A Mini-Lesson On: Pseudo-Legendary and Semi-Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon

You may have heard the term "pseudo-legendary" in the past and thought: "Hey, what does that mean?" You're familiar with the almighty legendary Pokémon, from Mew to Zygarde, but what about the pseudo-legendaries? And, just to make things even more complicated, what about the semi-pseudo-legendaries? Well, I'll be talking about them, too.

Psuedo-legendaries are considered pseudo-legendary usually because:
- Their base stat total is 600.
- They can be found more than once.
- They can breed.
- They are part of a three-stage evolution sequence.


As of Generation VI, the pseudo-legendary Pokémon are: Dragonite, Tyranitar, Salamence, Metagross, Garchomp, Hydreigon, and Goodra.



(from alternative-pokemon-art)
 
While pseudo-legendary are very powerful and relatively common in today's competitive world, there are also some other Pokémon that are mistaken for pseudo-legendaries, but actually aren't. These semi-pseudo-legendaries typically lack the base stat total of 600, evolutionary stages, etc.

The semi-pseudo-legendary Pokémon are: Kingdra, Slaking, Flygon, Aggron, Haxorus, Lucario, Zoroark, Volcarona, and Noivern. While some of these Pokémon are incredibly powerful in their own right, they cannot fulfill the requirements to be considered pseudo-legendary. Additionally, in certain cases, a semi-pseudo is prevented from becoming a pseudo-legendary because of a special conditions prevalent in its species. Slaking overpowers Groudon and Kyogre in Attack, but its Ability, Truant, makes it so that it moves once every two turns.