Who's That Pokémon? #109 Koffing

#109 Koffing (a.k.a. Dogas)

Bulbapedia Article

While the initial English name for this Pokémon was "Ny" (after the smoggy skies of New York), it was eventually dubbed Koffing (as in coughing).  The Japanese name (which appears with a few Romanized spellings such as "Dogars" or "Dogasu") is based on dō for "bad" or possibly "poisonous" and gas.  It is literally a ball of poison gas, based on a floating naval mine, due to its tendency to explode spontaneously.

From the Pokédex: Its thin, balloon-like body is inflated by horribly toxic gases. It reeks when it is nearby.  Because it stores several kinds of toxic gases in its body, it is prone to exploding without warning.

Because it lives such a short, violent life, it lacks intelligence and carries a dopey, unassuming smile on its face at all times.  Apparently, the skin of a Koffing is as thin as a balloon, although in other media, he creates a metallic hollow sound when hit, suggesting a strong, thick skin.  Koffing is the anti-Jigglypuff.

Generation I Moveset and Strategy

Smog- and smoke-based attacks are Koffing's bread while his self-destructive explosive attacks are his butter.  Poison Pokémon aren't very strong in the first generation, so Koffing's best strategy includes annoying its opponent with inconveniences, and then taking it out in a suicidal blaze of glory.  Koffing is not going to be a main attacker on the team, for obvious reasons.

Sludge - Poison Explosion - Normal SmokeScreen - Normal Haze - Ice

Sludge is the strongest Poison attack in the game, and it supplies a decent chance of poisoning the opponent as well.  Explosion is obviously the last resort heavy hitter with the largest amount of base damage.  Now, while a Weezing moveset relies on various elemental attacks to round out the coverage, I picked two moves to play a little more defensively.  SmokeScreen lowers the opponent's accuracy which forces to opponent to switch if they plan on hitting Koffing (and since Double-Team is a banned move for raising evasion, this is the next best thing).  Haze is only really good in Stadium where it resets all conditions of both Pokémon, including statuses and stat-modifiers.  This is to help make sure Explosion stays strong and available for Koffing when he needs it.

Generation I Sprites

  

The infamous "upside-down Koffing" plagued Americans for a long time (at least until Yellow was released).  We were unaware that the Red/Green sprite had gotten it correct and thought there was just a great constrast between the games and the anime or other images of Koffing.  Personally, the flip-flopped version has grown on me.  The other two are fine sprites, but the "mistake" has a lot of character to it.  Of course, if I had to pick one to put in the games, the original would be my pick, with its cool "smoke hands."

Generation I Locations

Koffing are only available in the Pokémon Mansion in Red/Green/Blue.  They don't even make an appearance in the wild in Yellow, due to it being one of Team Rocket's signature Pokémon.  Making their home in an abandoned laboratory fits with their accidentally-man-made nature.

However, in Pokémon Snap, a trio of Koffing live in the Cave on Pokémon Island, bothering the local Jigglypuff.  So, either they emigrated from the abandoned Tunnel, or there might actually be some naturally occurring Koffing in the wild.

Notable Generation I Koffing

1) James's Koffing (Yellow, anime, and The Electric Tale of Pikachu)

James nearly always uses his Koffing to make a quick getaway or to cover up a crime, but as his main Pokémon, it's clear that there is a lot of love between the two.  Plus, all children are familiar with his hilarious cry of "Koffing!" (My friends used to say "Coffee!" whenever mentioning the drink as a reference to this.)  He was omnipresent, even though he was just used as a prop.

2) Ken's Koffing (Pokémon Gotta Catch 'Em All)

One of Shu's many rivals in the GDZ manga, Ken is a famous guitar player who mainly uses a Koffing for distraction purposes.  It's interesting because, while I don't like looking ahead too far in the franchise, we will see another guitarist who specializes in Koffing many years from now.

3) Super Nerd's Koffing (Red/Green/Blue/Yellow and Pokémon Stadium)

Koffing appears frequently on the team of two trainer types: Super Nerds and Bikers.  But since Super Nerds tend to only use the younger variety of this evolutionary family, I'll talk about them for now.  Unlike most criminal characters who are attracted to Koffing, Super Nerds enjoy the scientific anomaly aspect of these creatures.  Combined with other artificial Pokémon, Super Nerds study the gases emitted to better understand this creature's origins and capabilities.

4) Team Rocket's Koffing (Red/Green/Blue/Yellow, Pokémon Stadium, and TCG)

And then Team Rocket (Grunts and Scientists) just like to use them because they are poisonous and harmful to the public.  Hmm, apparently Koffing were discovered in a weapons factory.  Are they inherently evil as a result?

5) Koga's Many Koffing (Red/Green/Blue, Pokémon Adventures, Pocket Monsters, and TCG)

Koga has a lot of Koffing.  Two in the games, and many more in other various canon.  Being a ninja, Koga probably is attracted to the SmokeScreen move, which can disguise him and allow him to move around undetected.  He's always saying that there is a link between ninjas and Poison types, but his fondness for Koffing show that he primarily likes the smoke.

Final Thoughts

For some reason, Koffing has become the mascot of two important Pokémon fansites, Dogasu's Backpack and Smogon University.  Not that I'm complaining, I just found it odd that this random (and admittedly, not very strong) Pokémon is so popular that he warrants such a fanbase.  The sites explore more in-depth analysis of the media and games, which goes against Koffing's simple nature.  I guess the old saying is true: "Every Pokémon is somebody's favorite."

Koffing's Verdict - Don't Gotta Catch 'Em (Unless He's Your Favorite)