Koga was the Gym Leader of the Fuchsia City Gym. He is a student of ninjutsu, and uses Poison-type Pokémon. He handed out the Soulbadge to trainers who defeated him. Later, in the Generation II games, he is promoted to the Elite Four, leaving his daughter in charge of the Gym.

In the anime

Koga's only anime appearance was in the episode The Ninja Poké Showdown. His Japanese voice actor is unknown and his English voice actor is Ken Gates.

Koga is a ninja who trains in an old mansion, the Fuchsia City Gym, in the woods outside Fuchsia City. The Gym is filled with traps such as fake mirrors, invisible walls, pits, and many Voltorb.

Aya, Koga's younger sister, is one of his students.

Ash, Misty, and Brock bested the traps in the Gym and Ash was finally able to challenge Koga. Their match was interrupted when Team Rocket tried to steal Koga's large supply of Voltorb, although they had raided the Gym with the intent of geting Poison-type Pokémon.

Team Rocket was stopped by Misty's Psyduck, and Ash and Koga had a rematch. Ash triumphed and won the Soulbadge.

Pokémon

This listing is of Koga's Pokémon in the Pokémon anime.

• Golbat
• Venonat → Venomoth
• Voltorb (too many to count)

In the games

Art of Koga from Pokémon Red and Blue

Koga's title is "The Poisonous Ninja Master." He likes the despair and horror that Poison-type Pokémon can inflict on others. He has many students that he trains in both ninjutsu and Pokémon. One of his students is his own daughter.

Koga has seriously studied medicine and antidotes, and makes his own potions to heal his Pokémon. Koga patrols the grounds of the Safari Zone regularly.

He has built invisible walls in the Fuchsia City gym, constructing a confusing maze out of them. Koga awaits challengers in the center of the maze, clearly visible.

In addition to the Soulbadge, Koga gives out TM06, Toxic, in Pokémon Red, Blue, Pokémon Green, Pokémon Yellow, Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen.

In Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Pokémon Crystal, Koga has become much more powerful. He has left the Fuchsia City Gym in the hands of his daughter, Janine, and joined the Elite Four. In this position, he battles with an intricate style, designed to counfound and destroy his opponent in battle. His sinister technique is confusion, sleep, and poison, rather than brute force.

Pokémon

This listing is of Koga's Pokémon in the video games he has appeared in.

Pokémon Red/Green/Blue

• Level 37 Koffing: Tackle, Smog, Sludge, Smokescreen
• Level 39 Muk: Disable, Poison Gas, Minimize, Sludge
• Level 37 Koffing: Tackle, Smog, Sludge, Smokescreen
• Level 43 Weezing: Smog, Sludge, Toxic, Selfdestruct

Pokémon FireRed/LeafGreen

• Level 37 Koffing: Selfdestruct, Sludge, Smokescreen, Toxic
• Level 39 Muk: Minimize, Sludge, Acid Armor, Toxic
• Level 37 Koffing: Selfdestruct, Sludge, Smokescreen, Toxic
• Level 43 Weezing: Tackle, Sludge, Smokescreen, Toxic

Pokémon Yellow

• Level 44 Venonat: Tackle, Toxic, Sleep Powder, Psychic
• Level 46 Venonat: Toxic, Psybeam, Supersonic, Psychic
• Level 48 Venonat: Toxic, Psychic, Sleep Powder, Double-Edge
• Level 50 Venomoth: Toxic, Psychic, Leech Life, Double Team

Pokémon Gold/Silver/Crystal

• Level 40 Ariados: Spider Web, Double Team, Baton Pass, Giga Drain
• Level 43 Forretress: Spikes, Swift, Protect, Explosion
• Level 42 Muk: Sludge Bomb, Minimize, Toxic, Acid Armor
• Level 41 Venomoth: Gust, Supersonic, Toxic, Psychic
• Level 44 Crobat: Wing Attack, Double Team, Quick Attack, Toxic

Pokémon Stadium

• Round 1 Pokémon
  • Venomoth
  • Muk
  • Weezing
  • Venonat
  • Nidorina
  • Nidorino

• Round 2 Pokémon
  • Venomoth
  • Muk
  • Weezing
  • Hypno
  • Tangela
  • Parasect

Pokémon Stadium 2

• Round 1 Pokémon
  • Golbat
  • Venomoth
  • Muk
  • Electrode
  • Ariados
  • Gligar

• Round 2 Pokémon
  • Venomoth
  • Ariados
  • Lanturn
  • Magmar
  • Stantler
  • Lapras

In the Pokémon Special manga

Koga is one of the three villainous heads of Team Rocket, and serves under Giovanni in Pokémon Special.

Red and Misty had to rescue Misty's Gyarados from Koga in Mt. Moon after Koga had captured it and experimented on it.

Koga later tried to bump off Red in Lavender Town's Pokémon Tower, where he used a Gastly to reanimate the corpses of dead Pokémon buried there. He also attacked Red with an Arbok. However, Green had his Charmeleon slice the Arbok in half.

Under his boss's orders, he captured Articuno and brought it to Saffron City. He was once again defeated by Green at Silph Co..

Later, Koga helped the Pallet Town trainers in the fight against the Elite Four during the Cerise Island battle. Koga was paired with Green.

Koga later disappeared for a time, leaving Janine in charge of the Gym. Janine was worried for her father, but opposed his criminal ties.

At the end of the Johto adventures, Koga decided to ally himself with three other trainers who had been abandoned by evil organizations: Bruno, Will, and Karen.

Two of Koga's Pokémon have unique powers. His Arbok can regenerate itself as long as it's head remains intact (see above).

His Golbat's mouth can be used almost like a crystal ball to see things from a distance, even if walls or land are in the way. Green took this Golbat and kept it for quite some time before returning it to Koga at Cerise Island.

Koga uses Poké Balls that have been custom made to look and act like shurikens.

Pokémon

This listing is of Koga's Pokémon in the Pokémon Special manga.

• Muk
• Golbat
• Gastly
• Arbok
• Ekans
• Tentacruel
• Rhyhorn → Rhydon
• Grimer
• Weezing

Released

• Articuno

In the TCG

Koga appeared in the Gym Challenge and Pokémon VS sets. One of the Gym Challenge Theme Decks is called Koga.

Artwork

• 

  Koga and the Soulbadge.

• KogaVS.jpg

  Koga's updated VS art.

Pokémon

This listing is for Koga's Pokémon in the Pokémon TCG.

• Beedrill
• Ditto
• Arbok
• Muk
• Pidgeotto
• Goldbat
• Kakuna
• Koffing
• Pidgey
• Weezing
• Ekans
• Grimer
• Koffing
• Pidgey
• Tangela
• Weedle
• Zubat
• Crobat
• Forretress

Trainer cards

• Koga
• Koga's Ninja Trick

Trivia

The Japanese name of the Soul Badge is the Pink Badge. Amusingly enough, it seems that something was lost in the translation of Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue. The original intent, supposedly, was for Sabrina's badge to be the Soul Badge (as in mystic power) and for Koga's badge to be the Marshbadge (as in the area where poisonous animals live). These were mixed up during the localization.

In the manga Pokémon PiPiPi Adventure, the ninja-in-training Wal is an admirer of Koga.

Koga makes a short cameo appearance in a chapter of the Electric Tale of Pikachu manga.

Out of the original Generation I Gym Leaders, Koga has the fewest trainer cards in the Gym Leader sets of the TCG. Incidently, his only trainer card besides the basic Koga card had to be edited because it featured a swastika.

Names

Gym Leaders of the Kanto region
Pewter Gym Brock	Cerulean Gym Misty	Vermilion Gym Lt. Surge	Celadon Gym Erika
Fuchsia Gym Koga Janine	Saffron Gym Sabrina	Cinnabar Gym Blaine	Viridian Gym Giovanni Blue

Template:Elite Four of Kanto