While the second Generation had no fossils at all, the third "advanced" Generation packs three very interesting Pokémon based on some extremely old creatures. They could be brought back to life from Devon Corp.'s laboratories in Rustboro City using DNA samples from a Claw Fossil (Anorith) or a Root Fossil (Lileep).

Relicanth

Relicanth (ジーランス/Jīransu) unlike other fossil Pokémon, is not revived from a fossil but it can be found in the wild instead. However it is still considered a fossil Pokémon due to its type (Water/Rock) and its origin. Relicanth's name comes from relic and coelacanth. Coelacanth ['hollow spine' from Greek κοίλος (coelos) meaning hollow and άκανθος (acanthos) meaning thorn/fishbone] is the name for an order of ancient fish which were thought to be extinct (due to lack of fossil records) until recently, they're therefore living fossils. A weird fact about their name is that κοίλος (coelos) is pronounced "kilos" therefore coelacanth's pronounciation "see-lah-kanth" is wrong. They appeared 370 million years and have barely changed since then.

There are two species of coelacanth: Latimeria chalumnae which has a deep blue colour and lived in the west Indian Ocean and the brown-tinted Latimeria menadoensis which lives in Indonesia. They are lobe-finned fish and their fins are supported by small bone structures which led many scientists in the past to belive that they were the missing links between marine and land animals which is false since coelacanth is the sole survivor of a line of extinct animals. They also have bone like scales (which explains why Relicanth is described to have tough scales that are like craggy rocks) and a special electrical field sensor called a rostral organ which they use to detect their prey especially in low-light conditions. Coelacanths usually live in great depths (as deep as 700m/2296.5ft) since their eyes are very sensitive to light are are very rarely caught by fishermen and that's one of the reasons they were thought to be extinct. It seems that local fishermen would throw them back in the water if caught by accident because they are inedible as their bodies are rich in a laxative oil. They can grow up to 2m/6.5ft and their average weight is 80kg/176 pounds. Female coelacanths keep their eggs inside them and thefore give birth to live young, in clutches numbering between five and twenty-six!

Did you know that…

There is also a Digimon called Coelamon that is based on Coelacanth.

Anorith & Armaldo

Anorith (アノプス/Anopusu) is considered to be a kind of Pokémon predecessor, which is pretty logical considering it is based on Anomalocaris, an extinct carnivorous marine animal that lived in the Cambrian period, 530 million years ago. It is probable that the -ith in its name comes from the Greek word λίθος (lithos) meaning stone. The Anomalocarids were agile predators of a remarkable size that few other Cambrian animals could match; some specimens grew up to 2 metres. Anorith would be a medium size Anomalocarid with a lenght of 0.7m / 2'04".

The photo of an Anomalocaris model that appears on the right was found on a japanese website about prehistoric animals and is the only one that has a matching colour scheme with Anorith; it seems probable that Satoshi Tajiri and Ken Sugimori were inspired by this very model.

Their appearence and the way the moved would be unfamiliar to us since they have no similarities to any living creature. In front of their mouth they had two shrimp-like appendages which have apparently been replaced by "extendable" claws in Anorith's case. Their flat, segmented body was equipped with a series of swimming loves. Anomalocaris would undulate these flaps and therefore simulate a wave-like motion, probably similar to the way rays do.

Anomalocaris were often missidentified by paleontologists. The name Anomalocaris (unusual shrimp) itself originally referred to the detached arms or a fossilized specimen; it's mouth was mistaken for a jellyfish and its body was thought to be a sponge.

Armaldo (アーマルド/Āmarudo) on the other hand is freely based on Anomalocaris with apparently, an inheritance of elements by dinosaurs like the Stegosaurus or Ankylosaurus however its name comes from armor or possibly armadillo. It has a hight of 1.5m / 4'11" which is essentialy the same with the player's height in the videogames. It's supposed to live on land and walk on its hind legs and is probably one the first Pokémon that chose leave the sea behind. It is protected by an extremely tough shell and is armoured with two "enormous" extendable claws that "have the power to punch right through a steel slab".

Did you know that…

There is also a Digimon called Scorpiomon (Japanese: Anomalocarimon) that is based on Anomalocaris.

Lileep & Cradily

Lileep (リリーラ/Rirīra) is based on another family of ancient marine animals, called crinoids which are also called "sea lilies" since they are often mistaken for plants. Its name originates from lily and peep because it looks like it's peeping out of its stem. Crinoids date back to the Ordovician period (~450 million years ago) however very few species have survived into our days; sea urchins are distant cousins of theirs. They are characterized by a mouth on the top surface that is surrounded by feeding arms and a stem which they use to attach themselves to the seafloor although most modern crinoids are free-swiming and lack that stem. They used to feed on food particles that they collected from the currents flowing past them. Some crinoids were over a meter long which is is close to the size of Lileep and Cradily however didn't look as massive and resembled thick algae.

Cradily (ユレイドル/Yureidoru) is also based on crinoids with hints from the Piranha Plants from Super Mario's universe or the Deku Babas from the Legend Of Zelda series. Unfortunately there little to be said about crinoids, since they obviously live a rather boring life.

Did you know that…

There are no Digimon based on Crinoids? (That's how boring they are…)

Extrernal references

Here are some of the sources used in the making of this article which can provide you with more detailed information if you are interested.

If you're more interested in paleontology, I suggest checking the following excellent series of documentaries by BBC: Walking with Monsters, Walking with Dinosaurs, Walking with Beasts.

• Wikipedia: Extinction event
• Wikipedia: Coelacanth
• Anatomy of the Coelacanth
• Index Fossils
• Wikipedia: Anomalocarid
• Wikipedia: Crinoids

Dinosaurs and other extraordinary prehistoric Pokémon have always been fascinating due to their mysterious nature. People are often amazed with the diverse and unusual appearance since most of them have nothing in common with today's dominant mammals and their scarce look-alikes are not widely known. The most famous prehistoric creatures are dinosaurs which along with other reptile-like creatures like the flying pterosaurs and the aquatic "sea monsters"ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs and mosasaurs ruled the earth for millions of years while the inferior mammals, which evolved from the monstrous pelycosaurs, lived in their shadows.

The extinct dinosaurs (or at least the ones that didn't evolve to birds) shared their fates with many other remarkable creatures such as various arthropods or cephalopods. Our only source of information about these creatures are their fossilized remains, however a few animals from the ancient eras of life, some of which even predate the dinosaurs and of course man, have managed to survive up to this date. Those are called living fossils and may include animals such as common as a cockroach or a dragonfly.

There's no doubt that Satoshi Tajiri would be inspired by this wide variety of unusual animal forms when creating Pokémon. This shall be the first in a mini-series of articles concerning prehistoric Pokémon among the different generations. We're not going to determine the origin of dragon-like Pokémon such as Charizard or Dragonair but rather analyze only the truth behind Pokémon recognized by the games' plot as fossils.

Prehistoric Pokémon were introduced in the first Generation. Using a process similar to that of the movie film Jurassic Park: scientists of the Cinnabar Island Laboratory were able to extract DNA out of fossils or amber (fossilized resin) and recreate via the process of cloning Omanyte (Helix Fossil), Kabuto (Dome Fossil) and Aerodactyl (Old Amber). Apparently due to their fossilized nature, one of the two types of all prehistoric Pokémon is ROCK.

Omanyte & Omastar

Omanyte (オムナイト/Omunaito)'s name is combination of ammonite an extinct cephalopod, and "omu", the Japanese word for nautilus, a living fossil. Same applies for Omastar (オムスター/Omusutā) which also includes the word "star"probably because it's major tentacles have the shape of a starfish.

The concept of the above Pokémon is centered on the foresaid cephalopod, ammonite. Ammonites have no living close relatives as their order became extinct at the close of the Cretaceous (65 m.y.a.) along with the dinosaurs, however they have a lot in common with another animal in the Cephalopoda class, Nautilus. Their shape resembles a ram horn, and Pilnius the Elder (a roman philosopher, naval and military commander) called their fossils ammonis cornua (horns of Ammon) because of the egyptian god Ammon, god of wind and weilder of the "breath of life”, who was depicted wearing ram's horns. Omanyte's height is 0.4m / 1'04" which is about the average for a Jurassic period ammonite while Omastar is double its size at 1m / 3'03" which is comparable to the Titanites from southern England. Certain specimens of ammonite fossils reach 2 metres (6.5 feet) in diameter.

Pokémon Gold's entry reads: "Apparently, it cracked SHELLDER's shell with its sharp fangs and sucked out the insides."and actually ammonites probably did feed on fishes, crustaceans and small sea creatures. Emerald's entry reads: "An OMASTAR uses its tentacles to capture its prey. It is believed to have become extinct because its shell grew too large, making its movements slow and ponderous."and while most ammonites used to be good swimmers, much like Nautiluses, some ammonoids are though to have been slow-swimming bottom-dwellers, so it is probable that Omastar became extinct due to lack of prey in its hunting area. The extinction of ammonites is hard to be explained and no one has ever found a living fossil up to this date.

Omastar first made an appearance in the animé in episode 46, "Attack Of The Prehistoric Pokémon" along with other prehistoric Pokémon (Omanyte, Kabuto, Kabutops & Aerodactyl).

Did you know that...

The prototype name for Omanyte in the beta version of Pokémon Red and Green was "Ess" while Omastar had the name "Kargo" a concept inspired by "escargot" which is french for snail.

Kabuto & Kabutops

While Omanyte and Omastar are both based on the same animal, Kabuto (カブト/Kabuto) and Kabutops (カブトプス/Kabutopusu) have different origins. The name Kabuto derives from Kabuto (兜, 冑) the traditional Japanese helmet as worn by a samurai but also reveals its origin animal since kabutogani (兜蟹) is the Japanese name of the horseshoe crab, another living fossil. Many think that Kabuto is based on a trilobite, however that is not true while it may indeed resemble to some species of the Harpetida order of Trilobites. The Japanese horseshoe crab (Tachypleus tridentatus) is a chelicerate arthropod with a very distinctive shell. Tachypleus tridentatus is the Japanese variant of the most common Limulus polyphemus. They predate dinosaurs by 200 million years and have almost not evolved at all during all these years. They have four compound eyes, and many minor primitive eyes or photo-receptors that react to UV light thus making them a dear subject of researh into the physiology of vision. Kabuto however appears to only have four eyes; two big red ventral eyes (they also appear on the real life horseshoe crab in a lesser form) and two "glowing eyes" on its back according to its Crystal entry. Kabuto measures 0.5m / 1'08" which is the upper bound for a horseshoe crab. According to the animé, oil extracted from a Kabuto is rumored to have interesting medical properties, longevity being one of them. Horseshoe crab's famours blue blood is also extracted commercially for medical purposes such as anti-bacterial tests.

Kabutops on the other hand is losely based on various sea creatures including the horseshoe crab, the triops (tadpole shrimp/shield shrimp), and the eurypterids (sea scorpions). There is an obvious similarity between the shape of its head and the horseshoe crab's shell or the triops . Triops [from the Greek τρι-(tri) meaning three and όψη (opsi) meaning view] have three eyes, and their appearance hasn't changed for the past 220 million years. Apparently, Kabutops is also based on the extinct sea scorpions, a large class of arthropods. The sea scorpions were fearsome and formidable predators 460-445 million years ago, and some (such as Megalograptus) species could grow up to 2 metres or more in lenght. Megalograptus also weilded over-developed spiked claws which probably provided initial inspiration for Kabutops' scythes. Sea scorpions were marine or freshwater predators but they were also alsoable to live on the land for short periods of time and some species are thought to be amphibious. Kabutops could be also classified as an anthropomorphic Pokémon due to its size and its ability to walk on its hind legs.

Did you know that...

Kabuto's name in the beta versions of the first generation games was "Att" while Kabutops' name was "Lantis"; both are derived from the word "Atlantis."

Aerodactyl

Aerodactyl (プテラ/Ptera) is based on the generic pterodactyl, or otherwise a pterosaur. It's name is derived from aero- [from Greek αέρο- meaning of air] and dactyl [from Greek δάκτυλο meaning finger]. While some may claim that it is based on Pterodactylus, evidence such as the long tail or the backbone over the shoulders show that is more closely related to species of the Rhamphorhynchoidea.

While pterosaurs dominated the skies for millions of years due to the absence of birds, recent studies have proved that it was some dinosaur species that evolved into birds, and not the pterosaurs. Pterosaurs because extinct by the great extinction that wiped out dinosaurs and many other animals at the end of the Cretaceous period. Their wings were formed by membranes of skin attached to the extremely long fourth finger of each arm and extending along the sides of the body. Aerodactyl could be a medium size pterosaur since its size of 1.8m / 5'11" and estimated wingspan of 4 metres, is nothing to be compared with Quetzalcoatlus' 12 metre wingspan; surprisingly Aerodactyl weighs 59.0kg, 10kg more than the average Quetzalcoatlus!

Did you know that...

Aerodactyl is one of the fastest Pokémon beside the fact that it is of ROCK type.

Extrernal references

I may not be such a good write as whiteyoshi but I was really passionate about Paleontology during my teens and I wish you enjoy the results of my research in my very first Pokémon Origins article. Here follow some of links that proved useful during my research.

• Wikipedia: Dinosaurs
• Wikipedia: Ammonites
• Ammonite pictures
• Wikipedia: Horseshoe Crab
• Horseshoe Crabs
• Megalograptus
• Wikipedia: Triops
• Trilobites
• Wikipedia: Pterosaurs

What is evolution?

In the field of biology, Charles Darwin or Alfred Russel would have a lot to write about it… Oh! I guess they did… So instead of elaborating with the ancestry of organisms, the mechanisms of inheritance and the origin of life, we will try to follow up on the evolution of a child growing up in a Tokyo suburb, who used to collect insects.

Satoshi Tajiri a.k.a. Dr. Bug, didn’t like school very much; instead he preferred researching new ways to catch different species of bugs, with a bigger taste in beetles.

During the period he was attending technical school in the 70’s, Satoshi also used to spend time in arcades playing coin operated video games and was so keen on this, that the local arcade manager offered him a Space Invaders game machine to take at home.

In 1982, Mr.Tajiri along with some friends started issuing a games magazine named Game Freak. Ken Sugimori, well known for drawing Pokémon images and artwork, was one of the first Game Freak

magazine staff members.

In 1991, he came across the original DMX GameBoy and discovered the potential of the Game Link cable in terms of data communication between different Game Packs and the potential of practical exploit of this feature. He started working on the Pokémon game, with funding and concept help from the game studio, Creatures. His development company got named after the magazine Game Freak and continues to develop and market Pokémon games.

After working with Nintendo for about six years, gamers were introduced to the phenomenal game Pokémon. While working closely with Nintendo, he met Shigeru Miyamoto and made friends with him. On the original version of the game Pokémon R/B in Japan the main characters was named Satoshi (Ash in western versions) and Shigeru (Gary).

So basically, Pokémon evolved from someone’s interest in the collection of insects and battling with beetles. Back to biology, evolution is a very slow process but in insects, a common thing in their lifespan is the Metamorphosis namely a physical development after hatching, involving significant change in form as well as growth and differentiation.

Pokémon as explained, somehow originated from insects hence under the right circumstances they evolve into different species within their lineage.

Usually levelling up a Pokémon, causes this evolution to happen; so for example Rattata will evolve into Raticate at level 20. Since Pokémon is meant not only to be an imagination-capturing game but also, a mean of socialization through trades and battles, to name a few characteristics, there are more complex ways to cause the evolution of a Pokémon.

Some Pokémon require exposure to the radiation of an elemental stone in order to evolve; these elemental stones share a connection to the type of the particular Pokémon. So, by using water, fire, leaf, moon, thunder and sun stones, trainers can evolve their Pokémon to their advanced stages.

Socializing with other trainers and trading Pokémon with friends, is the only way to cause evolution for some Pokémon. With the introduction of held items in G/S/C, some traded Pokémon require to hold a particular special held item during the trade for the evolution to occur. Although trading just triggered the evolution, the item attachment during a trade often had a logical meaning. For example, Onix evolves to Steelix if traded while holding Metal Coat forcing it not only to evolve, but to change type and adding metal (steel) attributes based on the aforementioned item as well!

Not all people train Pokémon for battles. Some of them keep them as pets, but no matter the reason someone has a Pokémon, they share a bond and if this bond is based in pure friendship, which translates to the fact that someone cares for his Pokémon and treat it the right way, can somehow affect it in a way responsible for triggering another type of evolution. As an example, we can mention Chansey that evolves into Blissey if a hidden mechanic responsible for keeping track of Tameness is maxed out.

Although we have a group of Pokémon for each of the above categories, there are some special lineages of Pokémon species, so special, that have a totally different type of evolution.

The martial art-practicing Tyrogue, evolves at level 20 but the evolution is purely based on its stats. So, there are 3 possible evolutions for each possible ratio between its Attack stat and Defense stat.

Wurmple has an almost random evolution based on a four byte value, called Personality Value, while Nincada when normally evolving by levelling up, leaves behind a ‘by-product” in an empty slot in your party.

In the 3rd generation games and the makeover of some stat fields of Pokémon conditions and contests introduced, the elusive Feebas evolves only if its Beauty condition is maxed out, with the use of Berries turned into Pokéblocks.

As our project origin continues, this week we will spotlight a Pokémon relevant to a special evolution type. Furthermore Nincada is also a Bug type Pokémon so, one of Tajiri’s favourites.

Nincada (JP Tsuchinin) is a Bug/Ground type. Its name is a combination of Ninja and Cicada. In Japanese, Tsuchi means ground and nin also originates from ninja. This Pokémon is a actually very close to its real world inspiration which is a 17 years cycle cicada or commonly known as Magicicada.

Nincada is mentioned in the Pokédex as a Pokémon living underground for years, waiting for evolution to come. In real life, cicadas borrow underground and live there for years (depending on the genus) with Magicicadas having an amazing 13-17 years cycle.

Cicada’s nymphs and especially those of Magicicada, emerge when they are about to evolve (metamorphosis) and they have a coordinated emerge with mass numbers of insects literally flooding areas. A lot of animals including humans, eat them since they are highly nutritious, so the mass number is a key to its survival.

By having large numbers emerging to evolve at the same time and eventually mating, there are more chances of the species’ survival. Periodic emerges of this insect, granted it with the nickname of “seventeen years locust” and they even have dedicated clubs in North-Eastern America whose members go cicada-hunting for 7,11, 13, or 17 years of periodical appearances.

As soon as cicadas emerge, they undergo a metamorphosis as the adult cicada sheds its skin (exoskeleton). Nincada also undergo an evolution relevant to this at level 20, so after evolution except for Ninjask, trainers with an empty slot in their party also get a Shedinja, a Pokémon similar to the empty husks that cicadas leave behind.

Ninjask (JP Tekkanin), is based –again- on the imago (in entomology, imago means the final stage of an insect) cicada. Its name originates from ninja and mask. It is a Bug/Flying type.

Imago cicadas are famous for their stidulatory organs namely their tymbals, which they use to produce a distinctive sound in order to attract their mates. Only males cicadas can produce sounds and this inspired Xenophon to write “Blessed are the cicadas, for they have voiceless wives”.

After mating, the female cuts open several slits into the bark of a tree and deposits her several hundred eggs there. After this task accomplished, it drops exhausted and dies, leaving the newborn nymphs that will hatch to drop to the ground, where they will burrow themselves in, and start another cycle.

While Ninjask is famous for its Speed Boost ability and stealth capabilities (Double Team), practice of ninjutsu, namely a martial art in ancient Japan also known as the art of stealth and invincibility, helped Ninjas to be widely known as spies and/or assassins. So Ninjask refers to the ninjas’ abilities and the mask that ninjas use to wear, maybe led Ninjask to have one of its own.

A trivia worth to mention is that cicadas are the only known insects that sweat to cool themselves.

Shedinja (JP Nukenin) is a Bug/Ghost type Pokémon. The name originates from shed and once again, from ninja. Furthermore nukegara in Japanese means "shed skin". Since cicada sheds its exoskeleton (as most nymphs of insects do), it gave the opportunity to developers of the Pokémon games to introduce a unique type of evolution. So the empty exoskeleton that Nincada leaves behind is actually a Pokémon that occupies an empty slot in a trainer’s party.

Casted exoskeletons’ fragility made this Pokémon have only 1HP but Shedinja makes up for it with a unique ability, namely Wonder Guard that prevents non-super effective moves from hitting this Pokémon!

That was Origin E, so until the next article try to be around a periodical emerge of cicadas and have a tasty nutritious bite...

Gotta catch ‘em all...
With a full Pokédex of 386 different Pokémon species, it’s quite a demanding task to collect each one of them!

Pokémon games have some algorythms and mathematical types responsible for wild Pokémon appearances and the generation of their individual characteristics. However, we will first discuss the initial availability.

In each version of Pokémon games, there are various landscapes but only one master list. This master list is partially responsible for the high addictive and collective feeling of the game.

The fact is that every game has a list of creature species that are available in the version in question. So the only way for some Pokémon species to be available in a particular version, is for the player to trade Pokémon with a friend or buy another version.

So a Pokémon sometimes actually Originates from an altered version of the game. Currently, with only Kanto and Hoenn regions available in 3rd generation, there are 2 major lists of available Pokémon, one for FR/LG and one for R/S/E respectively. Between game versions in the same of the 2 above list groups, there are only slight variations in the availability list. In order to simplify things, I exclude some Johto Pokémon from Colosseum and Sevvi Islands and instead of writing down the available Pokémon, I will just write those that are missing from each version.

Version	Version Exclusive Pokémon
	Sandshrew, Sandslash, Vulpix, Ninetales, Bellsprout, Weepinbell, Victreebel, Misdreavus, Slowpoke, Slowbro, Slowking, Staryu, Starmie, Magby, Magmar, Pinsir, Azurill, Marill, Azumarill, Sneasel, Remoraid, Octillery, Mantine
	Shellder, Cloyster, Scyther, Scizor, Ekans, Arbok, Oddish, Gloom, Vileplume, Bellossom, Psyduck, Golduck, Electabuzz, Elekid, Growlithe, Arcanine, Wooper, Quagsire, Murkrow, Qwilfish, Delibird, Skarmory
	Lotad, Lombre, Ludicolo, Sableye, Seviper, Lunatone, Kyogre
	Seedot, Nuzleaf, Shiftry, Mawile, Zangoose, Solrock, Groudon
	Surskit, Masquerain, Meditite, Medicham, Roselia, Zangoose, Lunatone

So after comparing the lists of missing Pokémon carefully (or version exclusives as they are usually called), you can easily understand that the only way for someone to catch ‘em all is to trade with each and every version or even buy them all!

Some critics say this is a way for selling more than one version to a gamer that wants to be a Master; the initial cause behind this, was that gamers would have to socialize, meet other trainers in order to -and as a result- generate interest, word of mouth, community and eventually sales of the game itself and the accessory needed for the trades. (Game Link Cable actually was sold with Pokémon artwork on packaging since Pokémon was the first game that used it in such an extend way)

Now that we analyzed the Origin of version exclusive Pokémon, it’s time to spotlight a Pokémon for further analysis and a suitable one would be a Version exclusive one…

Pokémon Origin : Lotad/Lombre/Ludicolo

Lotad (JP Hassboh) is a version exclusive Pokémon of the Hoenn region, available only in Sapphire, and although it will be available in the upcoming Emerald version as well, it is still a Pokémon of this category since it is missing from Ruby.
Lotad is a Water/Grass type Pokémon and its appearance and name is based on water lilies. Lot- most probably comes from the lotus water lily and the –ad from the lily pad.
As you can see in the photo on the left, the leaf of the Nymphaeaceae Lotus water lily (Victoria regia) floats on the surface of the water and actually looks like a Lotad in its ideal environment. It prefers clean, warm waters and although someone can have it in a pond in most climates, Lakes Victoria (Africa) is its ideal environment.

Lotad evolves into Lombre (water/grass) at Lv.14

Its name comes from the combination of the Nymphaeaceae Lotus and –mbre from sombrero which is an iconic Mexican hat. In its Hasuburero Japanese name this is more obvious.

Lombre thankfully managed to avoid Jynx’s fate of an extend public allegation as a racist stereotype, although on some forums, members discussed similarities with Mexican iconic stereotypes. The joke is that actually Lombre has more things in common with the game character Kapp'n in Animal Crossing, than with anything close to mexican culture stereotypes; except for, maybe a hat

Kappa, except than referring to our very own letter of the Greek alphabet “Κ”, has strong ties with Japanese folklore. Kappa is a Japanese imp and actually quite a ferocious one.

Kappas inhabit watery environments such as rivers and ponds, therefore, they adapted by developing webbed limbs. In most depictions they appear humanoid, although there are other common monkey, tortoise and frog ones alike. Lombre for example, resembles more a frog-humanoid and Kapp’n from Animal Crossing is actually a tortoise-humanoid.

Myth has it that Kappa usually peek under women's kimonos or steal crops while their ferocious appetites include, kidnapping children, rapping women, eating children or adults and performing vicious acts, actually draining blood, liver and entrails from someone's anus!

As with the majority of Japanese imps, someone may befriend a Kappa or escape its rage through various offerings. Animal Crossing players might be aware that Kapp'n has a craving for cucumbers. Hence, by scribing his name on a cucumber and throwing it in the Kappa-infested waters, someone could calm it down or even make a pact with it.

With the aid of a water stone you can cause Lombre to evolve to Ludicolo (JP Runpappa), the final form of the Lotad family in 3rd generation at least…

Ludicolo's name derives from the words ludicrous, meaning laughable or hilarious, and colocynth a tendril-bearing vine producing yellowish, green-mottled fruits. Colo might also be an alteration on loco meaning crazy in Spanish.
Whatever went wrong in the evolution chain of this Pokémon and made it a disco loving dancer is still a mystery under research. But it looks as if sound waves of dance music stimulate this Pokémon, hence making it stronger in battle. Despite a colocynth-shaped body, a duck’s beak, a Mexican sombrero hat and its dancing abilities, Ludicolo is one of the best annoyers around..

That was Pokémon Origin V, so put on a Sombrero and dance some disco classics untill the next article...

What are Pokémon ?

One very simple question and yet the answer is not so simple or easy. It directly involves the perspective that the question was initially asked. There are many aspects of Pokémon such as the in game creatures and the real world phenomenon. This real world aspect of Pokémon can be the subject for analysis from different points of view, such as a financial/marketing one or a gaming one and even a cultural one.

As a Pokémon trainer and former industry insider, I will try to share some thoughts on these captivating creatures, that multiple times managed to out place “sex” on the number one place of frequent search requests on major search engines.

In the Pokémon Origins project we will try to examine different aspects of Pokémon, in and out of the game universe. For this task we will use various tools or sciences such as biology, programming, marketing, folklore anthropology, gaming anthropology and much more that we’ll find on the way to discover the elusive Pokémon Origins.