Is Arcanine a Legendary Pokemon

Answer 1

One opinion believes that contrary to popular belief that yes Arcanine is in fact a legendary Pokémon. It's true that Arcanine's species is "Legendary Pokémon" but that is not the only reason he is legendary such as for example an in-game Poké Dex entry states "A legendary Pokémon in China. Many people are charmed by its grace and beauty while running" and "This legendary Chinese Pokémon is considered magnificent. Many people are enchanted by its grand mane."

"Legendary Pokémon" is capitalized in those entries, the "l" in legendary is lowercase if it were referring to Arcanine's species, the "l" would have been capitalized. "L" is always lowercase (when not at the beginning of sentence) when referring to the type of legendary Pokémon such as Mew, Deoxys, Lugia, etc. this therefore proves that Arcanine is being referred to as a legendary Pokémon in the same sense that Mew, Deoxys, Lugia and others are.

Arcanine also has the move Extreme Speed as its signature move and learns it by leveling up. Very few Pokémon learn this move via level up. The Pokémon that learn Extreme Speed by leveling up are as follows: Arcanine, Rayquaza, Deoxys, Lucario, Togekiss and Arceus.

Rayquaza, Deoxys and Arceus are all legendary Pokémon. Lucario is a "special" Pokémon meaning he had a starring role in a movie and was revealed prior to his games coming out so he was obtained in a special way and has certain privileges. Same goes for Togekiss because it's the final evolution of Togepi who was very rare in Generation II (and pretty much all games) and is usually only obtained via an egg. Lucario and Togekiss are also some of the rarest non-legendary Pokémon and learn the rare and powerful move Aura Sphere which is a case similar to the Extreme Speed attack and this also applies to the ability "Justified."

Arcanine never had a starring role in a movie before its Generation and never had anything else to make it a "special" Pokémon (in the sense I'm speaking of at least) so what other options are there? Why would Arcanine randomly have this move (in fact in Generation I he was the only Pokémon that could even use this move) when the other Pokémon that have it are all either "special" or legendary? The answer is simple Arcanine is a legendary Pokémon.

One more interesting thing is that in the second episode of the Pokémon anime, Ash sees a stone tablet at the Viridian City Pokémon center that depicts legendary Pokémon. On it are Moltres, Articuno, Zapdos and Arcanine. Now this was the anime and not in the actual games so I'm not sure if this is credible but either way from the other info that is available from the games it can be clearly seen that it is a fact that Arcanine is indeed a legendary Pokémon.

There is a rumor going around that Arcanine was originally going to be in the legendary trio of Kanto but the creators thought it would be confusing so they made Moltres in order to put it in the Kanto trio instead of Arcanine. To my knowledge there is absolutely no confirmation of this anywhere. This doesn't mean Arcanine isn't legendary it just means that I can't find confirmation for this particular rumor.

Now lastly people often bring up the fact that Arcanine is in an evolution line and the fact that more than one can be obtained in-game. I don't see why this should even be a problem. It's not like there was a ever a regulation saying that legendaries couldn't evolve. It's just that most happen not to. Same goes for being able to obtain more than one. Rotom is a normal Pokémon but has certain traits of a legendary Pokémon. For instance, it is encountered in Diamond, Pearl and Platinum in the same fashion as a legendary. Legendary Pokémon battle music also plays when fighting Rotom regardless Rotom is not a legendary there are similar legendary qualities attributed to Phione who is also not legendary. Bottom line: If there are normal Pokémon with traits of legendary Pokémon why can't there be legendary Pokémon with apparent traits of regular Pokémon?

One more thing. Arcanine is the first legendary Pokémon in the National Poké Dex. It's possible that Arcanine was in fact the first legendary ever created and that would explain why his species is "Legendary Pokémon." This supported by Arcanine being the first legendary Pokémon in order of index numbers in fact it comes right before Mew. This doesn't necessarily suggest order of creation but Rhydon was the first Pokémon ever created and his index number was "1."

It's not even up to debate unless you also want to debate whether Arceus, Mew, Deoxys, Rayquaza, Zekrom, etc. are legendary saying it's just an opinion is softening up the facts for people who believe otherwise so my point is that Arcanine is indeed a legendary Pokémon. It's not an opinion, it's a stated fact in the games. If anyone thinks otherwise then they could use a nice browse through their Poké Dex.

But hey, if you still insist that Arcanine isn't legendary, I guess Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres aren't legendary either:

Articuno: "A legendary bird Pokémon that is said to appear to doomed people who are lost in icy mountains."

Zapdos: "This legendary bird Pokémon is said to appear when the sky turns dark and lightning showers down."

Moltres: "A legendary bird Pokémon. As it flaps its blazing wings, even the night sky will turn red."

Another opinion believes that while Arcanine's species is indeed classified as a "Legendary Pokémon" it is not a Legendary Pokémon in the same vein that Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres and Mewtwo are. Legendaries like Articuno, Zapdos, Moltres, Mewtwo, Raikou, Entei, Suicune, Ho-Oh and Lugia are powerful creatures and their in-game stats will prove that they are powerful which is one reason of why they are branded as Legendary Pokémon another reason is because they actually have stories behind their history while Arcanine doesn't.

Answer 2

"Arcanine is a canine-like Pokémon that resembles the mythical Ryukyuan Shisa (a cross between a lion and a dog)."

So preferably a dog?