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* GooItUp: Most poison-type Pokemon can use the move "Sludge" or "Sludge Bomb" which is visualized as firing gross sludge at the opponent.
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*BossAlteringConsequence: Every main series game uses this function in one way or another. The consequence (excluding only a couple examples) is decided based on your starter. For example: If you choose the Grass starter, your rival will pick the Fire starter, and said Fire Starter will be a team mainstay. They may be programmed with three possible teams based on which starter you picked and shuffle members around, or may have the exact same team with only one Pokémon being different.

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* CripplingOverspecialization: The vast majority of Trainers, most famously including Gym Leaders, tend to specialize in a single type of Pokémon, which makes it a fundamental part of every game to elaborate strategies based on the ElementalRockPaperScissors of the series as a whole (a common one being, "choose a starter capable of beating the two first Gym Leaders while varying your team along the way"). Of course, higher-level opponents either teach their Pokémon moves designed to counteract their weak points (as is the case with the Elite Four) or use a wider variety in their teams (as the regional Champion usually does).

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* CripplingOverspecialization: CripplingOverspecialization:
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The vast majority of Trainers, most famously including Gym Leaders, tend to specialize in a single type of Pokémon, which makes it a fundamental part of every game to elaborate strategies based on the ElementalRockPaperScissors of the series as a whole (a common one being, "choose a starter capable of beating the two first Gym Leaders while varying your team along the way"). Of course, higher-level opponents either teach their Pokémon moves designed to counteract their weak points (as is the case with the Elite Four) or use a wider variety in their teams (as the regional Champion usually does).


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** The various Apricorn Balls introduced in ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' have special bonuses, but not only were they in limited quantities, they also only worked on so few pokémon that most of the time, you are better off using regular pokéballs if you wanted to just catch them.
*** The Lure Ball, having a catch rate modifier of 3 (5 in the [[VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon Alola]] games and 4 in the [[VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield Galar]] games), sounds good compared to the Ultra Ball's catch rate modifier of 2. However, it only activates if you encounter a pokémon while fishing. Without any fishing, this ball is a glorified pokéball.
*** The Moon Ball has a catch rate modifier of 4, but it only applies to pokémon whose line evolved with a Moon Stone[[note]]The Nidoran line, the Clefable line, the Wigglytuff line, the Skitty line, and the Musharna line[[/note]]. Otherwise, it is also a glorified pokéball[[note]]In its debut generation, it did not even work properly as it only worked on pokémon that evolved with a Burn Heal, which obviously there are none. From the Alola games onwards, you couldn't even use it on pokémon that did not evolve with a Moon Stone with the bonus catch rate modifier (so Nidorino would get the bonus but not male Nidoran)[[/note]].
** From ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' onwards, the Beast Ball. This Pokéball has a boosted catch rate for Ultra Beasts with a 5 times catch rate modifier when every other pokéball (discounting the Master Ball) has its catch rate modifier reduced to 0.1. Outside of Ultra Beasts, however, the Beast Ball would have a catch rate modifier of 0.1.
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** Cradily has large yellow spots on its head that trick a lot of people into thinking they're its eyes, and its ''actual'' eyes sitting below them are just goofy looking teeth.

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** Cradily has large yellow spots on its head that trick a lot of people into thinking they're its eyes, and that its ''actual'' eyes sitting below them are just goofy looking teeth.
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** Masquerain has a pair of antennas with eyelike patterns.


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** Dusknoir has markings on its chest and back that resemble eyes and a mouth. Oddly, while its real eye is located on its head, the front of its chest opens and acts like a functional mouth that it uses to carry spirits to the afterlife. The back mouth remains purely decorative.

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** Pecharunt provides this trope's page image. The outside of its shell has two white dots that make it seem like it's making your average DeadpanSnarker face, but in reality, its true face (and head) is on the inside of the shell.


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** Pecharunt provides the trope's page image. The outside of its shell has two white dots that make it seem like it's making your average DeadpanSnarker face, but in reality, its true face (and head) is on the inside of the shell.
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* BenevolentMonsters: Pokémon has gone far, far out of its way to establish this (despite the fact that the mascot is a foot-long rat that can shoot lightning from its face), with the inevitable result of HumansAreTheRealMonsters; no matter how rational any given Pokémon is, you can generally expect the moral weight of its actions to be assigned to the trainer. It's telling how, in over twenty years, there's only been ''one'' aversion in Necrozma (who acts as the BigBad of ''VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon'' without being controlled or influenced by a human), and even then, it has a FreudianExcuse pushed into your face.

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* BenevolentMonsters: Pokémon has gone far, far out of its way to establish this (despite the fact that the mascot is a foot-long rat that can shoot lightning from its face), cheeks), with the inevitable result of HumansAreTheRealMonsters; no matter how rational any given Pokémon is, you can generally expect the moral weight of its actions to be assigned to the trainer. It's telling how, in over twenty years, there's only been ''one'' aversion in Necrozma (who acts as the BigBad of ''VideoGame/PokemonUltraSunAndUltraMoon'' without being controlled or influenced by a human), and even then, it has a FreudianExcuse pushed into your face.
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* FacialFacade: There's quite a few examples of this:
** Arbok has large marks on its wide torso that resemble a menacing face.
** Spinarak has a face with a blank expression on its back that resembles a face. In some episodes of the anime, the face can change to a happy or angry expression.
** Wobbuffet's true face and head is actually its tail, and the entire rest of its body is purely a disguise.
** Mantine has two large black markings on its back that resemble eyes.
*** Its pre-evolution Mantyke has the same thing, but also has a mouth-like marking below them that curves upward, resulting in the markings on Mantyke's back resembling a cute smiley face.
** Cradily has large yellow spots on its head that trick a lot of people into thinking they're its eyes, and its ''actual'' eyes sitting below them are just goofy looking teeth.
** Mimikyu is famous for this trope. Envying the popularity of the franchise's mascot Pikachu, it crafted a costume resembling it, with scribbled-on eyes and a mouth. It is said that nobody who ever saw under Mimikyu's costume lived to tell the tale.
** Pecharunt provides this trope's page image. The outside of its shell has two white dots that make it seem like it's making your average DeadpanSnarker face, but in reality, its true face (and head) is on the inside of the shell.
** Bellibolt has two large, bulbous white growths on either side of its forehead that look a lot like eyes. However, its eyes are actually two small white dots in between them.
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* EnoughToGoAround:
** In multiplayer play, while a given Pokémon may be unique within the game world, it's easy for two players to stage a battle using the "same" unique Pokémon. Through trading, one player can even acquire multiple members of the one-per-game species.
** On a more meta level, [=IV=]s were created to give each Pokemon a unique "personality", then Abilities and Natures were added for even more diversity. However, once players figured out how to pass on these traits through breeding, most competitive Pokemon of the same species will have the same [=IV=]s, moves, Nature, and Ability. So any two of a given Pokemon in the competitive scene will be practically identical.
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* CaptureBalls: Pokéballs are technology that can be thrown at {{Mons}} to seal them, with the capture chance going up as you lower their HP. There are a variety of Pokéballs that increase the capture chance, up to the Master Ball which is guaranteed (as long as the Pokémon is not knocked unconscious).

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* CaptureBalls: Pokéballs Poké Balls are technology that can be thrown at {{Mons}} to seal them, with the capture chance going up as you lower their HP. There are a variety of Pokéballs Poké Balls that increase the capture chance, up to the Master Ball which is guaranteed (as long as the Pokémon is not knocked unconscious).
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Crosswicking

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* CaptureBalls: Pokéballs are technology that can be thrown at {{Mons}} to seal them, with the capture chance going up as you lower their HP. There are a variety of Pokéballs that increase the capture chance, up to the Master Ball which is guaranteed (as long as the Pokémon is not knocked unconscious).
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** Notable people in the Pokémon world who specialize in this type include Lorelei of the Kanto Elite Four, Pryce of the Johto Gym Leaders, Glacia of the Hoenn Elite Four, Candice of the Sinnoh Gym Leaders, Brycen of the Unova Gym Leaders, Wulfric of the Kalos Gym Leaders, Melony of the Galar Ym Leaders, and Grusha of the Paldea Gym Leaders. Interesting to note that Candice is actually quite HotBlooded.

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** Notable people in the Pokémon world who specialize in this type include Lorelei of the Kanto Elite Four, Pryce of the Johto Gym Leaders, Glacia of the Hoenn Elite Four, Candice of the Sinnoh Gym Leaders, Brycen of the Unova Gym Leaders, Wulfric of the Kalos Gym Leaders, Melony of the Galar Ym Gym Leaders, and Grusha of the Paldea Gym Leaders. Interesting to note that Candice is actually quite HotBlooded.
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** Notable people in the Pokémon world who specialize in this type include Lorelei of the Kanto Elite Four, Pryce of the Johto Gym Leaders, Glacia of the Hoenn Elite Four, Candice of the Sinnoh Gym Leaders, Brycen of the Unova Gym Leaders, and Wulfric of the Kalos Gym Leaders. Interesting to note that Candice is actually quite HotBlooded.

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** Notable people in the Pokémon world who specialize in this type include Lorelei of the Kanto Elite Four, Pryce of the Johto Gym Leaders, Glacia of the Hoenn Elite Four, Candice of the Sinnoh Gym Leaders, Brycen of the Unova Gym Leaders, and Wulfric of the Kalos Gym Leaders, Melony of the Galar Ym Leaders, and Grusha of the Paldea Gym Leaders. Interesting to note that Candice is actually quite HotBlooded.
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* CompetitiveBalance: There are 18 unique Pokémon types as of Generation 9. Even though only a few of them are "truly balanced", ie. having as many type advantages as they have type disadvantages, the system manages to create an ecosystem where there's plenty of reason to choose a type that, on paper, has more weaknesses than strengths.
** Ground-type is quite potent offensively, hitting many things supereffectively and having few things that resist it. However, it's one of the few types that cannot hit another type at all (namely Flying-type).
** Over half of the types in the game are resisted or nullified by Steel-type. However, the types it is weak to (Fire, Fighting, Ground) are already very potent attackers, keeping it in check.
** Defensively, Ghost-type is strong, taking no damage from Normal and Fighting-type and only being weak to itself and Dark-type. However, it has little offensive potency, only hurting itself and Psychic-type supereffectively.
** [[GlassCannon Rock and Ice-type hit many things supereffectively, but themselves take supereffective damage from many sources as well]].
** Dark-type has more weaknesses than strengths, however, it is the only way to hit Ghost-type supereffectively, short of siccing another Ghost-type onto it.
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Updating wicks Useful Notes/ -> Platform/


* AmbidextrousSprite: Averted in the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance and Nintendo DS titles. In these games, Pokémon with asymmetrical designs like Absol and Roselia aren't flipped when viewed on the status screen or the Pokédex. Although there are some exceptions like Azumarill or Weezing.

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* AmbidextrousSprite: Averted in the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance Platform/GameBoyAdvance and Nintendo DS Platform/NintendoDS titles. In these games, Pokémon with asymmetrical designs like Absol and Roselia aren't flipped when viewed on the status screen or the Pokédex. Although there are some exceptions like Azumarill or Weezing.



** The namesake trait of Shiny Pokémon is pretty much one; their original defining trait was that they were a different color (hence the Red Gyarados being referred to as such rather than Shiny Gyarados), with the shining effect and accompanying sound effect originally being due to the fact that their debut games could be played on monochrome UsefulNotes/GameBoy systems in addition to the UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor. Although, to be fair, it remains useful to this day for players who have color blindness or are not familiar enough with individual Pokémon species to tell the Shiny specimens apart from regular ones without a visual cue, especially if the species' shiny palette is not much different from the regular one (e.g. Poliwag, Slowpoke) or if it naturally comes in different colors without being Shiny (e.g. Minior, Alcremie).

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** The namesake trait of Shiny Pokémon is pretty much one; their original defining trait was that they were a different color (hence the Red Gyarados being referred to as such rather than Shiny Gyarados), with the shining effect and accompanying sound effect originally being due to the fact that their debut games could be played on monochrome UsefulNotes/GameBoy Platform/GameBoy systems in addition to the UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor.Platform/GameBoyColor. Although, to be fair, it remains useful to this day for players who have color blindness or are not familiar enough with individual Pokémon species to tell the Shiny specimens apart from regular ones without a visual cue, especially if the species' shiny palette is not much different from the regular one (e.g. Poliwag, Slowpoke) or if it naturally comes in different colors without being Shiny (e.g. Minior, Alcremie).



** Originally, ''POKéMON''[[note]]For those wondering why the é in [=POKéMON=] is left uncapitalized, it's because the font the games use leaves no room for an accent mark over a capital E.[[/note]] games wrote the names of every proper noun in all caps. In other words, you play as a [=POKéMON=] TRAINER in the KANTO, JOHTO, or HOENN region on a quest to get every BADGE from every GYM LEADER and eventually take on the ELITE FOUR, having to go through the likes of TEAM ROCKET, TEAM AQUA, or TEAM MAGMA on the way. ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'' ended this practice, but their generation still capitalized the names of individual Pokémon due to backward compatibility with the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance games, which use the old method of capitalization (for example, ''Diamond and Pearl'' would still say PIKACHU instead of Pikachu, but would say Town Map instead of TOWN MAP). ''[[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Black and White]]'' did away with this as well, meaning no more ALL CAPS at all.

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** Originally, ''POKéMON''[[note]]For those wondering why the é in [=POKéMON=] is left uncapitalized, it's because the font the games use leaves no room for an accent mark over a capital E.[[/note]] games wrote the names of every proper noun in all caps. In other words, you play as a [=POKéMON=] TRAINER in the KANTO, JOHTO, or HOENN region on a quest to get every BADGE from every GYM LEADER and eventually take on the ELITE FOUR, having to go through the likes of TEAM ROCKET, TEAM AQUA, or TEAM MAGMA on the way. ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'' ended this practice, but their generation still capitalized the names of individual Pokémon due to backward compatibility with the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance Platform/GameBoyAdvance games, which use the old method of capitalization (for example, ''Diamond and Pearl'' would still say PIKACHU instead of Pikachu, but would say Town Map instead of TOWN MAP). ''[[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Black and White]]'' did away with this as well, meaning no more ALL CAPS at all.



** The [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Generation I]] games and the early [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Generation II]] games feature custom borders when playing on a UsefulNotes/SuperGameBoy. ''Red'', ''Green'', and ''Blue'' feature various Pokémon against a backdrop whose color matches that of the game's title[[note]]going clockwise from top-left, ''Red'' features Pidgey, Clefairy, Rhydon, and Kangaskhan; ''Green'' features Shellder, Pikachu, Kangaskhan, and Rhydon; ''Blue'' features Charmander, Squirtle, a pair of Poké Balls, and Bulbasaur[[/note]]. ''Yellow'' features various Pikachu playing against a green backdrop. ''Gold'' and ''Silver'' feature a Poké Ball pattern against a colored backdrop matching the game's title.
** The ''VideoGame/PokemonStadium'' games include a Game Boy Tower feature, which allows the player to use the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 Transfer Pak to play the mainline games in UsefulNotes/SuperGameBoy mode, complete with custom borders. ''Pokémon Crystal'' is incompatible with the Super Game Boy, but ''is'' compatible with the Game Boy Tower; as such, it uses the Super Game Boy's default border.

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** The [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Generation I]] games and the early [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Generation II]] games feature custom borders when playing on a UsefulNotes/SuperGameBoy.Platform/SuperGameBoy. ''Red'', ''Green'', and ''Blue'' feature various Pokémon against a backdrop whose color matches that of the game's title[[note]]going clockwise from top-left, ''Red'' features Pidgey, Clefairy, Rhydon, and Kangaskhan; ''Green'' features Shellder, Pikachu, Kangaskhan, and Rhydon; ''Blue'' features Charmander, Squirtle, a pair of Poké Balls, and Bulbasaur[[/note]]. ''Yellow'' features various Pikachu playing against a green backdrop. ''Gold'' and ''Silver'' feature a Poké Ball pattern against a colored backdrop matching the game's title.
** The ''VideoGame/PokemonStadium'' games include a Game Boy Tower feature, which allows the player to use the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64 Platform/Nintendo64 Transfer Pak to play the mainline games in UsefulNotes/SuperGameBoy Platform/SuperGameBoy mode, complete with custom borders. ''Pokémon Crystal'' is incompatible with the Super Game Boy, but ''is'' compatible with the Game Boy Tower; as such, it uses the Super Game Boy's default border.
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* CapRaiser:
** The PP Up and PP Max items, the latter only appearing from ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'' and beyond, raise the max amount of PP a single move can have. PP Up raises it by 1/5 of the base value, and PP Max sets it to the maximum possible amount at 8/5 of base value.
** ''VideoGame/PokemonGo'': You can spend 200 coins on an "item bag" to increase your inventory space by 50 slots each; a similar upgrade is available to increase Pokemon storage space. The default is 350 items and 300 Pokemon, but maximum storage is in the thousands and increases slightly with new updates. Some events allow greater storage increases at a lower cost, usually to promote a big update.

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