Jynx - Design and Characteristics

Design and Characteristics

Jynx was one 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. Originally called "Rougela" in Japanese, Nintendo decided to give the various Pokémon species "clever and descriptive names" related to their appearance or features, when translating the game for western audiences, as a means to make the characters more relatable to American children. As a result, they were renamed "Jynx", a play on the word "jinx".

Also known as the "Human Shape" Pokémon, Jynx is a female-only species that resemble short, large women as well as midgets. Originally portrayed with a black face and hands, Jynx's design was changed to purple coloration after racial criticism. In addition Jynx have large pink lips, saucer-like eyes, white arms, and long, blond hair. The "clothes" they appear to wear are actually part of their body, resembling a circular red bra and skirt. Jynx have no visible feet, and in the games leave no footprints. Jynx has a pre-evolution, Smoochum, which evolves into Jynx when it receives enough experience from battles.

Jynx Pokémon walk in a dance-like fashion, wiggling their hips in a manner described by Nintendo as "seductive". It uses dancing to communicate, with the exact rhythm relying on its emotion at the time. The dance affects people, causing them to themselves dance with no regard to their actions. Jynx speak in a language that only other Jynx can understand, though the sound is described as similar to human speech. This trait is carried on to games where Pokémon speak English such as the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series, with the text appearing as combinations of "X"'s, "O"'s, punctuation marks, and/or musical notes, instead of legible words. Jynx are psychic, and can attack either by kissing an opponent or launching "strange orbs" at them, and can protect themselves with a psychically-generated barrier.