Designing Fakemon, Part 3

Welcome to Part 3 of my Fakemon Design tutorial. In Part 1 and Part 2, I described my process for coming up with a good design and making a sprite for a convincing Fake Pokemon. Now, I am going to take the design I came up with and give it details like stats, moves, and abilities so that it could fit in a Pokemon game with ease.

First, some meta: it’s not always necessary to go this in-depth when creating fakemon, unless you are making a game, like me. However, I think that some of the best-created fakemon there are have well-thought-out movesets. To make a truly convincing Pokemon you must envision it in action: what kinds of powers does it have? What strategy would it use in battle? Here I’d like to give a particular shout-out to the Smogon Create-A-Pokemon project, which has produced some of my favorite Fakemon ever, some that are nearly indistinguishable from canon designs. Finding a fitting moveset to complement your design can push it over the line from good to great. Plus, if you do plan on including your fakemon in a game-like setting, then a well-balanced and carefully-planned moveset is a must.

Here the completed Dex info for our own fakemon, Wizkit:

Name: Wizkit
Type: Fairy/Psychic
Height: 2’1″
Weight: 33.6 lbs
Dex:
“It likes to sit on its broom-shaped tail and levitate a short distance above the ground. It is known to cast good-luck charms on its friends and curses on its enemies.”

“They can bring good luck if treated with kindness, but superstition regards their presence as an ill omen. They are often kept as familiars by witches.”

Ability: Magician & Super Luck
Hidden Ability: Magic Bounce
Egg Group: Field

Stats

Levelup Moveset

— Charm
— Copycat
06 Confusion
10 Teleport
14 Lucky Chant
17 Trick
21 Magical Leaf
24 Covet
27 Magic Coat
31 Assist
34 Magic Room
37 Psychic
41 Nasty Plot
44 Snatch
48 Future Sight
53 Trick Room
58 Moonblast

Egg Moves

— Fury Swipes
— Confuse Ray
— Mystical Fire
— Hypnosis
— Wish
— Disable
— Encore
— Baton Pass

TM Moves

03 Psyshock
04 Calm Mind
06 Toxic
10 Hidden Power
11 Sunny Day
12 Taunt
16 Light Screen
17 Protect
18 Rain Dance
20 Safeguard
21 Frustration
27 Return
29 Psychic
30 Shadow Ball
32 Double Team
33 Reflect
41 Torment
42 Facade
44 Rest
45 Attract
46 Thief
48 Round
49 Echoed Voice
53 Energy Ball
56 Fling
57 Charge Beam
63 Embargo
65 Shadow Claw
66 Payback
70 Flash
77 Psych Up
85 Dream Eater
86 Grass Knot
87 Swagger
88 Sleep Talk
90 Substitute
92 Trick Room
99 Dazzling Gleam
100 Confide

Uses: Wizkit is a very versatile Pokemon. Its strengths lie in its powerful base 115 Special attack and decent base 105 speed, its useful abilities and broad moveset. However, its major shortcomings are its defensive stats, at 62 and 72 each, meaning it can’t take more than a couple blows before falling.

I can envision it working as both a special sweeper (with nasty plot + STAB on both Fairy and Psychic attacks) or a more utility based build, taking advantage of interesting moves in its set like Magic Coat, Baton Pass, Encore, etc.

When puzzling out moves for Wizkit, I examined the movesets of Kirlia, Mr. Mime and their related lines, since they share the same type combination (albeit Psychic/Fairy instead of Fairy/Psychic). I also drew inspiration from Whimsicott, Girafarig and Klefki, the latter of which I modeled its Base Stat Total on, since they are each gimmicky single-stage Fairy types. Lastly, I made sure to include some catlike moves in its repertoire, like Assist, Copycat (heh), and Fury Swipes as an Egg move. I made sure to give it every concievable move that had “magic” in its name, in order to really hammer in the theme. I even gave it Delphox’s signature move, Mystical Fire, as an egg move. This was a deliberate choice on my part, since I envision Wizkit and Braixen getting along very well. Furthermore, they belong to the same Egg group [Field].

best buds.

One thing I debated when planning out Wizkit’s abilities was whether to give it Prankster as a hidden ability. I love Prankster, it’s definitely one of my favorite abilities in the game, though it is easily overpowered and incredibly frustrating to play against as Klefki’s popularity demonstrates. In the end, I decided that Super Luck was more fitting considering its lore, and Magic Bounce had “Magic” in its name so it won out.

Sadly, there aren’t many ways to easily test out fake Pokemon in a competitive sense, although some friends of mine at Fuji Labs have a Showdown server & a system which allows people to submit their own Fakemon ideas which, once approved, can be added to competitive teams and used in battle. They’re graciously helping us to create a Pokemon Uranium league, though that feature’s still a WIP at the moment. I’m going to try and get Wizkit added to the server, although I can’t guarantee it’ll be accepted. Still, it’s worth a try!

Now that I’ve done every concievable thing I can think of to bring this critter to life, from conception to realization, I believe I can say that this Fakemon Design tutorial is hereby concluded. I hope that I was able to educate and inspire some of you to create Fakemon of your own! If you do make your own designs on the basis of this guide (or just in general), I would be delighted to take a look at your work and/or provide feedback if you are looking to improve.

Some questions: Does this moveset look right to you? Is there anything that you would recommend I add, remove or change? How would you choose to use Wizkit in battle? Let me know in the comments below!

Now that this tutorial is over, I think my next entry will focus on some designs that aren’t my own, or perhaps spotlighting some other people’s games. I haven’t written it yet, so I don’t know what to anticipate, but expect it to be interesting! As always, thank you for reading and I hope you have a wonderful day.

~ Oripoke