A is for… Mudkips?
By Giania • Mar 31st, 2008 at 1:51 pm • Category: Articles of Interest, Guides, Memes, Nature| Hot: |  | | | |  |
Ok, not really. My good friend Kento over at Uglorable has composed an AMAZING compendium of obscure animals – one for each letter of the alphabet – entitled: Obscure Animal Alphabet: Axolotl to Zebu.
For letter A is the Axolotl, which HAS to be the inspiration for that internet famous Pokémon, Mudkips.
Exhibit A: 
Exhibit B: 
Sure there’s color differences, but that’s pretty minor all things considered.
As you go down the list, you realize that the creators of Pokémon were clearly influenced by nature itself. Sure, they take a lot of liberties, but in terms of creature design, it’s clear they went straight for nature’s bounty.
Even if you couldn’t care less about video games, Pokémon, or internet memes, I’d still recommend checking out this animal alphabet. Every letter is an adventure, there’s a photo of each unique animal, and a description of each one! It’s like Zoo Books, only awesome.
[...] a PDF on scientists’ attempts to study the development and regeneration of axolotls, which as we learned earlier today, are the closest thing we get to Mudkips on this side of our Quantum Reality Tunnel. Science will [...]
[...] people didn’t seem to mind at all. Indeed some even seemed to embrace the siren song of the anime rendition of an axolotl forever om nom nom nom-ing in their profiles and various visited [...]
Actually, Wooper is the axolotl pokémon: http://www.pokemondb.co.uk/images/artwork/wooper.png
Don’t know about Mudkip, though…
I just pulled up the wikipedia page for the axolotl and you’re absolutely right: “Japan (sold under the name wooper rooper (ウーパールーパー Ūpā Rūpā?))”
Although you could still make a resemblance case for the mudkips. Frilly protrusions, correct number of legs (whereas Wooper only has 2), tail.
Although the description and photo of the mudpuppy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Necturus_maculosus_maculosus.jpg suggest that perhaps this similar creature was the Mudkips inspiration, and not the axolotl.
Then again, Pokemon seem to become somewhat repetative as the game releases progress, and they may BOTH be inspired by the axolotl.