Magmar - Concept and Characteristics

Concept and Characteristics

Magmar 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 "Boober" 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 its name was changed to Magmar. According to IGN, Magmar's name comes from the word "magma".

Magmar, known as the Spitfire Pokémon, is born in an active volcano. If a Magmar finds itself in a cold place, it will try to make it more habitable by blowing scorching flames around. It has the ability to expel orange-colored fire from every part of its body. Magmar cloaked in flames resemble a big ball of fire. Together with its matching body coloration, Magmar can quite easily hide itself among flames, escaping detection. If Magmar is actually wounded, it can heal itself by dipping its wounds in lava. It evolves from Magby, and evolves into Magmortar using a special item.