UNOWN

Visit now at Solaceon Ruins!

Glitch Unown Hex 31 from Pokemon Crystal with an inverted color palette
A wild UNOWN appeared!
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There are 230 glitch Unown in G/S/C! Their appearances and effects differ between the games, and can only be displayed in the Pokedex's Unown Mode without crashing the game. They can be encountered in battles with the use of cheats, though!

Unown is the only non-legendary Pokemon that isn't used by any in-game trainers in Diamond and Pearl - meaning you could end up needing one more Pokedex entry to get the National Dex in the postgame if you never encounter one at the Solaceon Ruins!

Pokemon has always been a big part of my life, and the older games are very dear to me. And like other fans I also have a favorite Pokemon: Unown!
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I can't say I thought about them very much as a kid, if anything I was rather disappointed after catching one in Solaceon Ruins and finding out that it. Wasn't very strong. And didn't learn many moves. In fact it only learns one move which isn't even that special as any other Pokemon that can learn TMs can also learn it, at least before the newer games. Needless to say the letters did not live up to expectations.
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Unown S Unown O Unown D Unown A

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That said, years passed and I came around on the little letters! And it's hard to pinpoint an exact reason for it. Maybe it was the implied lore that the games never really explored in detail and instead just threw the little guys at locations they wanted to make mysterious. Maybe it was that one movie with the Entei I saw as a kid and only barely remember anymore. Or maybe I just really like cryptic little letter guys! Living runes are pretty awesome after all.
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There's also just something delightful about a Pokemon that is supposedly very mythical and mysterious, only to have it be extremely common at the location it inhabits, have an abysmal movepool and not-very-good stats as a cherry on top.
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How to Shiny Hunt Unown in G/S/C

There is actually a way to increase your odds of finding a shiny Unown in the generation 2 games, and it involves taking advantage of the Unown's shininess being also tied to its forms! By only activating a single group of Unown from the lower-right chamber of Ruins of Alph (you need Surf and Flash for this one, the puzzle is Kabuto) you'll only activate the S, T, U, V, and W forms. Because both these forms and shininess are determined by IVs, and out of these five only V can be shiny, your odds of finding one will be somewhat higher than usual! It's still a low number of course, and I haven't calculated the exact odds, but it should make finding a shiny a bit easier! Just make sure you don't activate any other chambers, or you'll lower your odds!
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Full Alphabet

Here you can find gifs of the full Unown alphabet in their G/S/C aesthetic! I might add the shiny forms later.
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Letter Sprite
A Unown A
B Unown B
C Unown C
D Unown D
E Unown E
F Unown F
G Unown G
H Unown H
I Unown I
J Unown J
K Unown K
L Unown L
M Unown M
N Unown N
O Unown O
P Unown P
Q Unown Q
R Unown R
S Unown S
T Unown T
U Unown U
V Unown V
W Unown W
X Unown X
Y Unown Y
Z Unown Z

Fun fact: Unown can only be shiny in it's I and V forms in G/S/C due to the fact DVs (more commonly IVs) determine both a Pokemon's shininess and Unown's letter!

Shiny Unown I Shiny Unown V

The most popular competitive Unown sets give it Hidden Power Psychic with Choice Specs and either modest or timid nature. Other Hidden Power types are Ice and Fighting, but most people prefer the STAB bonus over those!