Welcome back this week to another review of Dark-types, where we will complete the other half of Generation 3’s Dark-types. With four families this time, we have a lot to cover. As mentioned in the previous review, May’s height is treated as 1.3m even though her height is not specified. If you are ready, let’s go!

Sableye

Today the first Pokémon to be reviewed is Sableye. Personally, I think Sableye is kind of cool, because Ghost-types are my favourite type, and if I see fit to use a Ghost-type in my quest, so I would definitely utilise it (that means no trading must be involved to fully-evolve it). Sableye has gems for eyes and look like goblins, which would make Sableye a cave-dwelling goblin.

Sableye is a version exclusive Pokémon, only found in Sapphire. Its counterpart is Mawile, who resides in Ruby. Like many version exclusive pairs, both counterparts have something in common. At first glance, their common ground is not obvious. Both of them are based on mythical creatures, like the first counterparts in Generation 3 Ludicolo’s family and Shiftry’s family. Like I said, Sableye is based on a goblin (closer in appearance to the Hopkinsville goblin), and Mawile is based on the [I]futakuchi-onna[/I], a [I]yokai[/I] who has a mouth for her hair. As it is, both of them are found in the Spooky Manor in the Dream World, home for spooky creatures (except Volbeat and Illumise). Gameplay-wise, they have advantageous types. While Sableye’s type focuses on the lack of weaknesses, Mawile’s type is geared towards the abundance of resistances. However, it’s understandable that they are given low stats to compensate this, considering how early you can get them despite how the balance seems to be tipped too far, due to their great types.

Sableye is the first Pokémon to cross into new territory as a Pokémon without any weaknesses (which will be followed by Spiritomb and the Eelektross family). This essentially means that you don’t get to do free super-effective damage on Sableye, save for the odd Fighting attack from a Pokémon that hits through Ghost-type’s immunities. In fact, this defensive typing completely eclipsed pure Psychic because Psychic-type’s resistances are Dark/Ghost-type’s immunities, with no weaknesses as a bonus. It seems like a dream come true because having three immunities without drawbacks seem like a good thing. In the past before this happen, there was a fear that a Pokémon with this type combination would be too broken, but it turns out to not be the case. The reason is, while having less weaknesses is a good thing, good resistances are also a must. This means that there are plenty of other types that this type combination can be hit neutral with, and Sableye’s defences are on the low side. A notable hack on this Pokémon is to implant the Wonder Guard ability on it to grant immunities to every type, only being vulnerable to Status moves or Fighting attacks that hit through the immunity.

According to the PokéDex entries, Sableye inhabit caves. As dark places, this suits Sableye’s skin colour so that they are rarely noticed, unless its crystal eyes are glowing (crystal eyes sound like substitute eyes on certain people, similar to a certain Final Fantasy character). These glowing eyes are thought to mean that Sableye stole spirits from people, but this is a superstition, as with the myth that peering at Shedinja’s back will remove the looker’s soul (sadly, some still believe this). Sableye has sharp claws, which it uses to dig rocks for any gems that it can find, as this is its favourite food, and consumption of the gems is said to be the reason Sableye’s eyes are gemstones. However, in the Sapphire entry, it is said to eat rocks that will be crystallised and rise up to this Pokémon’s body surface. In any case, gems as a main source of food sounds expensive, but it’s really not that bad in the Pokémon world, because gems are more commonplace, at least starting from Generation 5, when the elemental gems are introduced, and they are commonly found in the ground (I suppose Rock Gems are its favourite flavour, besides Dark and Ghost), and there are Pokémon that grow gems from their bodies, namely Boldore and Gigalith. Sableye can eat them with its sharp teeth, which you never see unless you spot them in action, but this begs the question: Why can’t it learn Bite or Crunch?

In the anime, Sableye’s main episode is “Ready, Willing, and Sableye”. Sableye is being a prankster on Ash and friends, under Meowth’s suggestion. In truth, the Sableye feels lonely because it is the only Pokémon in the abandoned mine (Meowth was left behind after a fright and accident by James). However, this is of Meowth’s benefit, since it allowed him to trap Ash’s Pikachu and Corphish. Sableye then changed sides when Ash and friends convinced it that Team Rocket is not to be believed, but it is only fully convinced when Meowth is proved to be part of the bad guys when reunited, and when Jessie blew up the mine due to irritation. Fortunately, Sableye saved Ash and company from being caved in. Of course, in the end, Sableye got its revenge on Team Rocket, saved Pikachu and Corphish, and they blasted off again, and everyone is happy in the end.

Sableye is one of the better Pokémon in competitive battling, but this wasn’t the case before. In Generation 3, Sableye had low stats (but it is good early in-game as a way to beat the nearby Fighting Gym), so it’s hard to match it up against the power of other threats. For Generation 4, it gained Stall, which is an ability that makes the user move last unless Sableye’s move is one intended to make it move first before the target, such as Shadow Sneak. As you can tell, it’s a terrible ability that suits a Pokémon with very high stats, in the same way Truant and Defeatist did. Sableye doesn’t even have Skill Swap or Entrainment to pass this downside to any opponent, unlike Durant with Truant. However, things took a change for the better when it gained an ability that is basically the opposite of Stall: Prankster.

Prankster is a wonderful ability that makes the user move first, provided the move is a Status move. Sableye has the movepool to take advantage of this ability, which is important because this will make it annoying. The main moves you will see on Sableye are Taunt (prevent setups), Will-O-Wisp (for Physical durability) and Recover (instant healing). Other notable moves are Trick to give the opponent an Iron Ball or Lagging Tail (so that they will get an item that hinders them and slow them down, while potentially receiving another item that hinders another opponent like Eviolite), Calm Mind to perform a Special attacking set while patching up the lower Special Defence, Spite to reduce PP on an opponent’s move, and you can even use Sunny Day or Rain Dance to turn the weather in your favour. Should you sense an opponent’s strong Physical attacker coming, you can execute Foul Play to turn their high Attack against them. As a Ghost-type, Sableye is able to block Rapid Spin’s effect, and has a Fighting immunity that other Dark-types would love to have.

As Sableye benefits immensely in Generation 5, it feels good to any Sableye fan out there. I have a feeling that Sableye will get an evolution in the next Generation, and if that were to be the case, Sableye will be even more annoying with an Eviolite (and if its evolution kept Prankster, it will be harder to deal with). As it stands, Sableye will do the Dark family proud with its trickery and unique role.
 
 

9 Tenefixes out of 10!

+ Huge comeback in Generation 5
+ Wonderful competitive Prankster
+ Lack of weaknesses
+ Being a neat goblin
+ Creative version exclusive counterpart with Mawile
– Odd inability to Bite or Crunch despite sharp teeth
– Terrible competitive value in the past

Carvanha & Sharpedo

One’s a piranha and the other’s a shark, and both are known to be relentless devourers in water, mostly because they have sharp teeth and are fast swimmers in order to pursue their prey (they don’t get Pursuit, though). In fact, Carvanha is the Savage Pokémon and Sharpedo is called the Brutal Pokémon. What is probably funny is how Carvanha is very colourful compared to Sharpedo’s relatively realistic colouring. Still, they have a cross on their bodies, which a certain land shark also has, so it’s not surprising if Garchomp was intended to be Sharpedo’s evolution.

Carvanha’s preferred offensive style is to attack as a group, like real piranhas. Unlike real piranhas, though, Carvanha is deadlier, because it can even damage boats and sink them with its powerful jaws and teeth. They are quite merciless to targets, prey or foes that are within their territory. However, as a single member, Carvanha suddenly becomes timid. These characteristics represent the Dark-type quite well, as they are often characterised by their willingness to attack in a group, as the ruffians they are, and become less willing when alone, not to mention their powerful bites. For the last point, I thought that both these Pokémon are Dark-types because they are characterised by their large bites, since Bite and Crunch are Dark-type attacks. Sharpedo’s bites are a lot stronger than its bark (I have to say, Sharpedo gives the impression that it can bark!), and their teeth are easily replaceable when they come off, like real sharks. In addition to this, Sharpedo is less escapable as they swim fast, so they are very dangerous. They don’t get the title of “bully of the sea” for nothing. According to the anime, Sharpedo are normally solitary, although this is not the case in the episode it is mentioned.

Both of these Pokémon are preferable choices for villainous Team Aqua, because it’s common to see their henchmen carrying one of these Pokémon. Players battling these Pokémon will be annoyed at Rough Skin’s accumulated damage if they make contact with them. The anime reflects this, where Carvanha was one of the common choices of Team Aqua, although the manga doesn’t have these Pokémon as a common choice, probably because how they don’t function well on land.

During the Pokémon Festa event back in 2002 when Ruby and Sapphire demos were given to players to have a taste of those games before release, Sharpedo was one of the given Pokémon at Level 12, which implied that either Carvanha didn’t exist or the evolution was nonstandard. However, those theories turned out to be false and the given Sharpedo was indeed underleveled. This goes to show that demos don’t always reveal definite game details, like how Cheren was given a Basculin in the Pokémon Black and White demos, but he never have one in-game. In that demo, Sharpedo was not given an ability, meaning that not all Pokémon were planned to have one among the other Pokémon with abilities.

In the anime, Carvanha’s main appearance is in the episode “A Corphish out of Water”. In that episode, when Ash needed to bring his sick Corphish to the Pokémon Centre, a group of Carvanha makes the crossing of a river tricky, but Ash managed it thanks to Pikachu and Corphish. Sharpedo’s main appearance is in the episode “Sharpedo Attack!”. In that episode, Ash and friends took Briney’s boat to Dewford Town, but are ambushed by a group of Sharpedo, and due to the damage they did to the boat, the group is forced to disembark on an island. It turned out that the leader of the group was poisoned by Jessie’s Seviper’s Poison Tail, so Brock saved the day by healing said Sharpedo, and they are safe from them that time, since they showed appreciation to them, and because the anime is kid-friendly.

In competitive battling, they weren’t the best in Generation 3. Sure, they have the Attack and some Speed, but you have to remember that attack stats are based on type, and both of them were unlucky because their types were considered Special, although their Special Attack is still good, making Hydro Pump and Ice Beam considerable options. They do have Rough Skin, a pretty good ability exclusive to them at that time, but the problem is that they are considered frail, so they cannot survive long enough to enjoy the ability’s benefits. At least Generation 4 made them more usable (as with a lot of other Pokémon), as they now have Physical attacks to use with their higher Attack stat, not to mention having the move Aqua Jet to go first when they need to.

Generation 5 gave them the best addition they could ever have: an ability they can use! That’s right, they got the elusive Speed Boost (from Dream World), which makes their offensive capabilities much better, as it will get harder to get past their Speed as time goes on. However, you still have to watch out for attacks that go first, especially Mach Punch, and worst yet it won’t punish the user as they don’t have Rough Skin for that. Carvanha was powerful in Little Play, but now it’s banned because of Speed Boost. It’s worth mentioning that Sharpedo can learn Earthquake, which I think is strange because Sharpedo doesn’t look like the type that can use that move. Foreshadowing to Garchomp? Nah…

As seasoned members of the forums know, Sharking is a huge fan of Sharpedo. That is why I drew that Sharpedo picture to provide a tribute to him. Carvanha and Sharpedo are great Dark-types, because their Dark-type characteristics are well-defined, from their brutal nature to being a great choice for any antagonist out there. It helps that they are formidable, since they give off a fearless aura for any trainer with them. I typically don’t care much for Dark-types, but even I have to agree that they are great Dark-types.
 
 

10 Kanivanhas out of 10!
10 Sharknias out of 10!

+ Have several traits that are common for Dark-types
+ Great choice for any antagonist, like Team Aqua
+ Formidable in-universe; makes its trainers appear bold
+ Great choice of animals for inspiration
+ Pretty good in competitive battling
+ Easy to draw too, in my opinion
– Hard to train
– Underwhelming in earlier Generations
– Have common characteristics with Garchomp but are not related to it

Absol

(This official art fit just nicely, right?)

Moving on with Generation 3’s Dark-types we have Absol. Known as the Disaster Pokémon, Absol is believed to be the harbinger of disasters. It has a stark contrast of white and black (as black as it can be, that is), with its white fur and black skin, making one striking visage to look at. It’s interesting to note that some sheep also have black skin (in certain areas, especially the face) and white wool, which makes Absol similar to them, but since Absol resembles some kind of canine, perhaps you can stick the description of “wolf in sheep’s clothing” on it…? Maybe this description can fit Absol in the opposite way. Think about it, a wolf in sheep’s clothing is someone who looks innocent but mean harm, but Absol is a Pokémon who looks dangerous but is more of an altruist.

According to the PokéDex entries, Absol is known as a Disaster Pokémon because there will be disasters, such as tsunamis and earthquakes, whenever it appears before people. In truth, it is able to foretell any natural disasters thanks to its sharp horn sensing subtle changes in the sky or land. You know, there are some animals that have the ability to sense things that ordinary humans cannot, from the simple ones like bats hearing high frequency sounds to the more complex ones like mantis shrimps being able to see things with a lot more detail than humans can. Anyway, as a result of such coincidence, people often mistake Absol as a bringer of disasters, presumably before science explains the facts. Absol would also warn everyone when it did sense something dangerous, but the inability to properly communicate with humans doesn’t help, which unintelligible characters can testify to. Absol is also stated to live in rugged mountains, which is no doubt its location in the Dream World.

Like any Pokémon out there, Absol has a real-life origin. Absol seems to be based on the Bai Ze, known to Japan as the [I]kutabe[/I]. It has an appearance of a mountain lion with white fur. Perhaps it is odd that the image of the original creature is that it has nine eyes and six horns, and odder yet, it has a human face. Some interpretations gave this creature an eye in the centre of the head (and a different number of eyes). You know, now I don’t feel embarrassed in thinking that Absol’s face looks human-like. According to legend, the Bai Ze predicted an incoming deadly plague in the Toyama Prefecture in Japan, and the beast prescribed its own image as a talisman to prevent the disease. There’s your origin of Absol’s forewarning powers. Another peculiar thing about this legendary creature is it is intelligent, well-read and can understand human speech. If you look at Absol from the front, you can see that its head resemble the taijitu, also known as the yin-yang symbol. That means Absol will feel at home with other Generation 5 Pokémon because the legendaries are yin-yang-themed. Other possible origins include the sphinx for having a humanised face and a feline appearance, and the chamois for being a mountain goat with the superstition of a bad omen to those who harmed one.

Absol is perhaps a famous, fan-favourite Pokémon we have as of now. Why? If I were to guess, I think it could have something to do with Absol’s inconvenient coincidence of being around for disasters, so it’s easy to sympathise with it for being treated badly. The other reason for Absol’s popularity is perhaps its canine features, because they are favourable animals to people, especially as pets. As you know, a Pokémon can act as your pet, and I am sure those fans treat it as such because dogs make great pets. Obviously, Absol’s forewarning powers can come in handy too.

In the anime, Absol first appeared in the sixth Pokémon movie, concerning Jirachi. In that movie, Absol seemed like a villainous Pokémon who tried to take Jirachi, but it’s revealed in the end that it’s not as evil as everyone thought. In fact, the infamous aura around Absol extends to one of the episodes in the anime “Absol-ute Disaster” (it was the time when puns were a common occurrence in titles), and the good news is that the false accusations around Absol are justified in the end. Finally, Absol is one of Drew’s (May’s rival) Pokémon as shown in “May, We Harley Drew’d Ya!”. In the Diamond and Pearl Adventures manga, Koya’s main Pokémon is Absol, which was shown to be very powerful when he used it to battle Hareta.

Absol has a surprising huge and diverse movepool among non-Legendaries. You basically get a slew of Physical, Special and status moves to use, ranging from good Physical coverage (with Swords Dance too!), standard Special coverage and useful Status moves like Baton Pass, Perish Song, Me First and the usual Dark-type status moves (like Taunt and Torment). In competitive battling, Absol is powerful but hard to use to its full potential, because it is frail and not quite fast. This makes it hard to use its vast movepool, because its Special Attack is mediocre, while its Speed is not quite high to make use of its good Status movepool. Despite this, you can’t help but be impressed by what it can learn. Absol may not have been most impressive, but it has a very powerful Sucker Punch, so an opponent looking to take advantage of Absol’s frailty will be in for a surprise. The best way for Absol to go is to use a Choice item, as having a Scarf will boost its Speed to acceptable levels to make use of its strength better, or a Band to slam your opponent with the sheer power of Sucker Punch or some other strong attack like Superpower or Megahorn (for a smart opponent who wants to avoid Sucker Punch). The preferred ability for this Pokémon is thus Super Luck, because a higher chance of critical hits will always be handy, and this goes well with high critical hit-ratio attacks like Stone Edge, Psycho Cut and Night Slash. The Swords Dance and Sucker Punch combo can be quite deadly, so if the opponent lacks a priority attacker, they will really hurt unless they resist the move.

Curiously, Absol learns all four weather moves. Two other Pokémon with this trait that surprised me are Kangaskhan and Blissey’s family. Why those two can learn all weather moves is beyond my guess, but this is just trivia. Anyway, it’s appropriate for Absol to learn all weather moves because as a “disaster” Pokémon, the ability to disrupt weather is a fitting ability to have, as weather is another form of disaster (or it can change the weather to avert one). Maybe this special characteristic is also one of the factors that made Absol the scapegoat, especially in terms of weather, probably if Kyogre and Groudon are involved (because Absol is also found in Hoenn like them). Still, if Kyogre and/or Groudon are awake, the whole world will have already known this. All Absol needs to be able to learn is Earthquake to be able to complete its disaster-themed movepool. Here’s an interesting bit of trivia: Absol is featured on the box art of Pokémon Box, in which all the other Pokémon that appeared are legendaries.

When it comes to evolutions, a lot of people want Absol to have a pre-evolution. Well, I guess it will be great if it has a pre-evolution, but it has to have the ability to learn moves that Absol otherwise cannot learn (like Charm, Encore and Agility) like many baby Pokémon (for example, Budew can only learn Extrasensory, Water Sport and Worry Seed). If Absol has an evolution, however, I will expect it to be very useful in competitive battling, especially if the stat boost is dropped in Speed and Special Attack. It would have surprised me if Absol would have a type change, but hey, that’s just a thought.

When I looked into Absol, I could see why people love this Pokémon. Not only does it have great qualities, but also it has a pitiable reputation. Absol is moreover a unique Dark-type, because while other Dark-types are marked with malevolence, Absol is on the side of benevolence. Perhaps it’s a pity Absol’s not currently a main character’s Pokémon in the anime, which I have a feeling may change in the future if the Ruby and Sapphire remakes were to occur, because it’s shown that Dark Pokémon can be one of the good guys too. Before I am done, I have one thing to say: I prefer Absol over Mightyena.
 
 

10 Absolutions out of 10!

+ Fascinating origin
+ Simple but effective design
+ Very varied movepool
+ Benevolent Dark-type
+ Troubled history that makes it easy to sympathise with
+ Great companion Pokémon
– Competitive potential not up to par

Crawdaunt

There are certain Pokémon who don’t look like a Dark-type, but the fact is that they are. As I have mentioned in Tyranitar’s review, it hardly looks like a Dark-type. Crawdaunt is no different. So why is Crawdaunt considered a Dark-type? Well, the same reason Tyranitar is: ruthlessness. To be honest, I also think Crawdaunt could have its secondary type changed to Bug and it wouldn’t look out of place. However, unlike Tyranitar, I feel that Crawdaunt’s Dark-type is more justified. I will tell you why, in just a moment.

Crawdaunt is not the only member in its evolutionary line. It evolves from Corphish, who is pure Water. We won’t be covering Corphish, because it’s obviously not a Dark-type. Speaking of this, Corphish is one of Ash’s Pokémon, but one may observe that it never evolved. It seems to be some unsaid rule that nobody in the anime can own a Dark-type because they represent evil (which may not be a good sign for any hero), but Generation 5 has several virtual rules broken (like Ash getting a certain Pokémon) that a possibility of Ash’s Corphish evolving is likely this time.

The PokéDex entries mainly mention how violent Crawdaunt is. Surely it’s not called a “Rogue” Pokémon for nothing. It takes pleasure in challenging others to battle, so a veteran Crawdaunt’s pincers might even be covered in battle scars from a multitude of battles. Like many Dark-types, Crawdaunt is territorial, but unlike them, Crawdaunt seem to discourage company. It crashes to any foe that crashes its nest. Crawdaunt even takes pleasure in throwing other Pokémon out of the pond, so it’s no wonder other life-forms refused to live with Crawdaunt in the same pond! You know, if Crawdaunt is intent in challenging others, it is very strange that you never encounter one while Surfing (you only meet it by fishing in Sinnoh). In fact, Crawdaunt is quite a rare meet, compared to its pre-evolution. Its wild nature makes it hard to raise, as evidenced by its Fluctuating experience group, meaning that at higher levels, you need a huge amount of experience to level up. If Crawdaunt’s shell had moulted, that would mean it would be soft for some time, so it had to temporarily cower to avoid others from taking advantage of its vulnerability. For some reason, its “restless” eyes make Crawdaunt look a bit like a Dark-type.

In the anime, Crawdaunt first appeared in “Stairway to Devon”, where a Team Aqua member used one. The other episode with Team Aqua commanding Crawdaunt is in “Unfair Weather Friends”. The anime implies that Crawdaunt is used by Team Aqua, but in the games and manga, you never see Team Aqua control any Crawdaunt. In fact, you never met Crawdaunt at all! It’s strange that a Pokémon that fits Team Aqua is never used by them, but they prefer the other Water/Dark Pokémon for their dastardly deeds. The only time you meet one in Generation 3 is in the Elite Four in Emerald, because Sidney used one instead of Sharpedo. Anyway, Crawdaunt has its day in the limelight in the episode “On Olden Pond”, where it is seen terrorising a lake, providing an opportunity to have Ash’s Corphish battle it. In the manga, while Ruby and Briney were on a boat, a Crawdaunt ambushed them, but thanks to Ruby’s Coco (Skitty)’s Cute Charm, Crawdaunt is subdued and tied up by Ruby. This is a coincidence, because while Sharpedo is the ambusher in the anime, Crawdaunt is the ambusher in the manga, and both of them have the same type combination and are ruthless.

In competitive battling, Crawdaunt seems to be pretty average at first glance. However, Crawdaunt is a Pokémon that keeps getting better as time goes on, although it is still not a notable face. In Generation 3, Crawdaunt has the syndrome of having high Attack while its STAB moves are Special, like Sharpedo, but unlike Sharpedo, Crawdaunt is also slow. Like said Pokémon, Crawdaunt can finally make use of its high Attack in Generation 4. In the same Generation, it got Dragon Dance from HeartGold and SoulSilver, giving it an option to increase Speed. In Generation 5, its Crabhammer becomes more accurate, making it a nice option alongside Waterfall, but the most important addition is its Dream World ability Adaptability. Crawdaunt has the distinction of being the only Adaptability user with two types. This allows Crawdaunt to have double power on Water attacks and Dark attacks. With this, its best attacks pack a lot of power, particularly Crabhammer, Crunch, Waterfall and Surf. Fortunately, both of the moves have good neutral coverage, so you can utilise a Dragon Dance set with three attacks, and your third choice could be Superpower, Rock Slide or X-Scissor. Just watch out for Toxicroak, Mach Punch or Vacuum Wave users and you will be fine.

Here’s a fun fact: Crawdaunt’s initial name was going to be Lobstar, which is not as clever-sounding as the name we have now. In fact, Lobstar sounds like a generic enemy monster’s name. Anyway, as a Dark-type, Crawdaunt unfortunately feels short of being one. It doesn’t have much to offer, as its only claim to this type is its nature. No offense, fans of Crawdaunt, but I feel that Crawdaunt is OK.
 
 

5 Krebutacks Out of 10!

+ Nature justifies its Dark-type
+ Very powerful
– Hard to train
– Rare to meet
– Difficult to use in competitive battling
– Doesn’t look like a Dark-type
– Unseen as Team Aqua’s Pokémon (besides anime)

 
 
 
And that’s a wrap for Generation 3’s Dark-types. I have to say, this roster of Dark-types is decent for its variety, but I think the best selection of Dark-types is in another Generation. I will tell you which one is it when the time comes. Next time, we will see what Generation 4’s Dark-types have in store for us. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I have writing it.

Thanks for reading.