Sneasel

Sneasel (ニューラ) are one of the fictional species of Pokémon creatures from the multi-billion-dollar Pokémon media franchise – a collection of video games, anime, manga, books, trading cards and other media, created by Satoshi Tajiri.

Sneasel's name is derived from the translation of the original Japanese name. The Japanese name Nyula is a portmanteau of the Japanese words for sneaking in (潜入) and weasel (鼬).

Biological characteristics
Sneasel is a nocturnal Pokémon that lives in mountain forests. It hunts under the cover of chilly darkness, which allows it to sneak up on foes or lost prey. It has dangerously sharp claws, which it can conceal in its paws. It will suddenly unsheathe these claws in order to startle enemies and buy it time to attack. The claws are extremely durable, and are shed once a year to avoid wearing down. Many Sneasel have been seen standing at the peak of icy mountains when there is a Solar Eclipse, but why this is or how they know has not been explained. Sneasel is a deep blue-gray and has a golden jewel on its forehead and chest, and its claws are white. The purpose of these jewels is that they are the liquid nitrogen sacs (they have proper shielding) that allow sneasel to perform ice attacks. Sneasel's ears are completely different. While its right ear is small and dark blue-gray, its left one is big and red. Sneasel is may also based on Kamaitachi.

Like its real counterpart, the weasel, Sneasel includes eggs in its diet. It tends to seek out unguarded nests or to scare away bird Pokémon that inhabit them in order to steal and eat the nest's eggs. Even if the nest is located high up in a tree's branches, Sneasel can reach it by scaling the tree's trunk by punching it with its claws. Sneasels also prey on small pokemon. It is revealed that Male Sneasel have a longer feather-like appendage on their left ear than females. Sneasel tends to live in small packs of five to six pokemon, with different rankings similar to wolf packs.

In the video games
Sneasel can be found in Route 28 and the Silver Cave in Pokémon Gold and Silver. In Pokémon Crystal, it can be found in the Ice Path. In Pokémon Colosseum it is a Shadow Pokémon and can be Snagged in The Under Subway. In Pokémon LeafGreen Sneasel is encountered in the Icefall Cave. In Pokémon Diamond and Pearl, Sneasel can be found in the wild on Routes 216 & 217, Snowpoint Temple and Lake Acuity and has an evoulutionary form:Weavile.

In Diamond and Pearl, a female Sneasel has a smaller left ear.

Sneasel can be described as an oddly backward Pokémon in the Emerald, Ruby, Sapphire, Gold, Silver and Crystal version games - while it has sky-high Attack, its Defense and, most notably, its Special Attack make it completely ignored in competition. This seems like a mistake, because both of Sneasel's types (Dark and Ice) and most of its attacks are "special." However, in Diamond and Pearl attacks are now categorized as physical or special based on attack and not type. As a result, many ice and dark moves became physical attacks, greatly improving sneasel's usefulness in battle. But Diamond and Pearl's new Pokemon, Weavile, hinders this Pokemon's usefullness yet again.

In the Pokémon anime
Sneasel first appeared in the fourth Pokémon movie, Celebi: Voice of the Forest, as one of the three Shadow Pokémon used by the main villain (the other two being Scizor and Tyranitar).

Another one, in the episode "Pop Goes the Sneasel!" caused trouble for the Silver Conference of Johto when it blocked people access to the Sacred Fire of Ho-Oh, which was needed for the festivities (compare with Olympic Flame). It was captured by a trainer from Hoenn named Harrison and subsequently used in the Conference.

Sneasel was also one of the two featured Pokémon in the episode "Hail To the Chef!"

Sneasel also appeared in the Battle Frontier episode "Duels of the Jungle!" with its evolved form Weavile.

In the Pokémon Trading Card Game
Sneasel has made 5 appearances in the card game, all as Basic Dark types: In addition, a card named Rocket’s Sneasel was released in the theme of the fourth Pokémon movie.
 * Neo Genesis
 * Neo Revelation
 * Aquapolis
 * EX Ruby & Sapphire (as Sneasel EX)
 * EX Team Rocket Returns (as Rocket’s Sneasel EX)
 * ''Diamond & Pearl

The Neo Genesis version of Sneasel was banned from tournament play soon after it was released due to its incredible potential for power. Its Beat Up attack requires two Dark energy, and due to the cheap cost of the attack/the damage added by the Dark Energy card's effect, ends up doing twenty for each heads of a coin flip, and the number of coins flipped match the number of Pokémon on the user’s side of the field. That way, on six successful flips of a coin, Sneasel can do 120 damage in one turn, excluding the Darkness Energy Card's special effect. Sneasel was banned from tournament play before it ever reached America

Publications

 * Nintendo Power. Official Nintendo Pokémon Player’s Guide. Nintendo of America Inc., 1998. ASIN B000CQP8FE
 * Nintendo Power. Official Nintendo Pokémon Player’s Guide Special Edition for Yellow, Red and Blue. Nintendo of America Inc., 1999. ASIN B000CQT878
 * Barbo, Maria. The Official Pokémon Handbook. Scholastic Publishing, 1999. ISBN 0-439-15404-9.
 * Loe, Casey, ed. Pokémon Special Pikachu Edition Official Perfect Guide. Sunnydale, CA: Empire 21 Publishing, 1999. ISBN 1-930206-15-1.
 * Nintendo Power. Official Nintendo Pokémon Snap Player’s Guide. Nintendo of America Inc., 1999. ASIN B000CDZP9G
 * Nintendo Power. Super Smash Bros. Melee Official Nintendo Player’s Guide. Nintendo of America Inc., 2001. ISBN 1-930206-19-4
 * Nintendo Power. Official Nintendo Pokémon Ruby Version & Sapphire Version Player’s Guide. Nintendo of America Inc., 2003. ISBN 1-930206-31-3
 * Nintendo Power. Official Nintendo Pokémon Colosseum Player’s Guide. Nintendo of America Inc., March 2004. ISBN 1-930206-47-X
 * Nintendo Power. Official Nintendo Pokémon FireRed & Pokémon LeafGreen Player’s Guide. Nintendo of America Inc., August 2004. ISBN 1-930206-50-X
 * Mylonas, Eric. Pokémon Pokédex Collector’s Edition: Prima’s Official Pokémon Guide. Prima Games, September 21 2004. ISBN 0-7615-4761-4
 * Nintendo Power. Official Nintendo Pokémon Emerald Version Player’s Guide. Nintendo of America Inc., April 2005. ISBN 1-930206-58-5
 * Chiba, Akira et al. The Official Pokémon Emerald Version Strategy Guide. Pokémon USA, Inc., 2005. ISBN 3-937336-06-0
 * Nintendo Power. Official Nintendo Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness Player’s Guide. Nintendo of America Inc., September 22 2005. ISBN 1-59812-002-6