Porygon is anartificialPokémon made completely out of programming code. It has a pink, polyhedral head that ends in a blue beak and has hexagonal eyes, and it has a pink polyhedral body with a blue front, blue triangular prism feet, and a blue rectangular prism tail. In 3D games, such asPokémon Stadium, it can open its beak and can detach its limbs and head from its torso. According to itsPokédex entries, it has copy protection built into its code, preventing duplication through electronic means. It was createdin 1995 bySilph Co.,[1] but documents at Silph Co. claim it was created at thePokémon Lab onCinnabar Island using the state-of-the-art technology of its time. Because it was created decades ago, many of its parts have since become obsolete. Porygon's programming includes only the most fundamental actions. It was the first artificial Pokémon to have ever been created through computer programming. In ancientHisui, people were confused about Porygon and its Evolutions due to them arriving throughspace-time distortions and being the product of far more advanced technology than what was available at the time.
Due to its man-made origins, Porygon does not need to breathe or eat, though it can still accept food if given. It has the ability to convert its body into digital data, allowing it to travel through cyberspace. Recently, it has become more helpful inside cyberspace by searching for any suspicious data that exists. Some believed Porygon has the power to potentially travel in space despite the species not displaying that ability yet. Because it is man-made, it is generally found in computers or in labs and otherbuildings where people work.
Prior toGeneration IX, Porygon and its evolved forms were theonly known Pokémon capable of learning the movesConversion andConversion 2. Prior toGeneration V,Sharpen was also one of its signature moves. Additionally, prior to Generation V and in Generation IX, Porygon and its evolved forms are theonly known Pokémon that can haveDownload as anAbility. It can use Conversion to change its appearance to mimic another Pokémon's and has also demonstrated the ability to change color for camouflage.
It is a manmadePokémon. Since it doesn't breathe, people are eager to try it in any environment.(Pokémon Red, Silver, or Crystal inserted) A manmadePokémon that came about as a result of research. It is programmed with only basic motions.(Pokémon Blue, Gold, or Yellow inserted)
Porygon is capable of reverting itself entirely back to program data and entering cyberspace. ThisPokémon is copy-protected so it cannot be duplicated by copying.
Porygon is capable of reverting itself entirely back to program data and entering cyberspace. This Pokémon is copy protected so it cannot be duplicated by copying.
It has no discernible heartbeat and does not seem to draw breath, and yet it appears to function without issue. I cannot even begin to explain this utterly bizarre anomaly.
Porygon will not appear in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team until a rescue mission involving it has been completed, using a Wonder Mail code such as the following:
Porygon's only major animated series appearance was inEP038.Dr. Akihabara created two specimens,one of which was stolen byTeam Rocket, while the other one was borrowed byAsh andhis friends. Both remained with Dr. Akihabara at the end of the episode.
This episode caused a reported 685 viewers (primarily children) in Japan to be transferred to hospitals by ambulance after experiencing seizure-like symptoms, due to a flashing strobe effect present at several points of the episode. As a result, the episode wasbanned and never aired again anywhere in the world, and Porygon has never played another main role in the animated series since then, with its evolved forms,Porygon2 andPorygon-Z, not appearing in any episodes. This incident is referred to as the"Pokémon Shock" (ポケモンショック,Pokemon Shokku) in Japan. This is despite the fact Pikachu blew up the missiles.
Porygon appeared in theWho's That Pokémon? segment for the English dub ofA Way Off Day Off, and was featured with an English voice, making this the only time Porygon appeared with such a voice in the animated series.
In the opening sequence of bothCelebi: The Voice of the Forest andPokémon Heroes: Latios & Latias (the former only in the case of the dub, since said intro sequence was originally made for the latter), a Porygon can be seen floating behind a wire fence in a city.
Multiple Porygon appear in balloon form on thePoké Floats stage. When the fighting is onSlowpoke's tail, three will travel across the top of the screen. However, they move too quickly to land on and so are little more than decoration in practice.
Porygon retains its role as a stage element in the Saffron City stage, as well as appearing as aSpirit.
Trivia
Porygon's evolutionary line has several unique attributes:
They are the only three-stage evolutionary line whose members were all considered fully evolved during their respective debut generations. For this reason, they are the only Pokémon that are part of the same three-stage evolutionary line to all be capable of learning bothHyper Beam andGiga Impact.
Porygon is the only Pokémon that evolves by trade twice: once holding theUpgrade intoPorygon2, and a second time (as Porygon2) intoPorygon-Z when holding aDubious Disc.
It is also the only Pokémon in athree-stage evolutionary line that does not require leveling up to trigger any of its Evolutions (i.e. it is possible to acquire a Porygon-Z at level 1).
Porygon is the only Pokémon to have itscategory changed in Japanese. Its category inPokémon Red and Green is シージーポケモンCG Pokémon, which was changed to バーチャルポケモンVirtual Pokémon fromPokémon Blue onwards.
In a 1997 interview with the magazine Famimaga 64,Satoshi Tajiri stated that Porygon was created out of irony. According to him, during the development ofPokémon Red and Green, people kept telling him that he was too late on making a game for theGame Boy, and that he should start making games with 3D polygonal graphics for next generation consoles. As a result, he included Porygon, a Pokémon made out of polygons, in the sprite-based Pokémon Red and Green, hence the irony.[2]
This Pokémon article is part ofProject Pokédex, aBulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each Pokémon species, as well as Pokémon groups and forms.
Bitter Berry (100%)
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For other sprites and images, please seePorygon images on the Bulbagarden Archives.
