I’m going to mix this up a bit and do this by region instead of by generation. Aside from some examples people have already mentioned like the elemental punches, most moves are at least somewhat similar between generations anyway.
Kanto: Surprised no one’s mentioned the TM for Psychic yet. I always pictured that as the real main TM of Saffron City aside from the one you get in Sabrina’s gym.
Johto: The issue with the elemental punches being my choice for this region is that this is purely a GSC thing. The near-universal consensus is that HGSS is the overall superior Johto experience and most newer fans from the 2000s had access to this instead of GSC. The only move I could nominate that was prominent in both versions is probably Headbutt, as one of the better Normal-Type options pre-Strength that can be taught infinitely in the remakes. Having a more reliable Normal-Type option is nice given the fact Tackle had not been buffed yet.
Hoenn: Everyone and their mother knows the correct answer to this. How could it not be Surf? Hoenn is practically mostly water, and even if Surf wasn’t the most reliable Water-Type move in the game, it cannot be denied just how much of Hoenn gets unlocked after the HM is made available.
Sinnoh: This region introduced the physical-special split, and to Sinnoh’s credit, many of the new Pokémon do a pretty good job of showing it off. The question is how to narrow down which move does the best job while being the most prominent during a playthrough. In the end I’ve decided to go with Dragon Claw, as a move that all of the Dragon-Types in the game (namely the legendaries) all learn.
Hey y'all, I'm back with Part 2 finally. In this part I'll be looking at Unova, Kalos, Alola, and Galar with the same rules and clarifications as before. Let's do it.
Unova: The TM for Work Up has been done to death in this thread already, but there's a few other moves I'd like to mention also. This is the region where Tackle was buffed to 50 base power and 100 accuracy, and is also the move all three starters have to begin with, a first for the series at this point. Volt Switch is the Electric-Type special clone of U-Turn that was introduced in Unova, being the TM given to you after beating Elesa as the move responsible for turning an otherwise forgettable battle into one of Unova's few challenging gym battles. Finally, this is the generation where Scald became a thing, and it sees prominent use from the Panpour family as well as a TM, notably being the one given to your after beating Marlon in Black & White 2.
Kalos: I'm absolutely shocked none of you have mentioned Power-Up Punch yet. Take everything I just said about Volt Switch and Scald in the Unova section and crank it up to 11. Boosting your Attack on every turn with a TM move is absolutely incredible, and I don't think I need to mention how the gift Lucario makes use of it in this region.
Alola: I'm going to mix things up here a bit and talk about a Z-Move this time as opposed to a regular move. In the original Sun & Moon games, the Flyinium Z was locked behind a boulder you needed Machamp to push for you at Ten Carat Hill on Melemele Island. This was actually removed in the Ultra versions, allowing Flying-Types to make use of Supersonic Skystrike attacks much earlier on in a playthrough. It cannot be overstated how much this helps early-game Flying-Types like Pikipek, Zubat, Noibat, Oricorio, and USUM in-game tier list champion Hawlucha power through tougher matchups.
Galar: Going back to regular moves now, this is another case like Sinnoh where there were various new mechanics added to the game but I have a hard time deciding between them. There are a number of G-Max moves the player can witness throughout a playthrough, but as far as regular moves are concerned the only move important enough for this slot in my opinion is probably Zacian & Zamazenta's (and Eternatus to a lesser extent) signature moves because of the Eternamax battle.
