Psyduck - Design and Characteristics

Design and Characteristics

Psyduck was one of several different designs conceived by Game Freak's character development team and finalized by Ken Sugimori for the first generation of Pocket Monsters games Red and Green, which were localized outside of Japan as Pokémon Red and Blue. Originally called "Koduck" in Japanese, Nintendo decided to give the various Pokémon species "clever and descriptive names" related to their appearance or features when translating the game for western audiences as a means to make the characters more relatable to American children. As a result they were renamed "Psyduck", a combination of the words "Psychic" and "duck".

Known as the Duck Pokémon, Psyduck resembles a yellow duck or platypus with a vacant stare. It has a small tuft of black hair at the top of its head. It walks on its hind legs, and has arms rather than wings. Its arms are useful in using its powerful psychic abilities. Its appearance is meant to trick enemies into thinking it is weak. It has arms with three claws on each to deliver scratches if threatened. Psyduck live in freshwater lakes, small ponds, or rivers in tropical areas. When a Psyduck receives enough experience from battles, it evolves into Golduck.

Psyduck is constantly stunned by its headache, and usually just stands there vacantly, trying to calm its headache. When the headache gets too bad, its brain cells awaken, allowing it to use strong psychic powers. Some use their vacant look to their advantage, lulling the enemy and then using its psychokinetic powers. Psyduck don't remember using their powers, so they tilt their head in confusion. It is said to not remember using its powers because it uses them while in a deep sleep state.