Pokémon are one of the most popular and well-known video games of all time, and there are plenty of designs out there that just make us feel creepy. Here are 20 of the creepiest Pokémon designs ever created!
We can sit and moan about it all day, and I do, but that’s not going to make a difference. Kids print cash, and Game Freak knows that.
However, every so often the sick minds in the Pokémon Company’s concept art department get inspired. The results tend to be disturbing, to say the least.
So while the designs of most Pokémon might be all childish and friendly, a seriously dark and sinister truth lingers behind some of those masks… much like the BTK killer.
There aren’t many outright disturbing Pokémon designs, given that the games are for kiddos. So I’m focusing on the implied connotations of certain Pokémon and their Pokédex entries, or at least for most of this ranking.
20. Necrozma
Necrozma slides in at the bottom not because it’s dark or creepy, but the mere existence of it should be downright terrifying for the Pokémon world.
This “Pokémon” is capable of destroying universes.
Not just planets or solar systems, but entire universes.
It’s so strong that its light can be seen through different timelines and wormholes.
Necrozma has the power to destroy reality as everyone knows it, and no one seems to be talking about it.
19. Buzzwole
Buzzwole is getting a glorified consolation spot on my list simply because I’m jealous of it.
It’s an apex predator with a body that every man dreams of achieving. I look more like a Lickitung, but I can dream.
Aside from being absolutely ripped, we have to remember that Buzzwole is a goddamned insect.
Imagine seeing one of those things buzzing towards you. If that’s not disturbing imagery, then I don’t know what is.
18. Probopass
I get that Probopass has a strong fanbase. I do.
It has one smashing mustache like Nigel from the Wild Thornberrys, so I’ll give anyone that likes this Mon’ a pass.
However, I’m more of a Kricketune mustache kind of guy.
Probopass’s mustache just unnerves me. It’s so bushy, and those dead eyes looking out from a void of nothingness, ugh…. It gives me shivers.
17. Nidoqueen
I love Nidqueen.
But it’s a Pokémon wearing a damn bikini.
I’m sorry, but this glorified dinosaur set the stage for generations’ worth of childhood-crushing trauma for me, and that’s more disturbing than anything else I can think of.
You might like it, though, but I’m guessing that just makes you disturbed as well.
But on the off chance you want your own Nidoqueen, take a peek at our huge list of nicknames for this beastly female dino.
16. Crabominable
We already had a crab and lobster Pokémon, so who’s idea was it to introduce this nightmare fuel into my Gen VII?
Just look at its face and tell me that it isn’t hideous.
Its hair, nose, teeth, eyes, legs, and seriously messed-up arms come together to create one of the most visually disturbing Pokémon I’ve ever seen.
I seriously don’t know why Game Freak introduced this… thing…. But I hope they never do it again.
15. Pinsir
Pinsir creeped me TF out as a kid.
Even if none of us finds it particularly scary these days, I’m sure you can understand why kids might feel differently.
The horns weren’t great, but those teeth are what really put the shivers into my timbers.
The fact that the teeth are aligned vertically is probably what makes them look so creepy to me, but it’s more than that; it’s how they move in the anime, as well.
This Pokémon is easily the scariest looking from all of the earlier generations, so I’m going to give it a 15th place spot despite it not being particularly disturbing from a contextual standpoint.
14. Darkrai
Darkrai is one of my favorite legendaries of all time.
But you can’t deny that it is one disturbing nightmare of a Pokémon, literally.
It afflicts those around it with horrific nightmares.
I don’t know about you, but I used to suffer from night terrors as a kid, so I know what really bad nightmares are like.
If a Pokémon can induce those simply by being around you, then it has no place anywhere other than among a group of the most disturbing and vile Poké-offenders.
13. Sharpedo
Hilariously suggestive name aside, Sharpedo is always my go-to “why Pokémon shouldn’t be real” example.
It’s not disturbing or creepy in a traditional sense.
But the idea of it being real is absolutely terrifying.
It’s just a fast, decapitated shark’s head. That’s all.
Imagine how scarier JAWS would have been if the shark was just a sentient head without a body. That’s what Sharpedo is.
Not to mention its red eyes make it look like it’s on a constant roid-rage, and it has teeth sharp enough to rip you to shreds.
If Pokémon was real, I guarantee that we would hunt Sharpedo to extinction.
12. Shiinotic
Bloodborne and Pokémon could not be more different if they tried.
But I’m banking on at least one of you out there having played both games.
If you haven’t, then don’t worry. If you have, though, doesn’t Shiinotic remind you of the Celestial Emissaries?
It’s a disturbing little mushroom dude that glows in the dark.
If that wasn’t bad enough, people that wander into its light at night are never able to find their way home again. So it kidnaps people too, and I’m willing to bet that it eats them.
11. Parasect
Parasect is the OG creepy Pokémon that we all know about.
It’s a zombie, to put it bluntly.
It has a fungal infection that has taken over its brain, killing the crab underneath it and reanimating its corpse.
The worst part about all of this is that it’s actually based on a real fungus. This fungal infection only affects ant colonies, but it does exactly what it says on the tin and zombifies them.
Fun fact: The Last of Us also based its zombie virus on this fungus. So in a way, Parasect is a clicker before clickers were cool.
10. Grimmsnarl
Ugly.
Big stinky, ugly boy.
This is easily my least favorite Pokémon of all time. The fact that it was one of the hallmark 3-stage evolutions for Gen IX boggles my mind.
It’s a humanoid elf thing that’s got a tiny waist, terrible-looking pecs, hips that shouldn’t work, and its entire body is covered in hair.
It’s not creepy. But I find it so ugly that it can easily be considered disturbing. If you actually like the design of this Pokémon, then go back to playing Digimon and leave us alone.
9. Lickilicky
My hatred for Lickilicky is well documented, so this is just another notch in the belt.
In fact, I think this pink monstrosity may have been featured in more lists of mine than any other single Pokémon.
Rather than being creepy and disturbing for some whimsical fantasyland reason, Lickilicky is grounded in reality.
It’s a big pink blob with a hideous perm that licks people against their will.
I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a very specific class of criminal behavior to me.
8. Dracovish / All of the Gen IX Fossils
The Gen IX fossil Pokémon are crimes against nature.
And I’m not just saying that, either. Expect Detective Looker to lock up Cara Liss in a future game.
If these Pokémon were real, you have to expect that they would be in constant agony.
It’s genetic splicing in the worst possible way.
They clearly aren’t meant to look or function like this, so all of them are essentially the Pokémon equivalent of Frankenstein’s monster.
There are very few things more disturbing than what could be considered a crime against Arceus itself, but Cara Liss clearly fears no gods or masters.
7. Kadabra
The first Kadabra was a human.
That’s actual canon in the games, according to the “Pokémon’s” FireRed and Emerald Dex entries.
Those entries state the following:
There’s nothing more disturbing or terrifying than waking up one morning to discover you’ve transformed into a Pokémon.
Your entire life would be gone before your eyes, and your only purpose would be to fight other Pokémon. Nobody would even know it was you.
6. Shedinja
Shedinja is one of the most unique Pokémon in the entire series.
The way you go about getting your hands on one is fascinating, if not a little tedious.
The Pokémon itself, though, is like a Ninjask that never grew out of its emo phase.
In other words, it has no soul, and I mean that in the literal sense.
It’s a sentient hollow husk. So how it’s able to battle is anyone’s guess.
What’s worse, though, is that it’s said to trap the spirit of anyone that looks into its back from behind.
Guess what you’re looking at every time you send one into battle?
5. Ditto
Oh, the possibilities could be endless here.
They are endless, in fact, for anyone that’s living in the Pokémon universe.
You know exactly what I’m talking about: you’ve seen the comics. The fact that you and I both know that somewhere the canon is disturbing enough to earn Ditto a top-five spot on this list outright.
If all of this sounds like cryptic gibberish, then consider yourself lucky, count your blessings, and move on.
Or if you wanna dig into this rabbit hole you could start here.
4. Cofagrigus
It’s a sentient sarcophagus, which ironically isn’t all that disturbing or creepy.
However, the Pokédex entries for both Cofagrigus and its pre-evolution Yanmask are nothing short of terrifying.
First of all, Yanmask carries the face that it used to have when it was a human. Sometimes it looks at it and cries.
What?
Then Cofagrigus is said to mummify anyone who gets too close.
So, I have a theory.
What if the humans that Cofagrigus mummifies turn into Yanmasks?
It sounds like that’s what’s going on. And that sounds like a plot point of some Resident Evil style game rather than Pokémon.
3. Dusclops
The Duskull line has always been disturbing looking.
The design of them was a step above the Gastly line that came before it.
However, what really set this trio apart for me was Dusclops’s Pokédex entries.
It reads as follows:
That should be more than enough justification for including it this high on the list.
2. Palossand
I’m a particularly big fan of Palossand for a number of reasons.
It’s got a fantastic design with one of the smartest shiny sprites that the eggheads at Game Freak have ever come up with.
However, its Pokédex entry is far darker than its innocent sandcastle appearance lets on.
To put it bluntly, the bones of those whose vitality it has drained are buried beneath the castle.
Another entry outright says that Palossand eats small Pokémon and siphons away their vital essence while their still alive.
I’m taking that as saying Palossand eats small Pokémon and children and digests them alive.
1. Cubone
What’s more disturbing than literally burning the skin off of a little Pichu’s bones while it screams in agony?
Nothing, really. But I’m giving Cubone the number one spot because it’s my girlfriend’s favorite Pokémon, and she’s standing over my shoulder right now.
We all know the discourse around Cubone, what it is and whether or not it’s baby Kangaskhan.
Regardless of what answer we inevitably end up getting, there’s no denying that Cubone is one messed up dude.
I mean, who the hell wears their dead mother’s skull as a hat?
That is some serial killer behavior. Like that’s genuine Norman Bates style fashion.
It’s gotta be more disturbing than 99% of the stuff on this list, all of it based on how you feel about eating kids and Togepis.
