The region of Alola, based heavily on real-life Hawaii, is a land of strange turmoil, battling an invasion of weird inter-dimensional beings. Luckily, each of the four islands that make up Alola is protected by a guardian deity, the Tapus.
The guardian of Melemele Island, Tapu Koko, is the most famous of the quartet, featuring prominently in the story of Sun & Moon and the coordinating anime arc. This Electric/Fairy-type Legendary Pokémon is an interesting one and a powerful member of any team. Here is how you can catch Tapu Koko for yourself, and some other interesting things to note about it.
10 How To Catch
Whether you’re playing Sun & Moon or the sequels, Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon, the process of catching Tapu Koko is mostly the same.
First, you’ll have to have completed the game and become Champion by defeating the Elite Four and Professor Kukui. From there, head to the Ruins of Conflict on Melemele Island. Once you make contact with the Ruins, Tapu Koko will challenge you to a battle. It’s a speedy Pokémon with some good moves, so be on your quick wits. If you don’t want to use your Master Ball, stock up on Ultra Balls and prepare to use some quick strategy.
9 It’s A Chicken
It might not seem so at first, but Tapu Koko clearly resembles a chicken or rooster. This is evident when it closes its “shell,” where the beak, eyes, and wings become visible. It’s a strange marking choice but may take inspiration from Hawaiian mythology.
Each of the Tapus has some sort of resemblance to animals, with Tapu Lele resembling an insect’s compound eyes, Tapu Bulu featuring the details of a bull, and Tapu Fini looking somewhat like a swordfish or clam.
8 Thunder Absorption
According to its Pokédex entries, Tapu Koko has interesting abilities in terms of controlling thunder and lightning. It can summon thunderclouds at will and harness their lightning, storing it inside its body for its own use. It’s said to wield-lightning and can utilize it to attack.
This makes sense with Tapu Koko’s Electric-typing, as well as its ability. Electric Surge, its main ability, creates an electrically-charged battlefield when Tapu enters the fray. Electric Terrain boosts the power of Electric-type moves, as well as other effects.
7 Appearance In Smash
Every new entry in the Smash Bros. series has added new Pokémon to the Poké Ball item. These Pokémon will be released from the Ball on use and use a variety of different moves to aid or hinder the players.
In Smash Bros. Ultimate, Tapu Koko was added as a Poké Ball Pokémon. It will use its ability, Electric Surge, to electrify the terrain. This will stun opponents that land on it. It will also hover above the stage, shooting electric bolts out that harm the players who get in the way.
6 Very Lightweight
For a Pokémon that appears large and is a legendary deity, Tapu Koko is surprisingly light. At 5'11" (1.8 m), it stands taller than the average person. However, it only weighs 45.2 lbs (20.5 kg). This is probably in part due to the fact that it mostly a small sprite-like creature with some shell wings, meaning it doesn’t have much bulk to weigh it down.
Its counterpart, Tapu Bulu, is only four inches (0.1 m) taller but weighs more than twice as much — 100.3 lbs or 45.5 kg.
5 Inspiration
Hawaiian mythology has four great gods that guard the islands, one of which is Kūkaʻilimoku — typically referred to as Kū. These four deities, including Kanaloa, Kāne, and Lono, are the major gods in Hawaiian religion.
It’s believed that the four Tapus are based loosely on these four great gods in Hawaiian religion. This is fitting with Alola’s Hawaiian inspiration. Tapu Koko itself is said to be based on Kū, who is represented with feathered idols. This probably speaks to Tapu Koko’s resemblance to a rooster, as well. Each of the Tapus also looks like a section of a traditional totem pole.
4 Shiny In The Anime
A few lucky Pokémon have been seen in their shiny forms in the anime, including Ash’s Noctowl, Lance’s Gyarados, and Kimia’s Gardevoir. Tapu Koko is one of the special Pokémon that has been lucky enough to appear in its shiny form.
In “Battling the Beast Within!” a shiny version of Tapu Koko helped its normal-color variant open a portal to teleport Ash to the Ultra Ruin. This was not only a great introduction to the Ultra Dimension, but it showed off how great Tapu Koko’s shiny form is.
3 Guardian Deity
As mentioned, Tapu Koko is one of the four Island Guardians in the Alola Region, alongside Tapu Lele, Tapu Bulu, and Tapu Fini. These four Pokémon are each assigned to one of the four islands in Alola, where they protect the area from external threats. They are also tasked with selecting the Island Kahunas.
The four are said to have fended off an invasion from “the pillager of light,” Necrozma. They have also been tasked with guarding Cosmog until they grow up and evolve into Solgaleo (in Sun) or Lunala (in Moon). Occasionally, the four Tapus fight, which is the inspiration for the Battle Royal format.
2 One Fairy Move
Each of the four Tapus is a dual-type, with Fairy being one of the types. Tapu Fini is Water/Fairy, Tapu Bulu is Grass/Fairy, Tapu Lele is Psychic/Fairy, and Tapu Koko is Electric/Fairy. Despite this, it can only learn a single Fairy-type move by level-up. This one single move is the Tapus’ joint signature move, Nature’s Madness, which can be powered up into the Z-move Guardian of Alola.
The only other Fairy-type move that Tapu Koko can learn is Dazzling Gleam, via TM.
1 It Angers Easily
According to the Pokédex, not only can Tapu Koko harness thunderclouds and lightning, but it angers very easily. The ‘dex entry for Moon says “It has a hair-trigger temper but forgets what made it angry an instant later.” In Ultra Sun, the Pokédex states that if put in a bad mood, Tapu Koko will “become a malevolent deity and attack.”
Given the fact that Ultra Beasts keep invading Alola during the player’s time there, Tapu Koko is probably in a pretty grump mood throughout the events of the Generation VII entries’ post-game.
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