Meltan

Meltan is a species of fictional creatures called Pokémon created for the Pokémon media franchise. Developed by Game Freak and published by Nintendo, the Japanese franchise began in 1996 with the video games Pokémon Red and Green for the Game Boy, which were later released in North America as Pokémon Red and Blue in 1998.^[4] In these games and their sequels, the player assumes the role of a Trainer whose goal is to capture and use the creatures' special abilities to combat other Pokémon. Some Pokémon can transform into stronger species through a process called evolution via various means, such as exposure to specific items.^[5] Each Pokémon has one or two elemental types, which define its advantages and disadvantages when battling other Pokémon.^[6] A major goal in each game is to complete the Pokédex, a comprehensive Pokémon encyclopedia, by capturing, evolving, and trading with other Trainers to obtain individuals from all Pokémon species.^[5]

Meltan was created for Pokémon Go, an augmented reality game mobile phone component of the Pokémon franchise where players traverse the world around them and capture Pokémon at designated locations. During the game's planning, series director Junichi Masuda had wanted to debut a new species of Pokémon with the title, and worked with Go's developers Niantic to that end.^[1] The character was revealed in-game in September 2018, via an event that was originally intended to highlight the Pokémon Chikorita.^[7] Masuda had planned instead to introduce Meltan at this time, something kept secret from not only players, but people within the company itself. The decision on how to approach it was handed jointly between Masuda, The Pokémon Company's public relations team, and Niantic. Masuda in particular was cautious on how to approach its debut, as he wanted players to see "a cute Pokémon right from the start", and felt if handled wrong they may instead be repulsed by its sudden appearance.^[8] Calling Meltan the first Pokémon to be discovered by players of the game in the real world,^[9] he ultimately found the reaction had been "generally really positive" and appreciated how quickly fan art appeared online after its debut.^[1]

Standing 8 in (20 cm) tall,^[11] Meltan has a grey liquid metal body with short arms, a tail in the shape of a red wire with two exposed copper points, a large head shaped like a golden hardware nut, and a grey singular eye that hovers in the middle of its head.^[12] Its eye is made of gallium, and takes on various shapes as its means to convey facial expressions along with the movement of its tail. Meltan's nut-shaped head can temporarily detach from its body.^[10] Its primary means of attack is an eye laser, using energy it collects with its body.^[13] Classified as a Steel-type Pokémon, it is also considered a Mythical Pokémon,^[11] a particularly special and rare type of Pokémon usually only given to players at special distribution events.^[14] Unlike other Mythical Pokémon, Meltan can evolve into the Pokémon Melmetal after being given 400 Meltan Candies, an item in Go.^[11] This aspect was the result of Game Freak wanting the character to be emblematic of Pokémon Go's capture mechanics, where players collect candy via repeatedly catching many of the same species of Pokémon.^[9]

Though Niantic oversaw Go's development, Meltan was created by the staff at Game Freak. In an interview, Masuda stated he gave specific setting directions revolving around a hardware nut to one of their designers, who according to him "was also a fan of the original games and played them as a kid, so he had a really good idea of what I was looking for". Masuda felt the species' finalized appearance reflected many elements of Pokémon created for Red and Blue, and that the designer tried to keep it as "simple as possible", reflecting a basic ideal contrasting with the series' more modern designs. Satisfied with the results, they presented it to Niantic's development team, who incorporated the character into the game.^[1] Masuda stated that Meltan was created out of a "desire to build a bridge between the players of the core Pokémon series and players of Pokémon Go", with the development team wanting to satisfy both groups.^[10]

Meltan first appeared in the spin-off augmented reality Pokémon game Pokémon Go. It was added to the game following an in-game event, and appeared in the wild with no explanation given for its appearance. Meltan appeared without a name, and once captured by players, would be revealed to be a Ditto that had shapeshifted into Meltan. It additionally appeared alongside the arrival of Kecleon, a Pokémon species which was at that point unobtainable in the game, with the Kecleon similarly transforming into Ditto upon being captured.^[15] Meltan's icons in the game's code were also labelled "Kecleon."^[16] Players speculated over whether Meltan was a placeholder or an actual Pokémon species.^[17] Meltan's name was unknown, leading to fan nicknames such as "Nutto" being used to describe it prior to its official reveal.^[13]

Meltan was officially revealed a few days later, with confirmation that Meltan could be transferred from Go to the Nintendo Switch games Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee!.^[18] Several trailers were released to promote Meltan's inclusion in the games.^[19][20] Meltan's ability to evolve was teased in October of 2018,^[20] and its evolution, Melmetal, was revealed shortly after.^[21] Meltan can be obtained in Go by linking Let's Go and Go together, allowing players to obtain an item called the "Mystery Box." When used, the Mystery Box allows players to encounter Meltan in Go's overworld for an allotted period of time.^[21] Meltan can only evolve into Melmetal in Go; Melmetal is only obtainable in the Let's Go! games via being transferred from Go.^[21] An alternate coloration of Meltan, referred to as a "Shiny" form, is obtainable in special, limited time events in Go.^[22][23] Meltan later re-appeared in the 2019 games Pokémon Sword and Shield, where it is not obtainable in the games naturally, but can be transferred in through the storage app Pokémon Home.^[24] Both Meltan and Melmetal appear in the Mega Dimensions downloadable content in Pokémon Legends: Z-A and are obtainable in a sidequest.^[25]

Outside of video games, Meltan appeared in the Pokémon anime, where one was captured by protagonist Ash Ketchum, and later evolves into Melmetal.^[26] For these appearances, it was voiced by Samantha Cooper in English,^[2] and by Kenta Miyake in Japanese.^[3] Meltan also appears briefly in a cameo in the manga series One Piece following a collaboration between it and Go in 2019.^[27] In physical media and merchandise, Meltan has appeared in the Pokémon Trading Card Game,^[28][29] while in 2022 the Pokémon Online Shop released a life-sized Meltan plush.^[30]