Murkrow

Generation II introduced the Dark type, and Gold and Silver handed it out sparingly. This was one of the few Pokémon to have it from the start, and to find it you had to wait until night and reach Routes 7 and 16 in Kanto, already in the game's final stretch.

It's a 50-centimetre, 2.1-kilogram crow, black, with a crooked yellow beak and three tufts sticking up from its head. The profile is calculated: the hooked nose and pointed witch's hat, drawn with whatever a bird has to hand.

The Pokédex treats it as folklore before it treats it as an animal. That it brings misfortune to anyone who sees it at night. That an old saying advises going home before it takes flight. That it is feared and shunned. The official category, Darkness Pokémon, draws on the same idea.

What it really does is steal. It can't resist anything that shines: it keeps its haul in a hideout, takes rings from women and searches for treasure even in Gabite nests. Then Meowth and other Murkrow come along and loot the stash. With a trainer it gets on well with, the whole thing changes direction: it brings them shiny items as gifts.

For seven years it was a standalone species, with nothing before or after it, until Generation IV added Honchkrow at the end of the line.

Its stat spread is that of a glass cannon: 91 Speed, 85 Attack and 85 Special Attack on the nose, followed by the collapse — 60 HP, 42 Defense and 42 Special Defense. 405 points in total. Any reasonably serious neutral hit knocks it out, and the Flying half doubles Rock damage, so entry hazards take a quarter of its health just for coming in.

What keeps it standing is Prankster, its hidden ability: its status moves go first. Taunt, learned at level 31, shuts down a defensive opponent before it can heal or set anything up; Thunder Wave, by TM, paralyses something faster even if Murkrow moves afterwards. Since Generation VI, that no longer works against Dark-type opponents, who are immune to status moves boosted by Prankster, and Murkrow is Dark-type, so the rule protects it as much as it gets in its way.

For damage, it gets Foul Play at level 40 and Sucker Punch at 50, the latter a priority move that finishes off anything left weakened. Its two types hit different targets — Dark against Psychic and Ghost, Flying against Fighting, Grass and Bug — and defensively they give it two immunities, Psychic and Ground, in exchange for four widely spread weaknesses: Electric, Ice, Rock and Fairy.

There is no room for it with evolved Pokémon around. Where it did have room was Little Cup, and plenty of it: it is banned in the seventh-generation and ninth-generation Little Cups. Prankster in a level 5 format, with Eviolite covering those two 42s, was too much.

Its only Egg Group is Flying, which pairs it with almost any bird in the Pokédex, and the gender ratio is exactly fifty-fifty, so you get a female on the first or second try. The 20 egg cycles amount to around 5355 steps.

The Egg Move list is long, and two of them are worth making the trip together: Whirlwind and Perish Song. With Prankster, both go first, and together they are the complete package for forcing the opponent off the field or starting the clock before anyone moves. The egg also gives it Sky Attack, 140 power with a charging turn, and Swagger, which confuses the target while raising its Special Attack.

It evolves with a Dusk Stone and nothing else: no minimum level, no time of day and no friendship. Since the stone can be used at any level, it is worth checking the level-up table first, because Foul Play does not arrive until 40 and Sucker Punch until 50.

Its habitat is the forest. Its catch rate is 30, below a starter's 45: a standard Poké Ball is not enough, and on top of that it only appears at night. Its base friendship is also low, 35, half the usual value. It grows at a medium-slow rate and gives 1 Speed EV.