First, here is the Pokemon type, which refers to the type a Pokemon can be; Gyarados can be only Water/Flying, Bidoof is Normal, etc. Pokemon can have one or two types.

Then there is the move type which refers to the type of the attack move; Solarbeam is Grass, Shadow Punch is Ghost, etc. Moves can only be one type. Moves are classified as Physical, Special, or Other based upon what the move does. Physical moves require the Pokemon actually touching another Pokemon, while special moves attack without the Pokemon actually touching the other Pokemon. Other moves are moves that don't do anything, and usually are just effect moves.

There are seventeen different types. Each type has something it is strong to and something it is weak to. Some types might have more weaknesses than resistances or vise versa. Since Pokemon can be dual-typed, this may cause one type to negate the weakness of another type. However, doing so may give it additional weaknesses. For exmaple, Ludicolo's dual Water and Grass types give it a resistence to Electric and Ice type attacks but make it weak to Flying and Poison attacks.

When weakness and resistence is used in regards to a Pokemon, it refers to the type of move the Pokemon may be strong or weak to. Blastoise is a Water-type and is weak to Electric-type attacks; Pikachu is an eletric-type, but that does not make Blastoise weak to Pikachu unless Pikachu actually knows a move of its type, like Thunderbolt.

If Pikachu does know an electric attack, such as Thunderbolt, then Pikachu's Thunderbolt would receive what is known as a same-type attack bonus, or STAB. Because Pikachu and Thunderbolt are both Electric, then Thunderbolt does more damage than it would if it was used by a non-electric type, such as PorygonZ, which is a Normal-type.

Below are the seventeen types featured in Pokemon. In Generation I there were only fifteen types. In Generation II, two new types were added because of imbalance issues in Generation I. These types were Dark and Steel, which put things in balance.

On the following pages display various information for each type. There is also a generalized overview of the type as well as several recommended Pokemon to use for that type; the Pokemon are usually the highest stage possible and legendaries are not included.