Pokemon Black and White spotlight: Nageki and Dageki

It's no wonder that Black and White introduced two sets of Psychic/Flying Pokemon (Koromori and its evolution Kokoromori, plus Shimbora), because this generation also debuts four families of pure Fighting types (Psychic and Flying are Fighting's two weaknesses). This week's spotlight focuses on two vaguely related Fighting-type Pokemon that are clearly throwbacks to the original Red and Blue generation – Nageki and Dageki are the Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan of Black and White.

Nageki
#044 Unova / #538 National
Type: Fighting
Species classification: Judo Pokemon
Abilities:
Guts – Boosts Attack stat by 50% when user has status ailment
Inner Focus – Prevents user from flinching
Dream World abilities: Mold Breaker – disables opponents' abilities
Location found (Black/White): Routes 10, 15, 18, Yaguruma Forest (more common in White)
Wild hold items: Black Belt (rare)
Egg groups: Humanshape
Capture rate: 45
Gender ratio: Male only
Experience at lvl 100: 1,000,000
Base stats: 120 HP / 100 Atk / 85 Def / 30 SAtk / 85 SDef / 45 Spd / 465 Total
Effort values: 2 HP
Evolution family: None

More defense-oriented than its counterpart Dageki, Nageki is definitely the Hitmonchan of this Fighting-type duo. He's yet another Pokemon in Black and White that appears to be wearing clothes, and closely resembles a judo master. Nageki learns one of his most interesting move options at level 37 with Overhead Throw, a base power 60 physical attack that also switches your opponent's Pokemon out of battle and brings out the the next one in line. Because of his high defense, he's also good candidate for a Substitute (TM90) strategy.

Just because Nageki is this generation's Hitmonchan though, don't expect everything about him to be the same – his stats are actually distributed quite a bit differently. Most notably, Nageki's HP is over twice as high (base 120 vs base 50), but his speed and special defense are considerably lower than Hitmonchan's.

Dageki
#045 Unova / #539 National
Type: Fighting
Species classification: Karate Pokemon
Abilities:
Sturdy – Leaves 1 HP when Pokemon would otherwise be one-hit KOed
Inner Focus – Prevents user from flinching
Dream World abilities: Mold Breaker – disables opponents' abilities
Location found (Black/White): Routes 10, 15, 18, Yaguruma Forest (more common in Black)
Wild hold items: Black Belt (rare)
Egg groups: Humanshape
Capture rate: 45
Gender ratio: Male only
Experience at lvl 100: 1,000,000
Base stats: 75 HP / 125 Atk / 75 Def / 30 SAtk / 75 SDef / 85 Spd / 465 Total
Effort values: 2 Attack
Evolution family: None

Clearly meant as a physical attacker, Dageki is still a well-rounded Pokemon stats-wise except for his dismal special attack. Dageki's attack stat slightly edges out his twin Hitmonlee's (base 125 vs base 120), and his HP and defense are considerable higher too, although Dageki lacks the ultra-high special defense of Hitmonlee. Like Nageki, Dageki's level-up movepool is a smorgasbord of STAB physical attacks, so load him up with a few moves that will really take advantage of Dageki's natural talents. Speaking of nature, you really can't go wrong with Adamant (+Attack, -Special Attack) on any of the Fighting types mentioned in this article, since you won't be using any special attacks whatsoever with them.

Side note: Why so many pure Fighting-types based on manly humanshapes? I think it would have been cool if one of the Pokemon in the Nageki/Dageki duo were based on a more feminine concept. Just a thought!