User:Blake/Zubat

Zubat (ズバット), Golbat (ゴルバット), and Crobat (クロバット) are three Pokémon species in Nintendo and Game Freak's Pokémon franchise linked through evolution. Zubat evolves into Golbat after gaining enough experience in battle, while Golbat evolves into Crobat when it reaches a certain amount of happiness. Created by Ken Sugimori, Zubat and Golbat first appeared in the video games Pokémon Red and Blue, while Crobat was introduced in Pokémon Gold and Silver. They later appear in subsequent sequels, also appearing in various merchandise, spinoff titles and animated and printed adaptations of the franchise. In the anime, a Golbat was first voiced by Eric Stuart, but in future appearances of both the Japanese and English language versions, Shin'ichirō Miki, voices all of the Zubat, Golbat, and Crobat that appear.

Zubat, Golbat, and Crobat have appeared in various episodes of the anime, with the most notable being owned by Brock and Koga. They were seen in the Pokémon Adventures manga used by notable trainers Agatha, Janine, and Giovanni. Since their appearance in the Pokémon series, Zubat, Golbat, and Crobat have received generally mixed reception. While some call them a "Pokémon you should keep handy", others criticize the abundance of Zubat in the games. Many sources have compared Zubat to Woobat, and consider it a replacement in Pokémon Black and White.

Concept and characteristics
Zubat and Golbat were two of several different designs conceived by Game Freak's character development team and finalized by Ken Sugimori for the first generation of Pocket Monsters games Red and Green, which were localized outside of Japan as Pokémon Red and Blue. Crobat was later created for the sequel, Pokémon Gold and Silver. Originally named Zubatto, Gorubatto, and Kurobatto in Japan, their names were changed to Zubat, Golbat, and Crobat for the English language versions. Zubat's English name is an adaptation of its Japanese name Zubatto. The "batto" means bat, while the word means "quick and to the point". Golbat's English name is an adaptation of its original Japanese name Gorubatto. IGN speculated that could refer to the Japanese TV super hero named "Gorubatto".

Zubat, known as the Bat Pokémon, is a small, blue bat-like Pokémon. It has two long, skinny legs. Zubat's face lacks any eyes and a nose. The insides of Zubat's ears and undersides of its wings are purple. Zubat's wings are supported by elongated 'fingers', and four teeth can be discerned from inside its mouth, two on the lower jaw and two on the upper. A female has smaller fangs. Zubat form colonies in dark places like caves, and use ultrasonic waves to identify and approach targets. The waves act as a sonar to check for objects in its way. During the day, it gathers with others and hangs from the ceilings of dark places. It does so because prolonged exposure to the sun causes its body to become slightly burned. While living in pitch-black caverns, their eyes gradually grew shut and deprived them of vision.

Golbat, is the stronger and faster evolution of Zubat, and is a fierce, nocturnal Pokémon. It resides in the darkness of caves, and is most active in the pitch black of night, especially if the moon is in its new phase. It is widely known for sucking fresh blood from living things. Once it has found a living target, it attacks in a stealthy manner, often striking without warning from behind. It harshly bites down on its prey with its four sharp fangs, strong enough to puncture the hide of any animal-like Pokémon, however strong the hide might be. It then proceeds to drink ten ounces of blood instantly. Golbat enjoys blood so much that it may not control its feeding. When weighed down with excess blood from overfeeding, it flies clumsily if at all. Once it strikes, it will not stop draining energy from the victim even if it gets too heavy to fly. Like Zubat, the female's fangs are smaller than the male's.

Crobat is the evolution of Golbat. It is a purple bat with four wings, with two main wings above and two smaller secondary wings below. The development of these lower wings to replace its legs, as a result of its pursuit of faster, yet more silent flight, enables it to fly fast and silently indeed, but also makes it tough to stop and rest. Its extra wings will even allow it to fly long distances by alternating which set of wings it uses when it tires. The only way it can rest is to hang on a tree branch using its lower legs to grab onto it the way normal bats would.

In the video games
Zubat and Golbat first appeared in Pokémon Red and Blue, and later appeared in Pokémon Gold and Silver, where Golbat was given an evolution in the form of Crobat. It has since appeared in every main Pokémon title, most notably Pokémon Ruby and Sapphire, and Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. Zubat appear so often in caves, that players often mock their extreme commonness, and get freaked out when seeing them. A similar, but not as strong attitude is held towards Geodude which also appear commonly in caves. Golbat is considered exponentially more irritating than Zubat because of learning a higher accuracy confusion inflicter..

Zubat's appearance in the most recent title, Pokémon Black and White, is less pronounced than before, which has been greatly acclaimed. Although, it has been compared to Woobat, a Pokémon introduced in Black and White. While some say that Woobat is basically a Zubat with a pig's snout, others think that Woobat is a lot more interesting than Zubat. Generally, Woobat is considered derivative and inferior to Zubat and that while less Zubats appear, the alternative is not much better. Similarly, Crobat is thought of as better then Swoobat.

Outside of the main titles, they have appeared in the Pokémon Pinball titles, the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon titles, the Pokémon Ranger titles, Pokémon Rumble, and PokéPark Wii: Pikachu's Big Adventure. Zubat by itself appears in Pokémon Snap. In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time/Darkness, a Zubat is one of Team Skull's members along with Koffing and their leader Skuntank. In Pokémon Stadium 2, Golbat stars in its own minigame called "Gutsy Golbat". Players have to collect as many heart pieces as possible. Crobat appears in Super Smash Bros. Melee as a collectible trophy.

In other media
In the Pokémon anime, Brock catches a Zubat before entering Mt. Moon. It was rarely used, but it eventually evolves to Golbat after a battle with Team Rocket. It later evolves into Crobat to gain more speed to catch up to Team Rocket's rocket. Crobat was given to Forest, with Onix and Geodude, when he became a Gym Leader. Koga used a Golbat against Ash's Charmander in his rematch. A Golbat that Mandi used against Ash during the first round of the Indigo League was defeated by Ash's Kingler. Golbat and its relatives were frequently employed by criminal organizations. Several Crobat appeared in ''Pokémon Ranger and the Kidnapped Riolu! Part One'', employed by the followers of Hunter J. Crobat made a small appearance in The Rise of Darkrai as one of the Pokémon Darkrai hit with a Dark Void attack as the other trainers were attacking him.

In the Pokémon Adventures manga, Zubat makes a cameo in the Red, Green & Blue chapter in Raging Rhydon as a wild Pokémon in Mt. Moon. Koga has a Golbat as one of his team members. This Golbat uses Supersonic in order to project a clear visual of the locations of others, using its gaping mouth as a screen. Agatha also possesses a Golbat. Crobat is seen owned by Janine and Giovanni.

Reception
Since their appearance in the Pokémon series, Zubat has received generally mixed reception. IGN's Pokémon Chick called the Zubat line her favourite dual-type Pokémon line. GamesRadar's Brett Elston called the Zubat line "one trio of Pokémon you should keep handy." He specifically wrote that in spite of the criticism it receives for its abundance in the games, it is "easily one of the most useful early in the game". IGN called it a good early Pokémon and popular for use then. However, they noted that it becomes weak later on.

IGN described Golbat as "essentially a more powerful version of Zubat" and commended it for its high speed. She also wrote that Golbat was "unforgivably ugly" in Red and Blue but has fans and will prove annoying to opponents. She later used it as an example of an ugly middle evolution and wrote ""it's like the makers of the game wanted us to hate them so we'd keep our Pokémon at their earliest stage long enough to get all the good moves quickly and then evolve them twice in quick succession to get the boost in stats". Newsday's Eric Holm called it a popular character in Pokémon. Destructoid's Jim Sterling called Golbat "absolutely ridiculous" and that it "barely even qualifies as a bat". He added that he never liked Zubat or Golbat "either from an aesthetic or a gameplay point of view".

IGN's Jack DeVries wrote that Crobat was an "amazing Pokémon" and one that "any serious competitor has one in its team". Official Nintendo Magazine's Tom East featured Crobat as one of the "Unsung Pokémon Heroes" and wrote that despite some weaknesses, it is also very resistant and powerful. GamesRadar's Carolyn Gudmundson wrote that Crobat was "awesome" and "outclasses Swoobat in every respect". GamesRadar wrote that Crobat was a "great offensive Pokémon" due to its "intense speed and workable attack stats". IGN's Pokémon Chick wrote that Crobat was an "ultra-fast annoyer" and that it has no "actual attacking moves whatsoever" She used it as an example of a Poison Pokémon used due to its immunity to the Ground type attack Earthquake. GamesRadar's Brett Elston noted that the change from Golbat to Crobat wasn't "all that important" due to its lack of new moves.