Bidoof is a meme. He is a phenomenon. Where did the love for this weird little beaver guy come from? He certainly wasn't always this popular, and he's not actually that good of a Pokémon.
A large part of Bidoof's fame is due to his nature as an "HM slave" — the unofficial (and kinda mean) term used to describe a Pokémon that you keep in your party specifically to learn all of the useful real-world moves in the game. You don't want your championship Pokémon to have to learn a move like Flash or Rock Smash, after all — they might be vital for traversing the world, but they're absolute pants in battle.

Bidoof — or more specifically, his evolution Bibarel — can learn Cut, Strength, Rock Smash, Rock Climb, and even Surf and Waterfall, because beavers can swim. That's six out of the eight HMs in Diamond and Pearl! And finally, Nintendo and The Pokémon Company themselves have confirmed Bidoof's place in our hearts as the Guy We Keep Around Because He's Useful by featuring him in this role in an official trailer.
We see our beaver boy being used to Cut, Surf, and Rock Climb, even though there are tons of other Pokémon they could have used to show off these moves.
Of course, it's far from the first time that The Pokémon Company have lavished love on Bidoof. They made a fancam for April Fools' Day, held a Bidoof Day with special Bidoof prizes and merch, and Bidoofified Pokémon GO to celebrate him.
It's the Year of Bidoof, and we certainly aren't complaining. All hail the underappreciated workhorsebeaver of Pokémon Diamond & Pearl.
Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl will bring next-gen Bidoofery to the Nintendo Switch on November 19th, 2021... but sadly, there's no special Bidoof Edition Nintendo Switch to match the Dialga and Palkia ones.
...Yet.
[source youtu.be]
Comments 33
That subtitle though 😂
Bidoof is probably the only stuffed animal Pokémon I’d want in my house. I’m 35. Bidoof is stuffed animal-able.
Nice beaver!
My God, that article tagline... genius.
That’s pretty badoof
Get it? Like bada-aw forget it.
Always been a friend - Bidoof ♪
On it, you depend - Bidoof ♫
Bidoof gonna stand its ground, and stay true ♬
Never gonna doubt Bidoof, now I'm gonna shout "Bidoof!" 🎶
Everybody loves Bidoof, and it loves you ♡
@CharlieGirl
Never gonna Bidoof you up,
Never gonna let you Bidoof,
Never gonna tell Bidoof,
And Bidoof you...
Of course, they ruin HMs they were better in the past smh
@Ooyah we don't need water gun, let the Flaming Moltres burn
[saucily] I’m A Bidoooooof 4 U.
@CodyMKW Are you a masochist?
@CodyMKW How? The original DPPt were the worst in the franchise for HMs and field moves. To carry them all you needed three Pokemon.
This game is copying Sun & Moon with the Poketch acting as the PokeRide pager. It's a much better system, allowing players to develop full teams without having to worry about getting stuck.
Bidoof's mood swings can destroy reality.
Tweet Bidoof in Twitter.
You can thank me later.
@CodyMKW true the new HM system is bad it takes out what made the series fun
uh, people are complaining about NOT having to have HM slaves anymore?? O_o
@Chocobo_Shepherd @JugOfVoodoo @Bret
The HM system was archaic and cumbersome. However, it was also effective, because it gave you the sense that you were not only building a Pokemon team for competitive battling, but also building a team to explore the world of Pokemon.
In the older games, the point was never to simply build a team of 6 Pokemon solely for battling. The world around you was supposed to be dangerous and treacherous, and you needed to bring the right Pokemon, with the right abilities, a.k.a. HM's, with you in order to successfully navigate the environment. It meant something to older players that you had to catch your own water Pokemon and train it the right ability in order to navigate across the water.
In contrast, Sun/Moon's PokeRide feels arbitrary. A Sharpedo or Charizard would just appear out of thin air to help you, and then poof, it was gone! Where did it come from? And where did it go?
Sure, from a convenience standpoint, it was an improvement! Simply press A to blast through the ocean on a Sharpedo! No waiting; all fun!
But simply generating a free Pokemon out of nowhere to do things for you, at no cost, feels infinitely more superficial.
True, HM's needed to be overhauled as the generations wore on, just like how Pokemon types were split between physical and special attacks, or how Pokemon Abilities were added. HM's needed to be separated from attacks, into a third tier; from Pokemon Attacks, and Pokemon Abilities, to Pokemon Skills.
As it is now, you're simply catching your own Pokemon to build a competitive battling team. And the overworld feels so watered down that it is now nothing more than a pretty, interactive menu, simply getting you very conveniently from one Pokemon battle to the next.
The challenge, or in other words the satisfaction, of a Pokemon game consisted of two integral components: battling with your Pokemon, and exploring the world of Pokemon. The second component feels a lot less meaningful without using your own Pokemon to overcome it.
@JugOfVoodoo Yeah, DP was sooo bad. Ky brother had just figured out cart hacking and gave me two hm slaves with all 8 HMs, and I just always had to carry the stupid things, with how much you constantly faced waist high trees and small rocks for no reason. I can't imagibe how it was if you had to spread the HMs out further
They also confirmed that this isn't YOUR Bibarel that needs to know the HMs but a wild one. So RIP double Bibarel teams…
I mean , its not as bad a being a breeding slave , ditto has it real tough....
Peanut Butter-oh wait wrong series.
@Ulysses I really don't play the games for competitive battling. I actually really don't enjoy competitive gaming =P Just wanted to clarify that.
As for the rest, I see where you're coming from and we can agree to disagree.
@Chocobo_Shepherd @Ulysses And I fully enjoy competitive battling. But like, even as a kid exploring the world of Pokemon for the first time in Blue version, I thought it was annoying that my mons were just stuck with the garbage Cut move forever.
@Ulysses Well said.
@Bret @Chocobo_Shepherd Oh whoops! I didn't mean competitive PvP, I just meant Pokemon battling in general as a core component to the franchise.
@Bret Exactly
@Kieroni You didn't need to hack - just pair a Bibarel with either a Drifblim (Fly, Cut, Defog, Flash) or Lumineon (Surf, Waterfall, Defog, Flash). The leftover move (Surf or Waterfall with Drifblim, Fly with Lumineon) should be easy to fit on one of your battlers. But besides that I totally agree with you.
@Ulysses "It meant something to older players..." I am anti-HM because I'm an older player. (I was in high school when Red & Blue came out.) I got sick of HMs affecting my team and move selection; I want to go on an adventure with the Pokemon I like, not just the ones who can get me past obstacles.
@JugOfVoodoo The old HM system was better, you must have never played the old games before 🤷🏻♀
@JugOfVoodoo I was nine, and it was the first Pokemon game that was actually mine, and my brother was 16 and very excited at the new and shiny world of rom hacking.
@NinTasha Pokemon is my favorite franchise. I was 15 when Red & Blue came out. I have played multiple games in every generation, including all six of the Gen 1 and 2 games.
It's BECAUSE I've played them all that I'm against HMs. I long ago grew tired of losing team members and move slots to field moves. No other RPG asks you to sacrifice combat functionality for overworld mobility.
@Bret
You do know you could just take them to the move deleter right?
I'm neither for nor against HMs existing but I always wished that they were used more for accessing hidden or secret locations where maybe you could find rare items, or rare Pokémon were a little easier to find or even Pokémon with better IVs were found like guaranteed 2 or 3 Max random IVs; instead of blocking your progress through the world.
@miniMewtwo Yeah. The move deleter. The Gen 1 move deleter. Sure, sounds real. After that I'll go use Strength on the truck at the S.S. Anne dock after defeating the Elite Four 100 times so I can catch a Pikablu.
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...