Ivysaur

Ivysaur, known in Japan as Fushigisou (フシギソウ, Fushigisō), is a Pokémon species in Nintendo and Game Freak's Pokémon franchise. Created by Ken Sugimori, Ivysaur first appeared in the video games Pokémon Red and Blue and subsequent sequels, later appearing in various merchandise, spinoff titles and animated and printed adaptations of the franchise.

Ivysaur was one of several different designs conceived by Game Freak's character development team and finalized by Ken Sugimori for the first generation of Pocket Monsters games Red and Green, which were localized outside of Japan as Pokémon Red and Blue.^[1][2] Originally called "Fushigisou" in Japanese, Nintendo decided to give the various Pokémon species "clever and descriptive names" related to their appearance or features when translating the game for western audiences as a means to make the characters more relatable to American children.^[3] As a result it was renamed Ivysaur, which IGN wrote is a combination of the plant "ivy" and "saur" from dinosaur.^[4]

Ivysaur, known as the Seed Pokémon, is the evolved form of Bulbasaur. Aside from becoming taller and heavier than Bulbasaur, its trademark bulb becomes a pink flower bud, and four leaves now appear at the base of this bud. The Pokémon's legs are more stout, allowing it to hold up the bigger bulb, yet limiting its previous ability to stand on its hind legs.^[5] Its eyes now look more aggressive and intimidating. Like before, Ivysaur and its bulb share a mutualistic relationship; bathing in sunlight allows both to continue growing.^[6] Eventually, the bud will give off a sweet scent, a signal that it will bloom soon, and that its host will evolve. An Ivysaur will spend more time bathing in sunlight in order to reach evolution.^[7]

Ivysaur first appeared in the video games Pokémon Red and Blue and in its remakes Pokémon Yellow and Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen. It evolves from Bulbasaur,one of the three starting Pokémon available to players in most of the above mentioned games, and then into its final form, Venusaur, the mascot of LeafGreen and the Japanese-only Pokémon Green. In Yellow, Bulbasaur was available at a later point in the game. It has since appeared in every main Pokémon title since. Outside of the main series, Venusaur appears in Pokémon Pinball, Pokémon Trozei!, the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon titles, the Pokémon Ranger titles, and Pokémon Rumble.

In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Ivysaur is a playable character, under the command of the Pokémon Trainer.^[8] The Trainer also has Squirtle and Charizard, all three of which can be switched between; unlike the other fighters, these Pokémon become fatigued and consequently weaker, and must be switched out long enough to recover.^[8]

In the animated series, Ivysaur first appears in the 51^st episode (Bulbasaur's Mysterious Garden) of the Original Series. Numerous Bulbasaur are seen evolving into Ivysaur, except for Ash Ketchum's Bulbasaur, who refuses to. Ash's friend May, however, has a young female Bulbasaur that evolves into Ivysaur, then into Venusaur.

In the Pokémon Adventures manga, the character Red receives a Bulbasaur from Professor Oak, which he nicknames Saur.^[9] In Chapter 15, "Wartortle Wars", it evolves into an Ivysaur after battling a wild Mankey.^[10] In Chapter 30, "Zap, Zap, Zapdos!", Red uses Saur to defeat Lt. Surge's Zapdos.^[11] In Chapter 33, "The Winged Legends", Red's Ivysaur evolves into a Venusaur to team up with Blue's Charizard and Green's Blastoise, to defeat Sabrina's Zapmolcuno (a merged form of Zapdos, Moltres and Articuno) and destroy Team Rocket's control on Saffron City, splitting the three birds in the process.^[12]

GamesRadar editor Brett Elston called Ivysaur the "middle child" of the Bulbasaur evolutionary line, due to it not being as cute as Bulbasaur, yet not as intimidating as Venusaur. However, he described him as a necessary step in the line.^[13] An editor for UGO Networks called Ivysaur lame in Brawl and that while it was better than Squirtle it was inferior to Charizard.^[14] Salon's Nick Gillespie called Ivysaur "a blue-green toad with what looks to be a garlic clove on its back".^[15]

IGN's Lucas M. Thomas and Matt Casamassina wrote that because Chikorita used Razor Leaf in Brawl, Ivysaur likely won't, which they found strange since Ivysaur is "an older and more venerable monster" than Chikorita.^[16] Thomas wrote that Ivysaur was proof that four-legged characters can work in Super Smash Bros.^[17] IGN's Richard George wrote that Ivysaur in Brawl is "likely to be underestimated at first, but it has some great moves when used properly".^[18] IGN editor Lucas M. Thomas wrote it was less recognized than Bulbasaur and Venusaur until it appeared in Brawl. He wrote that it was a "beast to deal with" and is "not too shabby for a monster formerly only known as an in-betweener".^[19]