The Ultimate Guide to All Pokemon Types

Itching to be the next Pokemon Master? There are tons of things you need to know before you reach that spotlight. Whether you are playing on different game versions competitively, Pokemon gameplay remains consistent. There have been a few tweaks in gameplay such as Mega Evolution, Gigantamax, and Terastalizing, but the base gameplay concept of battle remains the same— that there are Pokemon-type weaknesses and strengths!

Introduction to Pokemon Types

Pokemon types are inherent elemental attributes of both the Pokemon and its moves. Pokemon types apply to any Pokemon game, except for non-battle spinoff games such as Pokemon Snap, Pokemon Café ReMix, and a few others. These elemental attributes dictate the weaknesses, strengths, and resistances of a Pokemon against another Pokemon’s move.

The 18 Pokemon Types: Strengths, Weaknesses, and Resistance

In the first generation Pokemon game, there are only 15 Pokemon types. Today, there are already a total of 18 official Pokemon types existing. There are other released Pokemon types that are unofficial and were only released into specific titles. For example, the bird type is supposed to be a Pokemon type for Gen 1 and Gen 2 versions. This was later on scrapped by the developers. There is also a “???” Pokemon type particular to the move Curse. It was also removed after Gen V. The special Shadow-type Pokemon exists only in Pokemon Colosseum, Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness, and Pokemon Go.

Below is the full table of the 18 Pokemon Types including their corresponding strengths, weaknesses, and resistances. Few notes to consider:

• Strong Against – means that your Pokemon type is Super Effective against the opposing type.
• Vulnerable Against – means the opposing Pokemon type is Super Effective against your Pokemon type.
• Weaker Against – means that your Pokemon type is Not Very Effective against the opposing type, or Does Not Affect the opposing type (immune).
• Immune Against – means that your Pokemon is immune and is not affected by the opposing type.

The Rarest and the Most Common Pokemon Type

The Ice type is considered the rarest type of Pokemon. Of the current 1008 Pokemons today, there are only 58 Ice-type Pokemon in it. This comprises only 5.75% of all Pokemon and is a very small number compared to other types. This is followed by the Fairy type with only 68 species or 6.7% of all Pokemon, and the Dragon type with only 70 known species, or 6.9% of all Pokemon.

Water-type Pokemon, on the other hand, are the most abundant. Water Pokemon comprise 15.57% of all Pokemon, having 158 known species of it. This is followed by the Normal type with 132 known Pokemon or 13% of all Pokemon. But disregarding secondary types and other forms, the most common type will be the pure Normal type with 101 known Pokemon followed by the pure Water type with only 57 Pokemon. Normal-type moves are the most abundant, with a total of 167 moves.

Most Popular Pokemon in the Entire Series

“Learn about the 18 official Pokemon types, their strengths, and weaknesses, as well as interesting facts about Pikachu’s design and popularity. ”

You are probably thinking that Pikachu is the most popular Pokemon, but you guessed it wrong. While Pikachu is indeed an iconic character of the Pokemon franchise, the widely accepted most popular Pokemon is Charizard. According to analytics, Charizard is the most searched Pokemon with an average of 240,000 searches per month. This is mainly due to the Pokemon game wherein players try to search for ways how they can make use of their Charizard competitively.

But this doesn’t mean that Pikachu is no longer popular. Pikachu does not seem to be a competitive Pokemon in any of the released games of Game Freak. Let’s talk about Pikachu and why it became an icon of the Pokemon franchise in the first place.

Fun Facts About Pikachu

Pikachu is the most well-known Pokemon species. We’ve known Pikachu since the start of the first Pokemon episode where it was chosen as a starter Pokemon of Ash Ketchum. Since then, Pikachu dominated the spotlight and became the promotional icon of the entire Pokemon franchise. Every time we see a Pokemon, we know that there will be a Pikachu drawing next to it.

But how much do you know about this adorable electric mouse? Let’s find out some of the fun facts about our beloved Pikachu.

Pikachu’s Design and Art Concept

Game Freak first developed Pokemon Red and Blue in Japan, in 1996. After the first release by Nintendo, Pikachu was used as a promotional image for the new game. The woman behind the design of Pikachu is none other than Atsuko Nishida. Atsuko Nishida was initially working on the designs of characters for the game Pulseman before the Pokemon project. In her first drawings, she drew Pokemon as scary characters because the creatures are intended to be “monsters” in the first place—thus the term Pocket + Monster.

She then revised her works because scary characters might give a wrong impression to the audience. She revised her initial designs and changed them with adorable characters. This led to the creation of the initial designs of Pikachu and other Pokemon.

The first draft of Pikachu is based on daifuku, a sweet Japanese dessert. But she scrapped the idea and instead based the design on a squirrel. It was also in the squirrels that she found inspiration for the electric cheeks because squirrels store food on their cheeks. After proposing the drafts, a final touch on Pikachu was made by Satoshi Tajiri, one of the creators of Pokemon, who changed Pikachu into a mouse. The first drafted designs of Pikachu included Raichu and a third evolution which was scrapped after the release.

What is Pikachu’s Original Name?

The name “Pikachu” was derived from the combination of two Japanese onomatopoeia “pikapika”, referring to sparks or electrical sounds, and the word “chuchu”, the sound of mice. In the anime series, Ash never renamed Pikachu with other names. The same with his other Pokemon, calling them by their specie names instead of nicknames. However, in the manga series The Electric Tale of Pikachu, Ash renamed his Pikachu Jean Luc Pikachu. This can be read in the third chapter of the manga series.  The name “Jean Luc Pikachu” is a direct reference to Hollywood actor Jean Luc Picard. Although this was meant to be a joke on the part of the Pokemon Company, they want us to forget about this embarrassment… entirely!

Why Pikachu is Popular in Japan?

There are many reasons why Pikachu is well-loved, not only in Japan but in every part of the world. In 1999, Pikachu is regarded as the “most loved character since Hello Kitty”. This statement was made through an article in Time Magazine, and a lot of critics and fans both agreed with this verdict. Because of the new game concept Pokemon introduces, it spread like wildfire across Western countries and Asian neighbors of Japan. Pikachu rapidly become more popular, which eventually lead The Pokemon Company to use it as their main figure and icon in all of their promotions.

The Japanese, on the other hand, greatly regarded Pikachu as a direct equivalent of the famous Mickey Mouse character. With its cute design and colors, Pikachu became the greatest character of all time since its creation.