| Unown | |
|---|---|
| Pokémon character | |
 "F" Unown artwork byKen Sugimori | |
| First game | Pokémon Gold andSilver (1999) |
| Designed by | Ken Sugimori |
| In-universe information | |
| Species | Pokémon |
| Type | Psychic |
Unown (/ʌˈnoʊn/ ⓘ;Japanese:アンノーン,Hepburn:Annōn) is aPokémon species inNintendo andGame Freak'sPokémon franchise. Created byKen Sugimori, Unown first appeared in the video gamesPokémon Gold andSilver and most of its subsequent sequels. It has also appeared in various merchandise, spin-off titles, and animated and printed adaptations of the franchise. Unown arehieroglyph-like, thin, black ancient Pokémon usually found on walls. There are twenty-eight forms of Unown: one for each of the twenty-six letters in theLatin alphabet, aquestion mark, and anexclamation mark. Unown is a Psychic-type Pokémon, and is not able to evolve.
Unown was conceived as an alien-like creature, but while designing it, the designers noticed its resemblance to letters in the Latin alphabet, and shifted course. It has received generally negative reception, criticized for being weak, useless, and lacking appeal, though it has been considered an underutilized element in the series. It was used as part of a research paper, where they used Unown in order to teachclassification andphylogeny to students.
Unown is a species of fictional creatures called Pokémon created for thePokémon media franchise. Developed byGame Freak and published byNintendo, the Japanese franchise began in 1996 with the video gamesPokémon Red andGreen for theGame Boy, which were later released in North America asPokémon Red andBlue in 1998.[1] In these games and their sequels, the player assumes the role of a Trainer whose goal is to capture and use the creatures' special abilities to combat other Pokémon.[2] Each Pokémon has one or two elemental types, which define its advantages and disadvantages when battling other Pokémon.[3] A major goal in each game is to complete the Pokédex, a comprehensive Pokémon encyclopedia, by capturing, evolving, and trading with other Trainers to obtain individuals from all Pokémon species.[2]
Unown was first introduced inPokémon Gold andSilver. When developing the games, around 300 individual Pokémon designs were drafted by various members of the development team, with each deciding their names and features, revising the drafts as needed. During this process the team actively tried to avoid vague design concepts, as they felt this had caused difficulty in creating completed Pokémon duringRed andBlue development. As the team selected which Pokémon would be included, they were drawn and finalized by lead artistKen Sugimori.[4] To maintain balance, many of the newer species did not appear in the early stages of the game. Additionally, many of the Pokémon were designed with merchandise in mind, taking into account the relatedPokémon toy line and anime series. As a result, designs often had to be kept simplistic, something that caused strain for Sugimori and affected his approach to the nextPokémon franchise titles,Pokémon Ruby andSapphire.[5]
Unown were designed by series artistKen Sugimori; while some designs inGold andSilver were cut content fromRed andBlue, Unown were new designs. Unown came to Sugimori in a "sudden burst of inspiration," with Sugimori wanting to make something whose design inspiration was not as obvious as others. Sugimori suggested that Unown had a more "surreal design" that could have come from outer space.[6] While they were designed to resemblealiens at first, the designers noticed that they began to look like letters of the alphabet, leading them to lean into this and make twenty-six different forms corresponding to theLatin alphabet.[7] They arehieroglyph-like Psychic-type Pokémon that first appear inPokémon Gold andSilver. They can be found on walls.[8][9] Unown gained two more forms beginning with the third-generation remakesPokémon FireRed andLeafGreen, with the latter two Unown meant to look like aquestion mark and anexclamation mark. They are among the Pokémon with the most forms.[10] There are also other Unown, which are modeled afterCyrillic script, though these only appeared briefly inPokémon: Spell of the Unown.[11] Very little information about the species has ever been explained.[12][13]
Unown made their debut appearance in thePokémon series inPokémon Gold andSilver, which is set in Johto.[14] In this game, they can be found in the Ruins of Alph and are triggered once the player completes puzzles in the caves found in the Ruins, with a character prompting players to collect all twenty-six variations of Unown.[15] They also appeared inPokémon Crystal, where a new story connected to Unown was added.[16] There are four puzzles to complete in all before the player can access all forms.[15] They have appeared in most subsequent games, with the two new punctuation forms being introduced inPokémon FireRed andLeafGreen. Unown reappear inPokémon Legends: Arceus, with all twenty-eight variants found at different points in the game, with locations indicated to the player by hints written using Unown-based text.[17] They are generally not used in battle due to their low stats and limited move pool.[18]
The original twenty-six forms of Unown based on the letters of the alphabet were added toPokémon Go alongside numerous other Pokémon fromGold andSilver, however, they are incredibly rare in the wild.[19] They have also appeared in otherPokémon games, such as thePokémon Mystery Dungeon series.[20] Unown has also appeared in theSuper Smash Bros. series. They first appeared inSuper Smash Bros. Melee as something that can be summoned with a Poké Ball item to attack enemy player characters, and they also appear as a collectible trophy inMelee and a stat-enhancing Spirit inSuper Smash Bros. Ultimate.[21][22]
In thePokémon anime, they first appeared as the main antagonists ofPokémon 3: The Movie, existing in their own dimension until brought out by a girl named Molly, who had recently lost her parents. Reading her mind, they make her wishes come true, including creating the PokémonEntei to be a surrogate father. Molly soon learns that her wishes come with threatening consequences and attempts to stop them, but the Unown are out of control, and Entei sacrifices itself to send them back to their dimension and reverse their transformations.[23] In print media, Unown also appear in thePokémon Adventures manga,[24] and the different variants have also appeared on cards for thePokémon Trading Card Game.[25]
To promotePokémon 3: The Movie, alenticular Unown decoder was included with theVHS andDVD copies of the movie.[26] Meanwhile, to promotePokémon Crystal, a spelling contest called "Bee a Pokémon Master Speller" was held at theLos Angeles Public Library. Hosted byBen Stein, participants spelled different Pokémon names using the Unown alphabet, with a prize of a trophy and two thousandUS dollars towards their college tuition.[27] All twenty-eight variants of Unown were also released as plushies in Pokémon's Sitting Cuties product line.[28] Other merchandise such as action figures, embroidery, and stamps have been released.[29][30][31]Line stickers depicting the twenty-eight forms of Unown were added to the social messaging platform.[32] A Pokémon themed exhibition at the National Crafts Museum featured an exhibit based on the Unown, which was considered a particular highlight.[33]
Unown have received generally negative reception since their appearance inPokémon Gold andSilver, withIGN writer Kat Bailey identifying it as the worstPokémon.[34] In another article, Bailey criticized their gimmick as well as their uselessness in combat.[35] BothIGN andVariety felt that it lacked the appeal of other Pokémon species, withIGN calling Unown one of the "most useless Pokémon in existence" due to their weakness and lack of an evolution.[36][37] The Unown have been cited as a missed opportunity in the series' lore, with the collection element of the species being considered tedious and tiresome.[38][12]Screen Rant writer Devin Ellis Friend stated this further, feeling like the gimmick behind Unown was one of the series' most pointless. He noted how, aside from their gimmick, they are too weak, saying that their only move, Hidden Power, is "essentially random."[15] In an analysis of the article on1UP FM, Philip Kollar felt they had appeal with children, and added "another layer" for those trying to complete the Pokédex.[39] The Unown's mysterious nature was highlighted by Mic writer Alex Borkowski, who stated that the Unown were "one of the stranger parts of the Pokémon universe that hasn't been retconned yet and doesn't really offer any sort of explanation [...] It's not much, but it also doesn't have to be."[13] In 2006, research was done on using Unown to teach the biological concepts ofclassification andphylogeny to students, with the researchers finding the results to be "very encouraging".[40]
The Unown also received minor praise for their appearance inPokémon 3: The Movie, with theEscapist Magazine describing the Unown as "eerie" stating that "They almost come across as a force of nature, something more powerful than our heroes could imagine."[23]TheGamer writer Stacey Henley stated that the Unown were a narratively interesting idea in thePokémon franchise that were heavily underutilized. She further stated that while the movie only scratched the surface of the Unown, citing that "Without it, the Unown potential would have been squandered completely, instead of only being mostly squandered as it is right now."[41] The Unown's transformation of reality has been analyzed as a metaphor for the power of words and language.[42]
Pokédex: Its flat, thin body is always stuck on walls. Its shape appears to have some meaning.
Pokédex: Their shapes look like hieroglyphs on ancient tablets. It is said that the two are somehow related.
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