The Wolfram|Alpha Blog is now part of the Wolfram Blog. Join us there for the latest on Wolfram|Alpha and other Wolfram offerings »
Michael Feltes

Gotta Compute ‘Em All!—Wolfram|Alpha’s New Data about Pokémon

October 10, 2013 —
Comments Off

Psst! Wolfram|Alpha has updated its Pokémon data to include Generation VI. Check it out here.

It’s not all abstract algebra and organic chemistry here at Wolfram HQ. From time to time, we like to take a piece of pop culture and put our own spin on the subject. We’ve seen from our server logs that our Pokémon plane curves are pretty popular. Pokémon X and Pokémon Y, the latest installments in the long-running video game series, will be released on October 12. Given those two facts, we thought it was a good time to add data about Pokémon to Wolfram|Alpha. In many ways, Pokémon are an ideal subject for a computable knowledge engine. They have a set of well-defined characteristics with lots of numbers to which we can apply our analytic capabilities. Heck, Pokémon come complete with their own unique identifiers from the game’s internal database, the Pokémon Index, or Pokédex.

pikachu

Satoshi Tajiri
came up with the initial idea for Pokémon in 1990. As a young man growing up on the outskirts of Tokyo, he loved hunting for insects as well as the burgeoning culture of anime, manga, and video games. He put these passions together to create an imaginary world of wild creatures with a wide array of powers that could be collected and trained by humans to compete in duels. With his colleague Ken Sugimori, who drew the visual art for the original 151 Pocket Monsters, Tajiri created the first two video games, Pokémon Red and Pokémon Blue. They were a big hit, starting a worldwide franchise that extended into comic books, collectible card games, television, and movies. In addition to adding information about the various Pokémon species, we’ve also added data about the video games, the shows, and some of the Pokémon and human characters that have appeared in them.

Pokémon have six statistics that form the basis for how they perform in battle: hit points, attack, defense, special attack, special defense, and speed. As with other numerical values in Wolfram|Alpha, you can refer to them by name in equations or query them with conditions or with ordinals.

In addition to their basic stats, Pokémon have abilities and properties that affect how well they match up against their opponents. We’ve grouped the Pokémon according to their abilities, their type, their generation, and their color. These collections are linked in the main display, so you can simply click them to see other Pokémon that share that characteristic. You can also ask about properties in conjunction with these groups. Let’s say your collection is weak in flyers and that you also need to train up a Pokémon with a strong special attack. Wolfram|Alpha can help you assess your options.

One of the key drivers of the game’s action is the evolution of Pokémon. When a Pokémon has accumulated enough experience and, in some cases, has a specific item or is in a specific location, it will transform into a more powerful Pokémon. We link these predecessor and successor forms in the physical characteristics pod along with other information like the Pokémon’s height and weight and the gender distribution in its population.

We will add the new Pokémon from X & Y soon. There’s a great deal more that we can do with Pokémon, so let us know what you would be interested in.

20 Comments

Under the category “Statistics” it states “(base statistics at initial level)”, which is incorrect. The base stats are a component that the game uses to calculate a Pokemon’s statistics that is consistent throughout all Pokemon of the species. There are many other factors taken into account when calculating stats, and a Pokemon’s stats at base level are between 3-7 for nearly every Pokemon.

Posted by Ben October 10, 2013 at 1:41 pm

    Ben, thank you for your response. You’re right, starter Pokemon don’t begin at level 1. I’ll revise the comment to clarify that these are base statistics which have a variety of modifiers for any individual Pokemon of the species.

    Posted by Michael Feltes October 11, 2013 at 9:32 am

You guys are great! Pokemons are the creatures I grew up with. It will be a pleasure to recall some of them. Just look at all these statistics! As always, great job guys.

Posted by Ivan October 10, 2013 at 3:56 pm

This is so exciting! It would also be nice to have the attacks worked in there, along with calculators for stats and damage.

Posted by Sean ONeil October 11, 2013 at 7:39 pm

Just wondering if Wolfram could be used to analyse all the pokémon and work out the ideal/most all encompassing 6?

Posted by Will October 12, 2013 at 5:19 am

Wow, what a pokemon 🙂 Kinda funny!!!

Posted by Josh Trenser October 14, 2013 at 6:41 am

Just a thought, there’s a formula for catching a pokemon, maybe you could include a spot for that, with different variables for what ball you use, hp, and if they have a status effect.

Posted by Zerlure October 15, 2013 at 12:46 pm

Great 🙂 You also have a nice compiled card for my favourite Bulbasaur.
Was trying to find something on WA about Magic Cards but no luck 🙁

Posted by Daniel October 16, 2013 at 7:02 am

Wow, this is amazing stuff. If you also have a database for what the moves and items do, it might actually be possible to use mathematica to do Pokemon battle simulations!

Posted by Nic October 16, 2013 at 8:50 pm

Could you also include the Body Mass Index values? I was greatly surprised to learn which Pokemon has the largest BMI. It’s not one of the usual suspects, such as Groudon, Grotile, or Kyogre.

Posted by Neal Menkus October 17, 2013 at 8:18 am

This is amazing. But you’re missing Missingno. 😉

Now, can you add all the Digimon? :p

Posted by Rena October 18, 2013 at 3:17 am

This is great, but the math involved in Pokemon doesn’t end with stats!

There are algorithms in the games to determine whether or not you’ll catch whatever wild Pokemon you’re battling as well as damage calculators, and having those available to search would be really awesome!

Posted by Peter October 18, 2013 at 2:15 pm

Could items and how they effect stats be worked in? Maybe also some info about EV’s (Effort Values) as well? ie: If I fight a certain Pokemon, which EV’s will it increase? Nature’s can change stats as well. So if we search for “Alakazam at level 50 with Timid nature” could we get the stats calculated?

And for fun, a list of top searched Pokemon?

Posted by Jon October 18, 2013 at 3:01 pm

I think what I would use the most is what types each Pokemon are strong against and weak against. This is the information I look at most when playing a Pokemon game. There being so many nowadays, it is hard to remember the types of each one. Being able to just search for “what is strong against Scraggy?” would be awesome.

Posted by Dan October 18, 2013 at 3:36 pm

What about Digimon? i wanna see some Holyangemon stats!

Posted by Denis Franco October 18, 2013 at 5:57 pm

how about E.V. training and stat progression

Posted by pappy October 18, 2013 at 6:43 pm

Is there any way you could approximate a battle and the victor based on levels?

Posted by Kyle Hill October 18, 2013 at 7:47 pm

It would be perfect if this told you when Pokemon learn their moves and what TMs/HMs they can learn.

Posted by AJ Minotti October 19, 2013 at 7:48 am

It would be fantastic if you could also add in the move lists for each Pokemon, so that we can see at what level a Pokemon learns what move.

Posted by David October 19, 2013 at 11:00 am

Awesome work!! Love this new feature!
I only have a requirement: could you make a basic description for each pokemon? The objective here is that, combining it with Siri (if she read the description), it would create a real life Pokedex, and fulfill a dream of many people! It would be so awesome!

Posted by Pedro October 19, 2013 at 7:29 pm