Growlithe ► Arcanine
| Ball | Pokémon | Types | Region | Location | Games | Year |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
 |
Fire | Johto | Route 36 | Crystal | 2001 |
 |
 |
Fire/Rock | Sinnoh/Hisui | Cobalt Coastlands | Legends: Arceus | 2022 |
| Fast Attacks | Type | Category | Power | Accuracy | PP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fire Fang | Fire | Physical | 65 | 95% | 15 |
| Rock Smash | Fighting | Physical | 40 | 100% | 15 |
| Snarl | Dark | Special | 55 | 95% | 15 |
| Thunder Fang | Electric | Physical | 65 | 95% | 15 |
| Bite | Dark | Physical | 60 | 100% | 25 |
| Main Attacks | Type | Category | Power | Accuracy | PP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flamethrower | Fire | Special | 90 | 100% | 15 |
| Fire Blast | Fire | Special | 110 | 85% | 5 |
| Rock Slide | Rock | Physical | 75 | 90% | 10 |
| Wild Charge | Electric | Physical | 90 | 100% | 15 |
| Crunch | Dark | Physical | 80 | 100% | 15 |
| Psychic Fangs | Psychic | Physical | 85 | 100% | 10 |
| Scorching Sands | Ground | Special | 70 | 100% | 10 |
| Bulldoze | Ground | Physical | 60 | 100% | 20 |
| Return/Frustration | Normal | Physical | — | 100% | 20 |
- Bold indicates a move avaliable to only Hisuian Arcanine
- Italic indicates a move avaliable to both Arcanine and Hisuian Arcanine
Growlithe has always been a Generation 1 fan favourite, pitched early as “Legendary” and, yeah, while I do really like it, it’s also nothing too special. It is my understanding that Arcanine draws it’s inspiration from those Chinese Guardian Lion statues and I’ll be honest, I don’t think that comes through in the design at all, the only thing to allegedly make it so lion-like is it’s poofy face. Which, again, I really like by the way, it always bothered me how artists would often try to tone down how fluffy Arcanine is, but that’s always been one of it’s main appeals for me.
Hisuian Arcanine is a huge improvement on that front, at least when it comes to the concept of a mythical and ancient lion-dog, with it’s fur now spiralling like huge clouds of smoke.
Allow me to be a nerd for a second. For the longest time it was speculated that your Rival canonically had an Arcanine, with you picking the Fire starter and your Rival picking the Water starter. This was essentially debunked in Let’s Go, where in actuality it was you who picked the Grass starter, with your rival owning a Charizard in it’s place.
That makes complete sense. Charizard was the most difficult to raise and has an edgy and intimidating design, whereas Venusaur is the easiest to raise and is often portrayed as the strong, silent type. And in the manga, the main character even had a Bulbasaur, so yeah, I rest my case.
In Crystal specifically, you’re able to catch a Growlithe super early in the game. The problem is that it needs a Fire Stone to evolve, so make sure you have Schoolboy Alan from Route 36 on your phone, otherwise you’ll have to wait until Celadon City, in Kanto, in order to obtain a Fire Stone.
There’s not much you can do in terms of moveset though, you’ve got Fire Blast, Headbutt, Rest, and then I guess it’s ether Sunny Day or Sleep Talk. That makes the Mint Berry pretty useful on Arcanine!
On Hisuian Arcanine, you can simply just slap four attacking moves onto it, usually you’ll have Flare Blitz, Extreme Speed, Rock Slide, and then the last slot is debatable, probably ether Wild Charge, Crunch, or Close Combat.