Pokémon (universe)

The Pokémon universe refers to the Smash Flash series' collection of characters, stages, and properties that hail from Nintendo's expansive and hugely successful Pokémon media franchise. The Pokémon franchise is Nintendo's second most lucrative franchise, reaching only behind Nintendo's Mario franchise in global sales. Thus, a rather large portion of the content in the Super Smash Bros. series revolves around characters and properties from the Pokémon universe.

Franchise description
Pokémon was introduced in Japan as "Pocket Monsters" by Nintendo in February 1996 as a pair of interlinkable Game Boy RPGs. It was not expected to be a huge success, but in the event, Pokémon exploded into an extremely potent franchise phenomenon, having been merchandised into an anime continuity (consisting of a television series with consistent motion pictures), many series of manga, an extensive collectible card game, toys, books, and other media. It was all ported to American audiences and worldwide later on. Pokémon has become the second biggest-selling game-based media franchise of all time, second only to Nintendo's Mario franchise; As of December 1, 2006, cumulative sold units (including home console versions) have reached more than 155 million copies.

In the various incarnations of the Pokémon universe, the world of Pokémon is an Earth-like world inhabited by many species of the eponymous Pokémon creatures which coexist with humans. The Pokémon are colorful, generally sentient creatures possessing the abilities to perform amazing talents of seemingly every conceivable sort, examples of which are breathing fire, exhuming poisonous smog, summoning rainfall, performing martial arts, holographically splitting up into multiple copies of itself, employing psychokinesis, unleashing paralysis-inducing electricity, etc. Many Pokémon live as wild animals both as predators and prey, while other individual Pokémon are mythical and powerful beings responsible for the creation of the world, and others still are man-made. Most Pokémon can only communicate in a non-human language that consists of syllables of their own names, while others speak in roars and grunts, but some can communicate in English through telepathy (e.g. Mewtwo), and in extremely rare cases a Pokémon can master the ability to speak the physical human tongue (e.g. one particular individual of the Meowth species). As of now, there are 649 species of Pokémon that have been identified. However, many of the Pokémon are known to have multiple forms. If each form was counted as an individual, there would be more.

The concept of the Pokémon universe, in both games and the general fictional world, stems from the hobbies of insect collecting and cockfighting, the former being a popular pastime which Pokémon executive director Satoshi Tajiri had enjoyed as a child. In most instances of Pokémon, humans of varying interests seek out and capture various and multiple species of Pokémon using specially designed mass-producible tools called Poké Balls. In most cases a Pokémon caught from the wild by a human willingly joins up with the human and obeys his or her commands. Some catch and own Pokémon as friendly pets and lifelong companions and do not participate in any competitive activities with them. Others of a less savory nature, such as members of the Pokémon crime syndicate Team Rocket (Home to the Meowth who can speak the physical human tongue), capture Pokémon and use them as weapons to advance their evil agendas. For most humans, however, including players of the Pokémon RPGs, take the Pokémon trainer's route in life and collect Pokémon to train them and battle the Pokémon of other trainers in officially sponsored competitive Pokémon matches.

The two-stage object of most Pokémon RPGs is to collect all of the available Pokémon species in the region where that RPG takes place and from them train a winning team of powerful Pokémon fighters to defeat the powerful Pokémon teams of that region's Elite Four trainers and the regional Champion. Pokémon captured from the wild with Poké Balls gain experience and learn new battling moves by battling many wild Pokémon and challenging other trainers to Pokémon matches. Many species of Pokémon, when they gain enough experience and regardless of whether they are in the wild or under a trainer's ownership, undergo a metamorphosis and Evolve into a similar, but larger and more powerful, species of Pokémon. Many of the 649 species belong to such lineages, so in a sense there's more like 250+ distinctive species of Pokémon.

The Pokémon franchise's chronology is divided into "generations", defined by the original Pokémon that appear herein and the newest pair of handheld Pokémon RPGs featuring those Pokémon. Every several years, with the release of a new pair of RPGs for a new system, over a hundred new Pokémon are added to the existing pool of Pokémon, along with new regions, characters, properties, and gameplay concepts. There have been four generations thus far: The Pokémon Red and Blue versions for the Game Boy began the franchise with the First Generation, with 151 Pokémon species and the initial region of the world called the Kanto Region. This generation was in effect when Super Smash Bros. was developed and released in 1999, so Pokémon, locations, and properties of the first generation were featured in the game. In 2000, the Second Generation was heralded by the release of the Pokémon Gold and Silver sequel versions for Game Boy Color, which added 100 more new Pokémon to make for a total of 251, along with the new Johto region located just west of Kanto. Super Smash Bros. Melee was developed and released during this generation, so the game features content based on both existing generations. In 2003, the Third Generation took effect with the release of Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire versions for Game Boy Advance, which added 135 more new Pokémon in the Hoenn region to make a total of 386, in 2007 the Pokémon Diamond and Pearl versions for Nintendo DS ushered in the Fourth Generation with 107 more new Pokémon in the Sinnoh region and in 2011 Pokémon and White rushed to the Fifth Generation with 156 new Pokémon in the Isshu adding up to a grand total of 649 species. Super Smash Bros. Brawl is known to incorporate all four generations in-game.

Many of the game's main mechanics are largely ignored in the Smash Bros. series. One of the most obvious is, of course, that Super Smash Bros. is not an RPG. Other differences include the Pokémon's weaknesses and resistances, for example, Charizard, as a fire-flying type combination, took double damage from Water and Electric based attacks. Another difference is a Pokémon's special ability, such as Pikachu's ability to have a chance at paralyzing an opponent every time it was hit with a physical attack.

In Super Smash Flash
Since the few limitations of the Flash reproductor and Cleod9's ability with it, the Pokémon universe in Super Smash Flash lacks the Pokémon in Poké Balls, unlike the original games, and makes it's appearance as one of the standard, but bigger universes in the game.

Characters
With 3 of the 28 fighters being Pokémon themselves, the Pokémon franchise was the fourth most prominent universe in the SSF, falling only behind the from the Sonic universe, the Mario universe and the SSB universe:
 * Pikachu: A yellow mouse with red cheeks, this cute creature is imbued with electricity and may employ it at will as offensive measures, both in Pokémon battles and in Smash competitions. As it can be inferred, it is an Electric-type Pokémon. It is 40 cm tall (1'4") and weights 6 kg (13.2 lbs). It is numbered #025, according to the National Pokédex. It is often considered the mascot of the Pokémon franchise as a whole, often depicted on most of the franchise's merchandise and is unanimously included in any Pokémon product. It is the favored Pokémon of trainer Ash Ketchum (being it the Pokémon with which Ash started his journey) in the Pokémon anime and has been trained to become a powerful member of the Pikachu species. It has a spiritual rival in the cat-like Pokémon Mewtwo. Pikachu, in the main Pokémon RPGs, is not strong in Pokémon battles at all. It has an evolved form, however, called Raichu, a larger, more imposing, and much more powerful electric rodent that is quite popular to use in the video games. Pikachu also has a younger, weaker pre-evolved form called Pichu, which did not exist at all during the first generation; it was introduced in the second generation. Pikachu is often called the most popular Pokémon in America.
 * Jigglypuff (Purin in Japan): A pink ball-like fluffy creature strikingly similar to Kirby in appearance and floaty stature. This cute creature possesses a hypnotic singing voice that literally puts those around to hear it to sleep, and when angered (as it often becomes in the anime when it sees its audience fall asleep from its performances), it will punish its target either with Pound or with vandalizing its victims' faces with a marker (the latter, only seen in the anime). It is a Normal and Fairy type Pokémon. It is 50 cm tall (1'8") and weights 5.5 kg (12.1 lbs). It is numbered #039, according to the National Pokédex. In Smash Flash, it is widely agreed to be a legitimate force to be reckoned with, thanks to its trump card, Rest. Its power in Smash battles is ironic because in the RPGs it is one of the weakest Pokémon to bring out in battle. It has an evolved form, not seen in Smash however, called Wigglytuff, a larger, less spherical creature with markedly higher specifications to make it more appealing in battle. It also has a younger, even weaker pre-evolved form called Igglybuff which did not exist at all during the first generation; it was introduced in the second generation. Jigglypuff is often called the most popular Pokémon in Japan. In the early Pokémon anime, a Jigglypuff followed the protagonists, but has not been seen for some time.
 * Mewtwo: A fighter from Pokémon's first generation. Mewtwo is one of the strongest Pokémon in the RPGs (being one of the so-called Legendary Pokémon) and in especially the anime continuity is depicted as a sentient humanoid being with a personality that allows for the virtues and failings of a human being. It is a Psychic-type Pokémon which stands 2 m tall (6'7") and weighing 122 kg (269 lbs). It is numbered #150, according to the National Pokédex. The anime depicts Mewtwo as the twisted genetically-engineered result of scientists working to create the most powerful Pokémon artificially, using the DNA of the rare and powerful Mew (hence Mewtwo's name). Mewtwo is imbued with extremely potent psychic powers and is in fact able to communicate telepathically in grammatical English; however, it is very cold, ruthless and aggressive.

Stage
Super Smash Flash features one Pokémon-themed stage.
 * Pokémon Stadium: This takes place in a night-time platform located in the Kanto region; it does not represent any one specific location in the Pokémon RPGs. Unlike the original and limitations this stage doesn't transforms into an entirely new battlefield after a set amount of time.

In Super Smash Flash 2
Pokémon makes a return in Super Smash Flash 2 as one of the more extensively represented franchises. Now it featured the Poké Ball as a new item of the universe.

Characters
Two Pokémon characters appear in SSF2 as playable fighters:
 * Pikachu: Returns from Super Smash Flash but with new and different attacks. Pikachu's Final Smash is called Volt Tackle, and it involves it temporarily turning into a giant ball of electricity and flying at high speeds across the stage. This move can be controlled when in action, but it leaves Pikachu helpless if the attack ends or is canceled while it's in midair.
 * Jigglypuff: Jigglypuff makes a return in SFF2 as an starter veteran fighter. While it is still predominantly an aerial fighter, its aerial priority and power have been decreased, as has the power of its Rest attack. It's Final Smash is called Puff Up.

Stages
Super Smash Flash 2 features currently one stage, while others have yet to be confirmed.
 * Pokémon Stadium 3: Redesigned version of Pokémon Stadium from Super Smash Flash and of Pokémon Stadium 2 from Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It is very detailed and it may change its "setting" like its predecessors. For now, it stays the same.

Item
Super Smash Flash 2 at last introduces the one Pokémon-related item seen throughout the original Smash series absent in the first SSF.
 * Poké Ball: When thrown, one of about a dozen available Pokémon will emerge from the thrown item and perform an action unique to that Pokémon, making this the most unpredictable, complex, and variable item of all. The collection of Pokémon findable in throwable Poké Balls in Super Smash Flash 2 features the from the firsts to the recent generations of Pokémon. The Pokémon that can be released from Poké Balls are:
 * Charizard
 * Chatot
 * Chikorita
 * Delibird
 * Electrode
 * Gligar
 * Hitmonlee
 * Koffing
 * Magikarp
 * MissingNo.
 * Shroomish
 * Snorlax
 * Victini

Trivia

 * The Pokémon universe is the first franchise to have two characters in S-tier on a tier list.
 * Charizard's voice clips are taken from his playable appearance in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.