Design and characteristics
Cubone was one of 151 different designs conceived by Game Freak's character development team and finalized by Ken Sugimori for the first generation of Pocket Monsters games Red and Green, which were localized outside of Japan as Pokémon Red and Blue.[1][2] Originally called "Karakara" in Japanese, Nintendo decided to give the various Pokémon species "clever and descriptive names" related to their appearance or features when translating the game for western audiences as a means to make the characters more relatable to American children.[3] Originally, its name was to be "Orphon," in reference to the story of it losing its mother. The name Cubone may come from a combination of "cute" and "bone," because it is a young Pokémon.[4]Cubone, known as the Lonely Pokémon, appears to be a small, brown dinosaur-like Pokémon, that constantly wears its mother's skull like a helmet.[5] The skull masks its true face from view, which makes it a puzzlement for many Trainers and researchers.[6] Its cries echo within the skull and it comes out as a pained and sad melody.[5] On the night of a full moon, it cries, for it seems to recognize its mother's face in the moon.[7] Its tears create stains on the skull that it wears.[7] Cubone has a plump body with a paler-colored underbelly, with strong, clawed limbs to carry its bone as a weapon around wherever it goes. Cubone has a single, nailed toe on each foot, with two spikes on its back. A small tail is also present for balance, but it can be used for attacking.
