Magikarp

Meet Magikarp, the Fish Pokemon

Number 129 is a pure Water type from Generation 1 and the first stage of the Gyarados line. The abilities are Swift Swim and Rattled, the total is 200, and it becomes a Gyarados at level 20. Twenty levels, one evolution, and nothing else along the way.

It is the benchmark for a useless Pokemon in this series, and the games lean into that on purpose. A salesman in the original games sells you one for a few hundred coins, the Pokedex entries all mention how weak it is, and its signature move does literally nothing.

The 200 total in full

20 HP, 10 Attack, 55 Defense, 15 Special Attack, 20 Special Defense and 80 Speed. Every column except Speed is close to the bottom of the scale, and the Attack stat is the lowest of any Pokemon that is not a special form.

The 80 Speed is the strange part. Magikarp is faster than a large chunk of the dex while being unable to do anything with that speed, which is either a joke or a hint, depending on how you read it.

Splash, and the other options

Splash changes nothing when it is used. That is not an exaggeration for effect: the move has no effect in a battle, and the Pokemon learns it almost immediately. For most of the line's early levels the only real option is to wait.

Tackle arrives eventually, and Flail does more damage as the user's health drops, which is the one genuinely useful thing in the moveset. Neither is enough to make the Pokemon worth attacking with, and that is the point of the design.

Weaknesses and what survives it

Electric attacks and Grass attacks each land for twice the damage. On the other side, Fire, Water, Ice and Steel are all cut in half. Nothing on the chart is immune in either direction, which matters less than usual here because almost nothing is at risk from what this Pokemon throws out.

The typing itself is fine. Water is one of the better defensive types in the game and would make a sturdy wall on almost any other body. On a 20 HP frame with 55 Defense, the good matchup chart does not have much to work with.

Swift Swim and Rattled

Swift Swim doubles the Speed stat while rain is falling, which takes an already quick 80 and turns it into something absurd for a Pokemon with a 200 total. Rain teams occasionally use it to get a flinch or a free turn, and nothing more.

Rattled is the hidden ability, and it raises Speed when the Pokemon is hit by a Bug, Ghost or Dark move. Unlike the other option it needs no weather support, but it is still a speed boost on a Pokemon with nothing to do with it.

Team planning and the number pages

Everything here is about the payoff at the end. Sort the line-up in the Pokemon Team Picker, use the Nuzlocke Team Builder if the run is unforgiving, and let the Random Pokemon Picker fill anything you have not decided.

The numbers are on two other pages: natures on the Pokemon Nature Chart, spreads in the Pokemon IV Calculator, and pure coin flips on the Pokemon Wheel Spinner.

The collection pages round the set off: start with Pokemon Shiny Odds to see what you are up against, let the Random Shiny Pokemon Generator roll for you, then try the Random Mega Pokemon Generator and a round of Who's That Pokemon.

How to actually train one

The usual approach is to put it in the front of the party and switch it out immediately, letting the shared experience from the rest of the team do the work. Attacking with it is not a realistic plan at these stats.

Twenty levels of that is a real commitment, and the reward is one of the widest jumps in the series. Nothing else in the dex starts this badly and finishes this well, which is why the Pokemon has stayed famous for thirty years.

What it becomes

At level 20 the whole thing changes. Gyarados has 125 Attack, 95 HP and a typing that gives it a Ground immunity, and it arrives ten levels earlier than most final forms in the game.

That contrast is the reason Magikarp exists at all. It is a joke written into the mechanics, and the punchline is that the joke turns into one of the best Pokemon in Generation 1 if you are patient enough to carry it.

The salesman and the folklore

The most memorable Magikarp in the series is the one a salesman in the early games will sell you for a few hundred coins. It is a scam in the fiction and a genuinely useful purchase in practice, which is a rare joke that works in both directions.

The Pokedex entries have always played along, describing it as pathetic, useless and easy to catch. The games are aware of what they built, and the line has been a running gag ever since the first cartridge. Very few designs in the series are this deliberate about being bad.