Smeargle

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Smeargle
Image:Smeargle.png
National
Stantler - Smeargle (#235) - Tyrogue
Johto
Mr. Mime - Smeargle (#157) - Farfetch'd
Japanese name ドーブル Dōburu
Stage Basic
Evolves from None
Evolves to None
Generation Second
Species Painter Pokémon
Type Normal
Height 3 ft 11 in (1.2 m)
Weight 128.0 lb (58.0 kg)
Ability Own Tempo/Technician
(the latter from Pokemon Diamond and Pearl onwards)

Smeargle (ドーブル Dōburu ?) is one of the 493 fictional species of Pokémon from the Pokémon Franchise – a series of video games, anime, manga, books, trading cards and other media created by Satoshi Tajiri.

Smeargle is the painter of the Pokémon world and is best known for its "Sketch" attack, unique among Pokémon skills. The name Smeargle is a portmanteau of the words smear, as applied to painting, and beagle, a breed of dog.

Contents

[edit] Biology

Smeargle looks like a bipedal monkey or dog with a cranial structure resembling an artist's cap (or beret) and a long, possibly prehensile tail which ends in a tuft of fur similar to a paintbrush. The tuft is continuously soaked by a special colored fluid secreted from the tip of the Smeargle's tail.

The color of the fluid is predetermined and, one could assume, unique for every Smeargle. The Smeargle uses this hard-to-remove fluid as a pigment to mark the boundaries of its territory and print its footprints on the backs of its fellows once they reach maturity. The markings that Smeargle leaves around the boundaries of its territory have a consistent pattern of some sort to them, as in, they are not completely random; over 5000 distinctive marks have been found.

[edit] In the video games

[edit] Availability

In Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal, Smeargle can only be found in a small patch of grass near the Ruins of Alph. In Pokémon Colosseum, it can be snagged in the Team Snagem Hideout after snagging the final Johto starter in the Shadow Pokémon Laboratory. In Pokémon Fire Red and Pokémon Leaf Green, Smeargle may be found inside the Altering Cave in the Sevii Islands area through use of the E-card Reader. In Pokémon Emerald, Smeargle can be found in the Artisan Cave at the Battle Frontier, which it appears to infest, and in altering cave.

In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Smeargle joins you after being rescued by your team, in fear of getting a pawprint on its back as a mark of adulthood. It can change the flag of your base if needed, or you can have it join your team for the next mission.

A Pokémon Emerald screenshot featuring an enemy Pupitar and Solrock fighting in a double battle against a player's Aggron and Smeargle.
Enlarge
A Pokémon Emerald screenshot featuring an enemy Pupitar and Solrock fighting in a double battle against a player's Aggron and Smeargle.

Smeargle can be found hosting its own art channel on Pokémon Channel. Its nice card can be obtained after finding a certain amount of Nice Cards.

[edit] Sketch

Smeargle is especially notable for its "Sketch" attack technique, which only it can learn (indeed, it is the only attack Smeargle can conventionally learn). Sketch is the only attack which has but a single Power Point. When used, it will replace itself permanently with the last attack technique used by an opponent Pokémon against Smeargle. To allow Smeargle to actually have different moves, the Crystal Pokédex shows that it learns Sketch every ten levels, (from level 11, then at lvl 21 and so on). There are a few attacks Sketch cannot copy (Struggle, Metronome, Mimic, and Mirror Move). Otherwise Sketch enables Smeargle to learn every attack in the game, making it the most versatile of all Pokémon and extremely useful in passing down unconventional attacks to other Pokémon of the same breeding group through the process of crossbreeding.

Unfortunately, Smeargle's decidedly below-average stats discourage trainers from simply Sketching various powerful moves on it. Instead, a common Smeargle moveset focuses on buying time with disrupting (Spore) or evasion (Double Team) moves while Smeargle augments its statistics with moves like Swords Dance and Growth, finally passing these statistical benefits to one of its teammates by using Baton Pass. Another common tactic is to Spore the opponent, then Belly Drum to increase Smeargle's worthless attack, and finally to use Explosion. Due to Smeargle's Normal type, Explosion receives STAB, bringing its power to an enormous 375. With this attack, Smeargle will die, but it will usually faint any Pokemon that is not a Rock, Ghost, or Steel type. Explosion is not very effective against Rock and Steel, and does not affect Ghosts.

Another drawback is that Sketching particular attacks may be difficult to do in the game, since:

  • The player has to use Sketch before the desired opponent attack, which requires quite a bit of luck and guesswork;
  • Smeargle has to go second in the attack interchange (otherwise there will not have been any attacks yet for Smeargle to Sketch) and
  • Smeargle has to survive the opponent's attack in order to Sketch it, which is tricky at the best of times thanks to its low defensive statistics, let alone when trying to Sketch a powerful offensive attack.

A far simpler way to Sketch attacks onto Smeargle, which is nevertheless not available to all players, is to set up a rigged link battle against a friend with the sole purpose of teaching attacks to Smeargle. In the GameBoy Advance versions of Pokémon players can engage in a double battle and have Smeargle's partner pokémon use the desired move to be sketched and then sketch it as Smeargle no longer needs to be hit.

The "Sketch" move gives it the opportunity to use one of the most coveted combos in Pokémon: Spore, Lock On/Mind Reader and Sheer Cold. Spore will put the enemy to sleep with 100% accuracy, after which Lock On or Mind Reader will make Sheer Cold next turn 100% accurate, granting an automatic One-Hit Knock-Out. However if the opponent switches after Lock On/Mind Reader the One-Hit Knock-Out move is no longer a guaranteed hit. Smeargle can sketch either of the trapping moves (prevents the opponent from switching) Mean Look, Block, or Spider Web (preferred) to avoid this though.

[edit] Breeding

Smeargle is also very useful for breeding Pokémon that you want to be born with Egg Moves (moves that can only be learned by breeding). Since Smeargle can learn any move using Sketch, a male Smeargle can also pass any combination of compatible Egg TM and HM moves to its offspring of a compatible female Pokémon species. This allows players to breed their own Pokémon with custom movesets without having to pay for TMs and allows the learning of otherwise unlearnable moves.

[edit] In the anime

The Smeargle species was featured in the episode "The Art of Pokémon", where three of the painter Pokémon have gone out of control in Whitestone City, relentlessly graffitiing the spotless walls of its buildings while in search of inspiration. They were owned by an old painter named Jack Pollockson, an obvious reference to Jackson Pollock, a famous real-life abstract artist. Smeargle also made a minor appearance in Pichu Bros. in Party Panic on Pokémon Channel.

A single Smeargle once appeared on Pokémon Chronicles when an invisible Kecleon stole Meowth's lunch. Fortunately, a Smeargle was nearby and painted the Kecleon, making it visible.

[edit] In the card game

Smeargle has appeared as a basic stage colorless type pokémon in the following expansions:

  • Neo Discovery (2 cards, One Holofoil)
  • Aquapolis
  • Promo Book Card
  • EX: Unseen Forces

The Promo Book Card was banned from professional tournaments due to Smeargle's Paint attack, which could change the Defending Pokémon's type.

[edit] References

Publications
  • Barbo, Maria. The Official Pokémon Handbook. Scholastic Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0-439-15404-9.
  • Loe, Casey, ed. Pokémon Special Pikachu Edition Official Perfect Guide. Sunnydale, CA: Empire 21 Publishing, 1999. ISBN 1-930206-15-1.
  • Nintendo Power. Official Nintendo Pokémon FireRed & Pokémon LeafGreen Player’s Guide. Nintendo of America Inc., August 2004. ISBN 1-930206-50-X
  • Mylonas, Eric. Pokémon Pokédex Collector’s Edition: Prima’s Official Pokémon Guide. Prima Games, September 21 2004. ISBN 0-7615-4761-4
  • Nintendo Power. Official Nintendo Pokémon Emerald Version Player’s Guide. Nintendo of America Inc., April 2005. ISBN 1-930206-58-5

[edit] External links

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