POTW Pokémon of the Week #77: Suicune

Cresselia92 · Jan 29, 2018

In the World of Pokémon, there lives a vast number and variety of amazing creatures to befriend and collect.

Just like every week, we will be focusing on a single one of these Pokémon or evolutionary line and talking about what makes it special. To celebrate the release of Pokémon Crystal for the Virtual Console, this week's Pokémon of choice is…

Suicune, the Aurora Pokémon and reincarnation of the northern winds!

This Pokémon was first introduced in the Gold / Silver games, but it was in Crystal where it got a more relevant role, and was changed from roaming Pokémon into an overworld encounter, with the player getting the chance to face it after meeting this fleeting Pokémon in many places. This role is also replicated in the remakes Pokémon Heart Gold / Soul Silver, where you have to follow more or less the same steps in order to fight it and eventually add it to your team.

This northern beast got another important role in the GameCube game Pokémon Colosseum, where it got turned into a Shadow Pokémon and it’s owned by Cipher Admin Venus, and in the Switch game Pokken, where it is a playable fighter.

Stat-wise, Suicune is the most defensive member out of the Legendary Beasts. Sporting 100 in HP and 115 in both defenses, it is capable of tanking attacks for days and Pressuring its opponents into wasting more PP, which makes it easy for it to stall out its adversaries when you pair this characteristic with healing options, like Rest and Leftovers.

In terms of movepool, Suicune can learn plenty of Water-type attacks, like Scald and Hydro Pump, and as the reincarnation of the north winds it can also learn many wind-based moves, like Tailwind and Icy Wind.

This blue creature has been depicted a lot in the anime, debuting as a blue apparition in the episode “Don’t Touch That ‘dile!”, and later reappearing to Ash and friends in the episode “For Ho-Oh the Bells Toll!” and in the episode “Drifloon on the Wind!”. It also got two major roles in the movies, being a supporting character in “Celebi: The Voice of the Forest” and having a shiny variant appearing in “Zoroark: Master of Illusions” as one the guardians of Crown City.

Similarly, Suicune has a very important role in the manga as well, becoming Misty’s partner while facing the Masked Man, and later joining Crystal when the Water Gym Leader is injured.

Now that you know more about this blue beast, here are some questions to consider to get conversation rolling. You don't have to answer all of them or any of them in your post as long as you're staying on topic and within global forum rules.

Do you like or dislike this Pokémon? Why?
How is this Pokémon in-game?
How is this Pokémon in competitive play? Are there any interesting strategies you like to use for them?
Do you like this Pokémon's representation in the anime? Are there any moments or qualities in particular you enjoy/dislike?
How do you think this Pokémon would interact with our world?
If given the power to, would you change anything about this Pokémon and if so, what would you change?
What do you think could be the relationship between Suicune and the Unown? And with Eusine?
What kind of Pokémon do you think Suicune was before being resurrected by Ho-Oh?
How do you think Suicune fares compared to its siblings?

If you have any suggestions for Pokémon you'd like to discuss in the future just leave your ideas at the bottom of your post. Make sure you give your thoughts about the current Pokémon first!

Previous Pokémon of the Week:

Camille · Jan 29, 2018

I like Suicune even though it isn't my favourite Legendary Beast (I like Raikou a bit better for its Special Attack and Speed). I like the fact it was the first Legendary to get an unique battle theme, as well as an entire subplot, which was expanded upon in Generation III and continues to exist even generations later. I also like the fact it doesn't have Roar in FireRed/LeafGreen, since a glitch causes roaming Pokemon to vanish permanently if they use this move. Now if I could change anything about Suicune, I'd buff its Special Attack while lowering its Attack since it doesn't need it anyway, and I'd also keep its Hidden Ability as Water Absorb. What was even the point of giving the legendary beasts such an underwhelming Hidden Ability in Sun/Moon?

DoctorWhy · Jan 30, 2018

I really love Suicune's design, I think it's a really cool Pokemon, and it's one of the stars of one of my favorite Pokemon movies (4Ever). Though I've never properly used one since I don't like using legendaries, and I actually prefer Raikou as far as the legendary beasts go.

ocelotlrama jaguar · Feb 2, 2018

Suicune is awesome! I love the three legendary beasts, actually. There's something about Suicune that screams beauty. Gorgeous Pokemon that can really hold its own in battle. Probably my favorite legendary to use in actual competitions. In-game, it is incredible. It's bulky stats make up for the mediocre attack power, and its movepool isn't bad, so it's great. Competitively, again, it is awesome! It makes a great tank with a combination of Calm Mind and you can give it a speed boost with Tailwind. So much potential. I love this thing!

I saw this Pokemon in 4Ever and the Zoroark: Master of Illusions. Both portrayals were cool. I was a bit miffed that Suicune didn't speak in 4Ever, but hey, at least it was badass in both movies. Loved the shiny version in the latter movie.

This Pokemon would be very rare, but polluted water would never be a thing. I wish Suicune was real. I don't think it would be dangerous. It's a speedy runner that would rather roam the land than fight.

I am not a fan of its hidden ability. Between Pressure and Inner Focus, I'd choose Pressure any day of the week. I think it used to have Water Absorb as its hidden ability until they changed it to Inner Focus, which doesn't matter. Suicune with Water Absorb is illegal since it was never released with that hidden ability. Pressure is not bad and I actually like it, but give it a better hidden ability and actually release it with its hidden ability. Don't care too much with how much they beat around the bush with this.

I never really cared too much for the legendary beasts and their connection to Unown, probably because Unown bores me to tears. Besides, I associate Unown more with Entei thanks to the third movie. Eusine may have loved Suicune's beauty and grace and was captivated by that. He may have made it his life mission to not only have a glimpse of it, but also catching it.

What kind of Pokemon Suicune was before being ressurected by Ho-Oh? I don't know. I want to be silly here and say Sunkern. In actuality, I don't know. I never paid to much attention to this lore.

All three have their uses. Suicune makes a great tank, Raikou is speedy with a bit of bulk and makes good use of its Special Attack (despite a mediocre movepool). Entei wasn't all that great at first, but thanks to Sacred Fire, it can now join the ranks of being a useful Pokemon in competition. They're all good, but I'll go with Suicune being more useful, especially in double battles.

CrystaI · Feb 2, 2018

My avatar says it all on how much I like this Pokemon. I think this legendary beast just best resembles my personality and characteristics.

Being a cover mascot for third-version game, Suicune was quite an odd choice. It wasn't part of a duo/trio of its predecessor game, yet it was selected. The same goes for Pikachu as the mascot for Pokemon Yellow, but Pikachu's case was more justifiable and predictable because back at that era during that year, the Anime was a big hit, so using the anime protagonist's most well-known handheld as the game cover mascot was the most conceivable choice. But that wasn't the case for Suicune. So even up to nowadays I still wonder why Suicune was selected as the cover mascot of Pokemon Crystal?

Although I like its aesthetics very much, but I don't like its in-game competitiveness. That is because defense is not my battle style, personally I prefer pokemons with excellent offense. But even in terms of defense, there exist many other pokemons that excel in defensive strategy much better than what Suicune can do. So unfortunately Suicune is not considered to be included in my in-game team. I catch it only for collection purpose.

I'm not sure about Suicune's relationship with Unown. Well in fact alternatively, I would doubt more on Unown's relationship with legendary pokemons not only limited to Suicune, as it can also be seem in HGSS's Arceus event and two movies M03 and M12.

Hey BTW, I would suggest the next PotW to be Unown. I have millions of word to speak about the unowns.

Nicolas721 · Feb 2, 2018

Suicune is cool. Its shaed of blue are very appealing, and it has a very elegant design which clashes heavily with Raikou and Entei. I like how it's related to the rivers and the Aurora boreal, and its appareance in Movie 4 was awesome. We didn't need to be told about its powers because it showed them instantly, which is something that doesn't happen often in movies.

CrystaI said:
Being a cover mascot for third-version game, Suicune was quite an odd choice. It wasn't part of a duo/trio of its predecessor game, yet it was selected. The same goes for Pikachu as the mascot for Pokemon Yellow, but Pikachu's case was more justifiable and predictable because back at that era during that year, the Anime was a big hit, so using the anime protagonist's most well-known handheld as the game cover mascot was the most conceivable choice. But that wasn't the case for Suicune. So even up to nowadays I still wonder why Suicune was selected as the cover mascot of Pokemon Crystal?

I saw a theory which said that Suicune was chosen because it resembled the Qirin, a very important character in Chinese mythology, while Lugia and Ho-Oh are also based on the Chinese Dragon and the Chinese Phoenix.

CrystaI · Feb 3, 2018

Suicune resemble the Qirin......? This must be some mistake because there is just no way Suicune looks like a qirin nor its design origin have anything to do with qirin. But this is just my opinion.

That's why it is confusing.

Zexy · Feb 3, 2018

Do you like or dislike this Pokémon? Why?
Like. Nice design and backstory, central role in Pokemon Crystal and important role in HGSS.
How is this Pokémon in-game?
In Gen II it was a cool Water-type I guess even though I preferred the Red Gyarados anyway. In most other games it just comes late.
How is this Pokémon in competitive play? Are there any interesting strategies you like to use for them?
It's a bit too defensive for my liking, but yes it is viable for those who like that style I guess.
Do you like this Pokémon's representation in the anime? Are there any moments or qualities in particular you enjoy/dislike?
Yeah, it had a few nice appearances.The 4th movie one was nice too.
How do you think this Pokémon would interact with our world?
Few people would ever see it, and I could see lot of people have a quest similar to Eusine's.
If given the power to, would you change anything about this Pokémon and if so, what would you change?
Better stat distribution I guess? Less Attack, more Special Attack and Speed... I feel like an Ice typing would also fit it, but dual-type doesn't compared to the rest of the beasts.
What do you think could be the relationship between Suicune and the Unown? And with Eusine?
Eh I kinda don't like how the legendary beasts are supposedly tied to Unown, I feel like that's a bit forced on the developers' part just because they're all Gen II legendary Pokemon (if we can consider Unown legendary, that is, but at times we kinda do). Entei was tied to Unown in the 3rd movie too but I didn't feel the connection there either. Same for Eusine, I think his quest for Suicune is cool... but no need to get the Unown involved with this.
What kind of Pokémon do you think Suicune was before being resurrected by Ho-Oh?
I like the Vaporeon/Jolteon/Flareon theory for the three legendary beasts.
How do you think Suicune fares compared to its siblings?
... I like it, but I like Raikou/Entei more. GO has only made this gap bigger, the other two are great while poor Suicune is left behind

POTW Pokémon of the Week #77: Suicune

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Cresselia92

Just Your Average Writer

Camille

Call of Fate

DoctorWhy

Long Lost Member

ocelotlrama jaguar

Fluffy with 80% more spots!

CrystaI

The Pokemon Observer

Nicolas721

Well-Known Member

CrystaI

The Pokemon Observer

Zexy

Quaxly Boy

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