Pikachu
From Freepedia
| Pikachu | |
|---|---|
| Image:Pikachu 18.gif
National | |
| General | |
| Japanese name | ピカチュウ - Pikachu |
| Stage | Basic |
| Evolves from | Pichu (only in Pokémon Gold and Silver and later) |
| Evolves to | Raichu |
| Generation | First |
| Biological | |
| Species | Mouse Pokémon |
| Type | Electric |
| Height | 1 ft 4 in (0.4 m) |
| Weight | 13.0 lbs. (6 kg) |
| Pokédex color | Yellow |
| Shiny color | The part of its body that's usually yellow turns orange. |
| Ability | Static |
| Signature attack(s) | Thundershock |
| Video game statistics | |
| Pikachu at Wikibooks Pokédex | |
Pikachu (ピカチュウ Pikachuu) is a fictional character from the Pokémon franchise.
Pikachu is the most popular and notable Pokémon, and is generally regarded as the mascot of the Pokémon franchise, in the same way Link is the mascot of the Legend of Zelda series. It is obtainable in all of the Pokémon RPGs on Game Boy systems to date, with a prominent role in Pokémon Yellow. The protagonists of the Pokémon anime, the Pokémon manga series Electric Tale of Pikachu, and the Ash & Pikachu manga all own a Pikachu.
Contents |
Name Origin
"Pikachu" is probably a portmanteau, derived from "pika", meaning "spark" or "sparkle" of lightning in the Japanese language, and "chū", an onomatopoeia in the Japanese language for the squeak made by a mouse. Coincidentally, there also is a mouse-like lagomorph that makes its habitat in North America, known as a pika (IPA: /pɪka/, as opposed to /pika/ in "Pikachu").
Biology
Pikachu are ground-dwelling rodents with an affinity for electricity and lightning. They live in forests and plains, and forage for berries. The glandular pouches residing in its cheeks allow it to charge up and store electricity in chemical form, which it can discharge in bolts of lightning or ball lightning to defend itself from attackers (or attack its foe in a Pokémon battle), but it occasionally discharges electricity to roast a berry to make it tender enough to eat, or simply to keep from overloading. (An inability to discharge electricity in this last way, which is caused by a strong magnetic field, leads to a flu-like illness.) A swarm of Pikachu working together can generate intense electric shocks, and the electro-magnetic forces exerted by the electric field can even conjure a thunderstorm.
Pikachu is yellow with brown stripes on its back, black-tipped ears, red cheeks, and has a lightning bolt-shaped tail. It lacks a typical 'natural' evolution but can be evolved via Thunderstone into Raichu. However, Pikachu is so cute that, in the anime and various manga, most trainers choose to keep it from evolving. It is numbered as #25 in the National Pokédex. Also, in the second and third generations of the Pokémon games, Pikachu has an evolutionary predecessor, Pichu. Pichu, which appears to be (and is) a baby Pikachu, evolves into Pikachu after establishing a friendship with its trainer.
A Pikachu's tail, which it often raises into the air to distract predators or attract other Pikachu, is an excellent conductor, to the point where a Pikachu can suffer lightning strikes to its tail without any ill effects. It's even possible (although somewhat difficult) for a Pikachu to ground out electrical attacks to its body with its tail.
In the anime
Ash Ketchum's Pikachu
In the Pokémon anime, Pikachu was Ash Ketchum's first Pokémon. In the first episode of the Pokémon anime, Pikachu didn't like Ash and shocked him with electricity every time Ash came near. However, by the second episode, Ash demonstrated his willingness to sacrifice himself for Pikachu, and they became fast friends. In another first season episode (in Vermillion City), Pikachu, who is often rather independent minded, believed that it was strong enough without evolving and refused to evolve into a Raichu.
Early in the series, Pikachu was given an operation to increase the strength of the electric sacs in his cheeks in order to beat the first gym leader, Brock. Despite this, Pikachu can also get a cold and go out of control when it cannot release its electricity. Most notably, exposure to a magnetic field will cause Pikachu to get a cold. This has been done to Pikachu twice in the series, both times by Team Rocket: the first time, Pikachu was cured when the extra electricity was used in attacks against a group of Grimer and Muk, and in the second time, Pikachu was inadvertently cured by one of Team Rocket's battery robots, which subsequently overloaded and exploded.
Many of the Pokémon animated shorts with all-Pokémon dialogue have featured Pikachu as the main character, often as the main voice of reason. As such, Pikachu is often a leader, helping to break up conflicts among other Pokémon.
Like many other Pokémon, Pikachu communicates only by saying syllables that are in its own name. Its most common sentence is "Pika-pika". When it wants to talk to Ash it says "Pika-pi," which sounds similar to "Satoshi", and it refers to Togepi as "Pipipi", probably because in Japanese, "pii" means "little".
It's implied that Ash's Pikachu is male, but it is rarely addressed with a gendered pronoun.
The phrase "Pika-pika" is often considered funny, particularly to Japanese speakers' ears. The Japanese expression "pika-pika hikaru" means stroke of lightning; it is also used to denote a small bald spot on the very top of the head still surrounded by hair.
Pikachu is voiced by Ikue Ootani in all versions of the anime, except in the first episode, entitled "Pokémon, I Choose You!", in which Rachael Lillis provided the voice in cases where another character's voice overlaps Pikachu's.
Other Pikachu
In the Pokémon anime, many other Pikachu have also appeared. The most notable among these is Richie's Pikachu, with mussed hair on its forehead. This one is nicknamed Sparky (Leon in the Japanese original). Sparky, unlike Ash's Pikachu, is indifferent to being inside its Poké ball, it is almost always shown outside, similar to Ash's Pikachu.
Another notable Pikachu was one named Pooka, a surfing Pikachu owned by a surfer named Victor. Pooka had blue eyes instead of the usual black and also seemed to have a harmony with the sea, and it's said that it glows a bright blue when it feels a powerful wave.
Many episodes of the anime have also featured other unnamed Pikachu. Among them is "Pikachu's Goodbye" (English title), in which a large group of wild Pikachu appeared, and in "Pokémon Emergency", a group of Pikachu are always hidden in the Pokémon Center as their very own "Pika-Power Source", which was used when Team Rocket cut the power to the center.
There's also an episode in which Ash gets magically transformed into a Pikachu for the last few minutes. Pikachu tickles Ash, and the episode ends. In the following episode, Ash is still a Pikachu, but reverts to human form before the episode's actual plot starts. This form of Ash is nicknamed by some as "Satochu", a portmanteau of "Satoshi" and "Pikachu".
There has also been a special-edition Nintendo 64 game console themed on Pikachu (as shown at right). This was released along with a game called Hey You, Pikachu!, in which you use a microphone to converse with the Pokemon.
In the manga
A Pikachu has appeared in every Pokémon manga series as of 2005.
In Pokémon Adventures, Red captures a mischievous Pikachu causing trouble for the people of Pewter City. Pikachu becomes one of his main Pokémon from there. When Red goes missing two years later, his Pikachu teams up with Yellow to find him; later, Yellow catches her own Pikachu, named Chuchu.
In Magical Pokémon Journey, the first Pokémon Hazel meets is a scatterbrained Pikachu. This Pikachu, along with Clefairy, reappears in the spin-off series Pokémon Chamo-Chamo Pretty.
In the Electric Tale of Pikachu series, based on the Pokémon anime, Ash's Pikachu was originally a feral Pokémon he caught chewing on wires in his walls.
In Pokémon Gold and Silver, Gold's Pikachu originally belonged to Eusine, but fell through a mysterious time warp.
In the video games
In the video games, Pikachu is a typical low-level Pokémon. Players playing Pokémon Yellow have all but no choice whether or not to use it, as it will be their first Pokémon, and in the other games those who find one (typically it's a rather rare find) often use it as a early-to-mid-level Electric Pokémon.
Few players use Pikachu in competitive head-to-head play, however, because of its relatively low defense stats. It does see occasional play after Pokémon Gold and Silver, which added an item called the Light Ball. This item, when given to Pikachu to hold, doubles the stat that determines the power of its Electric attacks, making it useful in competitive play.
Pikachu is featured in Hey You, Pikachu!, Pokémon Yellow, Pokémon Channel, and the Pokémon Pikachu. It appears in all of the stages (except for the last, Mew-only stage) of Pokémon Snap.
Pikachu has also appeared in Super Smash Bros. and Super Smash Bros. Melee as a very agile and mobile playable character. In Super Smash Bros. Melee, Pikachu's Skull Bash move was introduced, and its Quick Attack ability was upgraded so that it did a small amount of damage to opponents.
In the card game
Pikachu has been seen in at least ten incarnations in Pokémon Trading Card Game sets released in North America, and that number increases to fifteen when including both mainstream releases and limited edition promotional cards. The expansion sets Pikachu cards are found in are as follows:
- Base Set/Base Set 2
- Jungle
- Gym Heroes (As Lt.Surge's Pikachu)
- Gym Challenge (As Lt.Surge's Pikachu)
- Neo Genesis
- Expedition
- Skyridge
- EX Sandstorm
- EX Firered/Leafgreen
- EX Emerald
References
Books
- Barbo, Maria. The Official Pokémon Handbook. Scholastic Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0439154049.
- Loe, Casey, ed. Pokémon Special Pikachu Edition Official Perfect Guide. Sunnydale, CA: Empire 21 Publishing, 1999. ISBN 130206151.
