Gender, in the Pokémon games, refers to a Pokémon’s biological sex or whether it is male (♂), female (♀), or unknown. Although in the real-world, the concept of gender and biological sex are as simple, in the Pokémon games, the word “gender” is generally used to describe both concepts.
In the first generation of main series Pokémon games, as well as many of the spin-off games, most Pokémon do not have defined genders. Nidoran♂ and Nidoran♀ and their evolution lines were the only Pokémon to have confirmed genders, as their whole evolution line depended on that concept.
However, starting with Pokémon Gold and Silver and continuing in every main series game since then, every Pokémon could be either male, female, or “unknown”—oftentimes referred to as genderless.
Some Pokémon species are exclusive to a certain gender, meaning they can be only that gender. In the case of male-only Pokémon, this means they must breed with Ditto in order to produce Eggs. There are a few Pokémon that have male versions and female versions, known as gender differences, and most of the time these are purely cosmetic changes, but sometimes these differences can result in completely different move selections (in the case of male Meowstic vs. female Meowstic) or abilities (in the case of male Indeedee vs. female Indeedee).
Genders
In every main series game in Generation III and beyond, barring extreme gender differences (which are relatively uncommon), there are no differences between male and female Pokémon’s stats, moves, or overall usefulness. They are essentially the same in regards to their strength and importance on your team, so there’s no need to pick a specific gender as it is not any “better” than the other gender.
The exception to this is in Generation II games, where, due to gender being determined by a Pokémon’s “determinant values” or DVs for short (a precursor to the now-standard Individual Values or IVs), male Pokémon had inherently higher offensive stats and potential while female Pokémon had higher defensive stats and potential, in summary. As Shiny Pokémon were also based on these DVs, this meant that Pokémon with certain gender rates, such as starter Pokémon and Eevee, could only be Shiny as male. As of Generation III and in all future games, neither of these two issues are still present, as the games now use a random value for each Pokémon, the personality value, to determine its gender, Shinyness, and Nature.
Male ♂
Pokémon that are male have the ♂ symbol next to their name or level, in battle, the party screen, and in the status/summary screen. This indicates that the Pokémon is male, or a boy.
When breeding, male Pokémon will only produce an Egg with a compatible female Pokémon, meaning the female Pokémon must share an Egg Group with the male Pokémon and neither must be in the Undiscovered Egg Group. The Egg will almost always be of the female’s species—there are a few exceptions, described further down.
Male Pokémon are useful for Pokémon breeders looking to pass along Egg Moves to specific Pokémon. Although in most cases the Eggs produced will be of the female’s species rather than the male’s, the male is capable of passing down said Egg Moves to the offspring, which are moves that the Pokémon of the female’s species is generally otherwise unable to learn.
Female ♀
Pokémon that are female have the ♀ symbol next to their name or level, in battle, the party screen, and in the status/summary screen. This indicates that the Pokémon is female, or a girl.
When breeding, female Pokémon will only produce an Egg with a compatible male Pokémon, meaning the male Pokémon must share an Egg Group with the female Pokémon and neither must be in the Undiscovered Egg Group. The Egg will almost always be of the female’s species—there are a few exceptions, described further down.
Female Pokémon are particularly useful for Pokémon breeders as all offspring (barring the aforementioned exceptions) will be of the female’s species, so getting a rarer Pokémon like a starter Pokémon, which only have approximately a 12.5% chance of being female, is desireable as that female Pokémon can then be bred to produce more of that Pokémon.
Genderless (or Unknown)
Lastly, Pokémon that have no gender symbol next to their name or level are considered genderless, or officially as “Unknown” by the games. Functionally, this means that the Pokémon has no gender, and thus is incapable of breeding with either male or female Pokémon (however, as long as it is not in the Undiscovered Egg Group, it can still breed with Ditto).
Though genderless Pokémon are generally considered to be just that, genderless, it’s also possible that, from a lore perspective, they actually have a gender and it is just unknown or perhaps something beyond the standard classifications of male and female. This could help explain why Pokémon such as Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres hatch from Eggs in spin-off games, or why some of the diary entries in the burned-down Pokémon Mansion in Cinnabar Island mention that Mew gave birth to Mewtwo, despite all of these Pokémon being “genderless” or Unknown.
Shared Species
Although most Pokémon occupy the same species for both males and females, there are some instances of Pokémon species that are shared, where the male Pokémon is counted as a separate species as the female Pokémon, and breeding the female of that shared species (or the male of that species with a Ditto) will produce Eggs of either member of the shared species.
Currently, there are just two shared species or evolution lines:
- Nidoran♀ and Nidoran♂ are both in the same shared species group, along with Nidorino and Nidoking. (Nidorina and Nidoqueen, curiously, are in the Undiscovered Egg Group and thus cannot breed.)
- Volbeat and Illumise are also both in the same shared species group.
Eggs produced by a member of these groups can hatch as either Pokémon in the group, depending on the gender of the offspring. For instance, breeding an Illumise with any compatible Pokémon will result in an Egg that will hatch as either an Illumise or a Volbeat, and likewise with Nidoran♀ and Nidoran♂.
Despite there being other similar Pokémon that appear to have gender-exclusive counterparts, such as Tauros and Miltank as well as Vullaby and Rufflet, only the two groups above have this property; any others will only produce Eggs of that species, despite any apparent similarities.
Gender Differences
Known as sexual dimorphism in the real-world, gender differences are generally cosmetic differences that differentiate male and female Pokémon. There are effectively three stages of gender differences: minor, major, and extreme. Gender differences did not exist prior to Generation IV; they were first introduced in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, with the majority of differences being introduced in this generation.
Minor Gender Differences
Most Pokémon that have gender differences fall into this category. The differences are always cosmetic in this stage, and are generally very minor. Perhaps the male of a species has a larger horn or longer fur compared to the female Pokémon.
One of the more popular minor gender differences is Pikachu, where female Pikachu have a different shape at the end of their tail, resembling the top half of a heart.
There are far too many Pokémon with minor gender differences to list on this page, but the Marriland Pokédex contains any there are for any Pokémon species that have them.
Major Gender Differences
A small amount of Pokémon have major gender differences, which are substantial enough to drastically change its appearance and often times even its menu sprite. These major gender differences don’t actually come with any change to its stats, abilities, or moves; it is still purely cosmetic in nature.
Here are a few examples of such major gender differences:
- Hippopotas and Hippowdon have very different colors depending on whether they are male or female. This often times leads people to falsely believe they’ve run into a Shiny version.
- Frillish and Jellicent have vastly different colors and appearance, including their menu sprite, depending on their gender. Male Frillish and Jellicent are blue and look a bit angrier, while female Frillish and Jellicent are pink and look a bit more friendly.
- Unfezant look very different, including their menu sprite, depending on their gender. Male Unfezant have a lot more plumage and coloring, while female Unfezant look comparably plain.
- Pyroar are similar to Unfezant, with their menu sprite and appearance changing depending on their gender. Similar to lions in the real-world, male Pyroar have a big, luscious mane, while female Pyroar lack such a feature and instead have long, flowing hair running from their head down their back.
Extreme Gender Differences
These are the most extreme cases, where there are actual, functional differences between the male and female Pokémon of a species. In some instances, these actually are separate species.
- Nidoran♀ and Nidoran♂ are both completely separate species and have two separate evolution lines as a result, although, as mentioned earlier, Nidoran Eggs can hatch into either gender of Nidoran. As such, Nidorina and Nidorino could be considered extreme gender differences, along with Nidoqueen and Nidoking, although these are classified as separate species.
- Meowstic take on not just an entirely separate appearance depending on whether it is a male Meowstic or female Meowstic, including their menu sprite, but they also learn a different set of moves, with the male Meowstic learning more defensive moves while the female Meowstic learning more offensive moves. Their stats are identical, but their Hidden Ability is different.
- Indeedee is another Pokémon that is very different depending on its gender. Not only do their appearance change along with their menu sprite, but they even have different stats and Abilities. Male Indeedee are more offense-oriented with higher attacking stats, while female Indeedee are more defense-oriented with higher defensive stats. They even have different possible moves.