- For fighter info, see Greninja (Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U) and Greninja (Super Smash Bros. Ultimate).
Greninja (ゲッコウガ Gekkōga?) is a fictional creature from the Pokémon series which debuted in Pokémon X and Pokémon Y. It appears as a playable fighter in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
Creature Description[]
Greninja is a large, bipedal, frog-like Pokémon. Its body and legs are dark blue, with single large white bubbles on its legs and arms and white spots over its eyes. Its back feet have two toes, while its front feet have three toes. Its feet are webbed, and it has a yellow chest and a yellow-and-blue face. It has eyes with white sclera, red irises, and white pupils. A large, projecting dark blue stripe runs down the middle of its head, with projecting light blue stripes in between its large, yellow ears. Its mouth is hidden behind a large, pink tongue that wraps around Greninja's neck and extends outward behind its head.
Greninja moves with the speed and grace of a ninja, using swift movements to confuse its enemies while it slices them up with throwing stars made of compressed water; these throwing stars are sharp enough to split metal. Greninja is the only known Pokémon capable of learning Water Shuriken and Mat Block.
Powers & Abilities[]
Greninja is a Water/Dark-type Pokémon that resembles a frog. Greninja's most prominent feature is it's long tongue that wraps around its entire head. The tongue is mainly used for attacking an opponent and acts like a scarf for a Greninja. Since Greninja are light Pokémon, they are capable of being exceptionally fast and nimble. Due to their thin and fast bodies, these Pokémon are typically associated with ninjas. Their webbed feet assist them in water, increasing their stealth levels even in water.
Greninja can learn mainly Water-type attacks such as Surf, Hydro Pump, and it's signature attack, Water Shuriken which are literally shurikens of water. Water Shuriken can hit up to 5 times in a Pokémon battle (unlike in Smash Bros. where you can charge it and unleash just one shuriken). Greninja have the ability to spout water from the palms of their hands and the bottom of their feet to create a Hydro Pump attack which can be used for faster movement in the water and for jumping high distances. Even though Greninja are also Dark-type, they can't learn too many Dark-type attacks to take advantage of. They can learn Night Slash, a physical Dark-type attack with a high critical hit ratio but otherwise, they lack Dark-type attacks.
Greninja have the hidden ability of Protean, which allows a Greninja to change their typing when they use a move of a different type. For example, if one were to use Shadow Sneak (a Ghost-type attack), it would turn into a Ghost-type. Protean gives Greninja an upper hand when in battle when it comes down to type advantages and type disadvantages. However, if a Greninja doesn't have Protean, it will always be a Water/Dark-type which makes them weak to the Electric, Grass, Fighting, Bug and Fairy-type but immune to the Psychic-type. Greninja are very rare Pokémon and typically found in captivity but usually live near a large body of water when in the wild. Greninja evolves from Frogadier at level 36 which evolves from Froakie at level 16.
In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U[]
As a playable character[]
Greninja was confirmed as a playable newcomer along with Charizard during the April 8th Super Smash Bros. Direct stream as a representative of the recently introduced sixth generation of Pokémon and both Pokémon X and Y. Greninja has a wide variety of abilities, many of which go towards fitting it into the "quick and weak" character archetype. Nonetheless, its smash attacks have decent power and have moderate range. Its speed is remarkable, and it is the sixth fastest dasher in the game, with its walking speed being the fourth fastest. Although somewhat predictable and telegraphed, its projectile, Water Shuriken, hits multiple times, is a good zoning tool, and also deals quite a bit of damage. Shadow Sneak is an excellent way to play mind games with opponents, and Greninja even has a counter in Substitute. Recovering is no problem, as Hydro Pump is a long-distanced and unpredictable move to reach the ledge. However, Greninja is not without its flaws. In most of its attacks, both damage and knockback power are somewhat limited, sometimes leaving it with limited options to KO outside of reads and edge guarding. Although it may be fast, Greninja's comboing ability is not the best; its moves can sometimes have trouble linking into each other, and it tends to be overly reliant on throws to set up combos.
Trophies[]
- Greninja
- This Water/Dark-type Pokémon is the fully evolved form of Froakie. It's just as fast and dangerous as any other ninja, and the throwing stars it can make out of water can shear metal. In Smash Bros., as well as being a graceful, speedy fighter, it can also use moves like Hydro Pump that let it travel through the air and avoid falling.
- (3DS) Pokémon X and Pokémon Y (10/2013)
- Greninja (Alt.)
- Greninja's Substitute down special lets you teleport to dodge attacks and then strike back, making it an effective and hard-to-predict way to counterattack. You can also control where you reappear by inputting directions. When you vanish, sometimes you'll be replaced by a log, other times by a cuddly toy.
- (3DS) Pokémon X and Pokémon Y (10/2013)
In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[]
As a playable character[]
Greninja was confirmed to return in Ultimate on June 12th, 2018 during E3 2018 along with every other character in the Smash Bros. series. Its Final Smash has been updated where it turns into Ash-Greninja. Because Ash-Greninja is something only male Greninjas can become, it's confirmed in this game that Greninja is male. He is currently the only non-gender difference-based playable Pokémon that has a confirmed gender.
Trivia[]
- During the Greninja and Charizard trailer. People mistook Greninja for Mewtwo. Which got many people to think that Greninja replaced Mewtwo. Though, it was later revealed that Mewtwo would in fact be in the game.
- Greninja's name is a combination of grenouille (French for frog) and ninja. While in its Japanese name, Gekkouga is named after a gekko and Koga-style ninja school (hence to its shuriken motif being wield famously by Kotaro Fuma).
- In Ultimate, Greninja is a male, due to the existence of his Ash-Greninja’s nature being a male exclusive and cannot breed according to this form’s Pokémon Sun & Moon details.
