Weirdest Move Animations?

[CoolMan6001]

Occasionally I go look up information about a move. I also get to see the animations too. This has let me see some questionable animations. Take gen 2 Withdraw for example: (from Bulbapedia)

The Pokemon dons a grey hard hat basically.

Or gen 1 Agility:

A brief white flash.

So what are some questionable move animations you've seen? Maybe it's an over-the-top animation for the move? Perhaps something basic for a move that should get more for its animation? Maybe it just plain doesn't make sense? Post them here for discussion!

 

[CoolMan6001]

Iron Head didn't even seem like it had anything to do with iron in gen 4-5. It was just a rock headbutt:

Hyper Beam wasn't even a beam in gen 3:

And if gen 2 was trying to make Waterfall look depresing, it did a good job:

 

[6Roggenrolas]

Imprison was always a strange one to me, and only got stranger as I looked into it. The move's translated name is already pretty vague, so the animation was needed to clue me in to what the move was actually supposed to be doing. However, when I saw the move for the first time, I was instead greeted by a weird red spot that was entirely unfamiliar to me. (To be fair, this was BW and I was pretty young, but still.)

I later found out that this was actually a sort of stamp used for letters, which especially makes sense considering that the original Japanese name of the move is "Seal." However, this animation doesn't make intuitive sense with on a move with the name Imprison. Another odd tidbit is that in gens 4 and 5, the original animation used a red cross with a Japanese symbol, whereas international versions switched to the seal. One would expect them to just remove the text from the cross, but apparently they were willing to revamp the whole animation and ultimately were happy with the actual stamp, as that was made the universal animation in gen 6 and (afaik, haven't checked SS) is still the one used today.

Between how unfitting the animation is for the name "Imprison" and the greatly diminishing relevance of mail/wax stamps, I wouldn't be surprised if this move returned to the red cross that was universally used back in gen 3. Then again, the original name of Seal remains pretty fitting for it and it's one of the more obscure status moves anyway.

tldr: make the animation a cool jail cell type thing idk

 

[Sonikku A]

Nothing will ever be as weird and disturbing as Golem using Mudslap in Stadium
I'm not posting the link cuz....

 

[DrPumpkinz]

Nothing will ever be as weird and disturbing as Golem using Mudslap in Stadium
I'm not posting the link cuz....

It can't be that bad, can it?

*looks it up on YouTube*

Oh.

O H .

 

[Tmi489]

SwSh's *hop*

 

[Emergence]

I remember getting a Skitty in Ruby and using Assist. I was so confused by the pink cat paws that suddenly flew across the screen. Why is this move called Assist here but Cat’s Paw in Japanese?

As if Ghost-types weren’t creepy enough, the animation for Curse unnerved me. The Pokemon literally shoves a needle into its body like some sort of voodoo doll. *shudders*

 

[sexy_ampharos]

Nothing will ever be as weird and disturbing as Golem using Mudslap in Stadium
I'm not posting the link cuz....

We have a winner! contest closed.

 

[Pikachu315111]

We have a winner! contest closed.

We also have Incineroar using Savage Spin-Out and a certain moment in the Ash's Gible vs Conway's Shuckle battle.

 

[Kalalokki]

And if gen 2 was trying to make Waterfall look depresing, it did a good job:

Waterfall's Japanese name means climb waterfall instead, so it's perfectly fine really.

Basically a lot of move animations and who can learn the moves are based off of the Japanese names, so it's bound to be some confusion when stuff is translated.

 

[Nugget]

always made a little uncomfortable by the giant disembodied and completely white hands that armlessly thrust into you for the move Arm Thrust in Gen VII.

 

[CoolMan6001]

Waterfall's Japanese name means climb waterfall instead, so it's perfectly fine really.

Basically a lot of move animations and who can learn the moves are based off of the Japanese names, so it's bound to be some confusion when stuff is translated.

I mentioned this specific case because Waterfall has water in every other generation. I have high doubts it has anything to do with the Japanese name

 

[Emergence]

Another one I thought was weird when I was younger was Agility, especially in gens 3-5. It looked to younger me like the Pokemon was just running around in circles. I always laughed imagining Pokemon were doing some fancy dancing footwork during battle, somehow increasing their speed in the process.

 

[Worldie]

I always laughed imagining Pokemon were doing some fancy dancing footwork during battle, somehow increasing their speed in the process.

Ironically that's actually what they do in the Anime....

Agility often shows the pokemon just running very fast toward the enemy (generally then hitting them with Tackle or similar phisical moves)

 

[CoolMan6001]

I wanted to mention something I found interesting:

This is the animation for Ice Ball in Generation III where a ball of ice is hurled.

The next few generations however, show the user rolling into the target instead.

The really interesting part is how Generation VII is the only other gen to show Ice Ball the original way: (It's gone in SwSh)

Did you know the description of the move even changed to remove the mention of rolling?

"The user continually rolls into the target over five turns. It becomes stronger each time it hits."
"The user attacks the target for five turns. The move's power increases each time it hits."
(Note: FRLG mentions rolling, and uses the ice hurl animation. The move still makes contact despite these changes. The anime also continued to show the user rolling:

)

Strangely, side games always portrayed Ice Ball as rolling:
Gen 3:

Gen 4:

There might be a particular reason for this, but it seemed weird and I wanted to point it out.

 

[CoolMan6001]

I found another animation odity:

Gunk Shot from gen 6. Notice the fact that it's a trash can that's being shot. Because gen 6 was my first game, I always asociated the move with trash being shot. Turns out gen 6 just decided to use a unique animation, because every other gen displays generic sludge:

The anime and GO (likely as a result of being based on gen 6 when it first came out) however, do display trash: (granted, Garbodor is the only user of it in the anime so that's most likely why it's trash there)

 

[Bull Of Heaven]

"The user shoots filthy garbage at the target to attack. This may also poison the target."

 

[CoolMan6001]

"The user shoots filthy garbage at the target to attack. This may also poison the target."

That would mean gen 6 is the only one to align with the description.

 

[TerrickTerran]

I miss the garbage can gunk shot. That Golem Mud Slap is something else.

 

[Billy the Uncle]

Many Water moves in Generation 1 seemed to spring from the ground for no reason, as if they were geysers.

Hydro Pump:


Waterfall:


Surf gets even weirder. The animation before the water columns looked like leaves to me at the times and in general doesn't really look "watery".


In fact, the pre-animation is the same as Toxic (and it doesn't look poison-y either).

 

[R_N]

It's supposed to be rain, I think; which I see more than leaves.

I never realized it used the same thing for Toxic, though. I guess the implication is its toxic rain...??

 

[Billy the Uncle]

It's supposed to be rain, I think; which I see more than leaves.

I never realized it used the same thing for Toxic, though. I guess the implication is its toxic rain...??

I only now see the raindrops. To me it always seemed like they're sliding sideways instead of down.

Still... you don't really go surfing when it's raining?

 

[Steel With It]

Dynamax a Cinderace and watch what happens to your character.

Oh dear.

 

[Bull Of Heaven]

I always interpreted the RBY Surf animation as the screen being flooded with water.

 

[Machoke]

I remember first getting Nuzleaf in RSE and it learning Extrasensory. I thought "Cool, a good psychic type move that can help beat the fighting types that give Nuzleaf trouble, awesome!" I gave it a whirl soon after, only to be pretty horrified at the attack animation.

I saw it as my Nuzleaf literally bending the physical form of the opponent like Playdoh using cruel psychic power. I was really creeped out by it, every time I used it it felt like it was a really messed up move to use. Mind you, I was a child at the time but still, it looks wicked to this day. Imagine being on the receiving end of that!
The move animation was similar in Gen 4:

But starting in gen 5 and onward, it started to look like a generic psychic move instead:

I'm assuming it would never return with the models of gen 6+ because it seems like that stretch effect would be hard to perform on models or it would look strange.