Time for this week's Character Spot.
If Mario was not the mascot for Nintendo, I think this lovable little furball probably would be. But Pikachu is the mascot for his franchise, Pokémon.
The franchise revolves around a world inhabited by creatures known as Pokémon. In this world, people live side-by side with these creatures, oftentimes catching them and training them to do battle with one another, becoming what are known as Pokémon Trainers. Pokémon Trainers travel the world with their Pokémon, facing the elements, encountering wild Pokémon, battling fellow Trainers, and challenging Pokémon Leagues in the hopes of becoming Pokémon Masters.
The Pokémon themselves come in numerous different varieties and species. When the franchise was first introduced, there were only 150 different species of Pokémon. That was back when you started in the Kanto Region in Pokémon Red Version and Blue Version. Then, when Pokémon Gold and Silver Version were released, another 100 were added in. With each new "Generation" of games, another number of Pokémon were added to the mix. As of today, there are almost 900 species of Pokémon known to exist. (898, if you want to split hairs.)
Since the creation of the franchise, it has become a worldwide phenomenon. And arguably the most recognizable Pokémon ever created is Pikachu. If you've heard of Pokémon but are not totally familiar with it, you are probably not aware that the name Pikachu refers to a particular species of Pokémon.
Pikachu is number 25 in the encyclopedia of Pokémon known as the Pokédex, which lists it as the Mouse Pokémon. Pikachu is an Electric type Pokémon. The average Pikachu measures 1'04" (0.4m) in height, and 13.2lb (16kg) in weight.
As an Electric type Pokémon, Pikachu is weak against Ground-type moves, and its Electric-type moves are ineffective against Ground-type Pokemon and only do half damage to Dragon, Grass and fellow Electric-types. However, its Electric-type moves are strong against Flying- and Water-type Pokémon and the Pokémon itself is resistant to Electric-, Flying- and Steel-type moves.
Like most Pokémon, Pikachu hatches from an egg, but when it does, it is a Pokémon called Pichu, which evolves into Pikachu when it develops enough of a friendship with its trainer. Pikachu can then evolve into one called Raichu when exposed to the radiation of an artifact called a Thunder Stone. Pikachu and its entire evolutionary line are Electric types, but when Pikachu evolves with a Thunder Stone in the Alola Region of the Pokémon world, it becomes a dual-type Electric and Psychic Pokémon. You can tell the difference between a male and a female Pikachu by looking at the end of its lightning bolt-shaped tail. If the end is flat, the Pikachu is male. If the end has a couple of heart-shaped curves at the end, it's female. A "shiny" Pikachu will take on a dark-yellow to orange shade rather than the usual yellow.
Don't let Pikachu's cuteness fool you. While it is by no means the strongest Pokémon of all, its attacks can pack quite the punch. Those red cheeks aren't just for show, either. Those are actually pouches where it stores electricity.
It mainly relies on its speed in battle, having a fairly good speed stat among Pokémon, but many of the attacks it can learn also do a respectable amount of damage. Its Thunder attack is not very accurate, but when it hits, look out! Its speed also makes it a good candidate for the move, Electro Ball, which does damage dependent on how much faster it is than its opponent. Pikachu's evolutionary line also has a high-risk, high-reward signature move called Volt Tackle, which does the same amount of damage as Thunder and is more accurate, but causes damage to Pikachu equal to 1/3 of the damage the opponent took.
Pikachu has become somewhat synonymous with the Pokémon franchise, being used in all kinds of promotional materials for it. It has been used as the mascot for Pokémon Yellow Version: Special Pikachu Edition, a third game added to the first generation of games which were released for the Nintendo Game Boy. Yellow was essentially the same game as Red and Blue, with some key differences - the main one being that, rather than choosing between the Fire-type Charmander, the Water-type Squirtle and the Grass-type Bulbasaur, the player is given a Pikachu as their Pokémon partner.
Furthermore, almost every time a Pokémon is used in something, Pikachu is inevitably included. Now, maybe you do, but I can't remember a single time the Pokémon franchise took part in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and Pikachu was not featured. Pikachu has also consistently been one of the playable fighters in Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. series, in which you can engage in a battle royale between a BUNCH of different Nintendo legends, including the eponymous hero of Donkey Kong, Link from Legend of Zelda, Fox McCloud from Star Fox, Samus Aran from Metroid, and of course the eponymous brothers of Super Mario Bros., further demonstrating that Nintendo is not complete without Pikachu. In fact, Pikachu is one of the original 12 fighters for the original Nintendo 64 Super Smash Bros. game, who have all been in every single installment of the series.
The most well-known Pikachu would most likely be the one belonging to the Pokémon Trainer, Ash Ketchum, the main human character of the Pokémon anime series. Compared to most members of its species, this particular Pikachu is incredibly powerful despite - or perhaps even because of - having never evolved. While Ash and his Pikachu had a rough start, a few trials allowed the duo to become fast friends, and his Pikachu has been the one consistent Pokémon Ash has used in every single region of the world he's traveled.
This Pikachu is voiced in both Japanese AND English by Japanese voice actress Ikue Ōtani. She has voiced Pikachu ever since the show's introduction. While you wouldn't think that you could squeeze much of a career out of simply saying a name over and over again (unless that name happens to be Hodor), Ōtani actually says that she does new lines for the character with every appearance. Every time Ash's Pikachu has to speak, Ōtani is told what it is saying, and then says it in Pikachu. I don't know about you, but I'd love to just sit in a room with her and have her tell me some of the things that Pikachu says under certain circumstances. Ōtani may mainly voice Ash's Pikachu in the anime, but she has also voiced other versions of Pikachu outside of the show. She has voiced Pikachu for the video games, including Pokémon Yellow, but only really starting to voice the character in the core series starting with Generation VI of the handheld games, i.e., Pokémon X Version and Y Version. However, she has also voiced the Mouse Pokémon for numerous other games in the Pokémon franchise, and even provides the voice for the Super Smash Bros. version of it.
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| Ryan Reynolds Image by Tabercil, found on Wikimedia Commons (License) |
Recently, the world became familiar with a totally different version of Pikachu, which has been shown talking - Detective Pikachu. Detective Pikachu was the star of his own video game of the same title, and later, a movie titled Pokémon: Detective Pikachu. I can't say much about the game, which had voice actor Kaiji Tang as the speaking voice of the character. What I can say is that many in the fandom wanted to have our little pint-sized detective played by Danny DeVito. While they didn't get their wish, I think that most of us were satisfied having him played by Ryan Reynolds. Even though it was toned down significantly, I feel that Reynolds brought the same kind of humor to voicing Pikachu as he did to playing Marvel's Merc With a Mouth, Deadpool - having the character be hyper, smart-mouthed, and something of a nuisance to anyone on his side of the Fourth Wall. I don't know about any of you, but it would not surprise me even a little if it turned out that Reynolds took the role of Detective Pikachu at least partially so that he can joke about it in Deadpool 3.
Select seasons of Pokémon and Pokémon movies can be found on Hulu, Netflix and the official Pokémon website, Pokemon.com.
Various Pokémon video games are available for purchase in physical format for Nintendo Switch and Nintendo 3DS, and in digital format through the Nintendo eShop.
Pokémon: Detective Pikachu is available for purchase on DVD, Blu-Ray and digital copy, and for streaming on HBO Max.
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