Cry

Cry redirects here. If you were looking for the move, see Growl.

The cry of Regigigas, as seen on the Pokédex

A Pokémon's cry (Japanese: なきごえ cry) is the sound it makes. Depending on the continuity, this can either be a unique sound, or only the Pokémon's name and various phrases derived from its name. There are also several instances of talking Pokémon.

In the games

When a Pokémon is released from its Poké Ball, it will call out its cry, which consists of an electronically made "noise." It will also cry out when using certain moves, such as Growl, Roar, and Hyper Voice. Since Generation III onward, when the Pokémon faints, or when it comes into battle or is checked in the status screen when injured or with a status condition, its cry will sound but will be altered noticeably.

Pokémon related by evolution (e.g., Charmander and Charmeleon) and association (Pansage, Pansear, and Panpour) will often have notably similar cries, though others may sound very different (Remoraid and Octillery), especially if from different Generations (Kirlia and Gallade). When Pokémon undergo Mega Evolution or Primal Reversion, their cry is altered, sometimes dramatically. Many alternate forms, such as those of the Forces of Nature, Shaymin, and Kyurem, also have different cries.

Despite there being 151 Pokémon in Generation I, there are only 37 completely different cries in the Generation I games. However, similar cries are distinguished by differences in pitch, speed, echo, or disabling one of the sound channels. For example, Charmander and Charmeleon's base cries are the same, but Charmeleon's is lower-pitched than Charmander's. Another example is that Metapod and Abra have the same base cry, but Metapod's only plays one sound channel. In Generation II, there were 30 new base cries introduced, applying the same techniques as before. The only Generation II cries based on older ones belong to Crobat and Umbreon, both of which evolve from Generation I Pokémon.

Before Generation VI, six pairs of Generation I Pokemon shared near-identical cries:

• Charizard's cry was very slightly higher-pitched and shorter than Rhyhorn's, by 0.006 of a second.
• Caterpie's cry was slightly longer than Goldeen's, by 0.071 of a second.
• Wigglytuff's cry was slightly lower-pitched and longer than Poliwhirl's, by 0.006 of a second.
• Vileplume's cry was slightly higher-pitched and longer than Aerodactyl's, by 0.059 of a second.
• Poliwag's cry was very slightly lower-pitched than Ditto's.
• Machop's cry was slightly lower-pitched and shorter than Omanyte's, by 0.002 of a second.

Possibly due to improved technology, very few Pokémon introduced since Generation III have had similar cries, and those that do are usually related by evolution or association as they were in Generation I. As the generations pass, the calls of new Pokémon sound more refined and realistic, while the cries of Pokémon released in previous generations sound comparatively more like the electronic beeps they are. For unspecified reasons, the cries of Generation III games are actually played at 0.9× the speed of the original samples. Cries introduced since Generation IV are mostly recognizable, digitized sounds, such as birds chirping for Starly or a xylophone for Kricketot. In Pokémon X and Y, the cries of most Pokémon from previous Generations were updated through the Nintendo 3DS's technology. The cries of some Pokémon, such as Raichu, Corphish, and Shiftry, were almost completely changed.

In the Pokémon Stadium series, each Pokémon's original cry was remade through the Nintendo 64's technology. Although most of these cries resemble the Game Boy versions closely, some Pokémon were given special cries that closely resemble actual animals, or are a combination of of the two. This was not carried over into later console games, which use the same cries as the handheld games.

In Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, FireRed, and LeafGreen, cries of the Pokémon found in the player's current location can occasionally be heard while walking in the overworld. In Pokémon Emerald, these cries are heard more often if the first Pokémon in the player's party has the Ability Swarm.

Pikachu's cry

Although Pikachu has a traditional cry, in some games, it has been given special cries, similar to the anime. This makes it the only Pokémon to have multiple cries without changing forms.

In Pokémon Yellow, the starting Pikachu has a total of forty cries, though only two occur in battle. Like the anime, all are variations of its name and voiced by Ikue Ohtani. Because the Game Boy lacks high-quality sound, Game Freak had to think of different ways to recreate Pikachu's cry. Junichi Masuda converted the sound into one-bit data, recreating the sound of Ohtani's voice. This is also the case if the starter Pikachu is brought to battle in Pokémon Stadium or Pokémon Stadium 2.

The feature returned in Pokémon X and Y with all-new voice recordings. In these games, Pikachu has 15 cries, two of which occur in battle and the rest in Pokémon-Amie.

In the anime

Most Pokémon will only say their names and communicate using those syllables. For example, Ash's Pikachu has been known to use the three syllables in the word "Pikachu" in various combinations to refer to several characters, including Ash (Pikapi), Misty (PiKachupi), Brock (PikaChu), Dawn (Pikaka), Togepi (Pipipi), Team Rocket (Pipikachu), Bulbasaur (Pikakapika) and "My name is Pikachu" (Pika, Pikachu).

Due to Pokémon being dubbed, the original cry of a Pokémon is sometimes preserved in the anime, more often than not if the name is either similar or the same in Japanese and English. One example is Charizard, which can be heard to cry out Lizardon if listened to closely enough. Likewise, an Onix roar sounds like Iwark and Wooper's cry sounds like "Upah!". Plus, the cries of Skitty & Delcatty sound like "ene"; the first 3 letters of their Japanese names. Arbok, in addition, is heard to hiss "Charbok(a)," despite both its English and Japanese names being "Arbok."

Some Pokémon's cries are entirely unrelated to their names in any language. For example, Victreebel screeches loudly, Staryu quickly yells "Heah!" in an echoing male voice, and Starmie says "Hoo!" in a breathy, echoing female voice. Most Legendary Pokémon that cannot speak to humans instead roar, screech, or make other sounds. Krabby's and Kingler's cry, which sounds similar to "cookie", is sometimes used as an internet meme.

The Pokémon in the Pokémon Black Version 2 and Pokémon White Version 2 Animated Trailer and Pokémon Origins make realistic, animal-like sounds that differ from both their in-game and anime cries.

Gallery

This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: XY and ORAS

The cry page exists neither in the first two generations nor their remakes. Instead, the cry plays if the word "Cry" is selected in the Pokédex. In Generation VI, the cry page is shared with the forms page.

RSE	DP	Platinum	BWB2W2

Trivia

• As of Generation V, Jynx has the longest cry at 2.238 seconds, while Pidgey's is the shortest at 0.181 seconds.
• In Generation I, when a player's Pokémon has low HP in battle, its cry will be distorted. This is likely due to the game performing two simultaneous processes: one for the alarm sound of low HP and another to play the Pokémon's cry. This problem was fixed in Generation II.
  • This situation occurs both when the Pokémon is sent out into battle and when its information is checked.
  • This may have been inspiration for the alteration to cries that occurs when an injured Pokémon is sent into battle from Generation III to Generation V.
• The Pokémon with the most cry changes throughout the series is Haunter, having been changed in Generations II, III, and VI. In Generation I, it is a high-pitched, four-note beeping with low-pitched buzzing in the background. In Generation II, the beeping was replaced by a three-note jingle. The jingle was absent in Generations III through V, leaving just the buzz. In Generation VI, its cry was overhauled to sound like an update of its original one.
• In Generation IV, if the Nintendo DS is put into sleep mode in the middle of a Pokémon's cry, the cry will start over when the DS is opened again. This happens both when a Pokémon is coming into battle and fainting.
• Despite not being a Pokémon, Dark Rust has its own cry in Pokémon Rumble Blast.
  • Similarly, all Pokéstar Studios opponents have their own cries despite not being Pokémon.

Related articles

• Pokémon language

References

This game mechanic article is part of Project Games, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon games.