Pokémon Movepool Oddities & Explanations

Sort of reminds me how Regigigas doesn't get Rest. Most every other Pokemon gets it but not Regigigas despite you finding it while its asleep and possibly wake it up (though maybe that's why it doesn't need to? Then again there are other Pokemon who slept just as long or longer and they still get Rest).
I'm fairly sure Gamefreak trolled Regigigas out of Rest on purpose, to make it harder to survive long enough for Slow Start to wear off (iirc, it's also one of the few Pokemon that can't learn Protect). Archeops is like that too, like they overcompensated for its stats and ended up making it suck.
 

Karxrida

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The stupid thing about Archeops is that they didn't need to overcompensate. Haxorus and Chandelure are stonger and bulkier, plus Arceheops is frail enough that it's going to die to one or two hits anyway. They're called "Glass Cannons" for a reason.

To keep this on topic, Piplup and evolutions not getting Roost. The Japanese name is something along the lines of "Feather Rest" and they definitely have feathers because they're penguins, yet shit like Salamence, Dragonite, and freaking Tropius can be taught the move when they clearly don't have feathers.

Yveltal being the only Pokemon to naturally learn Focus Blast. I guess you could argue that it's using life energy or something (it's called "Fighting Spirit Bullet" in Japan and is clearly an energy/ki attack), but it's still weird.

Latias can get Sucker Punch via tutors in HGSS, while Latios can't. What???
 
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Xen

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Okay here's how it works.

There's a Rattata that belongs to a Youngster named Joey.
Joey is the name of a character in Yu-Gi-Oh that uses a Dragon card.
Dragons breath fire.
Thus, Rattata gets Flame Wheel as an egg move.

My logic is totally sound. Also 2.7k woot.
Guys, Rattata doesn't really learn flame wheel, that's really just his Brooklyn rage kicking in.


Elgyem and Beheeyem learning Steel Wing. Granted, this was due to an error in coding for XY, but it still is bizarre.
Steel Wing actually does make a little sense, if you think about it. Elgyem/Beheeyem are based off aliens, and aliens are associated with UFOs (flying saucers made out of some kind of metal).
 

Cresselia~~

Junichi Masuda likes this!!
Back in XY, Gardevoir line doesn't get draining kiss.
But in ORAS, Gardevoir and Froslass gets draining kiss.

Why not give Gardevoir draining kiss in XY?
 
Jirachi can get Draco Meteor through an event. Okay.

In addition, the Oddish family gets Moonblast, while stuff like Togekiss does not.
Jirachi is heavily tied to space, so the idea of a Meteor themed attack isn't too out there.

I do want to bring up one of the most glaring one on many people's minds: Pikachu got Icicle Crash before Kyurem.

Kyurem is explicitly seen forming Icicles in a B2W2 cutscene for Glaciate as its regular form, so I don't see why it couldn't create them for Icicle Crash instead, to say nothing of lacking other basics like Ice Punch/Fang.

Icicle Crash for Pikachu Belle also just makes little sense to me in its own right. Every other contest move is plausible enough (most just being Physical maneuvers by Pikachu itself, or Electric Terrain). However, Icicle Crash explicitly requires something Pikachu has no means of its own to create, and can't even be explained by some kind of "aim for the horn" BS. I could even believe Scald by the Electric energy heating the water, but Ice forming specifically requires heat energy to be taken out of water to form, which then entails Pikachu having some quantity of water to freeze in the first place.
 

QueBien

Nomad, vagabond, call me what you will
I always thought that Snorlax getting Self-Destruct was really weird. How do you heal that??
 
Dragon Claw is learned by Chesnaught, Pangoro and Barbaracle, which are nothing like a dragon.

Aegislash gets Head Smash, despite not having an head. What's more odd is the fact that Nosepass could learn Head Smash by breeding in Gen IV, but nothing in the Mineral group could pass it at the time, so it was just removed in Gen V. However, Gen VI introduced Aegislash which could pass it, yet Nosepass still can't learn it.
 
Here's another little one that bothers me a bit.

Magikarp is based on a legend that a Karp able to leap over the Dragon gate will become a Dragon. The Gate is supposedly located on a Waterfall it would have to leap over, yet Magikarp has never been able to learn Waterfall even through events. What does make this perplexing to me is the availability of Hydro Pump Magikarp's which have even less flavor to them if they were giving the "joke" Pokemon an event move.
 

Pikachu315111

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Here's another little one that bothers me a bit.

Magikarp is based on a legend that a Karp able to leap over the Dragon gate will become a Dragon. The Gate is supposedly located on a Waterfall it would have to leap over, yet Magikarp has never been able to learn Waterfall even through events. What does make this perplexing to me is the availability of Hydro Pump Magikarp's which have even less flavor to them if they were giving the "joke" Pokemon an event move.
Well it's not swimming up the Waterfall, its jumping up it which is why it gets Bounce.
 
In addition, the Oddish family gets Moonblast, while stuff like Togekiss does not.
Well, the reason why the Oddish line learns Moonblast is because their growth revolves around the moon. Specifically, Oddish's Emerald entry states that it grows by absorbing moonlight, which not only explains the reasoning behind learning Moonblast by level-up, but Moonlight as well.

I'm not too sure on Togekiss though, but then again, I can't really imagine a Togekiss at night - it seems much more at home during daytime, given its happiness and all.

I always though that Snorlax getting Self-Destruct was really weird. How do you heal that??
Tell that to the Explosion-learning double scoop ice-cream. Just imagine trying to clean that up.
 
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Dragon Claw is learned by Chesnaught, Pangoro and Barbaracle, which are nothing like a dragon.

Aegislash gets Head Smash, despite not having an head. What's more odd is the fact that Nosepass could learn Head Smash by breeding in Gen IV, but nothing in the Mineral group could pass it at the time, so it was just removed in Gen V. However, Gen VI introduced Aegislash which could pass it, yet Nosepass still can't learn it.
I think Dragon Claw is just that the user attacks with hard, vicious claws that resemble a dragon. Look at the claws on Chesnaught's and Barbaracle's hands. Not exactly things you want to shake. You don't see Pangoro's claws in the game, but I assume they're the same.

Also, I think Aegislash does have a bit of a head: the hilt of its sword. You can even imagine it getting damaged if it were to ram that into some random Pokemon. Can't explain the bit about Nosepass, though the fact that it could learn it in Gen V leads me to think it might just be something they overlooked.

Speaking of Togekiss, I'm really curious as to how the Togepi line can learn Nasty Plot, considering it won't even appear where there's conflict. Trauma from having an evil mob bird or either of a couple of electric rabbits as a father?
 
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Speaking of Togekiss, I'm really curious as to how the Togepi line can learn Nasty Plot, considering it won't even appear where there's conflict. Trauma from having an evil mob bird or either of a couple of electric rabbits as a father?
Remember that one episode in the anime with the sadistic, if not evil Togepi? I think that one episode is pretty much the only reason behind that move choice.
 

Karxrida

Death to the Undying Savage
is a Community Contributor Alumnus
Togepi had it as an Egg move since Diamond and Pearl, and if I recall correctly that specific episode aired after HeartGold and SoulSilver were released.

A more likely inspiration may have been Gold's Togepi from Adventures, and even then I doubt it.
 
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Stellar

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The stupid thing about Archeops is that they didn't need to overcompensate. Haxorus and Chandelure are stonger and bulkier, plus Arceheops is frail enough that it's going to die to one or two hits anyway. They're called "Glass Cannons" for a reason.

To keep this on topic, Piplup and evolutions not getting Roost. The Japanese name is something along the lines of "Feather Rest" and they definitely have feathers because they're penguins, yet shit like Salamence, Dragonite, and freaking Tropius can be taught the move when they clearly don't have feathers.

Yveltal being the only Pokemon to naturally learn Focus Blast. I guess you could argue that it's using life energy or something (it's called "Fighting Spirit Bullet" in Japan and is clearly an energy/ki attack), but it's still weird.

Latias can get Sucker Punch via tutors in HGSS, while Latios can't. What???
Sucker Punch is Ambush in Japanese and Latias's whole shtick is refracting light to make itself invisible.
"Its body is covered with a down that can refract light in such a way that it becomes invisible."
Latios doesn't have the same ability.
 

Pikachu315111

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Speaking of Togekiss, I'm really curious as to how the Togepi line can learn Nasty Plot, considering it won't even appear where there's conflict. Trauma from having an evil mob bird or either of a couple of electric rabbits as a father?

What you say?

I think we can all agree that Babies and little kids are kind of evil. I'm sure we've all had our experience with one really cheeky or mean little kid; this explains why stuff like Togepi and Pichu get it. And them growing up with it in their movepool just shows you're a bad parent.

Kind of?

And for their to be a point to this post, how about some oldies but goodies:

Snorlax not getting Slack Off
Aerodactyl not getting Head Smash and/or Brave Bird
Flygon not getting Dragon Dance
Xerneas not getting Play Rough
Flareon not getting Flare Blitz
 

Karxrida

Death to the Undying Savage
is a Community Contributor Alumnus

What you say?
I had already posted about how that anime episode with Togepi aired after it got access to the move, it couldn't have been an inspiration. In general I wouldn't consider the anime a reliable source for canon anyway, as to this day it will butcher game mechanics whenever the hell it feels like (lol X-Scissor breaks Trick Room you guys).

Snorlax not getting Slack Off
Aerodactyl not getting Head Smash and/or Brave Bird
Flygon not getting Dragon Dance
Xerneas not getting Play Rough
Flareon not getting Flare Blitz
Aerodactyl doesn't get Brave Bird because it's not a fucking bird. A better question is why do Zubat, Golbat, and Crobat get it? They're literally the only things that learn it that aren't birds.
 
Aerodactyl doesn't get Brave Bird because it's not a fucking bird. A better question is why do Zubat, Golbat, and Crobat get it? The.
Well, Brave Bird's description states that the user 'tucks' in its wings (of which Crobat has plenty) and charges, so perhaps it doesn't always need to be the name of a move that justifies a Pokémon learning it.

But this logic alone does not explain why Aerodactyl does not learn Brave Bird, as it clearly has wings too. But consider, Aerodactyl is a fossil Pokémon, and was once described as being king of the skies. Now, if it was the top predator back then without Brave Bird, it clearly didn't need anything that would grant it even more power, similar to how we humans will probably change very little biologically simply because we have adapted so well. Even now, in the modern day, Aerodactyl is so 'out-of-sync' with new competition, that it cannot suddenly learn Brave Bird as an Egg Move in response, having never needed it millions of years beforehand.

Of course, this raises the question of Doduo learning Brave Bird, of which I see no discernible wings . . .
 

Pikachu315111

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I had already posted about how that anime episode with Togepi aired after it got access to the move, it couldn't have been an inspiration. In general I wouldn't consider the anime a reliable source for canon anyway, as to this day it will butcher game mechanics whenever the hell it feels like (lol X-Scissor breaks Trick Room you guys)


I like Kurona's explanation about it referencing children being mischievous. Having 3 younger boy cousins I can attest to that. Of course if that was the case more Baby Pokemon should have it so there must be another reason. I can't help but there's an a joke with the decision in there somewhere, like the designers gave it to the two baby Pokemon you wouldn't think to have dark thoughts.

Of course the anime isn't reliable, they bend the game mechanics in half if not outright break them because the writers are lazy and can't think within the game mechanics to come up with an interesting battle. Now this had led to some creative things like I liked the Counter Shield... but then we get things like Thunder Armor.

Aerodactyl doesn't get Brave Bird because it's not a fucking bird. A better question is why do Zubat, Golbat, and Crobat get it? They're literally the only things that learn it that aren't birds.
Pterosaurs are more closely related to bird then they are reptiles which is more than the Zubat family can say. :P Though honestly who says Brave Bird should just be restricted to bird-like Pokemon? What if the move was only called "Brave Bird" because so far its mostly bird Pokemon that has been seen using the move. Infact maybe the Zubat family learning it shows that the name is a misnomer. Yes the Pokemon looks like it needs a certain type of body, but as long as its body matches I don't see why a Pokemon couldn't learn the move. Brave Bird's description doesn't sound like it'll make itself bird exclusive.
 


I like Kurona's explanation about it referencing children being mischievous. Having 3 younger boy cousins I can attest to that. Of course if that was the case more Baby Pokemon should have it so there must be another reason.
Well there's also Riolu, Smoochum and Mime Jr.; though the former only got it in Gen 5 and the other two only have it as an egg move.
 
Snorlax not getting Slack Off
Maybe Snorlax doesn't get Slack Off because it doesn't so much laze around as it does just sleep a lot? If Rest weren't a move that every Pokemon got, it would make a lot of sense for Snorlax to have Rest over Slack Off.

Xerneas not getting Play Rough
The description of Play Rough is the user plays with the target in a rough (aggressive) manner. It's hard to envision a huge tree deer like Xerneas playing with anything, and it's also considered a benevolent Pokemon so even if it did play, it probably wouldn't rough anybody up while it was at it.
 

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