Unown (アンノーン, Annōn, /ʌnˈnoʊn,ˈʌnoʊn/) is a species of Pokémon in Nintendo and Game Freak's Pokémon franchise. Created by Ken Sugimori, Unown first appeared in the video games Pokémon Gold and Silver and most of its subsequent sequels. It has also appeared in various merchandise, spin-off titles, and animated and printed adaptations of the franchise. Unown are hieroglyph-like, thin, black ancient Pokémon usually found on walls. There are 28 forms of Unown: one for each of the 26 letters in the Latin alphabet, a question mark, and an exclamation mark. Unown is a Psychic-type Pokémon, and is not able to evolve.
It was conceived as an alien-like creature, but while designing it, the designers noticed its resemblance to letters in the Latin alphabet, and shifted course. It has received generally negative reception, criticized for being weak, useless, and lacking appeal, with writer Kat Bailey criticizing its gimmick as "silly." It was used as part of a research paper, where they used Unown in order to teach classification and phylogeny to students.
Concept and creation
Unown is a fictional species of Pokémon created for the Pokémon franchise. Developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo, the series began in Japan in 1996 with the release of the video games Pokémon Red and Blue for the Game Boy.[1] In these games, the player assumes the role of a Pokémon Trainer whose goal is to capture and train creatures called Pokémon. Players use the creatures' special abilities to combat other Pokémon, and some can transform into stronger species through a process called evolution.[2] A major goal in each game is to complete the Pokémon index (Pokédex), a comprehensive Pokémon encyclopedia,[3] by capturing, evolving, and trading to obtain individuals from all Pokémon species.[2]
Unown were designed by series artist Ken Sugimori; where some designs in Pokémon Gold and Silver were cut content from Red and Blue, Unown were new designs. Unown came to Sugimori in a "sudden burst of inspiration," with Sugimori wanting to make something whose design inspiration was not as obvious as others. Sugimori suggested that Unown had a more "surreal design" that could have come from outer space.[4] While they were designed to resemble aliens at first, the designers noticed that they began to look like letters of the alphabet, leading them to lean into this and make 26 different forms corresponding to the Latin alphabet.[5] They are hieroglyph-like Psychic-type Pokemon that first appear in Pokémon Gold and Silver. They can be found on walls.[6][7] Originally having 26 forms, Unown gained two more, with the latter two Unowns meant to look like a question mark and an exclamation mark. They are among the Pokémon with the most forms.[8] There are also other Unown, which are modeled after Cyrillic script.[9] It is generally not used in battle due to its low stats and limited move pool.[10]
Unown made its debut appearance in the Pokémon series in Pokémon Gold and Silver, which is set in Johto.[11] In this game, they can be found in the Ruins of Alph and are triggered once the player completes puzzles in the caves found in the Ruins, with a character prompting players to collect all 26 variations of Unown.[12] It also appeared in Pokémon Crystal, where a new story connected to Unown was added.[13] There are four puzzles to complete in all before the player can access all forms.[12] It has appeared in most sequels to Gold and Silver excluding two pairs of games, Pokémon Sword and Shield and Pokémon Scarlet and Violet due to these two game pairs not having all Pokémon available.[14][15] Unown nevertheless appears in Pokémon Legends Arceus, with all 28 variants found at different points in the game, locations indicated to the player by hints written using Unown-based text.[16]
The Unown appear from time to time in the Pokémon anime. They star as the main antagonists of Pokémon 3: The Movie, existing in their own dimension until they are brought out by a girl named Molly, who had recently lost her parents. Reading her mind, they make her wishes come true, including creating the Pokémon Entei to be her father, who kidnaps Ash Ketchum's mother to serve as her mother. However, Molly soon learns that her wishes come with threatening consequences and attempts to stop them, but the Unown are out of control, forcing Entei to sacrifice itself to send the Unown back to their dimension.[citation needed] Unown also appear in the Pokémon Adventures manga.[21] The different variants of Unown appear in the Pokémon Trading Card Game.[22]
Promotion and reception
To promote Pokémon 3: The Movie, a lenticular Unown decoder was included with copies of the VHS and DVD versions of the movie.[23] They also held a spelling contest to promote Pokémon Crystal called "Bee a Pokémon Master Speller," at the Los Angeles Public Library. Hosted by Ben Stein, participants spell different Pokémon names using the Unown alphabet, with a prize of a trophy and 2000 USD towards their college tuition.[24] All 28 variants of Unown were also released as plushies in Pokemon's Sitting Cuties product line.[25]Line stickers depicting the 28 forms of Unown were added to the social messaging platform.[26]
Unown has received generally negative reception since its appearance in Pokémon Gold and Silver, with IGN writer Kat Bailey identifying it as the worst Pokémon as of October 2013.[27] In another article, Bailey criticized its gimmick as well as its uselessness in combat.[28] Both IGN and Variety felt that it lacked the appeal of other Pokémon species, with IGN calling Unown one of the "most useless Pokémon in existence" due to its weakness and lack of an evolution.[29][30] IGN further criticzed it as "an irritating holdover from a bygone era" that served little to no purpose.[31] In an analysis of the article on 1UP FM, Philip Kollar felt it had appeal with children, and added "another layer" for those trying to complete the Pokédex.[32] In 2006, research was done on using Unown to teach the biological concepts of classification and phylogeny to students, with the researchers finding the results to be "very encouraging".[33] While The Gamer writer Stacey Henley did not have a particular affinity for Unown in the video games, comparing it negatively to the Pokémon Castform due to its usefulness, she felt it was narratively interesting. She expressed disappointment that the writers did not explore the species more, speculating that its uselessness in the video games resulted in them being under-utilized.[34]Screen Rant writer Devin Ellis Friend felt that Unown was a wasted opportunity, feeling like the gimmick behind Unown was one of the series' most pointless. He noted how, aside from its gimmick, it is too weak, saying that its only move, Hidden Power, is "essentially random."[12]
^ abAllison, Anne (May 2006). Millennial Monsters: Japanese Toys and the Global Imagination. University of California Press. pp. 192–197. ISBN9780520938991.
^"Pokémon Ruby and Pokémon Sapphire Preview". Nintendo Power. Vol. 165. February 2003. p. 102.
^"Unown". Pokémon.com. Archived from the original on August 3, 2023. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
^McCormick, Moira (July 21, 2001). "Child's Play". Billboard. Vol. 113, no. 29. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. p. 80. Archived from the original on August 2, 2023. Retrieved August 2, 2023.
^Parry-Cruwys, Robert. "Gotta Spell 'Em All". RPGamer. Archived from the original on January 26, 2024. Retrieved January 26, 2024.
^Freidenberg Jr., Rolfe; Kelly, Martin (2006). "Using the Pokemon Alphabet to Teach Classification and Phylogeny". Science Scope. National Science Teachers Association.
