If you’ve been reading any posts of mine for a while you’ll know I’m a huge in-game player. One thing that interests me is how game-defining certain moves areIn earlier Gens this is harder to pinpoint but I can still think of some examples. I’m talking strictly maingame examples - no postgame here.
Gen 1 - Dig TM
You get the 100 BP Gen 1 Dig in Cerulean City 1/3 of the way through the game. While not absolutely everything can learn it, if you give something Dig, it will spike in usability, being good for Lt. Surge, Koga, Blaine and Giovanni in addition to being just a strong move in general. I’d give an honorable mention to the Body Slam TM as well. Hyper Beam could be a thing too if you didn’t get carpel tunnel from buying coins.
Gen 2 - Elemental Punch TMs
Anyone who has played GSC knows how good these moves are for special attackers like Gengar and Alakazam. Some Normals can use them to get past Jasmine’s Steelix too (that or Surf).
I can’t think of much for Gens 3 and 4 so I’ll give general franchise examples of the Return and Earthquake TMs. Most things can learn them and they are reasonably powerful (especially the former for Normal types), not to mention Earthquake is THE most contested TM before Generation 5. The Swords Dance TM could be an honorable mention if more things could learn it and it wasn’t locked to postgame / game corner sometimes.
Generations 5 and 7 - Work Up TM
Oh my gosh, this move. In my opinion Work Up is the best in-game TM of all time. It’s just a +1 in both offenses but you’d be surprised how from this generation on, the viability of several mons (usually those with sub-100 in an offensive stat) would KILL for Work Up. It defines any adventure through Unova, and chances are at least one mon in your team can learn it. Even in Alola it’s amazing because Z-Work Up gives +2 Attack and +1 Special Attack in one turn. The Oshawott line NOT getting Work Up noticeably hurts its viability even if it does later get Swords Dance and is solid enough otherwise, for example.
What some other in-game defining moves you can think of?
Gen 1 - Dig TM
You get the 100 BP Gen 1 Dig in Cerulean City 1/3 of the way through the game. While not absolutely everything can learn it, if you give something Dig, it will spike in usability, being good for Lt. Surge, Koga, Blaine and Giovanni in addition to being just a strong move in general. I’d give an honorable mention to the Body Slam TM as well. Hyper Beam could be a thing too if you didn’t get carpel tunnel from buying coins.
Gen 2 - Elemental Punch TMs
Anyone who has played GSC knows how good these moves are for special attackers like Gengar and Alakazam. Some Normals can use them to get past Jasmine’s Steelix too (that or Surf).
I can’t think of much for Gens 3 and 4 so I’ll give general franchise examples of the Return and Earthquake TMs. Most things can learn them and they are reasonably powerful (especially the former for Normal types), not to mention Earthquake is THE most contested TM before Generation 5. The Swords Dance TM could be an honorable mention if more things could learn it and it wasn’t locked to postgame / game corner sometimes.
Generations 5 and 7 - Work Up TM
Oh my gosh, this move. In my opinion Work Up is the best in-game TM of all time. It’s just a +1 in both offenses but you’d be surprised how from this generation on, the viability of several mons (usually those with sub-100 in an offensive stat) would KILL for Work Up. It defines any adventure through Unova, and chances are at least one mon in your team can learn it. Even in Alola it’s amazing because Z-Work Up gives +2 Attack and +1 Special Attack in one turn. The Oshawott line NOT getting Work Up noticeably hurts its viability even if it does later get Swords Dance and is solid enough otherwise, for example.
What some other in-game defining moves you can think of?
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