What’s the difference between “thethical” and “legendary” Pokémon

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I always see some Pokémon being called "mythical" or "legendary", but I don't understand what makes a Pokémon mythical and what makes it legendary.

Is there any definition that differentiates a Pokémon as mythical or legendary, or is it the same thing? Or are these definitions only informal?

Best Answer

In short, Mythical Pokémon are a subset of Legendary Pokémon.

A Legendary Pokémon is characterized by its rarity, its inability to spawn offspring of its own evolutionary chain, and its presence in the lore. Usually, only a single Legendary Pokémon of its species exist in a game, and it is encountered by interacting with it outside of battle or by other special means. Some examples of Legendary Pokémon are Articuno, Raikou, Heatran, Mewtwo, Thundurus, and Zygarde.

A Mythical Pokémon is a Legendary Pokémon whose main method of acquisition is out-of-game, real world distributions such as online events or codes given at specific stores. Mythical Pokémon cannot be encountered by just playing through a game. Some examples of Mythical Pokémon are Mew, Victini, Jirachi, Arceus, and Volcanion.