Poliwag

A tadpole that has already grown its legs but still has no idea what to do with them. The spiral on its belly isn't a pattern: it's its internal organs showing through very thin, damp skin. That same skin, according to the Pokédex, is flexible enough to make even the sharpest fangs bounce off, and it also works as a thermometer—when the spiral turns white, the Pokémon is ill.

The direction of the spiral isn't always the same: it changes depending on the area. It's one of the few design details the game itself bothers to explain, and the older entries attribute it to the part of the world where each specimen has grown up.

Walking isn't its strong suit, and several entries insist on this with almost comic persistence: it would rather swim than run, and Trainers are advised to make it practise a little every day. Even so, it likes coming ashore, although it goes straight back into the water as soon as anything edible appears. At 60 centimetres and 12.4 kilograms, it's heavier than it looks, which is what happens with a body that is mostly liquid.

It occupies the first of three stages and evolves into Poliwhirl at level 25. From there, the line splits in two, something uncommon among Kanto Pokémon.

Its 300 base stat total is concentrated almost entirely in one place: 90 Speed, followed by 50 Attack and four 40s—40 HP, 40 Defense, 40 Special Attack and 40 Special Defense. It's fast and can't take a hit. Any reasonably powerful neutral attack knocks it out.

Of its three abilities, the one that gives it a purpose is Swift Swim, the hidden ability, which doubles its Speed in rain. Since it learns Rain Dance by level at 24, it can set up the rain by itself, although spending a turn with 40 HP rarely comes for free. Water Absorb restores its HP when it takes a Water-type attack; Damp only prevents other Pokémon from self-destructing.

Its real niche is Little Cup, and not because it hits hard. It learns Hypnosis at level 1 and, alongside Meowth, is the fastest user of the move in the format. Everything else is built around that: Encore to lock an opponent into a move and gain a free turn, Belly Drum at level 48 to maximise its Attack, then Waterfall and Helping Hand, which between them find nothing that can withstand them. The problem is the order: Belly Drum leaves it at half HP, and half of 40 is barely anything.

Outside that format, there isn't much to work with. Its offensive movepool is short, and its two best special attacks, Hydro Pump (level 42) and Bubble Beam (level 18), come off a Special Attack stat of 40. In a normal playthrough, it does what it has always done: move first, put something to sleep and switch out.

It belongs to a single Egg Group, Water 1, and its gender ratio is the standard 50% male and 50% female, so breeding it is completely straightforward. Its 20 Egg cycles are equivalent to about 5355 steps, a normal figure for a common first-stage Pokémon.

Five moves can come from the Egg, and only two are worth noting: Muddy Water, which at 90 power is more reliable than Hydro Pump, and Water Pulse, which confuses one in every five hits. The other three are Mist, Endeavor and Splash—the last one having no effect of any kind.

Its evolution has no trick to it: reach level 25 and that's it. What comes afterwards does, though, which is why it's worth deciding beforehand.

Its habitat is the water's edge, in freshwater, and it appears by fishing or Surfing across much of Kanto and Johto. Its catch rate is 255, the highest possible: any Poké Ball will do, and there's no need to weaken it. It grows at a medium-slow rate, so it takes a little longer than expected to reach 25. When defeated, it yields 1 Speed EV and 60 base experience, a figure fixed in Generation V—up to Generation IV, it yielded 77.