Gender (2024)

Gender (Japanese: 性別(せいべつ) sex) is a characteristic of Pokémon and humans in the Pokémon world.

In Generation I games, Nidoran♀ and Nidoran♂ were the only Pokémon shown to have a gender. Starting in the Generation II games, most Pokémon have a gender (including Pokémon transferred from Generation I games): male (Japanese: オス male) or female (Japanese: メス female). However, some species of Pokémon are gender unknown. The gender mechanic is fundamental to Pokémon breeding.

In the core series games, starting in Pokémon Crystal, the player can choose between a male (Japanese: 男性(だんせい) male) or female (Japanese: 女性(じょせい) female) player character (prior games having only featured a male player character). However, male and female humans have appeared in all core series Pokémon games. Notably, some human characters, such as Ball Guy from Pokémon Sword and Shield, Blanche and Rhi from Pokémon GO, and the unnamed player character in Pokémon: Magikarp Jump, do not have a specified gender.

Pokémon

In the core series

Determining gender

One factor that determines gender is each Pokémon species's gender ratio, which is approximately how likely a Pokémon is a specific gender instead of the other.

Generation I

Several Pokémon besides Nidoran were mentioned to have genders in the Generation I games prior to the introduction of the gender mechanic the following generation:

• A Beauty in Route 13 asks "I wonder which is stronger, male or female Pokémon?"
• A character in S.S. Anne refers to a Machoke using a male pronoun: "My buddy, Machoke, is super strong! He has enough Strength to move big rocks!"
• In the French version, one of the Pokémon Mansion journals reads "Mew is now a dad (or a mom?). The newborn was named Mewtwo." (French: Mew est papa (ou maman?). Le petit fut baptisé Mewtwo.)
• Some early Pokédex entries specifically mention female Kangaskhan: "The female raises its offspring in a pouch on its belly.", from Japanese Pokémon Red and Green, as well as FireRed, and "The female raises its young in its belly pouch for around three years.", from Japanese Pokémon Stadium, as well as Pokémon Stadium.
• Seaking's Pokédex entry from Pokémon Yellow mentions male Seaking. However, this game was released after the Pokémon Gold and Silver Spaceworld '97 demo, which already had Pokémon with genders.

Generation II

In Generation II, a Pokémon's gender is determined based solely on its physical Attack IV when compared to its gender ratio. A Pokémon is female if its physical Attack IV is less than or equal to its species' gender ratio, otherwise it is male. For species that are exclusively one gender or gender unknown, the calculation based on the physical Attack IV is ignored.

Due to this calculation, a female Pokémon could never have a maximized Attack stat (unless they were a member of an all-female species, such as Smoochum), because female Pokémon were given the lower portion of the IV range. This also prevented female Pokémon of a species with a gender ratio of seven males to one female, such as first partner Pokémon or Eevee, from being Shiny, due to that also being based partly on the Attack IV. Because of this, their Hidden Power is always a physical type. From Generation III onward, neither of these traits are determined by IVs, allowing for Pokémon species with two genders to have females with maximized Attack and simultaneously retain their chances of being Shiny.

Pokémon from the Generation I games are assigned a gender using the same process when transferred to the Generation II games, used in Pokémon Stadium 2, or transferred from the Virtual Console games to Pokémon Bank. As a result, a Pokémon maintains its gender when transferred between the Generation I and II games (even though the gender is not shown in the Generation I games, aside from Nidoran♀ and Nidoran♂).

In the international versions of the Generation II games, due to how the battlefield display is programmed, Nidoran♂ and Nidoran♀ have their gender icon shown twice, once in their name, and once after the level. This does not occur in the Japanese and Korean games, however, as the gender icon was present after all Pokémon's names due to the shorter character limit there. This was addressed in all later generations (except for Pokémon Sword and Shield and Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl), which prevent the gender icon from showing up when an un-nicknamed Nidoran of either gender is on the field.

Example
For two Cyndaquil obtained from Professor Elm:

Generations III to V

00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000

From Generation III to V, a Pokémon's gender is determined by the personality value's lowest eight digits (the lowest byte, highlighted in red above) of p in binary form. Mathematically, this can be derived by calculating p % 256. Below, this value will be referred to as p_gender.

In a Pokémon species' data structure, there is a value called the gender threshold, a byte with a value ranging from 0 to 255. With the exception of a few special cases, p_gender is compared to the gender threshold to determine if the Pokémon is male or female.

If the gender threshold is not a special value (0, 254, or 255), p_gender is compared to the gender threshold. If p_gender is greater than or equal to the gender threshold, the Pokémon is male, otherwise it is female. Because the comparison to determine gender is greater than or equal, Pokémon are slightly more likely to be male than they would be according to the ideal ratios.

If a species has a gender threshold of 255, all Pokémon of that species are gender unknown (such as Magnemite). If a species has a gender threshold of 254, it is a female-only species (such as Nidoran♀). If a species has a gender threshold of 0, it is a male-only species (such as Nidoran♂).

From Pokémon Emerald onwards, if a Pokémon with Cute Charm is in the first place in the party (even if fainted), there is a 66.7% chance that the game will force an encountered Pokémon to be the opposite gender to the Pokémon with Cute Charm if it can be that gender. This does not affect a swarming Pokémon species or Pokémon found in Hidden Grottos.

Generations VI to VII

From Generation VI to VII, the gender threshold is compared to a random number between 1 and 252 (inclusive) instead of p_gender (which is between 0 and 255); this causes Pokémon with a "1:1" gender ratio to actually be distributed according to the ideal ratio. All other Pokémon are more likely to be the more common gender than they would be according to their nominal ratio.

Generation VIII

In Generation VIII, the gender threshold is compared to a random number between 1 to 253 (inclusive). This leads to slightly different ratios, with male Pokémon being slightly more common than before.^[1]

Additionally, due to a bug in Pokémon Sword and Shield, all overworld symbol encounters are forced to have a 1:1 gender ratio, excluding 100% male, 100% female, and gender unknown species.

Generation IX

This section is incomplete. Please feel free to edit this section to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Any changes from Gen 8, new gender ratio table for Gen 9 if different

Gender differences

Main article: List of Pokémon with gender differences

Generation IV introduced visual differences between genders for certain Pokémon species. For example, a male Raichu will have the full tail seen in previous games, while the female is missing the very tip of it. Later generations would introduce several Pokémon with more drastic differences in appearance between genders.

The only four Pokémon with gender differences that are not just visual are Meowstic, Indeedee, Basculegion, and Oinkologne, with Meowstic, Indeedee, and Oinkologne having different moves they can learn and Abilities between genders, and Indeedee, Basculegion, and Oinkologne having different base stats between genders.

Meowstic

The male Meowstic has Prankster and the female Meowstic has Competitive as its Hidden Ability. At certain levels, they learn different moves from one another: the male Meowstic learns status moves, while the female Meowstic learns special moves. In Generations VI and VII, female Meowstic learned one gender-exclusive status move, Me First.

Meowstic Male Psychic Keen Eye or Infiltrator Hidden: Prankster HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 74 48 76 83 81 104

Meowstic Female Psychic Keen Eye or Infiltrator Hidden: Competitive HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 74 48 76 83 81 104

Indeedee

Indeedee differs more drastically by gender than Meowstic, with male and female Indeedee having slightly different base stats as well as learnsets. Male Indeedee have higher Attack, Special Attack, and Speed, while female Indeedee have higher Defense, Special Defense, and HP. While male Indeedee can learn the TM and TR moves Light Screen, Reflect, Safeguard, Guard Swap, and Baton Pass, female Indeedee can learn Power Swap, Trick Room, Magic Room, Wonder Room, Tri Attack, and Encore. The Egg Move Extrasensory is exclusive to male Indeedee while the Egg Moves Psycho Shift and Heal Pulse are exclusive to female Indeedee.

Indeedee Eggs have a 50/50 chance of hatching into either a male or female Indeedee. This chance is determined using a separate random number from the one compared to the gender threshold.^[2]

Indeedee Male PsychicNormal Inner Focus or Synchronize Hidden: Psychic Surge HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 60 65 55 105 95 95

Indeedee Female PsychicNormal Own Tempo or Synchronize Hidden: Psychic Surge HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 70 55 65 95 105 85

Basculegion

Male and female Basculegion have slightly differing base stats; the male form has higher Attack while the female form has higher Special Attack.

Basculegion Male WaterGhost Swift Swim or Adaptability Hidden: Mold Breaker HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 120 112 65 80 75 78

Basculegion Female WaterGhost Swift Swim or Adaptability Hidden: Mold Breaker HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 120 92 65 100 75 78

Oinkologne

The male Oinkologne has access to the Ability Lingering Aroma, while the female has access to Aroma Veil. Male Oinkologne have higher Attack and Defense, while female Oinkologne have higher HP and Special Defense.

Oinkologne Male Normal Lingering Aroma or Gluttony Hidden: Thick Fat HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 110 100 75 59 80 65

Oinkologne Female Normal Aroma Veil or Gluttony Hidden: Thick Fat HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 115 90 70 59 90 65

Single-gender Pokémon

Nidoran lines

The Nidoran family is a special case in terms of gender. Introduced in Generation I, before gender was known for all Pokémon, Nidoran♀ and Nidoran♂ are considered separate species of Pokémon and indeed have many differences, from appearance to moveset.

However, Nidoran♀ Eggs have a 50/50 chance of hatching into either Nidoran♀ or Nidoran♂. From Generation II to IV, Eggs produced by Nidoran♂, Nidorino, or Nidoking when paired with Ditto always hatch into Nidoran♂; starting in Generation V, they also have a 50/50 chance of hatching into either Nidoran♀ or Nidoran♂. This chance is determined using a separate random number from the one compared to the gender threshold; in Generations III and IV, this is determined by the highest bit of the lower half of its personality value.^{[3][4][5][6][2]}

Female				Male
Nidoran♀ Poison Poison Point or Rivalry Hidden: Hustle HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 55 47 52 40 40 41	Nidorina Poison Poison Point or Rivalry Hidden: Hustle HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 70 62 67 55 55 56	Nidoqueen PoisonGround Poison Point or Rivalry Hidden: Sheer Force HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 90 92 87 75 85 76		Nidoran♂ Poison Poison Point or Rivalry Hidden: Hustle HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 46 57 40 40 40 50	Nidorino Poison Poison Point or Rivalry Hidden: Hustle HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 61 72 57 55 55 65	Nidoking PoisonGround Poison Point or Rivalry Hidden: Sheer Force HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 81 102 77 85 75 85

Firefly Pokémon

In a manner similar to Nidoran, Eggs produced by Illumise have a 50/50 chance of hatching into either Illumise or Volbeat. From Generation III to IV, Eggs produced by Volbeat when paired with Ditto always hatch into Volbeat; starting in Generation V, they also have a 50/50 chance of hatching into either Illumise or Volbeat. This chance is determined using a separate random number from the one compared to the gender threshold; in Generations III and IV, this is determined by the highest bit of the lower half of its personality value.^[4][5][6][2]

Female Illumise Bug Oblivious or Tinted Lens Hidden: Prankster HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 65 47 75 73 85 85

Male Volbeat Bug Illuminate or Swarm Hidden: Prankster HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 65 73 75 47 85 85

Eon Pokémon

While Latias and Latios are in the No Eggs Discovered Group in the games, likely due to being Legendary Pokémon, Latias have produced Eggs containing Latios in the anime, confirming that they are similarly related.

Female Latias DragonPsychic Levitate HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 80 80 90 110 130 110	Male Latios DragonPsychic Levitate HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 80 90 80 130 110 110
Latias Mega Evolution DragonPsychic Levitate HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 80 100 120 140 150 110	Latios Mega Evolution DragonPsychic Levitate HP Atk Def SpA SpD Spe 80 130 100 160 120 110

Gender-based evolutions

Main article: Gender-based Evolution

Some Pokémon may have different ways of evolving depending on their gender. These Pokémon may therefore have one or more evolutions that can only be a single gender.

Pre-evolution	Method	Evolved
Kirlia	Male only → Dawn Stone	Gallade
	Either gender → Level 30+	Gardevoir
Snorunt	Female only → Dawn Stone	Froslass
	Either gender → Level 42+	Glalie
Burmy	Male only → Level 20+	Mothim
	Female only → Level 20+	Wormadam
Combee	Female only (Male Combee never evolve) → Level 21+	Vespiquen
Salandit	Female only (Male Salandit never evolve) → Level 33+	Salazzle

Eviolite will always work on Combee and Salandit, regardless of their gender and whether they are able to evolve.

Other single-gender Pokémon

The following is a list of all Pokémon that are either 100% male or 100% female and have not been mentioned in an above section. In particular, these Pokémon have no explicit relation to a Pokémon of the opposite gender through evolution or breeding, although some of them may have a counterpart such as with Grimmsnarl and Hatterene.

Male Tyrogue Hitmonlee Hitmonchan Hitmontop Tauros Throh Sawk Rufflet Braviary Tornadus Thundurus Landorus Impidimp Morgrem Grimmsnarl Okidogi Munkidori Fezandipiti

Female Happiny Chansey Blissey Kangaskhan Smoochum Jynx Miltank Cresselia Petilil Lilligant Vullaby Mandibuzz Flabébé Floette Florges Bounsweet Steenee Tsareena Hatenna Hattrem Hatterene Milcery Alcremie Enamorus Tinkatink Tinkatuff Tinkaton Ogerpon

Single-gender forms

Certain forms of Pokémon are exclusively one gender. These forms are often based on established Pokémon characters. Aside from Bloodmoon Ursaluna, none of the Pokémon with these forms can breed.

Male Pikachu in a cap Battle Bond/Ash- Greninja Bloodmoon Ursaluna

Female Cosplay Pikachu Spiky-eared Pichu

Exclusive by availabilty

Terapagos, despite being programmed as a Pokémon with a equal chance of being male or female, is fixed to be male when the player catches it in The Indigo Disk. No other Terapagos have been made available since, making female Terapagos currently unobtainable.

Male
Terapagos

In battle

The Love Ball is more effective when catching Pokémon that are of the opposite (or same in Generation II, due to a programming error) gender of the player's Pokémon.

The following moves are dependent on gender:

The following Abilities are dependent on gender:

In side series games

Pokémon Stadium 2

Pokémon Stadium 2 may connect to Generation I or Generation II core series games via the Transfer Pak, and is compatible with Pokémon genders. While Generation I games don't identify Pokémon genders (other than Nidoran♀ and Nidoran♂), the gender displayed in Pokémon Stadium 2 is the same as in the core series Generation II games, which is determined by the Pokémon's physical Attack IV when compared to its gender ratio.

For instance, a Pikachu from Pokémon Red, Blue, or Yellow is shown as either male or female in Pokémon Stadium 2.

In spin-off games

Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series

Red and Blue Rescue Team

In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team, there is no gender displayed for any Pokémon other than Nidoran♀ and Nidoran♂. There are no gender-based game mechanics in battle, therefore Attract and Cute Charm are able to infatuate any opponent.

Explorers of Time, Darkness, and Sky

In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky, male Pokémon, as well as gender-unknown Pokémon (such as Magnemite), have a 1.5× bonus applied to move's base critical rate before other modifiers are applied, and at the same time all moves that target them have 263/256 (~1.03×) accuracy multiplier if no other accuracy or evasion modifiers are in effect. Barring those that are gender-locked, Pokémon encountered on odd dungeon floors will always be male, and Pokémon encountered on even floors will always be female.

Hey You, Pikachu!

In an American trailer for Hey You, Pikachu!, Pikachu's gender is discussed. When a young boy refers to Pikachu using the pronoun "he", the boy's sister retorts with "How do you know he's a he? Maybe Pikachu is a she."

In the game dialogue, Professor Oak and the player's Mom refer to Pikachu using the pronoun "it".

In the anime

Prior to the introduction of the gender mechanic in the games, some Pokémon were already shown to be male or female. For instance, Meowth from the Team Rocket trio is male, while Meowzie is female.

In the manga

Pokémon Newspaper Strip

In Strip 148, Brock mentions that there is no difference between male and female Pikachu. This was published during the Generation I, predating the introduction of gender differences for Pikachu in Generation IV games.

Humans

Main article: Category:Characters by gender

In the games

Starting in Pokémon Crystal, players are given the option of choosing to play as a boy or girl Trainer at the start of every core series game. Starting in Pokémon Sun and Moon, the game will ask what the player looks like, rather than specifying gender. The character picked will still determine certain outfit choices and pronouns. Starting in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, the opposite-gender player character may also be encountered in some games as an NPC.

Some Trainer classes have male and female variants, such as Swimmers, while others appear to be counterparts, such as Campers and Picnickers. Others, such as Kimono Girls, have no opposite-gender counterpart.

Certain in-game events may differ depending on the player character's gender. For example, in Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, Curtis will be encountered if the player is female, and Yancy if the player is male. In Pokémon X and Y and Generation VII, availability of different clothing is gender-specific. Also, only the female player character has the option of changing their lip color using lipstick stored in a Makeup Bag in Generation VII.

Outside of battle facilities, the gender of a non-playable character often determines the default gender of their Pokémon. If the Pokémon's species has an even 1:1 gender ratio, then its gender will match its Trainer's; if the gender ratio is skewed, then the more common gender of the species will be used. Prior to Generation VII, Trainer classes for Double Battles are treated as male, even if both Trainers are female.

For some Trainers, especially Gym Leaders and the Elite Four since Generation V, the default genders have been overridden to give their teams a more balanced gender distribution. Oddly, the Elite Four in FireRed and LeafGreen and Gym Leaders in Emerald all use male-dominant teams in rematches, even though the female Trainers use all-female teams in their initial battles. In HeartGold and SoulSilver, Bugsy and Will* use all-female teams despite being male.

In Pokémon Sword and Shield, Ball Guy's gender, along with their true identity and age, is unknown.

In the side games

Pokémon Stadium series

In Pokémon Stadium 2, the player character is usually represented by a nameless, faceless boy, who previously appeared in the original English release. If the player is using a Pokémon Crystal Game Pak, however, the boy's portrait is exchanged for a girl's.

Game	Stadium 2
Male
Female

Pokémon HOME

The player can select an avatar from the overworld sprites of twelve of the core series protagonists. The gender of the avatar is stored with the Original Trainer with any gifts received.

In spin-off games

Many side games in the Pokémon franchise allow the player to choose between a male or female player character as well.

The English localization of Pokémon GO and its associated social media accounts avoid using gendered language or pronouns when referring to Blanche, the leader of Team Mystic.^[7] The German localization similarly stopped using gendered language to refer to them since 2020.^[8] Likewise, Rhi has only been referred to using either their name or neutral third-person pronouns.^[9]

The player character in Pokémon: Magikarp Jump is noted to be gender unknown.^[10]

Game	Card GB2	Ranger	Ranger SoA	Ranger GS	Battle Revolution	Conquest	GO	Masters EX
Male
	Mark	Lunick	Kellyn	Ben	Nate	Hero	N/A	Scottie
Female
	Mint	Solana	Kate	Summer	Cyndy	Heroine	N/A	Bettie

In the anime

In Kanto, O-Hina Town hosts a female-exclusive tournament during the annual Princess Festival. Porta Vista also hosts a beauty pageant for women only, known as the Beach Beauty and Pokémon Costume Contest. In Kalos, Pokémon Performers are exclusively female, as only girls may participate in Pokémon Showcases.

Trivia

• In the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon games, several Pokémon that are gender unknown in the core series games are referred to as male or female by in-game characters.
• Although its English and French names suggest that it is exclusively male, Mr. Mime may be of either gender; however, its name predates the introduction of gender to the series.
  • Its Galarian evolution, Mr. Rime, also shares these traits, despite being introduced after the introduction of gender to the series.
• Since Azurill has a different gender ratio than Marill and Azumarill, one in three female Azurill used to become male after evolving into Marill, dependent on the personality value of the Azurill in question, though this no longer happens since Generation VI.
• A non-player character, Beauty Nova in Pokémon X and Y, is implied to be transgender. She says that she was reborn as a Beauty after originally being a Black Belt (a male-only Trainer class); in the Japanese versions, she credits this transformation to medical science.^[11] In the German and Korean versions, this implication is removed, with her instead having been a female Pokémon Breeder or a Taekwondo Girl (Korean: 태권도 소녀 Taekwondo Sonyeo), a gender-swapped version of the Korean name for the Black Belt Trainer class, respectively.^[12]

Before battle: "I've recently remade my life completely! I've been reborn as a Beauty at last!"

After winning: "If you want to make your dreams reality, then you have to be completely dedicated!"

After losing: "Yes, a mere half year ago I was a Black Belt! Quite the transformation, wouldn't you say?"

• Although they are gender unknown Pokémon, Solgaleo and Lunala are said to be the male and female final forms of Cosmog, respectively.
  • Similarly, Zacian's Pokédex entry in Pokémon Shield mentions it possibly being the older sister of Zamazenta, implying Zacian to be female, despite it being gender unknown.

In other languages

Language		Title
Chinese	Cantonese	性別 Singbiht
	Mandarin	性別 / 性别 Xìngbié
Danish		Køn
Dutch		Geslacht
Finnish		Sukupuoli
French		Sexe
German		Geschlecht
Greek		Φύλο Fýlo
Hebrew		מין Min
Indonesian		Jenis Kelamin
Italian		Sesso
Korean		성별 Seongbyeol
Malaysian		Jantina
Norwegian		Kjønn
Polish		Płeć
Portuguese		Sexo
Russian		Пол Pol
Spanish		Sexo Género
Swedish		Kön
Thai		เพศ Phet
Turkish		Cinsiyet
Vietnamese		Giới tính

Male

Language		Title
Chinese	Cantonese	雄性 Hùhngsing
	Mandarin	雄性 Xióngxìng
Danish		Han
Finnish		Uros
French		Mâle
German		Männlich
Hebrew		זכר Zakhar
Indonesian		Jantan
Italian		Maschio
Korean		수컷 Sukeot
Malaysian		Jantan
Norwegian		Hann* Mannlig*
Polish		Samiec
Portuguese	Brazil	Macho Gênero Masculino (XY126)
	Portugal	Macho
Spanish		Macho
Swedish		Manlig
Thai		ตัวผู้ Tua phu
Turkish		Erkek
Vietnamese		Đực

Female

Language		Title
Chinese	Cantonese	雌性 Chīsing
	Mandarin	雌性 Cīxìng / Cíxìng
Danish		Hun
Finnish		Naaras
French		Femelle
German		Weiblich
Hebrew		נקבה Nekeva
Indonesian		Betina
Italian		Femmina
Korean		암컷 Amkeot
Malaysian		Betina
Norwegian		Hunn* Kvinnelig*
Polish		Samiczka
Portuguese		Fêmea
Spanish		Hembra
Swedish		Kvinnlig
Thai		ตัวเมีย Tua mia
Turkish		Dişi
Vietnamese		Cái

See also

• List of Pokémon by gender ratio

References

External links

• Sex on Wikipedia
• Gender on Wikipedia

This game mechanic article is part of Project Games, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on the Pokémon games.