Gengar (Pokémon)

Gengar ゲンガー Gangar

Artwork from FR/LG

Types Species  Ghost  Poison  Shadow Pokémon Ability Exp. at 100 Levitate 1,059,860 Pokédex Kanto #094 Johto #060 Hoenn #264* Sinnoh #071 Browser Fiore R-096 Almia R-019 Height Weight 4'11" 89.3 lbs. Pokédex color Footprint Body style Catch rate Purple 45 Gender ratio 50% male 50% female Egg groups Egg cycles Indeterminate 21 (5355 steps*) EV yield HP 0 Atk 0 Def 0 Sp.Atk 3 Sp.Def 0 Speed 0 Exp. 190 External links On Legendary Pokémon Pokédex: Generation III Generation IV On Smogon Pokédex: Generation I Generation II Generation III Generation IV On Eevee's Pokédex (Gen. I-IV) On Psypoke Pokédex On Pokecharms Pokédex (Gen. III-IV) On Marriland Pokédex (Gen. IV) Artwork on Bulbagarden Archives

Gengar (Japanese: ゲンガー Gangar) is a dual-type Ghost/Poison Pokémon.

It evolves from Haunter when traded. It is the final form of Gastly.

Biology

Physiology

Gengar is a dark-purple Pokémon with a roundish body. Gengar's hands now connect to the rest of its body and it now has a pair of legs. Gengar has a spike-covered back. Upon evolution, Gengar's eyes are now red. Also, its mouth is usually curled into a sinister grin. When Gengar makes noise, its mouth does not open, so it always flashes its evil grin.

Gender differences

None.

Special abilities

Morty's Gengar floating through the air

Gengar has the ability to hide perfectly in the shadow of any object, granting it exceptional stealth. However, Gengar's body acts as a heat sink; it's presence cools the temperature of the surrounding area by nearly 10°F. In addition, Gengar possesses the ability to fly through the air, as demonstrated by Morty's Gengar. Since Gengar is a fully evolved Pokémon, it can use Hyper Beam and Giga Impact.

Behavior

Gengars are very mischievous, and at some times, malicious. They enjoy playing practical jokes, such as pretending to be one's shadow, then behaving erratically. When the quarry notices, the Gengar takes delight in it's victim's terror.

Habitat

Cave Pokémon

Gengar live in shadows of rooms, caves, and dark places where shadows form, especially in urban areas such as cities and back alleys but only during the night. Gengar are also known to live in mountains.

Diet

Main article: Pokémon food

Gengar drains the life force from its victims. It may also also eat its victim's dreams.

In the anime

Gengar in the anime

Major Appearances

Gengar first appeared in the opening of the first episode, Pokémon - I Choose You!, where it and a Nidorino battled in a Colosseum on TV.

Ash first saw a Gengar in person in Lavender Town in The Tower of Terror while searching for a Ghost-type Pokémon to fight Sabrina with. Due to a close call, Ash got to spend some unexpected time with the ghostly trio, Gastly, Haunter, and Gengar. It, along with Haunter, seemed to have a fondness for Japanese stand-up, and attempt to (unsuccessfully) amuse Ash by acting as a pair of performers.

In The Ancient Puzzle of Pokémopolis, a giant Gengar was awakened near the Ancient City of Pokémopolis where it battled an equally large Alakazam.

Drake of the Orange Islands used a Gengar in his battle with Ash in Hello, Pummelo! and Enter The Dragonite. His Gengar managed to confuse Ash's Tauros before he returned it and instead tried with Ash's Lapras. In the collision between Night Shade and Ice Beam, both Lapras and Gengar fainted.

A Gengar appeared under the ownership of Ecruteak City Gym Leader Morty in A Ghost Of A Chance, From Ghost to Ghost, and For Ho-Oh the Bells Toll!.

Agatha used a Gengar to battle Ash's Pikachu in The Scheme Team. The Ghost Pokémon defeated Pikachu.

Gengar was the leader of "Team Meanies" in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Team Go-Getters out of the Gate!

A Gengar appeared in Ghoul Daze! together with its pre-evolutions, Gastly and Haunter.

Minor Appearances

A Gengar also appeared in One Team, Two Team, Red Team, Blue Team!.

A Gengar under the ownership of Hearthome City's Gym Leader Fantina appeared in a flashback in Playing the Leveling Field! and appeared in A Shield with a Twist where it was defeated by Ash's Buizel.

Pokédex entries

In the manga

In Pokémon Adventures, Agatha has two Gengar on her team. One of them was used to attack Blue and Koga from the shadows, draining the latter's life force as it possessed his shadow.

Another Gengar was seen at the beginning of the FireRed and LeafGreen saga in Volume 23. It was used by a kid from Pallet Town in an attempt to capture a Nidorino, thus replicating the opening sequence of the Generation I video games.

Pokédex entries

In the TCG

Main article: Gengar (TCG)

Game data

NPC appearances

• Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Gengar is the leader of Team Meanies. While often accompanied by Ekans and Medicham, Gengar will often act alone and spends much of the game causing trouble, even convincing the village to exile the hero, blaming him or her for the natural disasters. However, it is later revealed that he is the cursed human.

Pokédex entries

Game locations

In side games

Stats

Base stats

Pokéthlon stats

Type effectiveness

Learnset

Gengar is capable of learning the following moves (from its evolution onwards):
NOTE: Moves in bold are damage moves to which STAB apply.

By leveling up

Gengar is capable of learning the following moves in Generation IV.

• Moves in bold are damaging moves to which STAB applies.

By TM/HM

By breeding

By tutoring

Side game data

Pokémon Pinball
	Acquisition: Evolve
Pokémon Trozei!
	Rarity: Rare
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team
Body size: 1	Recruit Rate: Evolve	Friend Area: Darkness Ridge
Phrases
51%-100% HP	My red eyes aren't from lack of sleep!
26%-50% HP	Confound it! My HP is already missing by half...
1%-25% HP	This is my ruin... Even my shadow grows dim...
Level Up	Very well! I've leveled!
Partner Phrases
51%-100% HP	Kekeh! I'm counting on you!
26%-50% HP	Kekeh? This is getting a bit rough...
1%-25% HP	Gegeh! I'm about to faint! Oi! Heal me quick!
Level Up	N/A
Pokémon Ranger
Group:  Ghost	Loops: 7	Minimum Experience: 100
Poké Assist: ( Ghost )	Field Move: None	Maximum Experience: 120
"Beware--Gengar abducts your Pokémon. It makes copies of itself to attack."
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness
Body size: 1	Recruit Rate: -10%	IQ Group: G
Pokémon Ranger: Shadows of Almia
Group:  Ghost	Poké Assist: ( Ghost )	Field Move: (Psy Power ×3)
"It attacks by spitting out eerie orbs and sinister ones imbued with loathing."

Evolution

Unevolved Gastly  Ghost  Poison

Level 25 →

First evolution Haunter  Ghost  Poison

Trade →

Second evolution Gengar  Ghost  Poison

Sprites

Gen	Game
I	Red	Blue	Yellow	Red (Ja)	Green	Back
II	Gold	Silver	Crystal			Back
III	Ruby	Sapphire	Emerald	FireRed	LeafGreen	Back
			File:Spr 3e 094 s.gif
IV	Diamond	Pearl	Platinum	HeartGold	SoulSilver	Back

For other sprites and images, please see Gengar images on Bulbagarden Archives.

Trivia

• "Phantom" was the original English name for Gengar.
• Gengar, along with Nidorino, who it battles in the beginning of Red, Blue, Green, FireRed and LeafGreen, and probably a couple other Pokémon, originate from the old manga, Capsule Monsters, which is considered pre-cursor to the Pokémon franchise.
• Gengar can be caught in the wild in Generation IV through the dongle method, as can another Pokémon previously obtainable only via trading, Steelix, though Steelix can be battled normally.
• Even though Gengar is part Poison-type, like its pre-evolutions, it cannot learn any Poison-type moves via level up.
• Gengar is tied with Froslass for the fastest Ghost-type Pokémon, with a base Speed of 110, and has the highest base Special Attack stat of any Ghost-type or Poison-type Pokémon at 130.
  • Oddly, Special Attack was it highest stat, even though the Ghost-type was previously an all physical type.
• To date, Gengar and Dusknoir are the only Ghost-type Pokémon which have undergone two evolutionary events, and both require trading to trigger their final evolution.
• Despite its ability to hide in shadows, Gengar is unable to learn Shadow Sneak.
• Originally, its shiny color in the games was actually closer to that of the Sugimori artwork than the non-shiny color. This was corrected in HeartGold and SoulSilver.
• Gengar received a new back sprite in Platinum.

Origin

It seems to be simply based on general cartoonish ghosts, and possibly on a distorted shadow of a human being like shadow people. The overall appearance could also be an homage to the Cheshire Cat. Gengar also has some similarities to Gremlins with both looks and personality (violent, rude, and wild).

Name origin

Gengar's name is possibly a shortening of doppelgänger - a ghostly double of a person, which would be a fitting name for a Pokémon with a habit of pretending to be a person's shadow. The kanji 幻, which can be read "gen", can be used for words meaning "phantom" or "illusion".

There is also a striking pronouncation similarity between Gengar's name and the Danish word "genganger", which simply is a spirit that after its death chose not to go to the other world but to return to the world of humans in the shape of a ghost. "Gen" is translated as "again" or simply "re" and "ganger" is an old-fashioned word meaning "walker" or "someone that walks".

In other languages

• German: Gengar
• French: Ectoplasma - From ectoplasm, the substance that supposedly emanates from the body of a spiritualistic medium when contacting the dead.
• Korean: 팬텀 Paenteom - A transliteration of the English word phantom.

External links

Notes

This Pokémon article is part of Project Pokédex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each Pokémon as a species.