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Normal-type Reviews: Arceus

We’re back for the Normal-type reviews, and today we’re going to focus on Arceus, the god of Pokémon! It’s going to be a long one, so get ready for this one if you want to continue!

Selected Fan Art (Artist: RenePolumorfous)

Ah, Arceus, the god of the Pokémon universe. When it comes to exclamations for Pokémon fans, there is a tendency to replace “God” with “Arceus”, with phrases such as “Thank Arceus” or “Oh Arceus”, as far as Pokémon-related topics are concerned. It seems more like an affectionate gesture, though.

Introduced in Generation 4 as the creator of the Pokémon universe, Arceus is a respected figure. Its existence makes for a more complete Pokémon world, and it’s even better when trainers even get Arceus under their command! Just because it’s the creator, doesn’t mean it’s above the laws of a Pokémon species, which consist of being able to be caught, being able to be tamed to do mundane stuff from musicals to contests, and of course, having the ability to only learn four moves at once.

At a time when Generation 4 was current, it seems like Pokémon was always about escalating the scope of the legendaries and stakes were higher. Generation 2 is stronger than Generation 1’s legendaries with two optional powerful legendaries, Generation 3 gave us weather titans that affected the story, and finally, Generation 4 provided something a greater threat in the form of dimensional titans, with Arceus as the master. It seemed like nothing would top that, since Arceus was the ultimate Pokémon.

Of course, at this point, you know we have more Generations beyond the fourth, but at that time, some people thought that Generation 4 would be the last Generation since it is believed that the developers wrote themselves into a corner. Granted, later Generations have titans that are not as almighty as Arceus, but they are still almighty. It doesn’t matter if nothing is likely to be stronger than Arceus, since Pokémon is not confined to a few selected areas on the map.

The concept of a creator deity is a very common belief amongst every culture from the olden days, due to a human’s need to know how the world is created. There are certain cultures that came up with more than one deity, for various different roles depending on the needs of the culture (for example, ancient Greece has a god for wines). The type of creator deity that Arceus is based on is from the Shinto religion (a Japanese religion), being that Pokémon is run by Japanese people (meaning influences are marked in certain Pokémon). Even the concept of a thousand arms is inspired by an entity from Buddhism, a religion found in Japan. Perhaps having a thousand arms is one way of point out how creation happens everywhere at once, as if a thousand arms are doing the work at once, since there’s no way Arceus has that many arms.

The design choices for Arceus are interesting. For a deity, being shaped like an animal is an odd choice considering how it would seem easier to do things with hands. Some people even called Arceus a goat, so that makes it a goat god. Arceus’ inspiration from certain animal deities like the QiLin and the Apis could be the reason. Arceus also has that ornamental arc around its body, which is used to indicate its type. Its inspiration is from Hinduism’s circle arc representing reincarnation, probably an indicator that Arceus is able to recreate any being.

The title of the originator of Pokémon is contested with Mew, who is the progenitor of the Pokémon species. After all, when Mew was first made, there were no Generations at that time, making it uncontested as a Pokémon to revere as an originator. That all changed when Arceus came about, meaning that we have two Pokémon that would stump the fans for some time, in terms of the role as an originator. A more logical take is that Arceus is the creator of the Pokémon universe and Mew is the ancestor, which is a clear way of differentiating them, and would define their roles well in the larger context.

Even though Arceus is the originator of the Pokémon, it had to originate from somewhere. Besides being created by Game Freak, it is mentioned in the PokéDex that it comes from an egg (like any Pokémon would) in a place of nothingness. From the egg, Arceus created the world, which is a standard way of using legendaries: using them for the grand purpose of shaping the Pokémon world and become involve in its ecosystem. The cutscene in which it happened is rather surreal, if I say so myself.

Arceus made its presence in a Pokémon movie called “Arceus and the Jewel of Life”, the last of a trilogy of Pokémon films. As the title suggests, Arceus played a key role. It used its powerful signature move Judgment to essentially cause annihilation when a promise was broken where the titular jewel was not properly returned, which shown to cause great ruin. It should be noted that in that movie, Dialga sent the heroes and some supporting cast back in time, most likely to prevent a disaster. Even though Judgment is a very damaging move, it is still used in battles safely, though it could be attributed to the role-playing nature of the game instead of being an action. In the Pokémon Adventures/Special manga, the threat of Arceus’ intent on destroying humanity is the driving force of the HeartGold/SoulSilver chapter.

As Arceus is pretty much a god Pokémon, it has immense power and durability, not to mention the ability to warp reality. Even though it has all those powers, it would be too powerful if it could do all these in a battle, so a battle in-game would need to limit Arceus in order to prevent rule-breaking scenarios.

In the game, with 120 in each base stat, Arceus trumps almost every Pokémon. Being well-rounded is an advantage, since it allows it to perform many roles, both offence and defence, with its vast array of moves. It’s not as diverse as Mew’s, but it’s diverse enough to fulfill different roles.

One important trick that Arceus possesses is Multitype, in which it could equip a Plate of a specific type (other than Normal) and become that type, in which it assimilates the plate’s energy. For example, if Arceus has a Flame Plate, it becomes a Fire-type. With seventeen different types of plates, Arceus is able to become one of eighteen existing types. The flexibility afforded by changing types is another reason for its versatility in battle. Being able to change types influences what Arceus could do, so if it is a Fairy-type, it deals best with Dragon- and Dark-types. A Poison-type Arceus is best for Fairy- and Grass-types. Of course, the Normal-type Arceus is great for its ability to use other items, and because it has STAB on Extreme Speed.

The fact that Arceus is known as a god of Pokémon is something that bothers quite a few fans. There are several reasons for this. The very existence of Arceus removes the mystery of the workings of Pokémon, ruining that air of mystery. The proclamation of Arceus is another peeve for some due to the tendency for some fans to bring it up like it is their god. That’s not forgetting that some people made it a habit to request for Arceus in exchange for something worth a lot less than it and to battle online with a full team of Arceus.

Arceus seems like a pretty powerful Pokémon that lives up to its title, for better or for worse. It certainly answers some questions on the mythology of Pokémon and provides a powerful Pokémon to play with, but it also removes the need of the player’s imagination. Perhaps if Arceus is only alluded to (and not shown), we will be really speculating and I won’t be writing this. Still, we’ll take what we can get.

TCG Card

Arceus’ forms have a card representing each type up to that point of the TCG game (which was Generation 4), meaning that we don’t have a Dragon Arceus and Fairy Arceus in TCG form yet. Anyway, back to taking about this card. The background looks like it’s a mural with a touch of mosaic, which implies that Arceus was known only as a mythical legendary. However, the relatively realistic portrayal of Arceus implies that Arceus isn’t merely a Pokémon that can only be seen, because it actually exists! Besides, it’s within the power of a god Pokémon to make itself come to life from a painting, so such a scenario is plausible. Any trainer would believe in Arceus’ existence due to the occasional trainer putting at least one Arceus in their teams (at least if you play online).

Judgment

The power of Judgment is unrivalled among almost any other moves, creating destruction anytime it’s used. In the games, however, this move is straight-up better than most moves for the potential of changing types depending on the elemental plate held. It should be noted that it works with any Pokémon if they could use Judgment, so it’s not just Arceus who could benefit from it.

Of course, being Arceus’ signature move, it is Arceus who benefits most from this move. Because its type changes along with Judgment’s type, Arceus always gets STAB, and there are little to no Special attacks that could rival this move’s power of 100 BP and 100% accuracy. If you take into account the power boost from an elemental plate, it will essentially be 120 BP, though only Normal isn’t necessarily as such. Some moves have a higher power than this attack such as Focus Blast, Thunder and Blizzard, but they are either not always fully accurate or they have lower PP than Judgment, making Judgement superior as a whole.

If Arceus is a Special attacker, there is little-to-no reason not to run this attack. It helps that it could learn Calm Mind to boost its power further. Essentially, this attack is one reason Arceus is such a powerful Pokémon (the others are its stats, the ability to become any type and having other powerful attacks).

That’s all for today’s article. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I have writing it.