Ho-Oh
Encyclopedia : H : HO : HOO : Ho-Oh
, is a fictional, mythical character in the Pokémon series. The Pokémon's romanized Japanese name is the Japanese word for phoenix, specifically, the legendary Chinese phoenix, the Fenghuang. It represents Pokémon Gold.
Characteristics
Ho-Oh is similar to a phoenix, and it can see into the future. It flies continuously through the world's skies on its magnificant 7-coloured wings. Its appearance signifies the beginning of an era of peace between humans and Pokémon. It will reveal itself to Trainers who are pure of heart and it is also said to live at the foot of a rainbow.Long ago in Ecruteak, there were two towers, the Brass Tower and Tin Tower being the roost of Lugia and Ho-Oh, respectively. When the Brass Tower burned down, thusly being renamed the Burned Tower, both Pokémon fled, never to be seen again. Three Pokémon became trapped in the flames of the Brass Tower and perished. Ho-Oh returned to the Tin Tower, resurrected the three Pokémon, who were renamed Raikou, Entei, and Suicune, and had them guard the ruins of the Burned Tower. Of the three Pokemon, Ho-Oh is closest to Suicune, as revealed in Pokemon Crystal version. Ho-Oh's relationship with the three legendary beasts parallels the relationship Lugia has with the legendary birds Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres.
In the video games
In Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal, it is caught at the Tin Tower in Ecruteak City.To catch Ho-Oh in Gold or Silver, one must first receive the "Rainbow Wing". The way to obtain it varies between the various versions. In Crystal, one must first capture the three legendary beasts, and is at Lv. 70. In Silver, it can be obtained from a man standing to the side of the Pokemon Center in Pewter City after you have beat the Johto League, and is also at Lv. 70. In Gold, it can be obtained by saving the Johto Radio Tower in Goldenrod and is at Lv. 40. In Pokémon Colosseum, one can receive Ho-Oh by first purifying every one of Story Mode's Shadow Pokémon, and then using the Story Mode team to completely clear the Battle Mode equivalent of Mt. Battle. The player can import any Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, FireRed, or LeafGreen Pokemon into the Story mode and use them.
In battle, Ho-Oh is very versatile, able to learn a wide variety of powerful techniques such as shadow ball, earthquake, psychic, giga drain, solar beam, and thunderbolt. Ho-oh’s signature attack is sacred fire, a move that can be used while Ho-Oh is frozen solid, and also has a base power of 100 with a 50% chance of burning the foe, making it a very useful move.
Ho-Oh's Fire/Flying-type means it has a weakness against Lugia's water-type attacks but because of Ho-Oh's higher Special Defense and Lugia's low special attack and lack of STAB it gives Ho-Oh the advantage over Lugia in a fight. Ho-Oh is sometimes considered to be one of the strongest pokemon in the game along with Lugia and Mewtwo.
Ho-Oh's overall stats are the highest in the game, along with Mewtwo, Lugia and Rayquaza. Ho-Oh has outstanding HP and special defense, strong attack and special attack, and average speed and defense. It’s fire/flying type makes it strong against grass, fighting, steel, bug, ground and ice types. Consequently, it has weakness to water, electric and X4 against rock. However, Ho-Oh has such high HP and special defense, along with HP restoring recover move, it is able to shrug off numerous blows and counter with its own arsenal of special attacks. Rock is the best way to counter Ho-Oh, since Ho-Oh has average defense, but if sacred fire burns the rock pokemon before it gets a hit, the battle may turn in favor for Ho-Oh.
Ho-Oh can be used offensively with its high attack and special attack skills, or it could be used as a special defense stalling sponge, with a moveset such as calm mind, recover, sacred fire and an additional special attack such as thunderbolt. The sunny day/sacred fire/solar beam combo also works well with Ho-Oh, and on two on two battles, Ho-Oh makes a great battle companion with Groudon, who has auto-sunny day, as well as the earthquake attack, a very powerful ground attack which affects the entire battlefield,but Ho-Oh, being a flying type, is immune to it.
Ho-Oh in Super Smash Bros. Melee
Although it is somewhat rare, Ho-Oh can appear in Super Smash Bros. Melee out of a Poké Ball. Once it appears, it will fly up and into the background, and proceed to use the devastating fire attack Sacred Fire, spread across the area of the playing field where its Poké Ball was thrown. It also makes an appearance as a Trophy, where the second O in its name was lowercase. This implies that the official spelling of the name is with the lowercase O (the names of Pokémon are written entirely in capital letters in most of the games).Anime Appearances
In the first episode of the series, Ash Ketchum sees a large, shining bird flying above the plain, making Ho-oh the first Pokémon to appear in the anime before the games. When he consults his Pokédex, it responds that it has no data on the gorgeous creature, emphasizing that there are many Pokémon that have not yet been identified. Ash later discovers it was Ho-Oh by talking to Morty, Ecruteak City's gym leader, and Eusine, a Suicune fanatic and legendary Pokémon expert. Ash later sees Ho-Oh again as he leaves for Hoenn.Given the timing of the episode's debut, most people speculate that Ho-Oh was created by the series's staff and later incorporated into the second generation of games by Nintendo, or was intended to be one of the 3 Legendary Birds from the original games. Possible evidence supporting this theory includes the fact that, in the second episode, Ash saw a stone engraving of a legendary bird Pokémon and remarked that he had seen it, but Professor Oak said that he probably hadn't saying that many people had searched their whole life for that Pokémon and never found it. Strangely, the image in question was not actually of Ho-Oh.
Also, during the battle pyramid episode, Ash saw Ho-Oh again at the end of the episode after his battle with Brandon.
Drawing on the similarity to the Chinese phoenix, who is said to appear when a great leader or hero is born, the fact that Ash sees it on his first day as a Trainer serves as foreshadowing that Ash will save the world or be a legendary hero at least once. Indeed, although Ash hasn't done anything similar in the series, he did save the world in some of the movies, Such as Pokemon: Mewtwo Strikes Back, and Pokemon: 2000, and Pokemon: Jirachi Wishmaker.
In the trading card game
Ho-Oh has made five appearances in the Trading Card Game thus far, and they are in the following sets:- Neo Revelation (holographic Fire-type)
- Neo Revelation (rare Colorless)
- Skyridge (as a holographic Colorless with the Crystal Type Poke-Body)
- Unseen Forces (rare Fire-type)
- Unseen Forces (holographic Fire-type, as Ho-Oh EX)
References
- The following games and their instruction manuals: Pokémon Red, Green, and Blue; Pokémon Yellow; Pokémon Stadium and Pokémon Stadium 2; Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal; Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald; Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen; Pokémon Colosseum and
External links
- [Official Pokémon website]
- [Bulbapedia] (a Pokémon-centric Wiki)’s article about Ho-Oh as a species
- *[Serebii.net]’s 3rd Gen Pokédex entry for Ho-Oh
- [Pokémon Dungeon] Pokédex entry, full of statistics analysis
- [PsyPoke] - Ho-Oh Pokédex entry and Usage Overview
- [Smogon.com] - Ho-Oh Tactical Data
- *[WikiKnowledge.net’s] entry for Previously hosted by Wikibooks
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