Spiky-eared Pichu
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 Spiky-eared Pichu | ||||||||||||||||||
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Spiky-eared Pichu (Japanese: ギザみみピチュー Gizamimi Pichu) is a Pichu. Its form is different from the one of an ordinary Pichu, as it has three spikes at the tip of its left ear, hence its name.
In the core series games
Spiky-eared Pichu first appears in Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver as an event Pokémon obtained in Ilex Forest. If the player interacts with the shrine while walking with a Pikachu-colored Pichu, she will appear and join the player's party. If the player's party is full, they will have to deposit a Pokémon and return to accept her.
Spiky-eared Pichu has her own unique in-battle and overworld sprites and cannot evolve or be traded outside of her original game. Aside from her unique sprite, moves, and inability to be traded or evolved, she is nearly identical to a normal Pichu in that her base stats are the same as a normal Pichu's. However, her maximum stats for the Pokéathlon are different. If a Pokémon uses Transform on her, it will have a spiky ear. Shiny sprites for Spiky-eared Pichu exist in the coding of the games, although it is impossible to obtain one due to the game assigning the Spiky-eared Pichu a fixed personality value that is predetermined according to the Trainer ID number and secret ID. This ensures that the personality value will never result in a Shiny nor a male Spiky-eared Pichu.
If taken to Professor Elm in New Bark Town, it is revealed that she has traveled through time with Celebi. Elm claims that he and Professor Oak were researching the time travel abilities of Celebi, and adds that this Pichu proves his main theory. He adds that the reason she cannot evolve is because she has been time traveling for so long and then calls all the Pokémon Center attendants to prevent Spiky-eared Pichu from being used in trades; however, the attendants do not permit her into a trading facility prior to this either. Spiky-eared Pichu is also unable to be transferred through the Poké Transfer into a Generation V game due to her past time traveling.
Oh! This Pichu needs to stay where it is.
It appears to have traveled through time. It has been affected by traveling so far through time with Celebi.
It'll be very risky to transfer it, so it's best for Pichu to stay where it is.
Spiky-eared Pichu's inability to be traded can be explained as being preventative of trading any alternate form to a game in which the form does not appear, as happens in Platinum, HeartGold, and SoulSilver when entering the trade center with Rotom in an appliance, Giratina in its Origin Forme, or Shaymin in its Sky Forme, by returning them to the forms they appeared in Diamond and Pearl. As Spiky-eared Pichu cannot freely change between forms, this explains the need to make her untradeable within Generation IV.
Pokéathlon stats
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In the spin-off games
Pokémon Battrio
In Pokémon Battrio, Spiky-eared Pichu appears as the Special Pucks Pichu (Spiky-eared Pichu Set) and Pichu (10-032).
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Spiky-eared Pichu acts as an alternate costume for Pichu.
Gallery
Artwork
| In the Ilex Forest with the Pikachu-colored Pichu | With the Pikachu-colored Pichu |
Sprites
 
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| Sprite and back sprite | Shiny sprite and back sprite (unused) | Overworld sprite |
In animation
Pokémon the Series
Arceus and the Jewel of Life
Spiky-eared Pichu debuted in the movie Arceus and the Jewel of Life as Damos's friend. She helped Pikachu and Piplup find the keys for Ash, his friends, and Damos' jail cell after they were imprisoned by Marcus.
Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl
While she does not appear in any animated series episodes proper, Spiky-eared Pichu does appear in an ending dedicated to her. This ending displays her love for Grepa Berries.
Pikachu shorts
In Pikachu's Big Sparking Search, Spiky-eared Pichu and Smoochum were preparing a birthday party for Bellossom.
In Meloetta's Moonlight Serenade, Spiky-eared Pichu was one of the Pokémon watching Meloetta's concert.
Personality and characteristics
Spiky-eared Pichu is shown to be a helpful Pokémon, which can be seen when she freed Cyndaquil by using Iron Tail on the collar that was used to control it. However, in the ending dedicated to her, she was shown to also be quite competitive, as evident when she raced the Shiny Pichu up a tree and lost, and when she had an eating contest with the Shiny Pichu to see who could eat the most Grepa Berries and won. In that ending theme, she was also shown to be very sensitive, as she was seen crying when she got lost.
Moves used
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| A † shows that the move was used recently, unless all moves fit this case or there are fewer than five known moves. | |||||||||||||
Artwork
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| Official artwork from Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl |
Official artwork from Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl |
In the manga
Pokémon Adventures
HeartGold & SoulSilver arc
Spiky-eared Pichu first appeared in All About Arceus IX, where it was seen accompanying Gold's Pibu as they helped Celebi find the herbs needed to cure Giovanni's disease. When several Team Rocket Grunts tried to stop Ken, Al, and Harry from helping Celebi under Giovanni's orders, they accidentally trampled over the Pichu duo, which caused them to retaliate by shocking the Grunts with a combined Electric attack. When they met up with Gold, Gold saw Spiky-eared Pichu and teased Pibu about finding a date.
Arceus and the Jewel of Life
In the manga adaptation of the movie, Spiky-eared Pichu is a wild Pokémon who the characters meet in the distant past. It assists the characters in escaping from the movie's main antagonist, Marcus.
In the TCG
This listing is of cards mentioning or featuring Spiky-eared Pichu in the Pokémon Trading Card Game.
| Spiky-eared Pichu Cards listed with a blue background are only legal to use in the current Expanded format. Cards listed with a green background are legal to use in both the current Standard and Expanded formats. | |||||||
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| Card | Type | English Expansion |
Rarity | # | Japanese Expansion |
Rarity | # |
Spiky-eared Pichu 
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Movie Commemoration Random Pack | 009/022 | ||||
| Movie Commemoration Random Pack | 010/022 | ||||||
| Movie Commemoration Random Pack | 011/022 | ||||||
| DPt-P Promotional cards | 042/DPt-P | ||||||
| Unnumbered Promotional cards | |||||||
Trivia
- A picture of a Pikachu short poster that featured Spiky-eared Pichu alongside Pikachu and Piplup was leaked several days before this Pokémon was officially revealed.
- It was first mentioned at the end of a movie preview of Arceus and the Jewel of Life when movie director Kunihiko Yuyama talked about a "small, yellow Electric-type that would save the world."
- Spiky-eared Pichu's sprite in HeartGold and SoulSilver is in a different pose than that of a normal Pichu, but she retains the two frames that a normal Pichu uses in her animation; thus, she is the only Pokémon to have three animation frames in Generation IV.
- According to Shōko Nakagawa's autobiography, White Pichu was originally considered before being replaced by Spiky-eared Pichu.
- Spiky-eared Pichu was featured in a Pokémon Storage System wallpaper in HeartGold and SoulSilver. The wallpaper must be unlocked by telling Primo at the Violet City Pokémon Center custom phrases using the easy chat system. The phrase for a given wallpaper depends on the player's game, Trainer ID, and game language.
- Spiky-eared Pichu appears as a figure in the fourth generation of Monster Collection.
- Spiky-eared Pichu appears as a Pokémon Dolls plush toy.
- Spiky-eared Pichu shares several similarities with Cosplay Pikachu:
- They are both variants of the Pikachu evolutionary line that are canonically female and only legitimately obtainable as such, but are technically programmed with an equal chance of being male or female in the core series games.
- They were both were introduced in remakes.
- They are both incapable of evolving, breeding, or being transferred to later games.
- They both appear as their regular forms if used in a link battle with an earlier game.
- They both cannot be obtained Shiny, though Shiny variants exist in the game code for them.
- They both appear as alternate costumes in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
- Spiky-eared Pichu is one of only two Pokémon without a 3D model in the core series games (the other being the unobtainable ???-type Arceus).
References
- ↑ Confirmed in the games, and in Pokémon the Series in the ending theme Get Fired Up, Spiky-eared Pichu!
- ↑ Confirmed in the games only.
- ↑ Confirmed in the games only.
Names
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Related articles
For more information on this Pokémon's species, see Pichu.
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| Arceus and the Jewel of Life | |
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| Characters | Damos • Kato • Kevin • Kiko • Marcus • Marcus's soldiers • Mother and daughter • Sheena • Tapp Arceus • Dialga • Giratina • Palkia • Pichu |
| Locations | Michina Town • Unown Dimension |
| Other | Plate • Jewel of Life • Time travel • Time-Space Axis |
| Soundtrack and score | Soundtrack Antenna of the Heart (single) |
| Adaptations | Manga • Ani-Manga |
| TCG | Pikachu M LV.X • Michina Temple • Arceus • Arceus V Movie Commemoration Special Pack 2009 • Movie Commemoration Random Pack Platinum: Arceus • Pokémon M 2009 Pokémon Card Design Contest |
| Merchandise | Pokémon Movie Companion • Pokémon Kids figures • Zukan DP12 Pokémon Cornflakes |
| Event distributions |
Pikachu-colored Pichu (Shokotan, Mikena, GameStop, English Wi-Fi, French, German, Italian, Spanish) • Spiky-eared Pichu |
| Related animation | Trilogy (The Rise of Darkrai • Giratina and the Sky Warrior • Arceus and the Jewel of Life) |
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This article is part of both Project Pokédex and Project Anime, Bulbapedia projects that, together, aim to write comprehensive articles on species and forms of Pokémon introduced in the animated series. | 
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