Games - Porygon

	Games - Porygon

Porygon (ポリゴン Porigon in Japan, Porygon in Germany and France) is a fictional character from the Pokémon franchise. It is perhaps best known for its appearance in an anime episode infamous for its seizure induction.

The name "Porygon" originates from the word polygon. Since there is no "L" in Japanese, every L is changed to R. It can be assumed that Porygon's true name would then be "Polygon", just as Alucard from Hellsing is called Arucard in Japanese. It could also be a mix of "Polygon" and "Origami".

Characteristics

Porygon is a man-made Pokémon that consists entirely of programming code. It is capable of moving freely in cyberspace. Since it doesn't breathe, people are eager to try it in any environment. It is capable of reverting itself entirely back to program data and entering cyberspace. This Pokémon is copy-protected so it cannot be duplicated by copying.

Porygon came about as a result of extensive research. It is programmed with only basic motions and can only perform what is in its program.

In the video games

Porygon is available in every Pokémon video game except Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Colosseum and XD, though you can trade Porygon to those games using Fire Red and Leaf Green.

To obtain Porygon, go to the Celadon City Game Corner prize area, where you have to pay a certain amount of coins, either 5555(Crystal), 6000 (Blue), 6500 (Leaf Green), 9999 (Red, Yellow, Gold, Silver, Fire Red).

Porygon learns a variety of interesting moves, including the Conversion moves, Tri Attack, and the Lock-On/Zap Cannon combo. However, it does not shine statistically. It’s evolved form, Porygon2, is much more fit for competitive battling. To evolve it, give Porygon the Up-Grade item and trade it to another player, where it will automatically evolve. Then trade it back.

The movelists of Porygon and Porygon2 are identical in all ways except one: at level 24, Porygon learns Sharpen, whereas Porygon2 learns Defense Curl at level 24. Waiting at level 24 for Sharpen, then evolving it with the Up-Grade, gives the opportunity to learn both moves.

Anime appearance

On December 16, 1997, an episode (called Electric Soldier Porygon) of the animation broadcast in Japan caused several children to have epileptic seizures. Japan's Fire Defense Agency reported 685 affected people were admitted into hospitals of 30 prefectures by the following day. The phenomenon was repeated when a news broadcast about the event inexplicably replayed the offending scene. It was discovered that the very quickly alternating red and blue patterns of the scene in question caused a reaction due to a previously undiagnosed (in Japan) form of epilepsy. The light was caused by a blast from when Pikachu destroys a pair of missiles. (As it turned out, the American Federal Communications Commission, and equivalent agencies in most European countries, already knew that television used in this manner could sometimes invoke epilepsy, and had banned extremely high frequency color switching on television broadcasts in their countries years ago.) Some fans of the show have wondered why the offending scene was not simply removed, as it was the only scene in the episode to cause problems.

Possibly as a result of this incident, Porygon has not appeared in the anime since. However, one can be seen in the "Ash's Journey" segment that precedes the Kanto and Johto movies.

Porygon also made an appearance in the 4th Pokémon movie: "Pokémon 4Ever - Celebi, Voice Of The Forest" and the 5th Pokémon movie: "Pokemon Heroes - Latios and Latias" both at the starting scene.

In the trading card game

Porygon has had plenty of appearances in the card game’s history, in all cases Basic Colorless Pokémon:

Base Set
Team Rocket
Gym Challenge (as Sabrina’s Porygon)
Neo Destiny
Aquapolis
EX Firered & Leafgreen
EX Unseen Forces
EX Delta Species

In addition, Porygon has appeared as a promotional card named Cool Porygon which was packaged with special Pikachu-themed Nintendo 64s.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Porygon ]

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