Doduo

Two long necks sprout from the same feathered trunk, each topped with a sharp beak and two very small black eyes. In males, those necks are black; in females, brown. The rest of the body is a bundle of brown feathers resting on four-toed, clawed legs, and those legs are the key to everything: 1.4 metres and 39.2 kilos that can run at nearly 100 km/h, according to the Pokédex itself.

Its wings, on the other hand, are tiny and barely useful for taking off. The Pokédex calls it the Twin Bird Pokémon and describes the two heads as the result of a mutation, with identical brains that would communicate by telepathy. A later entry hints that a scientific study is considering the rare possibility of specimens with two different brains.

What is systematic is the way it sleeps. The heads never rest at the same time: they take turns, and while one shuts down, the other keeps watch in case enemies appear. An animal that is never completely asleep.

It occupies the first rung of a two-stage line. At level 31, it evolves into Dodrio, which adds a third head and nearly doubles the distribution of its base stats.

The spread is so narrow you can read it at a glance: 85 Attack, 75 Speed and nothing else. Its 35 HP and 45 Defense leave it on the verge of being OHKOed by almost anything, while its special stats are a flat 35 on both sides, among the worst of its generation. That adds up to 310 points.

None of its three Abilities changes a battle. Run Away only guarantees escape from wild Pokémon, Early Bird halves a sleep duration it will rarely be allowed to enjoy, and Tangled Feet, its Hidden Ability, raises Evasion only when it is confused: a condition nobody causes on purpose.

The Normal/Flying typing gives it immunity to Ground and Ghost and little else, because its three weaknesses—Electric, Ice and Rock—are among the most common around, and the Rock weakness means losing a quarter of its HP on entry if Stealth Rock is up. On offense, though, the pairing covers itself well: Brave Bird and Double-Edge both hit with 120 power and recoil, while Swords Dance, learned at level 33, doubles an Attack that was already its best figure.

In Smogon's Little Cup, it has been a commonly used fast physical attacker, where it competes with Taillow. Taillow beats it in Speed (85 versus 75) and has greater effective power thanks to Guts, but it has lower base Attack and poisons itself. Outside that format, Doduo belongs in a normal playthrough: half a dozen levels running through routes until it reaches 31.

It belongs to a single Egg Group, Flying, which lets it breed with almost every bird in the Pokédex and not much else. The gender split is clean, 50% female, so breeding one does not depend on finding the rare sex.

Its 20 Egg Cycles amount to roughly 5355 steps, an average number. Four moves can hatch from the Egg: Aerial Ace, with 140 power and the price of being left exposed on the following turn; Flail, which hits harder the lower its remaining HP and fits a body that breaks quickly; Endeavor, useful only if a teammate has already gone down; and Whirlwind, to force switches.

Its evolution has no trick to it: reach level 31 and that is it, with no items, time of day or friendship involved. It grows at the Medium Slow rate and gives 1 Attack Effort Point when defeated.

Its habitat is the grassland, and its catch rate is 190, close to the easy end of the scale. Wild specimens may be holding a Sharp Beak, which boosts the Flying-type moves it learns itself.