Gengar

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Gengar
Image:Gengar.png
National Pokédex
Haunter - Gengar (#094) - Onix
Johto Pokédex
Haunter - Gengar (#060) - Unown
Sinnoh Pokédex
Haunter - Gengar (#071) - Misdreavus
Japanese name Gangar
Evolves from Haunter
Evolves into None
Generation First
Species Shadow Pokémon
Type Ghost / Poison
Height 4 ft 11 in (1.5 m)
Weight 89.0 lb (40.5 kg)
Ability Levitate

Gengar (ゲンガー Gengā?, Gangar in original Japanese language versions) are one of the 493 fictional species of Pokémon creatures from Pokémon media franchise.

Gengar has an appearance evocative of a ghost, shadow, demon or a spirit. It is a bipedal, purple entity with red eyes, big pointy ears, and it always wears an unsettling smile, which, along with stubby hands and legs, makes it look like a gremlin at times. Gengar also possesses a short tail and spikes on its back. Despite its somewhat rough outline, each individual Gengar has a consistent shape. The name is likely derived from the German doppelgänger. In the beta versions of Red/Blue, Gengar was originally going to be called Phantom. The name Gengar refers to the species as a whole, as well as individual specimens in the games, anime and manga.

Contents

[edit] Biological characteristics

Gengar often has a rather sinister personality, especially when in the wild. It inhabits remote mountainous locations and urban environments alike, being a dangerous Pokémon to encounter in either case. Fortunately, Gengar is a nocturnal Pokémon, so its attacks are limited to the hours of darkness.

Gengar tends to stalk its prospective prey, which includes human beings, and hide in their shadow. It is said that in this way, it has the opportunity to absorb the "vital force"/life of its victims. Gengar acts like a heat sink while doing this, so that its malevolent presence can be given away by a feeling of cold and a shivering sensation.

Another favorite pastime of Gengar is to mimic the shadows of people. A common prank is to take the shape of one's shadow and run past him, giving him the impression that his shadow has come alive and overtaken him. Gengar especially loves to frighten people that way during the nights of a full moon.

[edit] In the video games

Gengar is not found in the wild. Its previous evolution, Haunter, can be found in all the games listed above (Red, Blue, Yellow, Green, FireRed, and LeafGreen). Gengar can only be obtained by trading a Haunter over to another game cart. The availability of Gengar depends on the player's ability to find and trade with another person with a Pokémon game.

In the Nintendo DS games, Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, however, Gengar became available in the wild. When the player has inserted Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, FireRed, LeafGreen or Emerald into the bottom slot of the Nintendo DS, Gengar can be found as a wild Pokémon in the Forest Mansion.

Gengar has extremely high speed and special attack, but its offense, Hit Points and defenses are low for a stage two Pokémon. Its Ghost/Poison-type combination, combined with its Levitate ability, grants it immunity to three attack types and resistance to many more. However, its Poison-type makes it vulnurable to Psychic-types, which ironically makes it weak to the one type it is supposed to be strong against.

Gengar's combination of high speed and special attack statistics, paired with its many type immunities and resistances and wide selection of available attacks, makes it a very powerful Pokémon in player-vs.-player competition. These advantages are offset by exceedingly low physical defense, however, so the most common defense against Gengar is simply an effective physical attack to which it is not immune.

In the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series for both Nintendo GBA and DS, a Gengar is the leader of the rival rescue team commonly known as the Team Meanies. The Gengar at the beginning plays as a naughty liar who is trying to exile the protagonist of the game from his/her rescue team by falsely accusing him/her of being the bad human from the Ninetales Legend that pulled Ninetales' tail and fled from Gardevoir to cause the natural disasters in the pokemon world. The whole reason he does that is to trick the townsfolk into thinking getting rid of them would stop the disasters, but he really does it in an attempt to get payback on the player's team, although it isn't revealed during the first half of the story why it is committing these evil schemes.

Gengar also appears in the Fiore Temple in Pokemon Ranger and can abduct the Ranger's Pokemon should it come in contact with them and he/she fails to protect it.

Gengar also appears as a boss character in Pokemon Pinball.

Gengar's evolutions are commonly similar to Machamp, Golem and Alakazam as trainers must trade other trainers' to see their evolutions.

[edit] In Pokémon anime

Gengar was first seen in the anime battling a Nidorino at the beginning of the first episode. This was done to mimic the opening sequence of Red Version. It appeared in episode #23 (The Tower of Terror), which it haunted along with its pre-evolved forms Gastly and Haunter, playing pranks on visitors. This Gengar was not nearly as malicious as its Pokedex entry states, only pulling harmless pranks rather than cruel ones. A more hostile and much larger Gengar (known as The Shadow of the Dark Device) appeared in episode #74 (The Ancient Puzzle of Pokémonpolis) as one of the city's mythical protectors. It battled against a giant Alakazam (another of the protectors) until a gargantuan Jigglypuff intervened and put both to sleep.

Gengar has also been used in battle by Drake, the defending champion of the Orange League, by Morty, the Gym Leader of Ecruteak City, and by Agatha, member of the Elite Four and temporary Gym Leader of Viridian City. Ash has battled against all three and prevailed over the first two.

A Gengar is the leader of "Team Meanies" in the half-hour animated special, "Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Team Go-Getters Out Of The Gate!". He and his partners Ekans and Medicham go around taking missions and being rude to other teams. This Gengar is something of a bully, although he does have a slight soft side.

[edit] In other media

Gengar in the Pokémon Trading Card Game.
Gengar in the Pokémon Trading Card Game.

Gengar is a Stage-2 Psychic-type in the Pokémon Trading Card Game, similar to Alakazam and Gardevoir. It has appeared in the following sets:

  • Fossil
  • Gym Heroes (as Sabrina's Gengar)
  • Gym Challenge (as Sabrina's Gengar)
  • Neo Destiny (as Dark Gengar)
  • Expedition
  • Skyridge
  • EX Firered and Leafgreen (as Gengar EX)
  • EX Legend Maker

The Fossil Set featured Gengar as a Pokémon used mostly while on the bench. It's Pokémon Power: Curse allowed the user to move damage around. The ability to take ten damage from one Pokémon to another allowed the active pokémon to attack the defending pokémon, while Gengar (on the bench) moved the damage around evenly, if it was a weak defending pokémon, or to gang up on a particularly strong pokémon.

Gengar EX, as with all EX pokémon, is quite a bit stronger than the originals. It has two attacks: Poltergeist and Prize Count. Poltergeist could do endless damage to the defending pokémon, as the damage is based on the number of Trainer Cards in the opponent's hand, the starting amount is forty (if there are no Trainers) and goes up by ten every Trainer. The attack Prize Count could be the more powerful attack between the two, if circumstances were ideal. The base damage of Prize Count is sixty, but is increased to one hundred if you had more Prize Cards than your opponent. Gengar EX has 150HP, has a weakness to both other Psychics and Dark, a resistance to Fighting and Colorless Pokémon and a two colorless energy retreat cost.

[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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