Heal Block as a status move was cut, now we only have it as an extra effect on Psychic Noise's damage.
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Pokémon Movepool Oddities & Explanations
- Thread starter Kurona
- Start date
Psychic Noise.
wait TRUE heal block was dexited 
if it doesn't come back in gen 10 just so the option exists it will seal the deal on move dexit having no rhyme or reason
if it doesn't come back in gen 10 just so the option exists it will seal the deal on move dexit having no rhyme or reasonFun Fact: If a Pokemon is prevented from healing by Psychic Noise, it will bring up the message that "<POKEMONNAME> was prevented from healing by Heal Block!" despite Heal Block not existing on the Switch.wait TRUE heal block was dexited
That's not the message SM used either by the way, the "by Heal Block" part didn't used to be there in previous gens. They updated text to make it dumber.
Actually this message was changed in the final game even though it showed up in prerelease.
They also said "because of Heal Block" which has been used since Gen 4 through 7.
I mean "worth using" in a "X mon doesn't get Earth Power but would appreciate a reasonably strong Special Ground coverage option" sense. With Earth Power replacing said move in various learnsets, it seems to be a moot point, though.
Bulbapedia says it was changed from allowing the attack but not healing in gens 4-5 to preventing the move entirely in gens 6-7. So Psychic Noise matches the most recent implementation of Heal Block.
If not learning Earthquake is the price to pay for learning Sacred Fire, I think we take that trade any day.
(Also shoutout to Entei actually being a S tier VGC mon right now as well as last gen, whereas Gouging Fire may be very well called Gouging Mid
)i just had to check this because wtf, and it pissed me off that in gen 7, the screw up made vine whip replace tackle, so this line learns vine whip at lv1 and also lv5. when they added the line to SV, they "fixed" it... by removing the second vine whip.
Why the hell have we gotten 2 different ~40 BP, no extra effect, physical grass moves for starters? Seriously, we got a clone of Leafage of all things in the same gen Movexit happened.
I'd rather keep Jump Kick and Signal Beam. Hell, and Mud Bomb, give it and Bone Club an accuracy boost and it'd be fine.
I'd rather keep Jump Kick and Signal Beam. Hell, and Mud Bomb, give it and Bone Club an accuracy boost and it'd be fine.
This may just be more of a nitpick than anything actually serious, but it bothers me that Entei gets access to Sacred Fire while the Legendary Birds don’t get access to the counterpart Aeroblast. Scared Fire makes a lot of sense thematically for Entei, and just in case anyone’s wondering for whatever reason I’m also not going to push for Moltres getting Sacred Fire for that reason. That being said, even if Kanto and Johto are listed as different regions for the purpose of the PokéDex, the two regions are functionally the closest thing we have to two regions being connected and making one mega-region, Paldea and Kalos fan theories not withstanding.
This feels even more like a potential oversight when you consider the Legendary Birds and the so-called Sea Spirit’s Den showing up in X & Y, considering the fact that Entei’s Sacred Fire addition notably wasn’t something that was specifically coded into X & Y as opposed to being saved for some random level-up movepool change come the Johto Legendaries’ return in ORAS. All three of the Legendary Birds have higher Special stats than physical, much like Entei’s physical Attack stat, soooo… why was this never made a thing again? Fix your game, developers.
This feels even more like a potential oversight when you consider the Legendary Birds and the so-called Sea Spirit’s Den showing up in X & Y, considering the fact that Entei’s Sacred Fire addition notably wasn’t something that was specifically coded into X & Y as opposed to being saved for some random level-up movepool change come the Johto Legendaries’ return in ORAS. All three of the Legendary Birds have higher Special stats than physical, much like Entei’s physical Attack stat, soooo… why was this never made a thing again? Fix your game, developers.
i would give the articunos aeroblast. it would match only entei getting ho-oh's move, and articuno deserves something over zapdos and moltres however small lol
I'd give all 3 birds Aeroblast, and all 3 beasts Sacred Fire. If we weren't moving away from tutors, I'd also have an in-game event involving Lugia/Ho-Oh giving them power for them to learn it.
Also, Johto was designed as an extension of Kanto pretty much. From Gen III on you get the "new area of the world", but Johto is "Kanto's sequel", even before there was room for Kanto proper in the cartridge.
EDIT: Okay, the Pawniard line lost a bunch of moves upon getting an evolution, but, c'mon, losing Psycho Cut was a low blow. And, for the looks of it, it is mostly a "let's remove it from the egg moves list in SwSh, now that it is a TM", then "let's copypaste the SwSh Egg Move list":
Also, Johto was designed as an extension of Kanto pretty much. From Gen III on you get the "new area of the world", but Johto is "Kanto's sequel", even before there was room for Kanto proper in the cartridge.
EDIT: Okay, the Pawniard line lost a bunch of moves upon getting an evolution, but, c'mon, losing Psycho Cut was a low blow. And, for the looks of it, it is mostly a "let's remove it from the egg moves list in SwSh, now that it is a TM", then "let's copypaste the SwSh Egg Move list":
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Aurorus not having Aurora Veil was mentioned before given the name and Aurora mentions in its dex entries, and the fact that it remains an Egg Move is bizarre for Gen 8, compounded by the fact ABOMASNOW can get it normally as a Level 1 move but not Aurorus. It has Reflect and Light Screen (moves they've been quite picky about since Gen 8+ movepool re-evaluation) so I don't see what flavor it's missing even beyond the Snow Warning Aurora-themed Pokemon like Ninetales. I bring this one back up like 5-7 years later because it baffled me for that long and we know Aurorus isn't in Gen 9 so it continues to go unaddressed.
Also Aurorus, the Specially-focused Fossil Pokemon characterized by Diamond-Shaped Crystals all over its body, has yet to be allowed to learn Power Gem in any form. A visible Gem Stone, Ore, or just something "organic" with a strong glow seems to be the main criteria for natural learning (which they play loose with in cases like Corsola, Nihilego, and Miraidon), and yet Aurorus isn't allowed to have it even via TM or Egg Move (they gave it to Nacli in Gen 9 of all things!) after 3 Generations in the game, one in which the move was a TM as noted
Also Aurorus, the Specially-focused Fossil Pokemon characterized by Diamond-Shaped Crystals all over its body, has yet to be allowed to learn Power Gem in any form. A visible Gem Stone, Ore, or just something "organic" with a strong glow seems to be the main criteria for natural learning (which they play loose with in cases like Corsola, Nihilego, and Miraidon), and yet Aurorus isn't allowed to have it even via TM or Egg Move (they gave it to Nacli in Gen 9 of all things!) after 3 Generations in the game, one in which the move was a TM as noted
Nacli: Salt is made of crystals after all.
Nihilego: Presumably it uses it's shiny semi-transparent head.
Miraidon: The C in LCD does stand for Crystal after all.
I can't really explain Corsola, presumably it just gets it because to only other Special Rock move pre-Isle of Armor was Ancient Power.
As for why Aurorus doesn't? Those "diamonds" are ice, not gems. It's why Glalie and Regice don't get it.
If "only other Special Rock move" suffices for Corsola, then it suffices for Aurorus who has the Ice Crystaline look in its biology for Power Gem as much as "Dinosaur so Ancient" for Ancientpower.
The word "crystal" is explicitly used multiple times in Aurorus's Pokedex entries and talks about crystals and glow as much as its Cold biology. Regice and Glalie by comparison only reference their nearly-unmeltable Ice bodies and flash freezing, nothing about a particular structure or reflectiveness.
Power Gem's move description pertains to the glow resembling gemstones rather than attacking with said Crystals or stones specifically.
This description doesn't necessarily require the Pokemon to have literal crystals, but that is a common elements across the bulk of natural learners, even including your "presumably" explanation for Nihilego, as a source for the attack's glow. Aurorus has multiple references to Crystals and Aurora lights, both of which are the obvious elements that Gamefreak designs Power Gem around even for Pokemon it'd be totally useless on (i.e. when evaluating the flavor criteria) like Meowth and Gigalith.
So interesting fact, I checked and apparent jewlers consider coral to just be a gem? So I guess that's the actual reason there.
Acid Armor has a pretty specific flavor to it, leading to a relatively narrow distribution with predictable reasons for why a given Pokemon learns it. You got blobs like Grimer and Litwik, you got gastropods like Goomy and Shelmet, you got jellyfish like Tentacool and Frillish, and you got things that melt like Vanillite and Vaporeon. There are only two exceptions to this. First there's Skrelp, who kinda sorta fits the flavor with its Poison/Water typing, and it's an egg move so the flavor doesn't need to fit that much. Second,
there's Glimmet, who learns the move through level-up.
there's Glimmet, who learns the move through level-up.
I think the idea is that whatever crystal they're made of has at least some solubility in water. What came to my mind first was how stalactites/stalagmites are built from minerals slowly coming out of solution. Bulbapedia also speculates on a link to copper sulphate because it's (mostly) bright blue and toxic enough to be used to remove algae and fungus. Copper Sulphate also dissolves pretty readily in water.Acid Armor has a pretty specific flavor to it, leading to a relatively narrow distribution with predictable reasons for why a given Pokemon learns it. You got blobs like Grimer and Litwik, you got gastropods like Goomy and Shelmet, you got jellyfish like Tentacool and Frillish, and you got things that melt like Vanillite and Vaporeon. There are only two exceptions to this. First there's Skrelp, who kinda sorta fits the flavor with its Poison/Water typing, and it's an egg move so the flavor doesn't need to fit that much. Second,
there's Glimmet, who learns the move through level-up.
People here (especially veterans) might be vaguely familiar with the New York Pokémon Center distribution event that took place during Gen 2. This event is known for giving a bunch of moves to Pokémon they would otherwise not have (or got in later gens), with some like Lovely Kiss or Growth making a huge impact on competitive viability. I wanted to highlight a few of the odder move choices:
- Petal Dance on a lot of random things
- Splash Snorlax
- Mimic Wobbuffet (kind of makes sense, but still a fascinating oddity)
- Scary Face Marill (listed more for the humor factor)
- Whirlwind Swinub
- Absorb Phanpy
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I love the NYPC events (in both Gen II and III) and wish there'd been some equivalent to them in the VC titles as a lot of Pokemon really appreciated those moves. The fossil Pokemon in particular only ever got Rock moves in Gen I by way of those. Interestingly Meowth wasn't one of the Petal Dance recipients in Gen II but then ended up getting it in Gen III.
I feel like a lot of the special moves in Gen II were pure novelty picks and like a lot of them for how creative they feel. You can tell there was some thought and care put into who got what: I love how the Nidos got Moonlight/Morning Sun and Onix got Sharpen, for instance.
Some of them were decent enough, though still largely inferior to the egg moves you'd have to pass up to get them (from a quick scan of the list, Paras got Synthesis, Pinsir got Rock Throw, Bulbasaur got Ancientpower, Charmander got Crunch, and Squirtle got Zap Cannon). There are definitely a few standouts, though: Poliwag and Eevee got Growth, Geodude got Rapid Spin, Magnemite got Agility, Drowzee got Amnesia, Magikarp got Reversal, Totodile got Submission, Sudowoodo and Pineco got Substitute, and Dunsparce got Horn Drill). Pichu probably quite appreciated Petal Dance though overall that line prefers having Surf to hit Rock and Ground-types. Can't imagine Petal Dance being too much of an asset to Jynx, Clefable, Wigglytuff, or Golduck though.
Whereas a lot of the similar Gen III moves felt more like slight attempts towards viability: everything that got Wish could make good use of it (tbh it's a move that is pretty much good on anything) and there was stuff like Oddish getting Leech Seed or even Wynaut getting Tickle.