Porygon-Z
Porygon-Z is a Normal-type Pokémon, the Virtual Pokémon, number 474 (#0474) in the National Pokédex. It was introduced in Generation 4 and comes from the Sinnoh region. It is 0.9 m tall and weighs 34 kg.
Porygon-Z is what happens when an upgrade goes wrong. The Pokédex says extra software meant to let it work in other dimensions made it unstable and strikingly odd, and academics cannot agree whether it counts as a true evolution at all.
How to pronounce Porygon-Z
Porygon-Z is pronounced POR-ih-gon ZEE. The capital letters show the stressed syllable.
Listen to Porygon-Z said out loud:
In Japanese it is ポリゴンＺ.
Hear every other name on the Pokémon pronunciation guide.
Lore
Biology
Porygon-Z is virtual but has a physical body: a fuchsia, egg-shaped head floats completely detached above a smooth fuchsia body, with a short antenna, a duck-like blue bill and yellow bull's-eye eyes. Two loose blue arms hang from a blue ring, and the tail is paddle-like. It is 0.9 m tall and weighs 34 kg.
Behaviour
Porygon-Z moves in twitchy, erratic ways. One entry blames a defect in the added program and another blames the engineer who updated it for being incompetent. The researcher's note in Legends: Arceus says its offensive power rose but its strangeness grew in equal measure, and admits this worries him.
Habitat
The Pokédex habitat list gives none. In Scarlet and Violet it arrives by transfer or trade, or by evolving Porygon2 in The Indigo Disk; in Legends: Z-A it is a Mega Dimension DLC Pokémon, found in Hyperspace Lumiose.
Powers
Adaptability raises the bonus on its own-type moves, Download picks the stat to attack with and Analytic is hidden. It starts with Nasty Plot and Trick Room, and learns Psybeam, Recover, Tri Attack, Zap Cannon and, at level 65, Hyper Beam. Its 135 base Special Attack makes it a hard-hitting but fragile special attacker.
Name origin
Porygon-Z combines Porygon with the letter Z, which may refer to the Z axis of 3D space, to being the last stage, or to a corrupted '2'. The Japanese name is the same, Porygon-Z (ポリゴンＺ).
Design inspiration
Bulbapedia sees the paper crane or drinking bird again, and also a balloon animal. Its deformed look, the Dubious Disc and its glitchy behaviour could make it a computer virus or an unauthorised software patch. These are fan readings.
Evolution notes
Porygon2 evolves into Porygon-Z by trading while holding a Dubious Disc, and it is the final form of the line.
In the games
In Legends: Arceus its Pokédex entry says a curious item induced its evolution, and one appears in the Crimson Mirelands space-time distortions. Porygon-Z debuted in Diamond and Pearl.
In the anime
Its only anime appearance is a cameo in the 'World of Pokémon' opening of the film Kyurem VS. The Sword of Justice. Bulbapedia says it is the only Generation IV Pokémon missing from the series, likely a result of the banned Porygon episode.
Fun facts
- Before Generation IX, the Porygon line were the only known Pokémon that could learn Conversion and Conversion 2.
- The Dubious Disc's name implies that, unlike Porygon2, Porygon-Z was never authorised by Silph Co.
- Bulbapedia says no other Pokémon has a Japanese name containing a letter from a foreign alphabet, which here is the Z.
- PokéPark Wii: Pikachu's Adventure calls it 'he', even though the Porygon line has no gender.
Base stats
- HP: 85
- Attack: 80
- Defense: 70
- Sp. Atk: 135
- Sp. Def: 75
- Speed: 90
Porygon-Z’s base stat total is 535. Its highest stat is Sp. Atk.
Type matchups
What is Porygon-Z weak to?
Porygon-Z takes extra damage from Fighting (2×) moves.
It is immune to Ghost moves.
Evolution
What does Porygon-Z evolve from?
Porygon-Z evolves from Porygon2 (Trade holding Dubious Disc).
Porygon-Z is the final stage of its evolution family.
The whole family: Porygon, Porygon2, Porygon-Z.
Abilities
- Adaptability: Increases the same-type attack bonus from 1.5× to 2×.
- Download: Raises the attack stat corresponding to the opponents' weaker defense one stage upon entering battle.
- Analytic (hidden ability): Strengthens moves to 1.3× their power when moving last.
Moves
Moves Porygon-Z learns by level up in Scarlet / Violet
| Level | Move | Type | Category | Power |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Conversion | Normal | Status | — |
| 1 | Nasty Plot | Dark | Status | — |
| 1 | Magnet Rise | Electric | Status | — |
| 1 | Recycle | Normal | Status | — |
| 1 | Trick Room | Psychic | Status | — |
| 1 | Defense Curl | Normal | Status | — |
| 1 | Tackle | Normal | Physical | 40 |
| 15 | Thunder Shock | Electric | Special | 40 |
| 20 | Psybeam | Psychic | Special | 65 |
| 25 | Conversion 2 | Normal | Status | — |
| 30 | Agility | Psychic | Status | — |
| 35 | Recover | Normal | Status | — |
| 40 | Discharge | Electric | Special | 80 |
| 45 | Tri Attack | Normal | Special | 80 |
| 50 | Double-Edge | Normal | Physical | 120 |
| 55 | Lock-On | Normal | Status | — |
| 60 | Zap Cannon | Electric | Special | 120 |
| 65 | Hyper Beam | Normal | Special | 150 |
TM moves (39)
Porygon-Z can learn 39 moves from TMs in Scarlet / Violet: Take Down, Agility, Protect, Psybeam, Thief, Charge Beam, Facade, Swift, Icy Wind, Endure, Sunny Day, Rain Dance, Psyshock, Zen Headbutt, Foul Play, Sleep Talk, Thunder Wave, Rest, Dark Pulse, Eerie Impulse, Substitute, Trick, Shadow Ball, Psychic, Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, Nasty Plot, Blizzard, Giga Impact, Trick Room, Hyper Beam, Thunder, Solar Beam, Tera Blast, Charge, Gravity, Uproar, Double-Edge, Electroweb.
Breeding & training
- Gender: genderless.
- Egg groups: Mineral.
- Egg cycles: 20 (steps to hatch, Scarlet/Violet: 2,560).
- Catch rate: 30 out of 255.
- Base friendship (Gen 8 onward): 50.
- Growth rate: Medium (1,000,000 experience points to reach level 100).
- Defeating it gives 3 Sp. Atk effort values.
- Base experience yield: 241.
Pokédex entries
A curious item induced this evolution. The Pokémon's offensive capabilities have greatly increased, but the strangeness of its behavior has magnified in equal measure. This worries me. (Legends: Arceus)
Some say an additional program made this Pokémon evolve, but even academics can't agree on whether Porygon-Z is really an evolution. (Shield)
Porygon-Z had a program installed to allow it to move between dimensions, but the program also caused instability in Porygon-Z's behavior. (Sword)
A faulty update was added to its programming. Its behavior is noticeably strange, so the experiment may have been a failure. (Ultra Moon)
Its behavior is noticeably unstable, which is apparently due to the incompetence of the engineer who updated its programming. (Ultra Sun)
Its program was modified to facilitate extra-dimensional activities, but that led to noticeably strange behavior. (Moon)
Names around the world
| Japanese | ポリゴンＺ |
|---|---|
| Romaji | Porygon-Z |
| French | Porygon-Z |
| German | Porygon-Z |
| Spanish | Porygon-Z |
| Italian | Porygon-Z |
| Korean | 폴리곤Z |
| Chinese (Simplified) | 多边兽乙型 |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 多邊獸Ｚ |
Trivia
- Highest Sp. Atk among Normal types: 135, shared with 1 other.
- Highest Sp. Atk among Normal types in Gen 4: 135.
- Taller than 43% of all Pokémon (0.9 m).
- Heavier than 57% of all Pokémon (34 kg).
- Base stat total 535, ranked #146 of 1,025.
- Its best stat is Sp. Atk, ranked #21 of 1,025.
- One of 131 Normal-type Pokémon (counting dual types).
- One of 97 red Pokémon.
- Number 88 of 107 Pokémon introduced in Generation 4 (Sinnoh).
- Part of an evolution family of 3 Pokémon.
- Can learn 51 different moves in Scarlet / Violet.
- Catch rate 30: about 3.9% per Poké Ball at full health.
- Appears in 10 distinct Pokédex entries.
Sources and fact-checking
- Stats, types, abilities, moves, evolutions, forms and Pokédex entries: PokéAPI open game data.
- Lore: written by pokee.si in our own words, researched from Bulbapedia: Porygon-Z (Pokémon), Serebii: Porygon-Z (Scarlet/Violet Pokédex).
- Pronunciation (POR-ih-gon ZEE): it follows how the English anime, games or official videos say it.
Last checked: . Every sentence of the lore was checked against Bulbapedia, Serebii and the game data.
Explore
Normal-type Pokémon · Sinnoh region guide · Adaptability ability · Download ability · Analytic ability · Compare Porygon-Z · Full Pokédex · Type chart · All moves
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Gen 4 Normal-type Pokémon · Gen 4 Pokémon list · Red Pokémon list · Mineral egg group · Pokémon that start with P