20 things you never knew about Pokemon

Pokemon X and Y are on the horizon, so we think it's time to brush up on all things Pokemon in preparation.

Knowing all the obvious stuff is boring, though, so let's give you some crazy, random factoids about the ridiculously popular creature-catching franchise.

From real-world connections to number-based nods and freaky Pokedex entries, there are plenty of secrets to be found in the Pokemon world.

Read on to prepare yourself for the oncoming Pokemon onslaught.

1. Did you ever feel like there were an abundance of Water-type Pokemon across the franchise? You wouldn't be wrong there. There's a total of 109 Water-types, who make up a whopping 16.8 percent of all Pokemon. Water is easily the most common type. 2. Talking of Water Pokemon, did you know that the swirls on the belly of Poliwag and Poliwhirl resemble those of a real-life tadpole? Given that Poliwag is a tadpole, this makes a great deal of sense.
^{Image credit: Dipper Ranch} 3. Normal-type Pokemon Spinda is an interesting one. This sort of panda / rabbit hybrid has randomly placed spots on its face. Oh, and there are around 4 billion variations to be found in the game. Good luck catching all of those! 4. When a female Azurill evolves into Marill, there is a 33 percent chance that it will change gender. No one from the Pokemon team has ever confirmed whether this was intended or was a programming error. 5. The Pokedex entries for Kadabra are a bit freaky. In the Emerald entry, it's suggested that a boy experimenting with psychic powers transformed into the Pokemon. In the FireRed entry, this story is confirmed as true (the boy woke up one morning to find himself transformed into Kadabra). 6. Have you ever noticed that Doduo can learn the Fly attack despite the fact that it doesn't have any wings? There are plenty of other examples like this - Diglett, for example, can somehow scratch despite not having any arms / claws, while Wooper can learn to Ice Punch despite not having any arms. 7. Let's play the numbers game. Did you ever notice that the names of Legendary Pokemon Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres contain the numbers 'one', 'two', and 'three' in Spanish? 8. That's not all - Legendary Pokemon Deino, Zweilous, and Hydreigon contain the numbers 'one', 'two', and 'three' in German. (Okay, Deino doesn't quite contain the German word 'eins', but you get the drift.) 9. More number magic... have you ever noticed that Pikachu is number 25 in the original Pokedex and Meowth is number 52? It's like a number-flipping game of cat and mouse. 10. Oh, you're enjoying the numbers? How about this, then? In the original Pokedex, Hitmonchan is number 107, right? Meanwhile, Little Mac, the hero from Nintendo's popular Punch-Out!! series, weighs 107 pounds. Right hook to the face! Kapow. 11. Okay, I'll leave the numbers alone after this one, I promise. Ghost and Dark Pokemon Spiritomb must love the number 108, since its Pokedex number is 108, it is made up of 108 spirits, its base Defense stats are both 108, and it weighs 108 kilograms. A reference to the Buddhist practice of chasing away 108 temptations, perhaps? Hmmmm. 12. Where is the Pokemon world based, anyway? On our dear old planet, apparently. In two of the Pokedex entries for Parasect, you see, there is reference to the Bug and Grass Pokemon's spores being used as medicine in China. 13. Wobbuffet is a weird Pokemon for plenty of reasons, but one of the most interesting points about this Psychic creature is that it is the only fully evolved Pokemon that cannot learn any TM or HM moves. 14. Ever looked at the Goldenrod City gym from above? Probably not. Then, you won't have noticed that the obstacles in the gym are positioned to resemble a Clefairy. 15. Here's something rather important that not many people know: if your Pokemon is burned, not only will it lose HP each turn, but the attack power of its physical moves is also halved. 16. Are you a fan of palindromes (words that read the same backwards and forwards)? So are Eevee, Girafarig, and Ho-oh, apparently. 17. This is one of those Pokemon legends that has been passed around for many years but has never been confirmed. Both Mew and Ditto weigh 8.8 pounds; know Transform from the get-go; are pink in color (yet blue when "shiny"); and can learn any move (temporarily in Ditto's case, of course). A coincidence? I beg to differ. 18. Talk about facing your fears! Nidoqueen, Nidoking, Rhydon, Tyranitar, Aggron, Rampardos, and Rhyperior are all able to learn Surf yet they are all weak to water. Perhaps they use a surfboard, à la Pikachu in Pokemon Yellow? 19. Have you ever noticed that the move Fire Blast appears to be designed in a specific shape? That's a '?', a.k.a. the Japanese kanji symbol for 'fire'. 20. And we can't finish up without mentioning the dear old professors. Each of your mentors is named after a type of tree. So, yep, Oak, Elm, Birch, and Rowan. Oh, and what about the Ash tree? Treeky!