Pokémon That Are Clones of Other Pokémon

[Pikachu315111]

Fun fact: apparently the “Legendary Pixies” can be kinda connected to the five classic Chinese elements; Celebi is Wood, Jirachi is Metal, Manaphy is Water, Victini is Fire, and either Mew, Shaymin (more connected to ground-based plants as opposed to Celebi’s forest-theming), or Diancie (granted the stats don’t entirely line up, being literally a Carbink with +50 in both offenses, but it’s close-ish) representing Earth.

Oddly I also saw a "classical elements" thing with them, but wasn't the Chinese but the Alchemic: Victini is Fire, Manaphy is Water, Shaymin is Earth, Mew is Air, Celebi is Time, and Jirachi is Space. Now I don't think any of that is intentional and rather they represent more nebulous themes (Mew is origins, Celebi is time & nature, Jirachi is wishes, Manaphy is the sea, Shaymin is sincerity, and Victini is victory).

Anyway, I think I have a few more clones:

Pinsir, Heracross, & maybe Vikavolt: Well Pinsir & Heracross relation shouldn't be too much of a surprise as it's fairly well known their rivals & based on the Japanese "Bug Brothers" trope. They're one-stage Bug-types, share similar stats & movepools, and Hidden Ability. Beta Heracross resembled Pinsir and may have intended to be an evolution originally. So where does Vikavolt come in? Both Pinsir's and Heracross's dex entry in Sun & Moon mention they're both rivals to Vikavolt, infact Pinsir and Heracross in Alola get along with each other due to this shared rivalry. That said, aside from the beetle comparison, Vikavolt is Special Attacker and its Special Attack number (145) is higher than their Attack number (125).

Mantine & Skarmory: Doesn't look like it at first, but you can see it by looking at their stats. Same BST and numbers across their stats with Mantine being the Flying-type Special wall and Skarmory the Flying-type Physical wall. Though should be noted after Gen VII this is no longer the case as they gave Mantine an additional 20 points in HP because that's somehow will help it take double weak Electric moves better. Despite this odd decision to relate these two otherwise different Pokemon, Skarmory came out the winner with its Type combination better suiting its needs.

Arcanine & Houndoom & maybe Manectric: Now, I think this is an odd circumstance of Houndoom being a semi-clone of Houndoom and than XY seems to suggest Manectric is related to Houndoom? Houndoom, also being another Fire dog (though 55 BST points lower because it's not a Stone Evo), despite the point difference shares enough similarity with Arcanine's stats. They both have the same Speed and are offense focused, the main difference is that Arcanine slightly leans Physical and Houndoom slightly leans Special. Now, onto Manectric which has even lower BST than Houndoom. Because of the lower BST it completely gives up being all all-around attacker and instead specifically focuses on Speed & Special Attack. Yeah, not much relation though XY decided there was by giving both Mega Evos and made version exclusives (you get their Mega Stones via the same method).

Bird Trio & Beast Trio: "Um, one are birds that represent the weather and the other are cat-dog-gerbils that represent the disaster of Brass Tower". True, but that doesn't mean the beast may not have copied some notes. The Electric-type members are the fastest in each group and also have the highest Special Attack. While different Types, Aritcuno and Suicune are both defensive focused and the slowest members. Than the Fire-types are somewhat the offensive member having high numbers in both their attacking stats though Moltres leans Special and Entei leans Physical; they're also the middling speed members. They are also counterparts in someway as the Birds serve Lugia and the Beasts serve Ho-Oh.

Furret & Linoone: Not only do these two have similar body shapes but their stats might as well also be the same. Thankfully for Linoone it got a Galarian variant & evolution which breathed new life into the line. As for Furret, well he decided to go for a walcc.

Dragonite & Salamence: Both a Pseudo-Legendary, offense-focused (leaning Physical), Dragon/Flying dragons. The main difference is that one is bipedal and another is a quadruped. Well, alright, there's a bit more difference like Dragonite is a bit more defensive (higher defenses & has Multiscale) while Salamence goes straight for the throat (higher Special Attack and has Moxie).

 

[khlaylav]

Oddly I also saw a "classical elements" thing with them, but wasn't the Chinese but the Alchemic: Victini is Fire, Manaphy is Water, Shaymin is Earth, Mew is Air, Celebi is Time, and Jirachi is Space. Now I don't think any of that is intentional and rather they represent more nebulous themes (Mew is origins, Celebi is time & nature, Jirachi is wishes, Manaphy is the sea, Shaymin is sincerity, and Victini is victory).

Anyway, I think I have a few more clones:

Pinsir, Heracross, & maybe Vikavolt: Well Pinsir & Heracross relation shouldn't be too much of a surprise as it's fairly well known their rivals & based on the Japanese "Bug Brothers" trope. They're one-stage Bug-types, share similar stats & movepools, and Hidden Ability. Beta Heracross resembled Pinsir and may have intended to be an evolution originally. So where does Vikavolt come in? Both Pinsir's and Heracross's dex entry in Sun & Moon mention they're both rivals to Vikavolt, infact Pinsir and Heracross in Alola get along with each other due to this shared rivalry. That said, aside from the beetle comparison, Vikavolt is Special Attacker and its Special Attack number (145) is higher than their Attack number (125).

Mantine & Skarmory: Doesn't look like it at first, but you can see it by looking at their stats. Same BST and numbers across their stats with Mantine being the Flying-type Special wall and Skarmory the Flying-type Physical wall. Though should be noted after Gen VII this is no longer the case as they gave Mantine an additional 20 points in HP because that's somehow will help it take double weak Electric moves better. Despite this odd decision to relate these two otherwise different Pokemon, Skarmory came out the winner with its Type combination better suiting its needs.

Arcanine & Houndoom & maybe Manectric: Now, I think this is an odd circumstance of Houndoom being a semi-clone of Houndoom and than XY seems to suggest Manectric is related to Houndoom? Houndoom, also being another Fire dog (though 55 BST points lower because it's not a Stone Evo), despite the point difference shares enough similarity with Arcanine's stats. They both have the same Speed and are offense focused, the main difference is that Arcanine slightly leans Physical and Houndoom slightly leans Special. Now, onto Manectric which has even lower BST than Houndoom. Because of the lower BST it completely gives up being all all-around attacker and instead specifically focuses on Speed & Special Attack. Yeah, not much relation though XY decided there was by giving both Mega Evos and made version exclusives (you get their Mega Stones via the same method).

Bird Trio & Beast Trio: "Um, one are birds that represent the weather and the other are cat-dog-gerbils that represent the disaster of Brass Tower". True, but that doesn't mean the beast may not have copied some notes. The Electric-type members are the fastest in each group and also have the highest Special Attack. While different Types, Aritcuno and Suicune are both defensive focused and the slowest members. Than the Fire-types are somewhat the offensive member having high numbers in both their attacking stats though Moltres leans Special and Entei leans Physical; they're also the middling speed members. They are also counterparts in someway as the Birds serve Lugia and the Beasts serve Ho-Oh.

Furret & Linoone: Not only do these two have similar body shapes but their stats might as well also be the same. Thankfully for Linoone it got a Galarian variant & evolution which breathed new life into the line. As for Furret, well he decided to go for a walcc.

Dragonite & Salamence: Both a Pseudo-Legendary, offense-focused (leaning Physical), Dragon/Flying dragons. The main difference is that one is bipedal and another is a quadruped. Well, alright, there's a bit more difference like Dragonite is a bit more defensive (higher defenses & has Multiscale) while Salamence goes straight for the throat (higher Special Attack and has Moxie).

I think you're stretching pretty far on that first one. Vikavolt might be a beetle, yes, but there's no real comparison to Pinsir or Heracross beyond that and the Dex entry. The first two have been single-stage since their introduction (with the exception of Megas) and tend to be available around the middle of the game (outside of Heracross being available through Headbutt in Gen 2). In sharp contrast, Vikavolt is available in the early game through Grubbin, has three stages and is much slower than either Pinsir or Heracross.

If you really wanna call Vikavolt a "clone" of anything, look at either Leavanny or Magnezone. Leavanny's a 3 stage Bug type that's available early and gets to its final evolution through a method other than level up, while Magnezone is the same but for Electric. Leavanny would be the better comparison since they both have base stat totals of 500, but even then one's a fast physical attacker while the latter is a slow special attacker.

 

[Snak]

Is a clone of every Pokemon (with the ability Imposter).

 

[Chadlad50]

I think you're stretching pretty far on that first one. Vikavolt might be a beetle, yes, but there's no real comparison to Pinsir or Heracross beyond that and the Dex entry. The first two have been single-stage since their introduction (with the exception of Megas) and tend to be available around the middle of the game (outside of Heracross being available through Headbutt in Gen 2). In sharp contrast, Vikavolt is available in the early game through Grubbin, has three stages and is much slower than either Pinsir or Heracross.

If you really wanna call Vikavolt a "clone" of anything, look at either Leavanny or Magnezone. Leavanny's a 3 stage Bug type that's available early and gets to its final evolution through a method other than level up, while Magnezone is the same but for Electric. Leavanny would be the better comparison since they both have base stat totals of 500, but even then one's a fast physical attacker while the latter is a slow special attacker.

I'm not sure if you can call Leavanny a clone of Vikavolt or vice versa...they're just regional bugs

That's also why calling Vikavolt a clone of Pinsir and Heracross is a huge stretch. Are we going to call Dwebble and Hippowdon clones because their Pokedexes mention each other?

 

[bdt2002]

I've got a few more details on a few of the examples I've heard mentioned in previous posts, if you don't mind me sharing them :)

1. There's another hidden detail that the... what did you guys call them again? I've always just called them the Mew Clones. Anyways, whetever they're called, three of them used to share a very similar functionality in the Super Smash Bros. games as well. Huh. What is it with me going back to Smash every time...? In any case, Mew, Celebi, and Jirachi all used to perform a specific function when called from a Poké Ball item summon. Assuming you could find them at varying odds in each game (For example, Mew had a 1 in 151 chance of spawning in Smash 64... haha clever Nintendo), they would drop extra rewards onto the stage. Each of them would drop a different kind of reward if I remember correctly, and in Brawl you can even find all three of them and get a cool little notice for "meeting each of them" for the first time. Unfortunately, the two Sinnoh Mythicals and Victini don't continue this trend, and from what I remember, Shaymin isn't even a Poké Ball spawn in any of the Smash games. For what it's worth, though, Mew and the others acting like this in older games was pretty neat, and something some of you may not have known about.



2. Pokémon like Vikavolt and Manectric to name a few that were mentioned in Pika's earlier post can't really be considered clones in my opinion, but rather as functional parallels to some extent. There just isn't enough in common to justify the idea that, say, Vikavolt was inherently based off of Pinsir and Heracross. Hilariously, since the latter was moved up to Gen 2's dex, I could see an argument for Heracross being a Pinsir clone turned version exclusive in a lot of the more recent Pokémon games. They even both got Mega forms in X & Y. Unfortunately, I would like to say that the same is true for Manectric being a Houndoom clone but I just can't get myself to say it. It was only ever those two's Mega forms that were counterparts as opposed to the Pokémon themselves.



3. Yes, absolutely the Legendary Beasts are clones of the Legendary Birds- or at least, that's what I grew up thinking. They definitely have a lot in common: Raikou is very similar to Zapdos (just ask any GSC OU player), Entei is another Fire-Type like Moltres, and while Suicune and Articuno don't share a type like the other two, their base stats are much more similar to make up for that. In Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs (hey look it's my favorite game again, how about that?), there's even some underlying connection between the trios hinted at in that game with the Beasts' signs being required to access the areas where the Birds are resting. Finally, I can't help but point out how both trios "serve under" a different Legendary Pokémon from Johto: Lugia for the Legendary Birds and Ho-Oh for the Legendary Beasts.

 

[VikavoltIsEpik]

is a clone of in my opinion. Sure they have different designs but they have THE EXACT SAME STATS throughout the whole line. They will both do the exact same amount of damage when using flamethrower and will outspeed and underspeed the same pokemon (ik a lot of pokemon have base 100 speed but still) and they will take the exact same amount of damage from moves with types that have the same effectiveness against both pokemon.

 

[HydrogenHydreigon]

Surprised no one's brought up and . They're both weak fish Pokemon that evolve into something grander, they have the same BST and they and their evolutions have the same stats but changed around. They even have the exact same level-up movepool.

 

[Coronis]

Also Articuno and Suicune are my favourites of each trio.

 

[Snak]

Snak's Theories:
Linoone is a clone of Furret
Trace is a clone of Blue/Green
Gold is a clone of Red
Amoongus Line is a clone of Electrode Line

 

[bdt2002]

is a clone of in my opinion. Sure they have different designs but they have THE EXACT SAME STATS throughout the whole line. They will both do the exact same amount of damage when using flamethrower and will outspeed and underspeed the same pokemon (ik a lot of pokemon have base 100 speed but still) and they will take the exact same amount of damage from moves with types that have the same effectiveness against both pokemon.

There are a few differences between the two, but alas most of those differences come from the fact that Pokémon has a giant crush on Charizard. The most notable example is how Charizard has two Megas and a Gigantamax form, which on its own is already kind of stupid as is. Typhlosion also lacks a secondary typing for now (some people think this will change in Legends: Arceus but this isn't the thread for that) and was given a different Hidden Ability. But other than these things I mentioned, they're basically the exact same Pokémon. I swear, what is it with Fire-Type starters and reused ideas...? Even Incineroar looked like a Fire/Fighting-Type.

Surprised no one's brought up and . They're both weak fish Pokemon that evolve into something grander, they have the same BST and they and their evolutions have the same stats but changed around. They even have the exact same level-up movepool.

I was actually planning on bringing this up myself at some point, but I'm perfectly fine with someone else having done so. I believe the goal here was for Gyarados to represent battles while Milotic represented Pokémon Contests. But while we're on the subject, why didn't Milotic get a Mega Evolution in ORAS? This has always bothered the crap out of me...

 

[Codraroll]

edit, I just remembered there are more literal pallete swap

They all share similar posing on their sprite!

Never mind the posing, which could be excused by them sharing the same attitude or whatever. What gets me annoyed about this trio is that the darker spots on their skin are identical in placement and size between all three members. There's no way it wasn't just copied over.

 

[Chadlad50]

Who needs regional rodents when you can have two stage dogs?

 

[Bug Maniac Aydon]

Fun fact: apparently the “Legendary Pixies” can be kinda connected to the five classic Chinese elements; Celebi is Wood, Jirachi is Metal, Manaphy is Water, Victini is Fire, and either Mew, Shaymin (more connected to ground-based plants as opposed to Celebi’s forest-theming), or Diancie (granted the stats don’t entirely line up, being literally a Carbink with +50 in both offenses, but it’s close-ish) representing Earth.

Oddly I also saw a "classical elements" thing with them, but wasn't the Chinese but the Alchemic: Victini is Fire, Manaphy is Water, Shaymin is Earth, Mew is Air, Celebi is Time, and Jirachi is Space. Now I don't think any of that is intentional and rather they represent more nebulous themes (Mew is origins, Celebi is time & nature, Jirachi is wishes, Manaphy is the sea, Shaymin is sincerity, and Victini is victory).

I think it's worth mentioning that the Wuxing element thing is supposed to be less like the 4 elements and more a 5 step cycle. If each one does correspond to the element and concept mentioned, it'd go something like Sincerity->Wishing->Sea->Time->Victory->Sincerity. Mew is missing, because if I try to add it the cycle kind of becomes nonsensical and jank, but it's an interesting thought, I think.

 

[Ishiftyounot]

So my original post focused on the Gen I / Gen V clones and all that fun stuff about development into the modern day from Gamefreak's perspective, and I stand by what I said. It still applies to what you can see above, but I did not make this distinction until now because I actually didn't notice until about 2 minutes ago (was watching a YouTuber's BW2 Bug type nuzlocke and saw them taking on Clay which made me realise) and therefore I am a major doofus. I mean I even used Sandslash recently in LeafGreen! Poor Sandslash, constantly forgotten.

Anyway, Excadrill is clearly the superior love-child of Dugtrio and Sandslash and it's not exactly difficult to see how. Excadrill and Dugtrio are based on moles - you find both in caves, they're pretty fast (Excadrill needs Sand Rush to really match that description but after playing through Gen 7 recently, 88 base Speed is fast as hell) and their movesets can be described as "they dig a lot and they slash stuff". Excadrill and Sandslash meanwhile are designed very similarly - bipedal rodents with big claws and spiky bits attached to them - and they also happen to have a moveset that can be described as "they dig a lot and they slash stuff". Huh, Kanto wasn't too original was it? Sandslash is way bulkier than Dugtrio though, and Excadrill takes after them in that regard - 110 / 60 / 65 bulk isn't the best per-say but Excadrill has that Steel typing to grant it a bajillion resistances and an additional immunity. They even have similar availability in their original games - Sandshrew and Drillbur can be caught before the second gym in R/B/Y/FR/LG/Let's Go Pikachu and Black/White respectively.

Is Excadrill actually better than them? Yeah, it is. Sandshrew and Diglett arrive in time for the Electric gym and then are quickly made mediocre for the rest of the game - 80 or 100 base Attack is okay but not amazing, they were both better in Gen I when they had the additional crit chance to go alongside Dugtrio's Speed or Sandslash's Slash attack. No additional typing and lack of good coverage beyond Ground, Normal and maybe a Rock move kept them from being amazing, especially given their competition in Graveler/Golem/Nidoking/Nidoqueen/Rhydon (who gained Rock STAB and potentially higher Attack which made all the difference) in their own games - you even got Geodude and the two Nidos earlier! Excadrill meanwhile has competition from Seismitoad and Krookodile predominantly - Seismitoad became a Ground type in time for the Electric gym but benefitted more from the Water STAB, and Krookodile was fantastic but evolved later on. Drillbur also had the superior level up moveset - Dig at level 19, Rock Slide at level 29, Earthquake AND Swords Dance by the early 40's? It looks incredible. It combines the bulk of Sandslash with some of Dugtrio's Speed, whilst dialling the Attack up to 11 and adding a Steel type for extra resistances (Sandslash was so jealous it found an Alolan form to get the Steel typing itself!) - what a solid Pokemon.