Heracross is the peak of pokemon design. Simple, sleek, not overdesigned, very clear what animal its supposed to resemble (a stagbeetle), but still clearly unique and wildly different from its representative species. Not to mention its availability in its origin game is absolutely perfect. You can get it early, but you actually have to work to get it. You have to spend forever to find the right tree, and when one finally comes out it can flee and you have to start all over again, plus it has a low catch rate which means when you actually do manage to catch one, its all the more exciting. And then, when you do finally manage to get one, it becomes the team VIP almost immediately and kicks the whole games ass for you. Name a pokemon more perfect. Heracross checks all the boxes of character design and game design and I don't think there has been a pokemon since that has beaten it on both fronts.