This post is actually from last week, but I’m reposting it here because this world is a more proper place for it. I may delete the original version of this post in my Random Thoughts world. As explained the original version of this post, I’m doing a series where I talk about my favorite Legendary Pokemon. Some will be Pokemon that I’ve actually used in the older games. Others will be Pokemon from the newer games I’ve simply read about or seen in the movies.
So to once again kick off this little series of posts, I’m going to talk about a favorite of mine that has been on my mind as of late, the great phoenix, Ho-Oh.
All of us who watched the Pokemon anime from the very first episode are familiar with Ho-Oh. It was the Pokemon Ash and Pikachu saw after that climactic battle with that flock of Spearow. At that time I wasn’t really into Pokemon, but that episode and the episodes with Ash’s Caterpie changed my mind. Ho-Oh was the first hint that there would be more Pokemon to come after the first 151. One kid I knew back in those days (which could be considered the golden age of the Pokemon franchise) insisted that the Pokemon in question was a Zapdos, but I knew from seeing several pictures and from personal experience that what Ash and Pikachu saw was clearly not a Zapdos (and the personal experience I speak of is a matter for another post).
No, the Pokemon in question was something entirely different, and that Pokemon’s identity was finally revealed with the release of the Gold and Silver versions of the Pokemon games. In those games (and later in the anime) we learned that Ho-Oh was a powerful legendary bird that roosted atop a tall tower in Johto until a catastrophe occurred. In the games, that catastrophe was a freak lightning storm that burned down a neighboring tower and caused Johto’s other legendary bird to fly off. In the anime, the tragedy was a band of marauders who tried to capture Ho-Oh and burned down the tower as a result. In both versions of the story, three unknown Pokemon died in the fire, and Ho-Oh used its powers to resurrect them as his servants.
After that, Ho-Oh took off to fly the skies of the Pokemon world until it found a pure-hearted trainer. At which point it would return to the top of its tower. In the games, the trainer Ho-Oh searches for is whoever is playing the game (and in the Crystal version it is way more complicated to get to Ho-Oh). In the anime it’s implied that the trainer Ho-Oh is searching the world for is Ash, but they never really explored that connection, which to this day still kind of ticks me off. They could’ve done something really cool with that, but instead they just let it drop.
Hangout: In Gold, Silver, and Crystal, and in their remakes, HeartGold and SoulSilver, Ho-Oh can be found atop its old home, the Tin Tower, which from what I’ve read was renamed the Bell Tower in the remakes. I don’t know why they renamed it, but I’m an old-school Pokemon fan so I’m going to keep calling it the Tin Tower. Anyway, I’ve always been rather partial to the Tin Tower for some reason. Maybe it’s the history behind it or something else, but I just think that tower is one of the coolest spots in the games. One thing I find weird about the Tin Tower is that there are teleporter pads on the upper floors. How is it that a tower that’s hundreds of years old has such futuristic technology?
Anyway, one of the cool things about the Tin Tower is that you can fly off the roof once you’re done up there. And in Gold, Silver, and Crystal it was kinda cool to go up there at night. Unfortunately once Ho-Oh is captured is captured there really isn’t much reason to go back to the Tin Tower except to collect items. That’s actually the case with most Legendary Pokemon hangouts in my experience. Of course one thing I’d sometimes do in Gold, Silver, and Crystal is walk around the ground floor of the Tin Tower to hatch eggs. Not that it made a difference; it just seemed kind of a cool thing to do. In closing though, the Tin Tower just seems to fit Ho-Oh, an ornate place for an ornate Pokemon.
Signature Move: Ho-Oh was one of the first Legendary Pokemon to have a signature move. And that move is one of the most dazzling attacks in the game, Sacred Fire. Even the name sounds awesome. I really wish we could’ve seen that move in action in the anime. Though I’ve always pictured it as Ho-Oh shrouding itself in rose-colored flames, and then flapping its wings to send those flames at the opponent like a firestorm. And as cool as the move sounds and probably looks, it’s quite powerful too. Not only does it cause a lot of damage, it has a good chance of burning the opponent. It’s a real shame that Ho-Oh doesn’t know Sacred Fire when caught in the old Silver and Crystal versions.
Sacred Ash: One other cool thing to note about Ho-Oh is that it usually has a certain item in its possession when captured, the Sacred Ash. In the original games it had the power to heal and revive all Pokemon on the team. I found out about the power of the Sacred Ash in kind of a dumb way. One of my Pokemon fainted after a minor battle, and I thought to myself, “Hey, I’ll just use that Sacred Ash item that came with Ho-Oh.” So I used it, the screen flashed, and then I got the message saying something like, “All Pokemon completely healed.” At the time all my other Pokemon were completely fine, so I ended up feeling a little stupid. After that I learned that the Sacred Ash was best used when on your last legs while facing the Elite Four or going through a really long dungeon with a lot of trainers and wild Pokemon.
So that about covers it for this post. I’ll probably be back next week to talk about another one of my favorite Legendary Pokemon. One thing I forgot to mention up top is that some of these posts may talk about more than one Legendary Pokemon. Until then, stay tuned.
