Snorlax

Snorlax
File:Snorlax.png National Pokédex Aerodactyl - Snorlax (#143) - Articuno Johto Pokédex Aerodactyl - Snorlax (#225) - Bulbasaur Sinnoh Pokédex Munchlax - Snorlax (#113) - Unown
Japanese name	Kabigon
Evolves from	Munchlax (from Pokémon Diamond and Pearl onwards)
Evolves into	None
Generation	First
Species	Sleeping Pokémon
Type	Normal
Height	6 ft 11 in (2.1 m)
Weight	1,014 pounds (460 kg)
Ability	Immunity / Thick Fat

Snorlax (カビゴン, Kabigon in original Japanese language versions) are one of the Template:Pokenum fictional species of Pokémon creatures from the multi-billion-dollar Pokémon media franchise – a collection of video games, anime, manga, books, trading cards and other media created by Satoshi Tajiri. The purpose of Snorlax in the games, anime and manga, as with all other Pokémon, is to battle both wild Pokémon, untamed creatures encountered while the player passes through various environments, and tamed Pokémon owned by Pokémon trainers.

Characteristics

Snorlax resembles a giant stuffed animal vaguely in the shape of a bear whose eyes always seem to be closed. All Snorlax will do all day is eat, and sleep. Snorlax will eat just about anything, even moldy and rotten food. The digestive juices in Snorlax's stomach can dissolve any kind of poison, thus giving it Immunity in Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Fire Red and Leaf Green. It is such a docile Pokémon that children use its large, expansive belly to jump on like a trampoline. Snorlax did not have an evolutionary family until the release of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, released in 2006 in Japan. Its pre-evolution is Munchlax, which evolves after attaining sufficient happiness with its trainer.

Sometimes, instead of blocking routes, they become a problem because of all they eat as happened with a Snorlax Ash found in the Orange Islands that was eating several farmers' grapefruit and later in Hoenn, bananas from a zoo containing Slakoth. Also, in one episode, a Snorlax was found blocking a river. Ash used the Pokéflute to awaken it. Also in a number of mini shows Snorlax rolls over and crushes the opponents.

Snorlax make their home in grassy forested areas. Also, according to Brock and the original Pokédex entry, Snorlax normally lives in mountains. Snorlax is a cross between the giant ground sloth and a large bear.

In the Pokémon video games

Snorlax is found blocking Routes 12 and 16 in Pokémon Red, Blue, FireRed, LeafGreen, and Pokémon Yellow. In Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal it is found in Vermilion City blocking the entrance to Diglett's Cave, which is the only way to access Pewter City, Viridian City, and Pallet Town. Snorlax is not available in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, but it can be traded from Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen. You can also snag it from Cipher Admin Ardos in Pokémon XD. In Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, players can breed Snorlax to get a Munchlax.

Snorlax has a high amount of HP, very good Attack and Special Defense, and powerful attacks. Its defense and special were low in the original Red, Green and Blue games, however with the division of special into special attack and special defense, Snorlax received a huge special defense boost and has become a statistical tank.

A Snorlax also appears in the Nintendo 64 game Pokémon Snap in the Beach Course. It will be obscured from sight, and it will momentarily raise its head when hit with a Pester Ball. When the Poke Flute is used, however, it will get up and dance, and a clear photograph can be taken.

It also has minor cameos in the Super Smash Bros. series, first in Super Smash Bros. as one of several Pokémon which may emerge from thrown Pokéballs, crushing opponents with its massive Body Slam, then reprising that role in Super Smash Bros. Melee, and as a trophy. It also appears in Pokémon Stadium with red eyes that can only be seen when it attacks with a beam, when it is lying there, and when it faints.

Snorlax appears in Pokémon Ranger in which he plays much the same role as he does in all other handheld Pokémon RPGs. He is sleeping, blocking your path to certain areas, however, once certain tasks are met, he will simply vanish. This Pokémon is somewhat special in Pokémon Ranger, as it can only be awakened (making it capturable) once the player has captured all other Pokémon. After catching Snorlax, one will get a special cutscene and a badge showing you caught all the Pokémon.

In Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Snorlax can be found in Howling Forest, but it's pretty rare.

In the Pokémon anime

Probably Snorlax's most dangerous action is rolling over. Because of its great size, and tendency to oversleep, anybody can end up being squashed underneath it for several days; such as Houndour in Pikachu and Pichu and Pichu Bros. in Party Panic or a Pokémon Anime episode where Ken and Mary (two members of the "Pokémon Mystery Club") discover some crop circles caused by a Snorlax, who then turns around and squashes them. At the end of one episode, even Team Rocket ended up being squashed by a Snorlax.

Ash caught a Snorlax of his own in the Orange Islands episode "Snack Attack", where the crew had to stop a Snorlax, by eating all the Grapefruit from the Grapefruit Islands. Paired up with Jigglypuff's Sing attack to make him go to sleep again, this catch was easier than most. Ash sent him to the lab in Pallet Town later when he found it wouldn't wake up in time for his Orange League Championship battle, opting to instead use Tauros. He left it at the lab after that, as he couldn't afford to keep feeding him. Later on, Ash used Snorlax in a sumo wrestling contest. Snorlax's ample weight, mass, and "guts" caused him to easily win, usually through letting opponents ram him and get bounced off his massive belly. Snorlax was part of Ash's team in the Johto finals, defeating Gary's Arcanine and Nidoqueen, and then Harrison's Hypno and Steelix. Ash's Snorlax utilizes powerful attacks, much like how one would use Snorlax in the video games, such as hyper beam and ice punch. In both matches, Snorlax is ultimately defeated, losing to Gary's Scizor and Harrison's Houndoom. Snorlax later meets and gets to be friends with May's younger Munchlax. It next appears for Ash's match against Greta, Arena Captain of the Battle Arena, in which it defeats a Hariyama and a Medicham (both Fighting-types to which it has a defensive disadvantage).

Ash and his friends also encountered a Snorlax blocking the water in the river in the episode Wake up Snorlax. Ash and friends (and even Team Rocket) tried desperately to wake it up but failed, it wasn't until Ash looked into is Pokedex a third time to read about Snorlax and found out that the only way to wake him up and get him out of the way was by using a pokeflute that an old man had. It was revealed that the old man who had the Pokeflute was in fact the Snorlax's owner, but when he awoke the Snorlax, it was revealed a bush of thorns were the real source of the blockage and the newly awakened Snorlax devoured it all, its owner stating that thorns are one of Snorlax's favorite meals. After that the river began flowing again and Snorlax returned to sleep.

In Hoenn, Ash and company encounters a Snorlax terrorising a banana garden full of Slakoth by eating up the bananas there and refusing to leave. Ash attempts to battle the Snorlax only to fall victim to its Yawn attack, which promptly puts everyone to sleep. Ash then calls Professor Oak for advice, and then puts together a plan with the garden owner to help one of the garden Slakoth to evolve into Vigoroth, whose innate Vital Spirit ability gave it immunity to Snorlax's Yawn. The owner then proceeded to battle and capture Snorlax who later was repurposed to run the relaxation room in the garden by putting visitors to sleep.

In the Pokémon Chronicles episode "Snorlax Snowman", there are white Snorlax in arctic areas. As such, they are able to naturally learn powerful ice attacks. While they can be as troublesome as any other Snorlax, this ability comes in very handy.

In "Destiny Deoxys", a Munchlax is present for much of the film. At the end, it evolves into Snorlax.

Lucy, a Frontier Brain, owns a Snorlax of her own. However she does not battle with it, and assumedly only has it because of it's slit-eyes which she adores. In the Anime, he is voiced by Kevin Michael Richardson in Pokemon Battle Frontier.

Manga, Movies and Merchandise

Snorlax appeared in Pikachu's Rescue Adventure, the short feature which was shown along with Pokémon: the Movie 2000. Near the climax of the short, Pikachu and his friends struggle to protect Togepi and some Exeggcute from blowing away in a tempestuous storm. Snorlax lends a hand by anchoring the others, which he accomplishes easily due to his great weight and size, despite being momentarily distracted by some food blowing past. When the storm gets worse, Pikachu and his group form a long chain by holding onto each other, which Snorlax pulls back to safety.

In the Super Smash Bros. series, Snorlax randomly pops out of Pokéballs that randomly appear, and crash through the stage. It knocks out characters that get in the way. In Super Smash Bros. Melee, Snorlax pops out of a Pokéball, stands a few seconds. Then it grows as it flies, and then it crashes through the stage, knocking out characters that get in its path.

Despite its inactive nature, Snorlax often appears on various Pokémon products, perhaps due to its cuteness. Some of the items featuring Snorlax include a "beanie" plush toy by Hasbro, a 7" tall Snorlax-shaped night-light, a tiny 3" plush figure which comes in a plastic Pokéball and a magnet from Polar Magnetics, packaged with similar magnets of Bulbasaur and Pidgeotto.

Snorlax has a chapter book centered around it, the Pokémon Junior series paperback Snorlax Takes A Stand (ISBN 0-613-33067-6). The book is number nine in the series, and the plot features Ash using Snorlax in an attempt to stop Team Rocket from stealing Pokémon food in the Orange Islands. The book was written by Sarah Heller, who also wrote several other volumes of the series.

Snorlax also stars in a children's book titled "Snorlax's Snack." It is number 10 in the Pokémon Tales series of such books, and is both written and illustrated by Sumiyoshi Kizuki.

Snorlax was one of the Pokémon Red caught in the RBG series of the Pokémon Special manga.He was caught in the middle of a bike race Red was competing in.

In the Trading Card Game

Snorlax has appeared quite a few times in the card game, normally as a Basic Colorless Pokémon, in the following sets: Jungle, Gym Heroes (as Rocket’s Snorlax), Skyridge, EX Firered & Leafgreen and EX Team Rocket Returns (Dark-type, as Rocket’s Snorlax EX).

Jungle Snorlax was a popular tank card due to its high hit points, Basic class, and its Pokémon Power that practically made it immune to status effects.

Snorlax also appeared as the 49th promotional card and as a card named Greedy Snorlax.

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 Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness

Publications

• Barbo, Maria. The Official Pokémon Handbook. Scholastic Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0-439-15404-9.
• Loe, Casey, ed. Pokémon Special Pikachu Edition Official Perfect Guide. Sunnydale, CA: Empire 21 Publishing, 1999. ISBN 1-930206-15-1.
• Nintendo Power. Official Nintendo Pokémon FireRed Version & Pokémon LeafGreen Version Player’s Guide. Nintendo of America Inc., August 2004. ISBN 1-930206-50-X
• Mylonas, Eric. Pokémon Pokédex Collector’s Edition: Prima’s Official Pokémon Guide. Prima Games, September 21 2004. ISBN 0-7615-4761-4
• Nintendo Power. Official Nintendo Pokémon Emerald Version Player’s Guide. Nintendo of America Inc., April 2005. ISBN 1-930206-58-5

External links

• Official Pokémon website
• Bulbapedia (a Pokémon-centric Wiki)’s article about Snorlax as a species
• Template:Serebiidex
• Pokémon Dungeon Pokédex entry, full of statistics analysis
• PsyPoke Pokédex entry
• Smogon Pokédex entry
• Template:WikiKnowledge