Rayquaza
Encyclopedia
is a Pokémon species in Nintendo
and Game Freak
's Pokémon
franchise. Rayquaza first appeared in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire
and subsequent sequels, later appearing in various merchandise, spinoff titles and animated, printed, and film adaptations of the franchise. Rayquaza also appears on the cover of Pokémon Emerald. Rayquaza was created by Ken Sugimori
, with the help of a development team.
The Sky High Pokémon, Rayquaza is similar to a cryptid atmospheric beast
, spending the majority of its time flying above the clouds in the ozone layer
, and appears as a meteor
to those on the ground. As such, few have seen this legendary Pokémon. Rayquaza has the ability to negate all weather effects, and is one of the most powerful Pokémon in the franchise. Originally described as an imitation of the popular Digimon
series and an unimaginative Pokémon, Rayquaza has proven a popular character true to the spirit and concept of the games.
with the help of a development team. The name "Rayquaza" comes from a combination of the words ray and quasar
. Rayquaza resembles a large serpent dragon
. The design seems to be influenced by Mesoamerica
n art, especially that of Quetzalcoatl, the massive feathered green serpent of the skies.
Rayquaza is a dual type Dragon/Flying Pokémon. It has an elongated, green serpent body with yellow patterns covering its length. Red-tipped fins extend from its body in groups of three, and additional wing- or rudder-like appendages lengthen from a serpent-like head. Sharp, conical teeth line its mouth and some appear to be covered by gum tissue, similar to a Komodo Dragon's
. It lacks back legs, but has two arms with three white claws. Its tail is tipped with two small red-edged fins.
Rayquaza is the master of the weather trio, a group of three Pokémon who have control over weather conditions: itself, Kyogre, and Groudon. It is able to negate all weather conditions. Rayquaza lives far above the ozone layer
, and is only very rarely sighted. Rayquaza eats water particles from the sky where it lives, and only descends when it wants to rest or if its fellow weather Pokémon, Kyogre and Groudon engage in combat. From the ground, Rayquaza appears as a meteor
in the sky.
. The game also focuses on attempts by these two factions to control Rayquaza, and thus the sky. In Pokémon HeartGold and Pokémon SoulSilver. the player is able to find Rayquaza at the Embedded Tower after catching Groudon and Kyogre and showing them to a scientist named Professor Oak. (Note that Groudon is exclusive to Pokémon SoulSilver and Kyogre is exclusive to Pokémon HeartGold. The player must trade with the version they do not have, since Professor Oak is only interested in Groudon or Kyogre caught in the Embedded Tower; if they are from anywhere else, he will not give the player the Jade orb, which is the necessary item to make Rayquaza appear in the game.)
Rayquaza appears in many spin off games. In Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire
, Rayquaza is the focus of the third and final Bonus Field. In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team and Red Rescue Team
, Rayquaza acts as the final boss, living on the Sky Tower. After it is defeated, Rayquaza helps save the world from a meteor. After the credits roll, the player can re-battle Rayquaza to recruit it. In Pokémon Ranger
, Rayquaza can be captured in a bonus mission after the credits. In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness
, Rayquaza is the guardian of the Sky Melodica. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl
, Rayquaza shoots down Fox McCloud
's Arwing, and serves as a boss, a trophy, and a sticker within the game.
, Rayquaza battles Deoxys
, believing it is invading the Earth. Eventually, Rayquaza must be saved by Ash Ketchum
. After Rayquaza is saved, it decides that Deoxys is not a threat, and returns to the atmosphere. Rayquaza has also appeared briefly in two episodes of the Pokémon anime
. Rayquaza also appears up as a card in eight series of the Pokémon Trading Card Game
.
In Pokémon Adventures
, five years prior to the plot, Ruby accidentally released Rayquaza from a lab. Ruby's dad Norman was placed with the task of tracking down Rayquaza. After many years of tracking, he was able to, with Wally's help, awaken and take command of Rayquaza, using it to calm Groudon and Kyogre in conjunction with Ruby's Red and Blue Orbs. When Norman fell under the strain of controlling Rayquaza without a proper medium, it escaped once again, and has not been seen since.
promotional toys, where it decorated the handle of a flying disc called the "Rayquaza Disc". Nintendo also released a version of the Game Boy Advance SP
inspired by Rayquaza, with a green color and pictures of the Pokémon on the cover, in order to promote the release of Pokémon Emerald.
In 2005, the Japanese Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications
released a postage stamp
featuring Rayquaza on it.
. Rayquaza, along with fellow legendary Pokémon Dialga, have been cited as examples of a falling quality in Pokémon design, with one reporter remarking "Rayquaza may seem robotic" but that it still "maintain[s] the concept or idea that Pokémon created". In the book "Dragonlore: From the Archives of the Grey School of Wizardry", author Ash Dekirk describes Rayquaza as a giant serpent dragon with Meso-American traits.
Further, IGN
criticized the game designers for making Rayquaza too powerful, with stats that cannot be matched by other Pokémon, though it is still admitted that it is a "great Pokémon overall". IGN further claimed Rayquaza was a "heavy-hitting" favorite of fans, and that one could tell Rayquaza's impressiveness before even knowing of its abilities. In 2005, which is the year Pokémon Emerald came out with Rayquaza as the mascot, search engine Yahoo!
reported Rayquaza as one of the top Pokémon-related web searches
. Raymond Padilla of GamesRadar
was critical of Rayquaza's portrayal in the Pokémon: Destiny Deoxys
, calling it an indifferent, though effectively frightening, character whose actions near the end of the film border on the ridiculous. Padilla had earlier criticized other aspects of the character, including its name, which he claimed was more reminiscent of a member of the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan
than of a Pokémon.
Nintendo
is a multinational corporation located in Kyoto, Japan. Founded on September 23, 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it produced handmade hanafuda cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small niche businesses, such as a cab company and a love hotel....
and Game Freak
Game Freak
is a Japanese video game developer that currently creates games exclusively for Nintendo. It has developed the Pokémon series of role-playing games and several other games.-History:...
's Pokémon
Pokémon
is a media franchise published and owned by the video game company Nintendo and created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1996. Originally released as a pair of interlinkable Game Boy role-playing video games developed by Game Freak, Pokémon has since become the second most successful and lucrative video...
franchise. Rayquaza first appeared in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire
Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire
are the third installments of the Pokémon series of role-playing games, developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance. The games were first released in Japan in late 2002 and later released to the rest of the world in 2003 . Pokémon Emerald, a special edition version,...
and subsequent sequels, later appearing in various merchandise, spinoff titles and animated, printed, and film adaptations of the franchise. Rayquaza also appears on the cover of Pokémon Emerald. Rayquaza was created by Ken Sugimori
Ken Sugimori
is a Japanese video game designer, illustrator, manga artist, and director. He is most famous as the character designer and art director for the Pokémon franchise. Sugimori is also credited with the art direction for other titles, including Pulseman. Sugimori drew all of the original 151 Pokémon...
, with the help of a development team.
The Sky High Pokémon, Rayquaza is similar to a cryptid atmospheric beast
Atmospheric beast
Atmospheric beasts are hypothetical non-winged organisms which could live in the atmosphere of planets. These could fly without wings as they weigh less than air...
, spending the majority of its time flying above the clouds in the ozone layer
Ozone layer
The ozone layer is a layer in Earth's atmosphere which contains relatively high concentrations of ozone . This layer absorbs 97–99% of the Sun's high frequency ultraviolet light, which is potentially damaging to the life forms on Earth...
, and appears as a meteor
METEOR
METEOR is a metric for the evaluation of machine translation output. The metric is based on the harmonic mean of unigram precision and recall, with recall weighted higher than precision...
to those on the ground. As such, few have seen this legendary Pokémon. Rayquaza has the ability to negate all weather effects, and is one of the most powerful Pokémon in the franchise. Originally described as an imitation of the popular Digimon
Digimon
, short for , is a Japanese media franchise encompassing digital toys, anime, manga and video games. The franchise's eponymous creatures are monsters of various forms living in a "Digital World", a parallel universe that originated from Earth's various communication networks.-Conception and...
series and an unimaginative Pokémon, Rayquaza has proven a popular character true to the spirit and concept of the games.
Design and characteristics
As with all the characters introduced in Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, Rayquaza was designed by Ken SugimoriKen Sugimori
is a Japanese video game designer, illustrator, manga artist, and director. He is most famous as the character designer and art director for the Pokémon franchise. Sugimori is also credited with the art direction for other titles, including Pulseman. Sugimori drew all of the original 151 Pokémon...
with the help of a development team. The name "Rayquaza" comes from a combination of the words ray and quasar
Quasar
A quasi-stellar radio source is a very energetic and distant active galactic nucleus. Quasars are extremely luminous and were first identified as being high redshift sources of electromagnetic energy, including radio waves and visible light, that were point-like, similar to stars, rather than...
. Rayquaza resembles a large serpent dragon
Dragon
A dragon is a legendary creature, typically with serpentine or reptilian traits, that feature in the myths of many cultures. There are two distinct cultural traditions of dragons: the European dragon, derived from European folk traditions and ultimately related to Greek and Middle Eastern...
. The design seems to be influenced by Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica
Mesoamerica is a region and culture area in the Americas, extending approximately from central Mexico to Belize, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, within which a number of pre-Columbian societies flourished before the Spanish colonization of the Americas in the 15th and...
n art, especially that of Quetzalcoatl, the massive feathered green serpent of the skies.
Rayquaza is a dual type Dragon/Flying Pokémon. It has an elongated, green serpent body with yellow patterns covering its length. Red-tipped fins extend from its body in groups of three, and additional wing- or rudder-like appendages lengthen from a serpent-like head. Sharp, conical teeth line its mouth and some appear to be covered by gum tissue, similar to a Komodo Dragon's
Komodo dragon
The Komodo dragon , also known as the Komodo monitor, is a large species of lizard found in the Indonesian islands of Komodo, Rinca, Flores, Gili Motang and Gili Dasami. A member of the monitor lizard family , it is the largest living species of lizard, growing to a maximum length of in rare cases...
. It lacks back legs, but has two arms with three white claws. Its tail is tipped with two small red-edged fins.
Rayquaza is the master of the weather trio, a group of three Pokémon who have control over weather conditions: itself, Kyogre, and Groudon. It is able to negate all weather conditions. Rayquaza lives far above the ozone layer
Ozone layer
The ozone layer is a layer in Earth's atmosphere which contains relatively high concentrations of ozone . This layer absorbs 97–99% of the Sun's high frequency ultraviolet light, which is potentially damaging to the life forms on Earth...
, and is only very rarely sighted. Rayquaza eats water particles from the sky where it lives, and only descends when it wants to rest or if its fellow weather Pokémon, Kyogre and Groudon engage in combat. From the ground, Rayquaza appears as a meteor
METEOR
METEOR is a metric for the evaluation of machine translation output. The metric is based on the harmonic mean of unigram precision and recall, with recall weighted higher than precision...
in the sky.
In video games
Rayquaza first appeared in the Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire games, where it could only be located on the top of the Sky Pillar. The player only has one chance to battle and capture Rayquaza; the Pokémon will disappear upon fainting. Rayquaza also serves as the main Legendary Pokémon of Pokémon Emerald, and appears on the cover of the game. In Pokémon Emerald, Rayquaza aids the player in stopping Team Magma and Team Aqua from harnessing the power of Kyogre and Groudon to rule the worldHegemony
Hegemony is an indirect form of imperial dominance in which the hegemon rules sub-ordinate states by the implied means of power rather than direct military force. In Ancient Greece , hegemony denoted the politico–military dominance of a city-state over other city-states...
. The game also focuses on attempts by these two factions to control Rayquaza, and thus the sky. In Pokémon HeartGold and Pokémon SoulSilver. the player is able to find Rayquaza at the Embedded Tower after catching Groudon and Kyogre and showing them to a scientist named Professor Oak. (Note that Groudon is exclusive to Pokémon SoulSilver and Kyogre is exclusive to Pokémon HeartGold. The player must trade with the version they do not have, since Professor Oak is only interested in Groudon or Kyogre caught in the Embedded Tower; if they are from anywhere else, he will not give the player the Jade orb, which is the necessary item to make Rayquaza appear in the game.)
Rayquaza appears in many spin off games. In Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire
Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire
Pokémon Pinball: Ruby & Sapphire is a pinball game developed by Jupiter and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance handheld game console. It was first revealed at E3 in 2003, and was released in the same year – on August 1, August 25, and November 14 in Japan, North America, and PAL regions...
, Rayquaza is the focus of the third and final Bonus Field. In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team and Red Rescue Team
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team and Red Rescue Team
and are a matched pair of Pokémon games for the Nintendo DS and Game Boy Advance, respectively. These two games were developed by Chunsoft and were published by Nintendo....
, Rayquaza acts as the final boss, living on the Sky Tower. After it is defeated, Rayquaza helps save the world from a meteor. After the credits roll, the player can re-battle Rayquaza to recruit it. In Pokémon Ranger
Pokémon Ranger
is an action/role-playing video game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo DS video game console. The game was released at various dates, varying between continents. The game was first released in Japan on March 22, 2006 and was later released in North America and...
, Rayquaza can be captured in a bonus mission after the credits. In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness
and are a matched pair of Pokémon games for the Nintendo DS. The two games were released in Japan on September 13, 2007, and were released in North America on April 20, 2008...
, Rayquaza is the guardian of the Sky Melodica. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Super Smash Bros. Brawl, known in Japan as , often abbreviated as SSBB or simply as Brawl, is the third installment in the Super Smash Bros. series of crossover fighting games, developed by an ad hoc development team consisting of Sora, Game Arts and staff from other developers, and published by...
, Rayquaza shoots down Fox McCloud
Fox McCloud
is an anthropomorphic video game character and the main protagonist of the Star Fox series. He was created by Shigeru Miyamoto and designed by Takaya Imamura. As his name implies, he is a red fox and the main player character of the series....
's Arwing, and serves as a boss, a trophy, and a sticker within the game.
In other media
Rayquaza appears in one Pokémon film. In Pokémon: Destiny DeoxysPokémon: Destiny Deoxys
Pokémon: Destiny Deoxys, originally released in Japan as is the seventh film in the Pokémon series, complementing the seventh season . It is the second film released under Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation in Japan. The original Japanese version was released in theaters on July 17, 2004...
, Rayquaza battles Deoxys
Deoxys
is a fictional species of Pokémon from Nintendo's and Game Freak's Pokémon media franchise. The result of an extraterrestrial virus's exposure to a laser beam, Deoxys frequently appears around auroras. It is recognized as a Legendary Pokémon of the third generation...
, believing it is invading the Earth. Eventually, Rayquaza must be saved by Ash Ketchum
Ash Ketchum
Ash Ketchum, known as for all appearances in Japan, is a fictional character in the Pokémon franchise owned by Nintendo. He was created by, and named after, Satoshi Tajiri as the protagonist of the anime and manga series, as well as on various merchandise related to the franchise...
. After Rayquaza is saved, it decides that Deoxys is not a threat, and returns to the atmosphere. Rayquaza has also appeared briefly in two episodes of the Pokémon anime
Pokémon (anime)
, abbreviated from , is a children's TV anime series, which has since been adapted for the North and South American, Australian and European television markets...
. Rayquaza also appears up as a card in eight series of the Pokémon Trading Card Game
Pokémon Trading Card Game
The Pokémon Trading Card Game is a collectible card game based on the Pokémon video game series, first introduced in Japan in October 1996, then North America in December 1998...
.
In Pokémon Adventures
Pokémon Adventures
Pokémon Adventures, released in Japan as , is a Pokémon-related manga based on the video games. Satoshi Tajiri once stated that the Pocket Monsters Special series is closest to what he imagined the Pokémon world to be:...
, five years prior to the plot, Ruby accidentally released Rayquaza from a lab. Ruby's dad Norman was placed with the task of tracking down Rayquaza. After many years of tracking, he was able to, with Wally's help, awaken and take command of Rayquaza, using it to calm Groudon and Kyogre in conjunction with Ruby's Red and Blue Orbs. When Norman fell under the strain of controlling Rayquaza without a proper medium, it escaped once again, and has not been seen since.
Merchandising
Rayquaza was featured in a line of Subway restaurantSubway (restaurant)
Subway is an American restaurant franchise that primarily sells submarine sandwiches and salads. It is owned and operated by Doctor's Associates, Inc. . Subway is one of the fastest growing franchises in the world with 35,519 restaurants in 98 countries and territories as of October 25th, 2011...
promotional toys, where it decorated the handle of a flying disc called the "Rayquaza Disc". Nintendo also released a version of the Game Boy Advance SP
Game Boy Advance SP
The , released in February 2003, is an upgraded version of Nintendo's Game Boy Advance. The "SP" in Game Boy Advance SP stands for Special. The SP was marketed at US$99.99 at launch. In September 2004, Nintendo lowered the price to US$79.99...
inspired by Rayquaza, with a green color and pictures of the Pokémon on the cover, in order to promote the release of Pokémon Emerald.
In 2005, the Japanese Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications
Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications (Japan)
The was one of the ministries in the Japanese government. In 2001, the ministry was merged with other ministries to form the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications....
released a postage stamp
Postage stamp
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper that is purchased and displayed on an item of mail as evidence of payment of postage. Typically, stamps are made from special paper, with a national designation and denomination on the face, and a gum adhesive on the reverse side...
featuring Rayquaza on it.
Reception
Prior to the release of Ruby and Sapphire, some criticized the design of Rayquaza as nothing more than that of a rehashed DigimonDigimon (creature)
Digimon are fictional creatures from the Japanese Digimon media franchise. They are central to several anime series and films, manga, video games and other merchandise. The word "Digimon" is invariable in the plural, and stands for "Digital Monster"...
. Rayquaza, along with fellow legendary Pokémon Dialga, have been cited as examples of a falling quality in Pokémon design, with one reporter remarking "Rayquaza may seem robotic" but that it still "maintain[s] the concept or idea that Pokémon created". In the book "Dragonlore: From the Archives of the Grey School of Wizardry", author Ash Dekirk describes Rayquaza as a giant serpent dragon with Meso-American traits.
Further, IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
criticized the game designers for making Rayquaza too powerful, with stats that cannot be matched by other Pokémon, though it is still admitted that it is a "great Pokémon overall". IGN further claimed Rayquaza was a "heavy-hitting" favorite of fans, and that one could tell Rayquaza's impressiveness before even knowing of its abilities. In 2005, which is the year Pokémon Emerald came out with Rayquaza as the mascot, search engine Yahoo!
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
reported Rayquaza as one of the top Pokémon-related web searches
Web search engine
A web search engine is designed to search for information on the World Wide Web and FTP servers. The search results are generally presented in a list of results often referred to as SERPS, or "search engine results pages". The information may consist of web pages, images, information and other...
. Raymond Padilla of GamesRadar
GamesRadar
GamesRadar is a multi-format video game website featuring regular news, previews, reviews, videos, and guides. It is owned and operated simultaneously in the UK and US by worldwide publisher Future Publishing...
was critical of Rayquaza's portrayal in the Pokémon: Destiny Deoxys
Pokémon: Destiny Deoxys
Pokémon: Destiny Deoxys, originally released in Japan as is the seventh film in the Pokémon series, complementing the seventh season . It is the second film released under Pocket Monsters Advanced Generation in Japan. The original Japanese version was released in theaters on July 17, 2004...
, calling it an indifferent, though effectively frightening, character whose actions near the end of the film border on the ridiculous. Padilla had earlier criticized other aspects of the character, including its name, which he claimed was more reminiscent of a member of the hip-hop group Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang Clan
The Wu-Tang Clan is a hip-hop group from Staten Island that consists of RZA, GZA, Method Man, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, Inspectah Deck, U-God, Masta Killa, and the late Ol' Dirty Bastard. They are frequently joined by fellow childhood friend Cappadonna, a quasi member of the group...
than of a Pokémon.