promotional trailer for Arceus and the Jewel of Life pronounced it as "Ar-SAY-us". Its official pronunciation was then revealed in a Pokémon.com mailbag as "ARK-ee-us".
Arceus's base stat total is 720, higher than any other Pokémon. Previous Pokémon, among them Mewtwo, have only had a maximum total of 680.
Arceus has the highest base experience yield of all Pokémon, tied with Happiny, Chansey, and Blissey. That means an Arceus would yield 13,933 experience points when defeated if it is at level 100 and belongs to a Trainer.
The code for Diamond and Pearl has sprites for Arceus using its Multitype ability with all 18 types, including Template:Type2. It is disputed whether the ???-type Arceus is obtainable, as there is no plate in the code that can be used for this. It is possible this sprite was programmed in to prevent game crashes caused by tampering with Arceus's type.
Arceus's signature move, Judgment, is the only move that Arceus is guaranteed STAB for, as it is always the same type as Arceus itself. However, on the battle screen, Judgment is always displayed as a Template:Type2 attack.
Even though it is said that Arceus created the world with its thousand arms, it is not shown to have any arms at all, nor can it learn hand and arm based moves such as the elemental punches.
Earth Power is the only move with a fixed base power, besides Judgment, that Arceus learns by level-up which can receive STAB with a plate attached.
Arceus is the only trio master not catchable by typical in-game mechanics, instead needing an event item (the Azure Flute) to be catchable in-game.
Furthermore, Arceus is the only trio master of two differenttrios.
Arceus is the only Pokémon to never officially receive a DPBP number, although it or one of its forms probably would have been assigned DPBP#532 had that system continued to be used.
The ring around Arceus's body appears to have a malevolent counterpart in the embodiment of the Red Chain, as a red version of it is shown to ring Dialga and Palkia around the middle when Cyrus takes control of them in DP152.
The Arceus event that takes place in HeartGold and SoulSilver includes real life pictures in the game. This is a first for an event within a game and a first in the Pokémon games franchise.
Arceus can learn all of the HM moves, including ones which no longer have that status.
Origin
Arceus may be a reference to the Chinese mythical creature, the Qilin. Its myth is nearly identical to that of the Pangu, the Chinese creation deity.
Arceus may also be inspired by (or a representation of) Avalokiteśvara who, in Buddhism, is either pictured with eleven heads and one thousand arms (the latter of which is mentioned in Arceus's flavor text) or in a white four-armed manifestation (which could look similar to Arceus's Normal form).
Some inspiration may have come from a horse, because of its Platinum sprite and attack movements in Pokémon Battle Revolution.
Arceus, as the master of the Dragon trio, may also based on Kaptan, the ruler of heaven and the king of the gods, according to the Philippine mythology.
Name origin
Arceus's name may come from the words arch (highest) and deus, which is Latin and Greek for god. It may also have a root in the Latin word arcanus, which means secret; sacred mystery. Or Arceus's name which was pronounced as (Arh-keus) maybe a combination of "Arch" and a mispronounced word "Chaos".
Arceus's name may also come from the word archaic (ancient), which comes from the Greek arkhaios, and is derived from the ancient Greek word for "beginning", arkhē. It could have also come from the Latin word archetypus (original). Alternatively, Arceus's name can be seen as a portmanteau of Zeus, the most powerful of Greek gods and arch (highest).
Arceus' name is pronounced with a soft "c" by the announcer in Pokémon Battle Revolution; in keeping with its probable name origin, it is pronounced with a hard "c" in television commercials and in Arceus and the Jewel of Life.
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.
