Hoopa is a psychic and ghost-type Mythical Pokemon introduced in Pokemon X and Y with two forms: Hoopa Confined (the main form of Hoopa) and Hoopa Unbound, a form which turns into a psychic and dark-type. As a Mythical Pokemon, Hoopa is similar to a Legendary Pokemon although it is still presented as rarer than Legendary Pokemon. Hoopa Confined turns into its alternate, also Mythical form, Hoopa Unbound by using the Prison Bottle, a Key Item introduced in Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. Like other Mythical and Legendary Pokemon with signature moves, Hoopa Confined is the only known Pokemon that can learn the move Hyperspace Hole.
About Hoopa
| First appearance in anime | Hoopa's Surprise Ring Adventure |
| First appearance in game | X and Y |
| Region | Kalos |
| Evolution | N/A |
| 1st Evo level | N/A |
| 2nd Evo level | N/A |
| Pokedex Entry | This troublemaker sends anything and everything to faraway places using its loop, which can warp space. It gathers things it likes and passes them through its loop to teleport them to a secret place. |
Hoopa Base stats
Hoopa Confined:
| HP | 80 |
| ATTACK | 110 |
| DEFENCE | 60 |
| SP. ATTACK | 150 |
| SP. DEFENCE | 130 |
| SPEED | 70 |
| TOTAL | 600 |
Hoopa Unbound:
| HP | 80 |
| ATTACK | 160 |
| DEFENCE | 60 |
| SP. ATTACK | 170 |
| SP. DEFENCE | 130 |
| SPEED | 80 |
| TOTAL | 680 |
Appearance
In its Confined form, Hoopa is a vaguely humanoid, light-purple Pokemon with three gold rings. It has one large one around its lower body and one hanging loosely on each of its dark grey horns on either side of its head. Hoopa has a dark pink, V-shaped marking on the chest, a golden spike on each shoulder and its arms are not connected but instead Hoopa’s arms float next to its body. Not only that, both its arms have a small golden spike similar to the spikes on its shoulders and its hands resemble mittens with dark pink rings around each wrist. Hoopa has green eyes with yellow sclera, a pink dot under each eye with a yellow ring marking on its forehead and a small, dark pink hair tied into a short ponytail. Hoopa has a wispy tail instead of legs.
Behavior
Hoopa is known for being a mischievous Pokemon and the rings on Hoopa's body are capable of warping space, allowing it to transport items by passing them through its hoops. Hoopa Confined is the only known Pokemon that can learn the move Hyperspace Hole.
Strengths and Weaknesses
Hoopa Confined has high special attack and special defense stats with a relatively high attack stat. As a psychic and ghost-type, Hoopa is weak to ghost and dark-types, immune to normal and fighting-types, and resistant to poison and psychic-types. When it changes form, Hoopa Unbound becomes a dark-type instead of a ghost-type and has the signature move, Hyperspace Fury. Due to being a psychic and dark-type, Hoopa Unbound has no resistance, is weak to bug and fairy-types, and immune to psychic-types. In this form, Hoopa Unbound has its attack, special attack, and speed stats raised.
Shiny Hoopa
Shiny Hoopa is a version of Hoopa which is gold in color. Shiny Hoopa is not actually available, since Hoopa is shiny locked.
Hoopa Unbound
Hoopa Confined turns into Hoopa Unbound by using the Prison Bottle, a Key Item introduced in Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. The Prison Bottle can be obtained by having Hoopa in the party and entering a Poke Mart. Hoopa Unbound is Hoopa’s other form which exists as a large, six-armed, bipedal Pokemon. It is mostly light blue with fuschia fur and hair instead of Hoopa Confined, which has lighter pink hair. The ponytail on Hoopa’s head is larger and bushier with two golden rings holding it in place and the fuschia hair now covers the back of its neck and its chin, where it forms a pointed beard.
Hoopa Unbound’s horns are not as curved and have spiky purple hair around the bases with three gold rings on each horn: two around the base and one around the middle. Hoopa Unbound has yellow eyes white sclerae, along with a pointed, dark gray nose, and prominent fangs in the back of its lower jaw. There is a small hole inside of the ring-marking on its forehead and a gold ring that encircles a hole in the center of its chest. Instead of a small, gold spike, the arms have large, dark gray spikes which appear from holes along the sides of its body. Like Hoopa, its arms float next to its body and each arm has three fingers with dark gray claws, a gold ring around the wrist, and a gold ring surrounding the base.
Hoopa Unbound has tufts of fuschia hair that surrounds its torso, a purple stripe that widens at the knee on each leg, and two gold rings encircling each ankle. Its feet are gold and curl upward at the tips with a tail with a purple stripe along the top and an arrow-shaped tip. In this form, Hoopa is said to have the power to bend dimension and it also has the ability to control and summon powerful Legendary Pokemon as seen within its movie. Hoopa Unbound becomes a dark-type instead of a ghost-type and has the signature move, Hyperspace Fury and in this form, Hoopa Unbound has its attack, special attack, and speed stats raised.
Best moveset
In its Hoopa Confined form, Shadow Ball and Psychic serve as powerful STAB (same-type attack bonus) moves for Hoopa to use in order to act as a wallbreaker. Substitute allows Hoopa to make up for its relatively low defense and Thunderbolt serves as type coverage as well potentially paralyzing the opponent in order to act as speed control. In its Hoopa Unbound form, Hoopa is far better in battle, with Hyperspace Fury serving as an incredibly powerful STAB move that makes Hoopa Unbound a threatening wallbreaker. The moves Gunk Shot, Fire Punch, and Drain Punch all use Hoopa Unbound’s high attack in order to continue serving as a wallbreaker.
Hoopa Confined:
| Shadow Ball | Hyperspace Hole |
| Substitute | Thunderbolt |
Hoopa Unbound:
| Gunk Shot | Hyperspace Fury |
| Fire Punch | Drain Punch |
How to catch Hoopa in Pokemon Go?
Hoopa is not yet available in Pokemon Go.
Trivia
- Hoopa Unbound is tied with the Pokemon Mega Gyarados and Umbreon for the highest base special defense stat of any dark-type Pokemon.
- Hoopa Unbound has the highest base special attack stat of any dark-type Pokemon.
- Hoopa Unbound is tied with Mega Gyarados as the tallest dark-type Pokemon
- Hoopa is the only Pokemon introduced in Generation VI to have different Pokedex entries between Pokemon X and Y and Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire
- Hoopa Unbound is the only Pokemon with a base stat total of 680 that is not considered a Legendary Pokemon
- In Pokemon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, the "mysterious rings" in mirage spots resemble rings used by Hoopa
- Hoopa Confined may have been inspired by common depictions of djinn, particularly those with wisp-like tails with the rings around its wrists resembling the djinn in the story of Aladdin
- Hoopa Unbound may also have been inspired by djinn, though its six arms may be drawn from the Hindu deities known as Shakti, as well as the Gegenees, a tribe of six-armed giants who fought the Argonauts in Greek mythology
- Both forms of Hoopa could also be partly based on Nezha, a deity worshiped in Taoism and Chinese folk religion as a trickster deity and a worldly protector, since Nezha is depicted holding rings and is sometimes depicted with multiple arms
- Hoopa’s relationship with the Prison Bottle resembles the djinn's relationship with its lamp in traditional Arabian stories, since its full power is sealed within its respective vessel
- The fact that Hoopa is only able to maintain its Unbound state for three days parallels the number of wishes a djinni can grant to its current master
- Hoopa is derived from the words hoop (a circular band) and hoopla (something attention-grabbing, and potentially misleading)
FAQs
Is Hoopa a strong Pokemon?
While Hoopa is powerful, especially within its Unbound form, it is not the most powerful Pokemon when compared to other Mythical and Legendary Pokemon.
Is Hoopa a Legendary?
Hoopa is categorized as a Mythical Pokemon. As a Mythical Pokemon, Hoopa is similar to a Legendary Pokemon, although it is still presented as rarer than Legendary Pokemon since Mythical Pokemon are known for being so rare that people doubt their existence.
Can Hoopa summon Arceus?
Hoopa’s abilities would allow it to summon Arceus if it manages to catch it off-guard, but it wouldn’t be able to control Arceus in any way due to the sheer magnitude of power Arceus has in comparison.
Is Hoopa a boy or a girl?
Hoopa is a genderless Pokemon.
Conclusion
While Hoopa Confined may not seem much when compared to other Mythical Pokemon, Hoopa Unbound develops an effective typing due to it becoming a dark-type instead of a ghost-type and has a signature move, Hyperspace Fury. In this form, Hoopa Unbound has its attack, special attack, and speed stats raised to a degree which makes it act as a powerful wallbreaker.
