Chikorita, Bayleef, and Meganium

Chikorita, Bayleef, and Meganium
Series	Pokémon series
First game	Pokémon Gold and Silver
Designed by	Ken Sugimori
Voiced by (English)	Mika Kanai (Ash's, and Chikorita in the Smash Bros. series) Satomi Kōrogi (Casey's) Katsuyuki Konishi (Vincent's Meganium) Michele Knotz (PMD special)
Voiced by (Japanese)	Mika Kanai Satomi Kōrogi Katsuyuki Konishi Yukana (PMD special)

Chikorita (チコリータ, Chikorīta^?), Bayleef (ベイリーフ, Beirīfu^?), and Meganium (メガニウム, Meganiumu^?) are three Pokémon species in Nintendo and Game Freak's Pokémon franchise. Created by Ken Sugimori, Chikorita, Bayleef, and Meganium first appeared in the video games Pokémon Gold and Silver and subsequent sequels, later appearing in various merchandise, spinoff titles and animated and printed adaptations of the franchise.

Concept and characteristics

Chikorita, known as the "Leaf" Pokémon, is a small green reptilian Pokémon. It is primarily a pale leaf green color with large red eyes. Its most distinguishing feature is the large leaf on the top of its head, which is usually longer than the rest of its body. It has a "necklace" of small green buds around its neck. Chikorita can spawn vines from its neck and create leaves from the big leaf on its head. Like many Grass-type Pokémon, its foliage emits a sweet odor that has calming properties.^[1] This leaf also has the ability to check the temperature and humidity of the surrounding air.^[2] Chikorita, like many grass Pokémon, are very docile.^[1] It prefers to avoid fights by waving around the large leaf on its head.^[3] It spends most of its time sunbathing, and uses the leaf on its head to find warm spots.^[4] Chikorita are also sensitive emotionally, and become very upset when misunderstood. Chikorita are rare Pokémon mostly found in large open plains or small forests with other Chikorita, Bayleef, and Meganium.

Bayleef is the evolution of Chikorita and first appeared in Pokémon Gold and Silver. It has a pale yellow body supported by four legs and a rather long neck and tail. On top of its head is a single large leaf. Its most defining trait is the "necklace" of seven tubular leaves that is located around its neck. Each of these curled up leaves contains inside it a tree shoot. From these leaves wafts a spicy scent that has stimulating properties. It can cheer people up, restore their health, make them more energetic and even heighten their drive for competition.

Meganium, known as the Herb Pokémon, is the final form of the Chikorita evolutionary line. Meganium is a sauropod-like Pokémon. Instead of having a leaf coming out of its head, like its two previous evolutions, Chikorita and Bayleef, it has stamen-like antennae sprouting from the top of its nose, each with what looks like its own anther. The leaves around its neck seem to have sprouted into a large pink flower with white tips. Meganium has also reverted back to the color it was as a Chikorita, whilst Bayleef's main body color had become a beige-color. A female Meganium has shorter antennae. The aroma emanating from Meganium's petals soothes anyone that comes in contact with it. It calms aggressive feelings.^[5] In battle, Meganium uses this scent to calm its opponent and remove any desire for it to fight, giving it the upper hand.^[6] Meganium's breath has the power to revive dead grass and plants, and make them healthy again.^[7]

Appearances

In the video games

Chikorita, Bayleef, and Meganium first appear in the Game Boy Color video games Pokémon Gold, Silver and its remakes Pokémon Crystal, HeartGold, and SoulSilver. Chikorita was one of the three starter Pokémon along with Cyndaquil and Totodile. Chikorita eventually evolves into Bayleef, which eventually evolves into Meganium. They have appeared in each subsequent main Pokémon title since, including Pokémon Emerald where it was given as a bonus for obtaining every Pokémon in the Hoenn Dex. Outside of the main series, they also appear in Pokémon Trozei!, the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon titles, and the Pokémon Ranger titles. By itself, Chikorita appears in Pokémon Channel and PokéPark Wii: Pikachu's Adventure. Chikorita appears in Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Brawl where it can be summoned from a Poké Ball as an item. In Melee, it appears as a collectible trophy.

In other media

In the Pokémon anime, Chikorita was first seen as Casey's starter Pokémon.^[8] When Ash and friends met up with Casey again, her Bayleef was now fully evolved into a Meganium. Using Meganium, Casey was able to capture an Elekid. Ash's Bulbasaur had a heated battle with Jackson's Meganium.

Ash Ketchum caught a Chikorita early on its adventure through Johto, after saving it from a sudden snowstorm.^[9] Chikorita is very affectionate, stubborn, and powerful, often seeing Pikachu as a rival for Ash's affections, and apparently has a crush on Ash. Chikorita evolves into a Bayleef to save Ash when he was being attacked by Team Rocket.^[10] Like its pre-evolved form, Bayleef feels a strong bond of affection towards its trainer, which it usually expresses that feeling by trying to climb all over them, a matter complicated by the dramatic increase in mass. Ash used Bayleef in many battles in Johto, including gym battles and Johto League, where it battled against various opponents. Bayleef is currently at Professor Oak's lab since Ash decided to make a fresh start when going to Hoenn, and therefore left all of his Pokémon except Pikachu with Professor Oak.

In "The Legend of Thunder!", Jackson (named Vincent) also used his Meganium to help save Raikou. Chikorita is also the tritagonist of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Team Go-Getters Out Of The Gate! as a female character. She is the leader of the team Go-Getters. In the Pokémon Adventures manga, Crystal's Bayleef evolved into Meganium to protect Gold, Silver, and herself from Lugia.

Reception

A special edition Game Boy Color was released featuring Chikorita, Totodile, Cyndaquil, Pikachu, and Pichu, though the first three were removed in the United States release.^[11] Early in its reveal, an editor for IGN wrote that Chikorita's design looked like it took The Simpsons character Marge Simpson's necklace.^[12] IGN's Pokémon Chick called Chikorita her "favorite of all the starters from RBY and GSC combined" and cited both the mediocrity of similar grass type Pokémon and the abundance or quality of fire and water types, the types of the other starter Pokémon.^[13] An editor for IGN wrote that while it is the "silliest of the three [starters], Chikorita may be your best bet as a starter since it quickly gets the powerful Razor Leaf attack and it can also learn the very useful Flash and Cut techniques".^[14] GameSpot's Frank Provo described it as a "bizarre plant Pokémon".^[15] Authors Tracey West and Katherine Noll wrote that Ash Ketchum's Chikorita in the anime was "one of his most loyal Pokemon ever" and cited how it evolves into Bayleef in order to protect him. They added that "any Trainer would be proud to have this Grass Pokemon on his team".^[16] Bitmob's Jasmine Maleficent Rea however called Chikorita "dumbest-looking Pokémon in the history of dumpy animated animals".^[17]

IGN's Pokémon Chick praised Bayleef and cited its inadvertent use of Body Slam in the anime to injure Ash, stating that "I was very happy with the fact that Bayleef's superior size turned Chikorita's former harmless flirtations into legitimate attacks".^[18] West and Noll wrote that Bayleef was "playful" and cited the same example as used by IGN's Pokémon Chick.^[16] An editor for GamesRadar called it similar to the Pokémon Ivysaur due to their similar stats.^[19] IGN's Pokémon Chick wrote that Meganium "outclasses [the Pokémon Sceptile] in almost every way".^[20] GamesRadar's Raymond Padilla called Meganium a better Grass type Pokémon than Sunflora.^[21] He also called it a cute Pokémon in contrast to the Pokémon Rattata and Raticate which he called "dirty rat Pokemon".^[22] An editor for GamesRadar wrote that it "manages to stay somewhat cute all the way through its progression" which they claim is uncommon among multi-stage Pokémon. They also compared it to the Pokémon Venusaur due to its similar stats.^[23] IGN also ranked Meganium as the 87th best Pokémon, commenting that it "may feel like the redheaded stepchild of the Generation II starters sometimes, but he's still awesome. "^[24]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Pokédex: A sweet aroma gently wafts from the leaf on its head. It is docile and loves to soak up the sun's rays. Game Freak. Pokémon Gold. (Nintendo). Game Boy. (2000-10-15)
2. ^ Pokédex: It uses the leaf on its head to determine the temperature and humidity. It loves to sunbathe.Game Freak. Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. (Nintendo). Nintendo DS. (2007-04-22)
3. ^ Pokédex: In battle, Chikorita waves its leaf around to keep the foe at bay. However, a sweet fragrance also wafts from the leaf, becalming the battling Pokémon and creating a cozy, friendly atmosphere all around. Game Freak. Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire. (Nintendo). Game Boy Advance. (2003-03-17)
4. ^ Pokédex: It loves to bask in the sunlight. It uses the leaf on its head to seek out warm places. Game Freak. 'Pokémon Crystal'. (Nintendo). Game Boy Color. (2001-07-29)
5. ^ Game Freak. Pokémon Gold. (Nintendo). Game Boy Color. (2000-10-15) "The aroma that rises from its petals contains a substance that calms aggressive feelings."
6. ^ Game Freak. Pokémon Ruby. (Nintendo). Game Boy Advance. (2003-03-17) "The fragrance of Meganium's flower soothes and calms emotions. In battle, this Pokémon gives off more of its becalming scent to blunt the foe's fighting spirit."
7. ^ Game Freak. Pokémon Silver. (Nintendo). Game Boy Color. (2000-10-15) "Meganium's breath has the power to revive dead grass and plants. It can make them healthy again."
8. ^ "The Double Trouble Header". Hideki Sonoda (writer). Pokémon. Various. 2000-10-21. No. 118, season 3.
9. ^ "The Chikorita Rescue". Hideki Sonoda (writer). Pokémon. Various. 2000-11-25. No. 126, season 3.
10. ^ "Current Events". Shōji Yonemura (writer). Pokémon. Various. 2000-11-25. No. 199, season 3.
11. ^ http://gameboy.ign.com/articles/092/092129p1.html
12. ^ http://gameboy.ign.com/articles/072/072479p1.html
13. ^ "Pokemon Crystal Version Pokemon of the Day: Chikorita (#152) - IGN FAQs". Faqs.ign.com. http://faqs.ign.com/articles/380/380499p1.html. Retrieved 2011-04-05. 
14. ^ http://guidesarchive.ign.com/guides/12865/1.html
15. ^ http://beta.gamespot.com/gbc/rpg/pokemongold/review.html
16. ^ ^{a b} http://books.google.com/books?id=L9dz4A6HLmYC
17. ^ http://bitmob.com/articles/the-devolution-of-starter-pokmon
18. ^ "Pokemon Ruby Version Pokemon of the Day: Bayleef - IGN FAQs". Faqs.ign.com. http://faqs.ign.com/articles/458/458417p1.html. Retrieved 2011-04-05. 
19. ^ http://www.gamesradar.com/ds/f/the-complete-pokemon-gsc-pokedex-part-1/a-20070829121537713022/g-2006100415372930075/p-2
20. ^ http://faqs.ign.com/articles/421/421923p1.html
21. ^ http://www.gamesradar.com/f/pokemusings-week-40/a-20080410103337323041/p-2
22. ^ http://www.gamesradar.com/ds/f/pokemusings-week-18/a-20071011112312654079/g-2006100415372930075
23. ^ http://a3.gamesradar.com/f/the-complete-pokemon-gsc-pokedex-part-1/a-20070829121537713022/p-3
24. ^ http://www.ign.com/top/pokemon/87