Pokémon Movepool Oddities & Explanations

It's kinda weird that typhlosion can learn extrasensory. I mean it's not the type of pokemon to be all psychicy about things.

Also, Aggron not being able to use horn attack. Wow pokemon it has two huge horns on its head.

Edit:
I did a bit more searching. I found out that gastly can't use poison gas. XD
 
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It's kinda weird that typhlosion can learn extrasensory. I mean it's not the type of pokemon to be all psychicy about things.

Also, Aggron not being able to use horn attack. Wow pokemon it has two huge horns on its head.

Edit:
I did a bit more searching. I found out that gastly can't use poison gas. XD
Extrasensory seems to be one of those moves that's given to really random Pokemon. The Legendary Beasts, Nuzleaf, Tornadus, Landorus (but not Thundy), Greninja, Typhlosion, Togetic, Exploud, Roserade, and Zoroark all get it.

Exploud sort of makes sense, making a sound too high to hear but sufficient to cause damage, but for everything else...
 

Martin

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Anyone know why things that get Self Destruct don't get Explosion and vice versa? I've tried looking deeper into the Japanese names but I'm only able to interpret だいばくはつ as Big Explosion and have only been able to get suicide bombing, self-destruction and the Pokémon blowing itself up as interpretations for じばく and I can't figure outp what the difference is unless Self Destruct is a suicide attack which doesn't utilise an explosion, instead opting to utilise a system closer to kamikaze a-la Final Gambit, Brave Bird, Double Edge, Flare Blitz, Volt Tackle, Wood Hammer, Take Down or Wild Charge. Any thoughts on this?
 
Anyone know why things that get Self Destruct don't get Explosion and vice versa? I've tried looking deeper into the Japanese names but I'm only able to interpret だいばくはつ as Big Explosion and have only been able to get suicide bombing, self-destruction and the Pokémon blowing itself up as interpretations for じばく and I can't figure outp what the difference is unless Self Destruct is a suicide attack which doesn't utilise an explosion, instead opting to utilise a system closer to kamikaze a-la Final Gambit, Brave Bird, Double Edge, Flare Blitz, Volt Tackle, Wood Hammer, Take Down or Wild Charge. Any thoughts on this?
Explosion's wider distribution can at least be explained away as being a TM while Self-Destruct is not. 'mon that get self-destruct and not Explosion? ... no clue. I could possibly explain Snorlax's case as being a semi-event-exclusive-move and they don't want to make that less special by just giving it a TM that does the same thing but better.
 
Cleffa, Clefairy and Clefable are the only Pokemon capable of learning Soft-Boiled that have no egg motif in any stage of their evolutionary line (Excluding Mew, because Mew). Why can they learn it, then?

Or for that matter... why can't Arceus, which created the Pokemon universe, learn as many moves as Mew? Not to mention it can't use any punching moves even though some entries describe it saying it shaped the universe with one thousand arms...
 
Cleffa, Clefairy and Clefable are the only Pokemon capable of learning Soft-Boiled that have no egg motif in any stage of their evolutionary line (Excluding Mew, because Mew). Why can they learn it, then?

Or for that matter... why can't Arceus, which created the Pokemon universe, learn as many moves as Mew? Not to mention it can't use any punching moves even though some entries describe it saying it shaped the universe with one thousand arms...
My best guess is that they look similar enough to Chansey to get the same move. But yeah, that's a big stretch. The Japanese name for Softboiled is "Egg Lay" anyway, so technically all Pokémon should learn the move since they can all (well, most of them) lay eggs.

As for Arceus, I think the Pokédex entries reference ancient myths of many-limbed creator deities and such. Arceus itself doesn't have arms nor hands to punch with, so no punching moves.
 
Explosion's wider distribution can at least be explained away as being a TM while Self-Destruct is not. 'mon that get self-destruct and not Explosion? ... no clue. I could possibly explain Snorlax's case as being a semi-event-exclusive-move and they don't want to make that less special by just giving it a TM that does the same thing but better.
In 1st gen Snorlax and Mewtwo could learn the Self-Destruct TM but not the Explosion TM

In 3rd gen Self-Destruct came back as a Tutor Move in Pokemon XD and Wailord could learn it but not the Explosion Tutor Move.

Exploud sort of makes sense, making a sound too high to hear but sufficient to cause damage, but for everything else...
Extrasensory's Japanese name is "Supernatural Power", so still doesn't make sense
 

Pikachu315111

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Ambipom can have the Ability Skill Link. Here is one of Ambipom's dex entry:

Diamond, Y, Alpha Sapphire: To eat, it deftly shucks nuts with its two tails. It rarely uses its arms now.
Doesn't learn Bullet Seed.

Actually Skill Link is poorly utilized on Ambipom. You would think with its hand tails it would get Bullet Seed, Rock Blast, Arm Thrust, and Tail Slap. But it only gets Double Slap and Fury Swipes which suck even with Skill Link.
 
Ambipom can have the Ability Skill Link. Here is one of Ambipom's dex entry:



Doesn't learn Bullet Seed.

Actually Skill Link is poorly utilized on Ambipom. You would think with its hand tails it would get Bullet Seed, Rock Blast, Arm Thrust, and Tail Slap. But it only gets Double Slap and Fury Swipes which suck even with Skill Link.
It gets Seed Bomb though, which is pretty similar concept-wise. Instead of flinging many small nuts, it throws a single big coconut at you.

The Dex entry mentions that it rarely uses its arms, so Arm Thrust makes little sense. Tail Slap would fit pretty well, though.
 

Pikachu315111

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It gets Seed Bomb though, which is pretty similar concept-wise. Instead of flinging many small nuts, it throws a single big coconut at you.

The Dex entry mentions that it rarely uses its arms, so Arm Thrust makes little sense. Tail Slap would fit pretty well, though.
True, but why can't it learn both especially if it'll benefit from its Ability?

As for Arm Thrust, it'll use its tails instead.
 


Your argument is invalid.


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Pre/post evos mess up movepools quite a lot. Also the infamous Iron Tail Primeape/Alakazam.

Also, I don't think a Poké should get moves just because they complement its ability well. Only because Ambipom gets Skill Link it doesn't mean it needs to have all the multi-hit moves. They kinda did that with Mega Heracross, though.
 


+



Pre/post evos mess up movepools quite a lot. Also the infamous Iron Tail Primeape/Alakazam.

Also, I don't think a Poké should get moves just because they complement its ability well. Only because Ambipom gets Skill Link it doesn't mean it needs to have all the multi-hit moves. They kinda did that with Mega Heracross, though.
Why not? If you're going to give a Pokémon an ability to take advantage of certain moves... it should probably have certain moves. Otherwise it's just bad or lazy game design.
 

DHR-107

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I'm not sure why Wooper is the poster boy for this when Gastly doesn't even have limbs and it gets some of the punching moves. It's been gone over a hundred times, Wooper used it's tail to attack with those moves. Just as Gastly can use "ghostly apparitions" for his.
 


+



Pre/post evos mess up movepools quite a lot. Also the infamous Iron Tail Primeape/Alakazam.

Also, I don't think a Poké should get moves just because they complement its ability well. Only because Ambipom gets Skill Link it doesn't mean it needs to have all the multi-hit moves. They kinda did that with Mega Heracross, though.
Hell, that didn't affect Cinccino. It gets three good multi-hit moves to abuse it. I don't get how it learns Rock Blast, for instance.
 
Hell, that didn't affect Cinccino. It gets three good multi-hit moves to abuse it. I don't get how it learns Rock Blast, for instance.
Forgot about the fluffy sweeper (ah, puns!). Yeah, it doesn't make much sense. Maybe it just picks up rocks and tosses them at foes, but then basically anything with hands should be able to learn Rock Blast.

Guess some Pokémon just get more attention than others.
 

Pikachu315111

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I'm not sure why Wooper is the poster boy for this when Gastly doesn't even have limbs and it gets some of the punching moves. It's been gone over a hundred times, Wooper used it's tail to attack with those moves. Just as Gastly can use "ghostly apparitions" for his.
Or it makes a limb out of the type's energy (though Togekiss can use its wings as they have essentially replaces its hands).

Also, I don't think a Poké should get moves just because they complement its ability well. Only because Ambipom gets Skill Link it doesn't mean it needs to have all the multi-hit moves. They kinda did that with Mega Heracross, though.
As Kurona said, why give it the Ability then? All other Skill Link users get moves that can use it effectively. Pokemon who got Mega Launcher were given most if not all the "pulse" moves. Pokemon with Iron Fist usually learn many of the punching moves. Rock Head & Reckless get recoil moves (though I could go through some who probably deserve some others).

Abilities are Moves you can teach your Pokemon thus are optional, they're suppose to be a natural skill/trait of that Pokemon much like animals in real life would have evolved to be the way they are. So if the Pokemon can't use an Ability effectively, why even have it?

Forgot about the fluffy sweeper (ah, puns!). Yeah, it doesn't make much sense. Maybe it just picks up rocks and tosses them at foes, but then basically anything with hands should be able to learn Rock Blast.

Guess some Pokémon just get more attention than others.
I think the idea with Rock Blast & Bullet Seed is the Pokemon is throwing or spitting the rocks/seeds very fast like its gun fire. For Ambipom it'll be throwing with its highly developed tail arms.

And that there is the problem, Ambipom isn't popular thus isn't getting any attention by GF.
 
This one is actually more of an ability oddity, but...

Protean, an ability themed on changing how you look at will, is given to two lines - Kecleon's, through the usual cartoonish exaggeration on how chameleons can change colours, and Froakie's, which is based on ninjas, masters of disguise of old times.

So then... why doesn't the Zorua line get it? Sure, it did not exist in Gen V, but what about it being a Hidden Ability? The Pokedex also states they change appearances to trick opponents, which is what the Froakie line also does by changing types as they attack (As per the ninja theme), with the extra power of a STAB boost being just a bonus (Although the whole "changing types to trick opponents" could also be exploited, like Spiking to block Volt Switch or Shadow Sneaking to spinblock).
 
This one is actually more of an ability oddity, but...

Protean, an ability themed on changing how you look at will, is given to two lines - Kecleon's, through the usual cartoonish exaggeration on how chameleons can change colours, and Froakie's, which is based on ninjas, masters of disguise of old times.

So then... why doesn't the Zorua line get it? Sure, it did not exist in Gen V, but what about it being a Hidden Ability? The Pokedex also states they change appearances to trick opponents, which is what the Froakie line also does by changing types as they attack (As per the ninja theme), with the extra power of a STAB boost being just a bonus (Although the whole "changing types to trick opponents" could also be exploited, like Spiking to block Volt Switch or Shadow Sneaking to spinblock).
The Zorua line's whole gimmick is it's Illusion ability. Yeah protean on Zoroark would he really nice but I highly doubt they would give it to zoroark as that kinda takes away it's identity.
 

Pikachu315111

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This one is actually more of an ability oddity, but...

Protean, an ability themed on changing how you look at will, is given to two lines - Kecleon's, through the usual cartoonish exaggeration on how chameleons can change colours, and Froakie's, which is based on ninjas, masters of disguise of old times.

So then... why doesn't the Zorua line get it? Sure, it did not exist in Gen V, but what about it being a Hidden Ability? The Pokedex also states they change appearances to trick opponents, which is what the Froakie line also does by changing types as they attack (As per the ninja theme), with the extra power of a STAB boost being just a bonus (Although the whole "changing types to trick opponents" could also be exploited, like Spiking to block Volt Switch or Shadow Sneaking to spinblock).
As sneaky. said, the Zorua family's gimmick is that they cast an illusion over themselves to make them look like another Pokemon, they don't actually change.

However there is one Pokemon who I do think deserves to have Protean: Mew. Mew is the ancestor of every Pokemon and it can learn every TM and non-specific Tutor move. It can also use Transform. I think its fair to say it could, if not should, get Protean.
 

Pikachu315111

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And a new candidate for "I have no arms yet I can punch" has emerged:


Despite having no arms Shroomish gets Drain Punch, Focus Punch,
and Wake-Up Slap via Breeding & oddly Tutors. Now obviously this is because it evolves into Breloom which not only has arms but also is a punching Pokemon. Still, odd it can learn some of these moves from Tutors who can wait till its a Breloom.

NOTE: If you look through its TM list you'll also see it can learn False Swipe. This isn't a mistake. False Swipe's Japanese name is "Mineuchi". Mineuchi roughly translates to "Strike with the Back of the Sword" and is a sword technique where you strike an opponent with the back of a sword to incapacitate them but not kill them (the sword being a katana which are sharp on one side but blunt on the other, thus you hitting them with the blunt side of a katana). However being this would damage the sword also it has never been actually done, but in terms of Pokemon it just means the Pokemon is attacking them with blunt force which is meant to stun (leave with 1 HP) than knock them out.
 

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