Hoopa

Hoopa, the Mischief Pokémon. It gathers things it likes and pushes them through its loop to teleport them to a secret place. This troublemaker sends anything and everything to faraway places using its loop, which can warp space.

Overview

The main cause of Pokémon Masters, and a 6th Generation Mythical, Hoopa is surprisingly unstable. A lot of that instability comes from Hoopa’s defenses; a horrid base 60 Defense and Psychic-Ghost’s quadruple weaknesses to Ghost and Dark leave Hoopa running from the hint of Sucker Punch or Shadow Sneak. Even discounting those quadruple weaknesses, Hoopa’s physical bulk is abysmal to the point that many competent physical attackers are more than capable of eliminating Hoopa outright, at task further facilitated by Hoopa’s awkward base 70 Speed having it fall short of most offensive threats. Psychic-Ghost’s failings aren’t just defensive, with Hoopa’s STABs being wholly unable to effectively damage opposing Dark types and Hoopa lacking the coverage to directly address them outside of the notoriously unreliable Focus Blast.

That’s not to say there isn’t plenty reason to use Hoopa. Base 150 Special Attack is absurd, making Hoopa one of the strongest attackers in the game, even without investment. Hoopa can weaponize its special attack quite effectively too, between the hard to resist STAB Shadow Ball, decent coverage, the defense hitting Psyshock for Special walls and even Future Sight to help ward allies from potential switch ins. It should be noted that Hoopa is only physically frail, with its massive Special Defense allowing Hoopa to tank all sorts of Special attacks for a time. Hoopa can use said time effectively, not just blasting, but crippling the opposition with utility moves like Thunder Wave, Taunt or Trick. Hoopa’s polarity can make it difficult to use, though its extreme power and grab bag of tricks make for quite the treat when played to its strengths.
Positives
Base 150 Special Attack is the standard of legendary power, allowing Hoopa to do incredible damage.
130 Special Defense is wholly impressive, allowing Hoopa to shrug off a wide range of Special Attacks.
Possesses a whole host of coverage moves and several utility moves that can outright invalidate would be checks.

Negatives
2 Quadruple weaknesses are an incredible liability, with stray Ghost and Dark attacks threatening to drop Hoopa.
Paltry 60 Defense compounds Hoopa’s worries, leaving any physical attacker a dire threat to Hoopa.
Base 70 Speed falls short of most offensive threats, further exposing Hoopa’s gaping Achilles heels.

Movesets

A Stunning Future

-Shadow Ball
-Future Sight
-Thunder Wave
-Focus Blast
Ability: Magician
Item: Heavy Duty Boots
EVs and Nature:
4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Timid Nature

This Hoopa set takes advantage of its lopsided defenses to draw Pokémon in and cripple them or set them up for its teammates when not threatening terrifying damage with STAB Shadow Ball. Shadow Ball is a staple STAB on Hoopa Confined sets thanks to its wide neutral coverage and Hoopa’s insane Special Attack threatening a huge range of targets. Future Sight is secondary STAB, albeit more for Hoopa’s teammate’s than itself, forcing opponents into a catch 22 where they are either blasted by Hoopa’s Future Sight, or by its teammates, forcing switches and keeping opponents on the back foot. Thunder Wave is great for crippling many would be faster checks, making them easier for Hoopa and its teammates to handle later. Focus Blast is hideously unreliable, but the ability to catch a Dark type on the switch expecting either of Hoopa’s STABs is too good to pass up and can be enough to enable Hoopa to run rampant on its own.

Tera Types:
As most of Hoopa’s issues begin with its typing, Hoopa loves Terastalizing and shedding its crippling Ghost and Dark weaknesses. Tera Dark is popular in that aspect, being the sole typing the resists both and can save Hoopa from a certain KO otherwise. Tera Fighting provides the same Dark resistance but contrasts by super charging Focus Blast, allowing Hoopa to threaten an OHKO on Dark types like Overqwil, Incineroar, and Brute Bonnet, all of whom are bulky enough otherwise to stomach Focus Blast and threaten Hoopa back, or make trouble for its teammates. Tera Fairy is another Dark resistant Tera and all-around excellent typing and can be ones answer into Dark types if dropping Focus Blast for Tera Blast. Tera Ground requires Tera Blast and is explicitly for the Ground weak Dark types, especially Alolan Muk, who can eat even Tera Fighting Focus Blasts without issue.

EVs and Items:
Standard Sweeper investment of Max Special Attack and Speed is recommended, allowing Hoopa to apply considerably more pressure and outspeed more targets after Thunder Wave. Some speed investment is recommended at the very least to guarantee outspeeding problematic Pokémon from the word go. 96 Speed with Timid nature is necessary to guarantee outrunning Incineroar and Grimmsnarl with the added benefit of outspeeding every unboosted Paralyzed Pokémon. Special Attack investment gets more bang from Future Sight and Shadow Ball, and is heavily recommended on Tera Fighting sets to get OHKOs with Tera Fighting Focus Blast. Alternatively, one can dump Hoopa’s remaining EVs into HP and Special Defense, turning it into a Special Wall supporter that still hits absurdly hard thanks to its incredible base Special Attack, allowing Hoopa to shrug off blows like Specs Dragalge’s Draco Meteor. Heavy Duty Boots is recommended as the item for all the switching this set expects to perform, though Leftovers can provide some badly needed recovery.

Partners:
Allies that can reliably take on Dark types are a must for this set to help force the lose lose situation with Future Sight on top of being able to switch into Hoopa’s biggest weakness. Fighting types are the preferred answer, handling both Dark and the Psychic resistant Steel types and they too love Hoopa for handling opposing Psychic types. Moxie Heracross loves the Future Sight support helping it reach an easy KO and allowing it to snowball from there, while being able to absorb Dark attacks. Paldean-Tauros-Aqua also loves the support Future Sight provides, while being physically bulky enough to tank most physical attacks sent Hoopa’s way while Hoopa does the same for Special Attacks. As this set lacks any natural recovery, Wish Support should be considered to keep Hoopa around longer to cripple the opposing team. Sylveon is great for this, being another incredible beneficiary of Hoopa’s Thunder Wave and Future Sight Support (as any non-Dark Poison type switching in will be annihilated by Future sight) while its phenomenal Special bulk allows Sylveon to better handle the Dark Pulses and Shadow Balls thrown Hoopa’s way.

Other Options:
Thunderbolt is good for Bombirdier, who can otherwise tank Focus Blast quite well, on top of covering Water types like Araquanid, Inteleon, and Vaporeon, but it most cases, STAB Shadow Ball can suffice. .

Hoop Trick

-Shadow Ball
-Psyshock
-Focus Blast
-Trick
Ability: Magician
Item: Choice Scarf
EVs and Nature:
252 SAtk / 4 SDef/ 252 Spe
Timid Nature

Scarf Hoopa stands out from other Choice Scarf users due to its sheer power, allowing it to blast holes in the opposing team while being difficult to outspeed. Shadow Ball is the primary STAB of this set, dealing consistent damage while obliterating popular Ghost weak targets like Bronzong, Scream Tail, Slowbro and Slowking. Psyshock is for special sponges often called to wall Special Attackers like Hoopa, preying on Florges, Goodra, Sylveon and Gastrodon’s poor Defense. Focus Blast, while unreliable is Hoopa’s best answer against opposing Dark types that resist both STABs, especially Incineroar and Brute Bonnet. Trick is the Choice’d Pokémon’s special and is great for Hoopa to cripple a wall that it can’t take out on its own, compromising it for the rest of the match.

Tera Types:
Hoopa as always loves Terastalizing given its horrid base typing. Tera Fighting is greatly preferred for Choice Hoopa, giving it an invaluable Fighting Resistance while boosting Focus Blast to better deal with Fighting Neutral Dark types like Alolan Muk, Wo-Chien and Overqwil. Tera Ghost is a riskier alternative given it does little to address Hoopa’s base weaknesses but can turn Shadow Ball into an easy win button against weakened teams.

EVs and Items:
Standard Sweeper EV investment of Max Special Attack and Speed. You want as much speed as possible to outspeed as many targets as possible with Choice Scarf. With Timid Nature, Hoopa falls just short of base 130 Pokémon, while a modest Nature leaves Hoopa exposed to base 115 Speed and up Pokémon like Raikou, Floatzel, Inteleon, and Cinccino. Choice Scarf is the namesake of the set allowing Hoopa to outspeed many offensive threats. Choice Specs can turn Hoopa into a wallbreaker of sorts but leaves it close to dead weight against more offensive teams.

Partners:
Given Hoopa's numerous issues with Dark types, answers to them are a must. Fighting types are a natural choice with Heracross, Infernape, Paldean Tauros, and Mienshao, all being excellent answers to Dark types.

Other Options:
Psychic is a stronger alternative to Psyshock, as well as being stronger than Shadow Ball, hitting neutral targets slightly harder, especially physically defensive ones like Torterra, and Avalugg.

Countering Hoopa

Hoopa’s typing and Defense leave gaping holes that can trivialize taking it out, provided one can navigate the minefield that is Hoopa’s power and support movepool. Fighting neutral Dark types are invaluable against Hoopa, often requiring multiple Focus Blasts to be taken down, which given the move’s unreliability is plenty opportunity to come in freely and threaten Hoopa with their quad effective STABs. Alolan Muk is notable in that its Special Bulk ensures it is 3HKOd by Specs Focus Blast and can’t be OHKO’d even by a +2 Focus Blast while threatening back a OHKO with Knock Off. Grimmsnarl also performs well, able to absorb a Focus Blast and blunt further assaults with Light Screen if not go for the OHKO with its own Dark STAB. Overqwil’s low Special Defense means it can barely tank a Specs Focus Blast but is naturally faster and reliably OHKO’s with its own Dark STAB. Given Dark type’s natural resistance to Hoopa’s STABs, even Fighting weak Dark types can excel, though be wary of a well predicted Focus Blast. Do note that Hoopa frequently carries Fighting and Fairy Tera’s specifically for Dark types given its offensive and defensive weaknesses to them. If not running Psyshock, Goodra has the sheer special bulk to stomach a blow, but needs to be a physical variant or running Knock Off to come out on top. As for checking Hoopa offensively, anything with Sucker Punch or possessing a strong Shadow Sneak is an instant threat able to take out Hoopa before it can act regardless of any external factors like Choice Scarf. Hoopa’s mediocre speed and poor defense leave it exposed to many physical attackers for a quick revenge KO. Araquanid, Arcanine, Braviary, and Foul Play Klefki are all notable for being able to stomach a blow from Hoopa and OHKO with their STABs. Jolteon deserves some mention for being able to outspeed even Choice Scarf Hoopa, and all but OHKO it with Shadow Ball, as does Basculegion who does reliably get the OHKO with Banded Wave Crash.

Unbound Corner

Hoopa-Unbound, the Djinn Pokémon. In its true form, it possesses a huge amount of power. Legends of its avarice tell how it once carried off an entire castle to gain the treasure hidden within. It is said to be able to seize anything it desires with its six rings and six huge arms. When its power is sealed, it is transformed into a much smaller form.

Overview

Hoopa’s Unbound form does not wish for power. Having the highest base offensive stats short of Deoxys Attack, Hoopa-Unbound can finally make full use of its physical movepool alongside its already fantastic special movepool to lay waste to all that stand before it. The switch from Psychic-Ghost to Psychic Dark is in most ways fortunate, having a much rarer weakness on top of boasting one of the strongest Knock Offs in the game, all but guaranteeing nothing wants to switch into Hoopa-Unbound. Hoopa-Unbound also shares some of the same defensive merits as its Confined form, having a monstrous base Special Defense that allows it to live all sorts of Special Attacks, this time coupled with actual recovery in Drain Punch, giving Hoopa-Unbound some surprising longevity.

The same defensive merits sadly come with many of the same defensive shortcomings. Hoopa-Unbound has the same horrid base 60 Defense of its base form, making physical attacks an easy way to banish it. Base 80 Speed is on the average side, but with no way to boost it and that awful physical defense turns it into a liability. All the offense in the world means nothing if you can’t survive long enough to use it. Psychic Dark while lacking the weaknesses to Sucker Punch and Shadow Sneak that plague Hoopa-Confined, is still defensively barren, with only an immunity to Psychic to speak off and a common Fairy weakness, reducing the number of attacks Hoopa-Unbound can safely switch in on. While the quadruple Bug weakness at first glance isn’t as bad due to how horrible Bug is as an offensive type, the ubiquity of U-Turn as a utility move ensures huge swaths of Pokémon have the means to down Hoopa-Unbound quickly. This generation being so stuffed with excellent offensive Dark types like Roaring Moon, Kingambit, and Darkrai make it difficult to justify Hoopa-Unbound and all its shortcomings. Though for its shortcomings, Hoopa-Unbound also has its strengths and those who wish for strength will find their call answered when Hoopa-Unbound delivers.
Positives
160 Attack and 170 Special Attack go into the realms of insanity, guaranteeing Hoopa-Unbound destroys everything in its path.
Incredible offensive movepool, allowing Hoopa-Unbound to readily hit targets on both sides of the offensive spectrum
130 Special Defense is wholly impressive, allowing Hoopa to shrug off a wide range of Special Attacks.

Negatives
Psychic Dark is woeful defensively, with no resistances to speak of, and common weaknesses to Fairy and U-Turn.
Paltry 60 Defense compounds Hoopa’s worries, leaving any physical attacker a dire threat to Hoopa.
Base 80 Speed falls short of many offensive threats, causing Hoopa-Unbound to struggle to act against physical attackers.

Movesets

Wicked Genie

-Knock Off
-Hyperspace Fury
-Zen Headbutt
-Drain Punch
Ability: Magician
Item: Choice Band
EVs and Nature:
252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature

Banded Hoopa-Unbound is great for anyone wanting to break the defensive backbones of teams into pieces, the sheer power its attacks provide one to two shotting everything, guaranteeing even if its target survives, it is in a very compromised position. Knock Off is the star of the set, not only doing truly obscene damage, but removing the targets item, punishing would be walls like Dondozo, Great Tusk, Clefable, Mandibuzz, and Ting-Lu, removing their precious Heavy-Duty Boots and Leftovers, making them vulnerable to further assaults from Hoopa-Unbound and its teammates. Hyperspace Fury is even stronger than boosted Knock Off and does not lose its power, making it great against foes that have already lost their item and providing a consistent source of Dark STAB damage. Zen Headbutt is secondary Psychic STAB, vital for Fighting type walls like Great Tusk and the quadruple Dark resistant Iron Valiant that would be called upon to tank Hoopa-Unbound’s Dark STAB. Drain Punch rounds out the set, providing Hoopa-Unbound valuable Fighting coverage into opposing Dark types like Darkrai, and Ting-Lu while giving it badly needed staying power with the HP recovery effect.

Tera Types:
Given how onerous Hoopa-Unbound’s base typing is, Hoopa-Unbound is unsurprisingly Tera reliant. However, it prefers offensive Terastalizations over defensive ones in service of its wallbreaking duties. For that, there is no better Tera Type for this set than Tera Dark. Tera Dark pushes Hoopa-Unbound’s power to the stratosphere, enabling feats such as OHKOing most Gliscor and 2HKOing Max Defense Dondozo with Hyperspace Fury, while even resists such as offensive Primarina and Enamorus get threatened with being one shotted leaving very few safe switch ins to Hoopa-Unbound that can get quickly worn down.

EVs and Items:
Standard sweeper allotment of max Attack and Speed investment. Hoopa-Unbound is physically frail to the point it needs to outspeed the targets it wants to break. Adamant nature is preferred over Jolly for enabling Hoopa-Unbound to get a OHKO on Gliscor and 2HKO on Dondozo after Tera Dark as well as getting the OHKO on max HP Great Tusk and offensive Zamazenta with Zen Headbutt. Choice Band is the namesake of the set and provides Hoopa-Unbound’s breaking power, though Choice Scarf is just as serviceable for addressing Hoopa-Unbound’s mediocre speed, turning it into a terrifying revenge killer. Assault Vest also deserves mention, boosting Hoopa-Unbound’s special bulk from good to great, allowing it to take on all manner of special attackers while maintaining move flexibility.

Partners:
Hazard setters adore Hoopa-Unbound for its nuclear Knock Offs that give their efforts meaning, while Hoopa Unbound likes the extra damage for wearing down targets into OHKO range. Great Tusk and Landorus-Therian both stand out at this, their physical bulk contrasting with Hoopa Unbound’s special bulk forming a soft backbone. Landorus-Therian especially is invaluable in helping Hoopa-Unbound survive errant physical attacks with Intimidate. Additionally, as physical attackers, they love Hoopa-Unbound breaking through physical walls that would be called upon to stop them. Physically defensive Pokémon in general are invaluable for pivoting into the many physical threats that invariably threaten Hoopa-Unbound out. Zamazenta is notable for this thanks to its sheer bulk and speed having it match up well against many physical powerhouses like Kingambit and Roaring Moon, while Zapdos and Moltres punish U-Turn spam against Hoopa-Unbound with Static and Flame Body, making Hoopa-Unbound’s job later easier.

Other Options:
Psychic is a special STAB option that handles physically Defensive Great Tusk with ease, but misses the OHKO on offensive Zamazenta. Gunk Shot is handy for obliterating Fairy types, though most natural Fairies struggle against Hoopa-Unbound between their lower Defense and Hoopa-Unbound’s high Special Defense, though exceptions like Azumarill, Enamorus-Therian and Tera Fairy types should not be discounted. Trick is the Choice item staple and great for neutering a Special Attacker as well as open up Hoopa-Unbound’s move flexibility. Energy Ball reliably 2HKOs Dondozo, and Great Tusk, two prominent physical walls that are often called upon to absorb Hoopa-Unbound’s physical assault.

VGC & Doubles Options

As a Mythical, Hoopa is normally banned from VGC barring very rare just for fun formats, but one can wish. From that wish, trainers are known to jump through all sorts of hoops for power and Hoopa-Unbound is no exception. Its sheer power is tantalizing and its stands out from other attackers with not only potent spread damage in Expanding Force, but a protect ignoring STAB in Hyperspace Fury. Hoopa-Unbound’s power is so great that it can run mixed with ease, even when only investing in one stat. Sadly, Hoopa’s crippling Defense makes every round a pure tightrope act, where a single bad prediction can spell doom, especially with the prominence of U-Turn, a utility move that is anathema to Hoopa-Unbound. Even as an Expanding Force user, Hoopa-Unbound offers little to the Dark weakness that plagues such teams, forced to rely on non STAB Drain Punch that is blunted by Incineroar’s Intimidate or the hideously unreliable Focus Blast.

Expanding Hoop

-Expanding Force
-Dark Pulse
-Drain Punch
-Protect
Tera Type: Fairy
Ability: Magician
Item: Psychic Seed
EVs and Nature:
252 HP / 236 SAtk / 20 Spe
Modest Nature

Hoopa-Unbound immediately draws attention as the second strongest Expanding Force user in the game, brutalizing the opposition with nuclear Expanding Forces that deal truly obscene damage, 2HKOing even targets as specially bulky as Miraidon and Kyogre, requiring a Psychic resistance or immunity to truly stand against it. Dark Pulse handles the opposing Indeedee, Calyrex riders, Farigiraf, and Latios, placing them on their last legs if not eliminating them entirely. Drain Punch is for the opposing Dark types, like Incineroar, Chi-Yu, Urshifu-Single, Tyranitar, Roaring Moon, dealing respectable damage and recovering any dealt to Hoopa-Unbound, giving it surprising longevity. Protect is the Doubles staple and invaluable in keeping Hoopa-Unbound alive while Trick Room or Tailwind is setup, as well as stalling out opposing Tailwind or Trick Rooms, as well as weather, screens, scouting for attacks, surprise Terastalizations, the utility of Protect in Doubles is endless. Psychic Seed is invaluable for this set, pushing Hoopa-Unbound’s special bulk to the absurd, allowing it survive blows like Specs Miraidon’s Electro Drift in Electric Terrain, as well as Specs Terapagos Hyper Beam and even Tera Water Mystic Water Kyogre’s Water Spout while freeing up Hoopa-Unbound’s item slot to enable item disruption with Magician, such as removing an opposing Calyrex Ice Rider’s Clear Amulet or an opposing Miraidon’s Choice Specs, making such threats much more manageable.

EVs are the almost Trick Room attacker classic of Max HP and near max Special Attack, with the 20 Speed EVs for Tailwind. Modest Nature is preferred, akin to Max Speed Ursaluna Bloodmoon sets, allowing Hoopa-Unbound to excel both in Trick Room and Tailwind, outspeeding even positive Speed Natured base 135s like Chien-Pao and Miraidon. Tera Fairy is strongly recommended, for the Bug resistance as well as ensuring that Hoopa-Unbound doesn’t just fold to Urshifu-Single’s offense. Tera Psychic is tantalizing for reaching truly absurd numbers like being capable OHKOing Miraidon, and bulky Flutter Mane with Psychic Terrain enhanced Expanding Force, but the prevalence of Urshifu necessitates Tera Fairy.

Other Options and Preferred Partners:

As with any Expanding Force user, Indeedee-F is called upon as the ideal Psychic Terrain setter. Hoopa-Unbound desperately needs Psychic Terrain, not only for the special bulk boost that Psychic Seed provides, but also protection from the oft physical Priority like opposing Sucker Punches from Urshifu-Single and Chien-Pao, Entei’s Extreme Speed, etc. Indeedee-F’s redirection is also great in warding against physical attacks, given how most spread moves are Special. Answers against physical Attackers, especially Urshifu are recommended given Hoopa-Unbound’s physical fragility. Incineroar is chief at this role with Intimidate, especially given how Hoopa-Unbound enables Intimidate through Magician theft, though there is anti synergy between Fake Out and Psychic Terrain. Iron Valiant is notable for its great matchup into Dark types and Coaching bolstering Hoopa-Unbound’s Defense and attack.

Tera Fairy Tera Blast is tempting for a stronger blow against most Dark types, but leaves Hoopa-Unbound more reliant on Terastalization than normal. Focus Blast is the ultimate answer against Dark types, though missing a Focus Blast can often cost you Hoopa-Unbound instead. Hyperspace Fury is amazing for its Protect piercing qualities, but exasperates Hoopa-Unbound’s poor matchup into Incineroar.

Countering Hoopa Unbound

Switching into an unknown Hoopa-Unbound safely is nigh impossible, its mixed offenses and flexible moveset allowing it to hit everything in the game for incredible damage. There are some common traits that can be taken advantage of. Most Hoopa-Unbound love Knock Off, so pivoting in a Dark resistant Pokémon that has expended its item is a safer bet than most. Booster Energy Iron Valiant and Great Tusk are fantastic as this, given they automatically use their item upon entry and can threaten Hoopa-Unbound out with physical offense. Roaring Moon cannot stomach multiple Banded Knock Offs and is outsped by Scarf Hoopa-Unbound unless it is speed Booster Energy and even then, requires Tera Flying Acrobatics. Ting-Lu has the sheer bulk to survive multiple Banded Drain Punches, but loses the damage race despite Hoopa-Unbound’s poor defense. Once the type of set Hoopa-Unbound is running is known, more options do open. Dondozo fares well against Banded sets that can’t Terastalize, able to outpace the damage with Curse and Rest, though surprise Special coverage is still concerning. Chansey can outlast Drain Punch PP while Hisuian Goodra can blunt Hoopa Unbound with Knock Off, though neither relishes switching in. Choice Scarf and Assault Vest variants lack the sheer power of Banded and Specs sets, but are far more unpredictable. Curse Garganacl for example, fears random Energy Ball and Focus Blasts, but otherwise can outlast commonly ran moves, provided it isn’t slapped with Psychic Noise. Soundproof Koomo-o works well against Hoopa-Unbound running Psychic Noise as their Psychic STAB, though it needs physical coverage to deal with Hoopa-Unbound expediently. Checking Hoopa-Unbound offensively is a far safer task. First Impression users like Lokix and Slither Wing will just melt Hoopa-Unbound instantly, while strong priority like Supreme Overlord Kingambit’s Sucker Punch and Tera Normal Banded Dragonite’s Extreme Speed can both drop Hoopa-Unbound before it can act. Scarf Hoopa Unbound is far from peerless in speed allowing faster attackers like Dragapult, and Zamazenta outrun neutral natured Scarf sets. If speed isn’t a concern, there are plenty of Pokémon that can etiher take one unboosted hit or naturally outspeed and OHKO back, especially the many U-Turn users like Landorus-Therian, Rillaboom, Cinderace, Meowscarada, Moltres, and Scizor.

Locations in Games

Red/Blue/Yellow:
Not in game

Gold/Silver/Crystal:
Not in game

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Not in game

FireRed/LeafGreen:
Not in game

Colosseum/XD:
Not in game

Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Not in game

HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Not in game

Black/White:
Not in game

Black 2/White 2:
Not in game

X/Y:
Event Distribution

Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire:
Event Distribution

Sun/Moon:
Event Distribution/Transfer

Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon:
Event Distribution/Transfer

Let's Go, Pikachu!/Let's Go, Eevee!:
Not in game

Sword/Shield:
Not in game

Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl:
Not in game

Legends: Arceus:
Not in game

Scarlet/Violet:
Event Distribution/Transfer

Anime Appearences

Hoopa has made a few appearances in the anime. In its main appearance, one in its Unbound form started attacking a city with various Legendary Pokémon causing Ash to team with a Hoopa Confined to try and stop it.

# -English Episode Name- -Jp. Episode Name- Pics
S40 Hoopa’s Surprise Ring Adventures Hoopa's Appear Operation Pics
S41 Hoopa, the Mischief Pokémon The Minidjinni of the Word "Appear!": Hoopa Pics
M18 Hoopa & The Clash of Ages The Archdjinni of the Rings: Hoopa Pics
1135 Getting More Than You Battled For! Battling & Getting! Mewtwo Comes Back Pics