What are the most defining moves of in-game playthroughs to you?

[bdt2002]

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.

Part 2 with Unova through Galar coming soon because I need to get lunch.

 

[Bull Of Heaven]

Ember is more common early on, but it also gets replaced quickly (usually with Flame Wheel). And the waiting period from then on until Flamethrower is really long, so I feel more of a connection with Flame Wheel than Ember.

This still seems very game-specific. Cyndaquil and Chimchar are the only starters I can think of that even get Flame Wheel. Meanwhile Tepig, Fennekin, Litten, and I think Scorbunny all get Flame Charge (I think Combusken does too in gen 6), and Charmander gets Flame Burst in recent gens.

 

[ceal]

I'll throw a couple in for the gens I primarily play:
Gen III

- Secret Power: an important source of Normal coverage / STAB that comes fairly early in both RSE and FRLG. Its secondary effects can also be pretty funny. Especially good on the Grass starters, for some reason.

- Bulk Up: good setup move for glass cannons and tanks alike. Mostly restricted to Fighting types only, but it absolutely defines their performances. Especially good in RSE, where you can get it as early as gym 2.

- Psychic: Psychic types are pretty strong in RSE, and downright broken in FRLG, so obviously their strongest STAB option defines a lot of in-game runs. A little more annoying in RSE, since you need to get it from the Game Corner if your mon doesn't naturally learn it, but still very powerful nonetheless.

Gen IV

- Close Combat: one of the best examples of the incredible powercreep Gen IV was witness to. Utilized by two very common choices for DPP runs and seen on several other strong Fighting types across DPP / HGSS.

- Earthquake: particularly in Platinum, where you can grab it under Cycling Road. Having EQ before gym 3 obviously just breaks some Ground types, and is also extremely notable for the Pokemon who use it as coverage (Gyara, Machop, etc.).

- Fire Blast: a very HGSS-centric thing, as Flamethrower is locked behind the impossible Voltorb Flip and this is your best compensation. Basically any Fire Type you catch should be given this move, especially Qwilava, as it allows it to beat Whitney.

Gen V

- Work Up: obviously.

- Bulldoze: with the EQ tm being unobtainable for the main game, Bulldoze is the next best thing for a lot of Pokemon, even for some Ground types that don't learn EQ naturally. Its low BP sucks but the Speed drop is kinda nice at times.

- Rock Slide: aside from Axew this is basically the only reason you go into Mistralton Cave. Most useful for Skyla but it's good general coverage for just about everything that can learn it.

 

[khlaylav]

Gen 6 I gotta go with Rock Tomb. The buffs it got and the fact you get it after Gym 2 makes it very, very accessible to any physical attacker.

 

[bdt2002]

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.

 

[Beige]

I've always liked using Return in gens 4 and 5. You get it pretty early and when dealing with the more limited movepools of in-game, a 100 bp normal move isn't half bad.

I'd also like to mention Tackle in gen 5, since it being 50 bp makes Normals using STAB Tackle in early game is one of the more memorable parts of in-game Unova to me.

 

[aegon the unlikely]

RBY: Dig. 100 BP (essentially Earthquake) before the second gym? Get out. Honorable mention goes to Horn Drill, which is partly why Nidoran is the speedrun starter of choice; even OHKO moves had 100% accuracy after one X Accuracy, allowing Nidoking and Nidoqueen to sweep teams. Bubblebeam, although ultimately a victim of power creep, is also really powerful as both a threat to you (Misty's Starmie is probably the toughest boss in RBY and one of the tougher bosses in the series more generally) and as a temporary fill-in for the Squirtle line, Gyarados, or Vaporeon till you get Surf. The aforementioned Nidos can also make fair use of it in RB where they don't have early Double Kick and inexplicably cannot learn Dig (sadly true in Y too).

Psychic (30% chance of a drop for target Special Attack and Defense), Slash (a near-guaranteed crit on reasonably fast mons like Charizard and Dugtrio), Razor Leaf (Special Grass-type Slash for Venusaur), and moves like Growth (can boost all your stats due to a certain Gen 1 glitch) also exploit Gen 1 mechanics really well. Last but not least, Hyper Beam is actually pretty good as a finisher in-game as you don't even have to recharge after KOing.

GSC: Elemental Punches. Probably the best TMs you can find early in the game and the easiest to get - GSC is notoriously bad with TM access. The Abra line, Typhlosion, and Flaaffy/Ampharos are all amazing users of these TMs and likely rely on them for either coverage or STAB. Honorable mention goes to Surf, the other good TM/HM you can obtain fairly easily and early on; you get it even before the 4th gym, making it quite strong. Return also deserves respect due to Friend Balls existing and Normal-types (and to a lesser degree, physical attackers in general) getting a 24% boost to Normal-type moves after the third gym; a PB Return Stantler, Ursaring, Granbull, or Tauros can straight up decimate teams with little support. Only issue is the catch rate for many of these, and that you can easily work around by save scumming; if you're playing a Nuzlocke, not so much, sadly.

Rollout is also a big deal IMO, partly because of Whitney's Miltank and partly because it can allow you to sweep teams if taught to the right Pokemon and/or boosted by Defense Curl; my Furret destroyed 4/6ths of Lance's entire team by just using Curlout, and Qwilfish performed similarly.

 

[Hugin]

Fury Cutter, Kalos. This is the gen that gave it a buff, going from the unusable 10 BP start to a respectable 40 BP. Which still sounds bad, but doubling every attack lets you sweep surprisingly easy, and certain enemies, notably your rival, are really weak to 160 BP bug moves. It's not exactly a common move, but just enough stuff learns it(Including Honedge and Farfetch'd) that it becomes a really easy autowin button in a lot of midgame fights.

 

[bdt2002]

Fury Cutter, Kalos. This is the gen that gave it a buff, going from the unusable 10 BP start to a respectable 40 BP. Which still sounds bad, but doubling every attack lets you sweep surprisingly easy, and certain enemies, notably your rival, are really weak to 160 BP bug moves. It's not exactly a common move, but just enough stuff learns it(Including Honedge and Farfetch'd) that it becomes a really easy autowin button in a lot of midgame fights.

This is definitely still a good choice for XY, but it actually got buffed from 10 BP to 20 in Gen 5, and then again to 40 in Gen 6. Does this change anything about your post? No, not really.