- ↓ 0.01
- ꩜ 0.08
- ↑ 2.03
Pokémon (Pupitar) › Stage 1 : Evolves from Larvitar and into Tyranitar, Tyranitar ex, or Tyranitar-GX
{C} → Crashing Bullet : 20
This attack also does 20 damage to each Benched Pokémon (both yours and your opponent’s). (Don’t apply Weakness and Resistance for Benched Pokémon.)
{F}{C}{C} → Tackle : 70
illus. Sumiyoshi Kizuki
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Even sealed in its shell, it can move freely. Hard and fast, it has outstanding destructive power.
Crystal
It’s interesting the first move isn’t called “Crashing Bullet”.
Pupitar’s category in the Japanese games has always been だんがんポケモン – Bullet Pokémon. But of an an abundance of caution during the translation of Pokémon Gold and Silver, the translation team decided to instead change Pupitar’s category to “Hard Shell Pokémon”. Understandable given it was peak Pokémania and the franchise was being scrutinized by parents and media at every turn, but I’ll admit it’s only once I found this out last year that some of the dex entries – and artwork portraying a heavy rock chrysalis zooming around (see AQ Pupitar, TRR Pupitar #40, et al.) like a *bullet* – began to make any sense to me whatsoever.
There’s at least one instance of the TCG translation team being consistent with this change, when they changed the name of Lost Thunder Pupitar‘s Ability from “Bullet Evolution” to “Hard Shell Evolution”, but no such change is made here. I wonder if it’s something they missed, or someone deliberately decided they didn’t need to keep doing this in a series that constantly refers to rockets, missiles, guillotines, and Bullet Seed is literally a move.