Rhyhorn

It shares the same two types as Geodude, Ground and Rock, only in the opposite order; the resemblance ends right there. This is an Indian rhinoceros whose skin has been replaced with grey stone plates, with four very short legs and a horn on its snout. One metre tall and 115 kilos: more weight than an animal that size looks capable of carrying.

The Pokédex entries talk about it without the slightest delicacy. It has a very small brain, and if it starts running, it forgets what made it do so; what it does sometimes remember is whether it has wrecked anything. Its legs make it clumsy when turning, so it can only attack and run in one direction. One entry says that crashing headfirst into a block of steel would not affect it, and that at most it would feel some pain the following day. Another credits it with enough strength to knock down skyscrapers using Tackle.

The picture is consistent: brute force without direction or memory. Its official category, the Spikes Pokémon, refers to the spikes scattered across its back and head. It is the first stage of a three-stage line that gets bulkier at every step, evolving into Rhydon at level 42 and then into Rhyperior.

The distribution of its 345 points makes the problem obvious. Defense 95, Attack 85 and 80 HP make up a decent physical half for a first-stage Pokémon; the other half is among the worst in the first generation, with 30 Special Attack, 30 Special Defense and 25 Speed. Any neutral special attack leaves a hole in it, and it will almost always move last.

Of its three abilities, the one that matters is Rock Head: it removes recoil damage, turning Double-Edge (120 power) and Take Down (90), both available by TM, into attacks with no bill to pay. Lightning Rod draws in Electric-type moves and raises Special Attack, two almost useless effects here, since the Ground type already makes it immune to Electric and that boost lands on a base 30; it only makes sense in double battles, to cover its partner. Reckless, its hidden ability, boosts the same recoil moves but leaves the recoil intact.

On offense, Ground and Rock divide the work nicely, and together they hit Fire, Electric, Poison, Steel, Ice, Flying and Bug hard. Defensively, it is another story: the combination brings a double weakness to Water and Grass, plus weaknesses to Ice, Fighting, Ground and Steel. With 25 Speed, the first Hydro Pump that connects takes it down.

Its best level-up moves—Earthquake at 45, Stone Edge at 50 and Megahorn at 55—arrive above 42, so by the time it learns them, it is already Rhydon. The genuinely useful option is Stealth Rock by TM, and in a normal playthrough it works as a physical wall for the middle of the adventure against routes full of Normal, Flying and Poison types.

It belongs to the Monster and Field Egg Groups, two of the most populous in the Pokédex, so finding it a partner is effortless. The gender ratio is 50% female, without the asymmetry that complicates other evolutionary lines. Its 20 Egg cycles amount to around 5355 steps.

Breeding produces six moves, and one of them changes things quite a bit: Rock Polish, which doubles Speed and is the only way to stop that base 25 from being a sentence. Curse fits just as well, because it trades away Speed it does not have for Attack and Defense. The other four are Counter, Metal Burst, Dragon Rush and Guard Split.

Evolution asks for nothing unusual: reach level 42 and that is it. The next step does, because Rhydon only evolves into Rhyperior through trading while holding a Protector. Its growth rate is slow, so reaching 42 takes longer than the usual level count would suggest.

In the wild, it lives in rugged terrain. Its catch rate, 120, sits in the middle range: neither the 45 of the difficult ones nor the 255 of those that stay in the first Poké Ball. When defeated, it gives 1 Defense effort point.