If you head to the Safari Zone after getting the Block Case (the bastards running the joint won't even let you in the park without a Block Case. Assholes.), a whole host of new Pokemon are open to you, and pretty much all the new faces can only be found here. Of course, actually snagging the 'Mons here can be a challenge as you can't weaken then with your own party and are forced to use what are essentially Great Balls spray painted green. On top of this, they have a tendency to flee when they damn well feel like it, and in the case of the really rare stuff, that's pretty much all the fucking time.
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Doduo/Dodrio
Type: Normal/Flying
Ability(s): Run Away/Keen Eye
Doduo can be found in all but the northeastern portion of the safari park at Lv25 if you keep to the southern areas, and up to Lv29 if you head over to the Mach Bike only area (it is possible to encounter pre-evolved Dodrio in the NW section of the safari park, but they're rare, hard to catch, and generally not worth jack shit about.) Regardless of level, he comes with Tri Attack right off the bat, which gives him a consistent hard hitting STAB option, and is at worst 6 levels away from evolving, granting him 110 Atk/100 Spe offensive bases, basically making him the strongest bird mon in the Hoenn Dex when fully trained (if abilities are factored in, Guts!Swellow hits harder). Unlike the other bird Pokemon, Dodrio gets a strong STAB option in Drill Peck, though what sucks is that this attack is learned at Lv47 (Lv37 if you postpone evo), so he is stuck with the same old Fly/Aerial Ace crap until then.
Like Swellow, Dodrio has severe coverage issues, only really getting Steel Wing, which is very unfortunate, but at the very least, it does allow him to hit the twins' Lunatone and Solrock for super effective damage (it still would've been nicer if Dodrio got Superpower or Earthquake...), and while flying's weaknesses are relatively rare during the lategame, 60/70/60 defenses aren't really so hot at this point in the game.
While a good Pokemon in and out of himself, Doduo does suffer from one quite large problem: he joins after the parts in the game where a flying type would've been helpful, and as a result, he doesn't shine as much as, say, Taillow. Not helping the issue is that he faces stiff competition from pretty much every other flying type in the game, which is a low blow considering that not only do Taillow and Wingull exist, but Skarmory is also a decent choice for a strong midgame flying type and unlike Dodrio, will basically never die to physical hits.
In a nutshell, Doduo is a pretty sweet Pokemon when trained, but considering that others exist that have been doing the same exact thing since before Roxanne, the decision to train one may not be worth it.
5.5/10
Natu/Xatu
Type: Psychic/Flying
Ability(s): Synchronize/Early Bird
Natu can be found in pretty much the same areas as Doduo outside of the Mach Bike area, once again at the decent level of 25 if you stick to the southern areas, and up to 29 if you venture out to the Acro Bike area. Regardless of where you find yours, Natu is ready to evolve the instant you catch him, as he evolves at Lv25 and he comes at a level above that, which immediately grants him 75 Atk/95 SpA/95 Spe offenses (thus having to avoid the suck phase that is known as Natu), and access to the Fly HM, which will likely be your main means of offense for most of his existence.
Recall what I said earlier about Chimecho's level up movepool being complete balls, and you will find out that in Xatu's case, it's much, much worse. For starters, he's stuck with Night Shade and Fly (he's not keeping Peck ever, unless he's trying to peck Whitebeard's six-pack, which I shit you not will not work) for offense until Lv65 Psychic, which is complete ass considering you will have beaten the game long before that happens, so the only choice is the TM, but the only free TM29 is found halfway through Victory Road, and that's really a fucking problem because Xatu doesn't get any other damaging Psychic moves through level (and no, Lv35 Future Sight does not count). Your only choice at this point is to buy a Psychic TM at the Mauville Casino, which is either time consuming (I don't know about you, but I suck at the slots and the roulette) or expensive ($7K in liquid assets; more than affordable at this point, but still). Other than that, his movepool is full of either situational or just flat out useless support moves. And you know what, his TM movepool isn't so great either. It's nice that he can use Shadow Ball reasonably well thanks to his attack being decent, and the fact that he can use Giga Drain is kind of cool, but other than that, his movepool is devoid of the coverage that stuff like Gardevoir take for granted.
And like I'm going to keep saying again, psychic typing isn't so hot during the lategame unless you have some other secondary typing to make up for it, and unfortunately, the flying type Xatu has is more of a handicap than anything, since not only are you wasted by Glacia, the other three elites have Rock Slide on their highest leveled 'mon, and that's on top of all the dark and ghost moves being tossed around. And his 65/70/70 bulk? That certainly does not fucking help his case. At least the flying type does let him fight Sidney's Shiftry and Caturne reasonably well, and can even allow him to fight Wallace's Ludicolo on even footing.
Long story short, Natu fucking sucks.
2.5/10
Girafarig
Type: Normal/Psychic
Ability(s): Inner Focus/Early Bird
Another Pokemon found in the southern areas of the Safari Zone, Girafarig is yet another Psychic type that you can acquire if you are still lacking one. While I could go on about how outclassed he is as a psychic, let's stop and take a look at his unique typing. Normal typing, as I've said in many of my other ratings, is one of the most offensively beneficial types in the game due to how few things resist it, and in Girafarig's case, it works in his favor defensively, as the typing renders him immune to ghost attacks, something that none of the other psychic types can boast. This makes him quite useful against Phoebe, especially considering he gets access to Crunch at Lv49.
Girafarig's stats are passable at best, but they aren't god awfully terrible like Spinda's were. On offense, we have 80 Atk/90 SpA/85 Spe, which while it can't compete with Zam's level of offense, is still quite good for something that can't evolve. And unlike Zam, he has something resembling an attack stat, as well as access to STAB Strength. Being stuck with Confusion until Lv43 Psybeam hurts, but thankfully, with Normal STAB, you'll almost never miss having Psychic (again, the TM for it shows up halfway through
Another advantage that Girafarig has over his competition is the sheer coverage he gets, and unlike the rest of them, actually has the stats to make use of them. I already mentioned getting Crunch to dispose of ghosts and psychic types, though that's learned at Lv49, so you may want to consider the Shadow Ball TM for the twins. Other than that, he also has access to Thunderbolt on the special side and Earthquake on the physical side, so he isn't exactly hurting for coverage; however, TB is expensive as all hell and EQ is more contested than Knight Crests in FE7.
While he has a niche over the other psychics, he's not solid enough statwise to make you want to drop the psychic you're already using. And another fun fact: Girafarig is one of the few Pokemon names (the others being Eevee, Ho-Oh, and Alomomola as of Gen V) that is a palindrome.
5/10
Pikachu/Raichu
Type: Electric
Ability(s): Static
The last Pokemon you can find in the southern reaches of the Safari Zone, Pikachu is another electric type that, in a stark contrast to pretty much everything else that can be found here (especially scrubs like Rhyhorn), joins at basically the perfect time. Think about it: an electric type that joins right before the biggest waterfest since One Piece. So Pika gets major points for that, but is he still worth using over his major competition (Manectric and Magneton)?
Pika comes at Lv25-27, at worst one level away from using Thunderbolt, giving him a very strong STAB option right off the bat, and he doesn't have a long ass wait to evolve considering that he's a stone evo, and the stone you need should already be acquired by now. Now, Raichu has some pretty sweet offenses right on the outset, with 90/90/100 offenses to his name and unlike the other electric types, has actual coverage to speak of. However, he's not without his faults. Remember how I said that pretty much every electric type not named Magneton is physically frail? With 60/55/80 bulk, Raichu is hard pressed to take any reasonably strong physical hit, though he is able to sponge special hits to an extent.
Remember that coverage I was talking about? Well, Raichu can learn Brick Break and Dig, which is already a huge improvement over, say, the knockoff rats, who can't learn either move and don't have the attack stat to use them even if they could. As well, he can use HM Strength to cover any coverage related holes he might have had. Too bad he can't actually use the Surf HM (you need to go to a Nintendo event that is long since cancelled to get a Surfing Pika), though if he could, he'd be like the best electric type in this game.
As it is right now, joining right before you take on Team Aqua's base and having actual coverage puts him above Voltorb and the Pikachu impostors, but he isn't as useful as he is in FireRed/LeafGreen. That and Manectric and Magneton join earlier.
6/10
Psyduck/Golduck
Type: Water
Ability(s): Cloud Nine/Damp
Ok, I lied. It seems there is one new Pokemon you can find in the southern reaches of the safari game, and look at that... it's another water type! Psyduck can be caught while surfing in any of the ponds in the Safari Zone at up to a high level of 35, meaning that if he's facing any sort of level disadvantage, it's only very slight, which is quite nice. Being caught at a high level means that he's not too far off from evolution at Lv33, which means that he can start pulling his weight as soon as he's caught. It should also be noted that it is possible to catch pre-evolved Golduck at a level up to Lv40 in the upper regions, but like I said with Doduo, that shit is rare and hard to catch.
Statwise, Golduck has very balanced bases, most of them hovering around 80, with a high 95 special attack and good 85 speed, which is quite awesome for something that has access to Surf and Ice Beam. And 80/78/80 bulk coupled with Calm Mind access means that he really doesn't have any major durability problems, especially considering that electric and grass moves are rare at this stage in the game.
I already mentioned that Golduck can use the Calm Mind TM, but one issue with such a strategy is that his special movepool is limited to Surf and Ice Beam, with Confusion being the only psychic attack he learns (Psychic can only be learned through breeding, and fuck breeding ingame. Assholes.) As for his physical movepool, it honestly isn't that good, but he does get Aerial Ace and Brick Break for what it's worth, so his coverage can be best summarized as 'good'.
But you really have to ask yourself, is Golduck worth waiting until you have access to the safari game, when you have four good water types available to you the instant you get the good rod? Probably not, considering that Sharpedo has that awesome dark typing that makes him simply amazing in the Mossdeep gym and Whiscash has access to STAB Earthquake as early as Lv31, not to mention that if the player started with teh Mudkipz like a good player should, why in the holy mother of fuck would you even consider getting another water type, unless you're making a monotype team?
I think the late join time speaks for itself, but Golduck is statistically solid otherwise.
5.5/10
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