Weird moves certain Pokemon can or cannot learn

[Akashin]

Interesting. I wonder if that's the reason only Galarian Moltres of the Galarian legendary birds gets sky attack. I've always found it a bit odd neither Galarian Articuno and Galarian Zapdos don't get the move but perhaps its a bit of a callback.

It's not that odd. Moltres is the only one of them to get Sky Attack via level up, Galarian or otherwise. The other two could only ever get it via TM or Move Tutor (not counting its brief stint of availability in LGPE, which is somewhat its own thing), neither of which provide Sky Attack in Gen VIII. I'm willing to assume that if Sky Attack were available to via either means, it'd have been available to the Galarians as well.

 

[MrJechgo]

If you want a bigger crime, go for Moltres's inability to get Flamethrower by leveling up back in Gen 1. Articuno had Ice Beam and Zapdos had Thunderbolt, but Moltres got Fire Spin... and I'm pretty sure people thought it would be OP, especially after seeing how Vulpix used it to shoot a HUGE flaming tornado at Team Rocket

 

[Sceptile Leaf Blade]

Fire Spin was broken in gen 1.

 

[MrJechgo]

Fire Spin was broken in gen 1.

That's another rabbit hole to get lost into if we check which moves actually worked and didn't work in Gne 1

Back on topic, Donphan can learn Ice Shard... but not Ice Fang. Also, as atypical as it might be, both Donphan and Copperrajah don't learn Water moves... despite how elephants are often depicted spraying water with their trunks.

 

[Luthor]

Here's one I didn't notice originally. Kecleon didn't get camouflage as a move until gen 6. I always thought it was its signature move originally that got given to other pokemon later. Turns out I was way off and its actually was for a time a signature move of Staryu. Mothim got camouflage before Kecleon.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

That's another rabbit hole to get lost into if we check which moves actually worked and didn't work in Gne 1

Back on topic, Donphan can learn Ice Shard... but not Ice Fang. Also, as atypical as it might be, both Donphan and Copperrajah don't learn Water moves... despite how elephants are often depicted spraying water with their trunks.

In Crystal only Phanpy could be bred to know Water Gun.

 

[octoboy]

Here's one I didn't notice originally. Kecleon didn't get camouflage as a move until gen 6. I always thought it was its signature move originally that got given to other pokemon later. Turns out I was way off and its actually was for a time a signature move of Staryu. Mothim got camouflage before Kecleon.

I always figured kecleon's ability made camouflage relatively redundant as a move, as it'll only change its type briefly before it inevitably takes a hit and changes type again.

 

[Lluc]

If you want a bigger crime, go for Moltres's inability to get Flamethrower by leveling up back in Gen 1. Articuno had Ice Beam and Zapdos had Thunderbolt, but Moltres got Fire Spin... and I'm pretty sure people thought it would be OP, especially after seeing how Vulpix used it to shoot a HUGE flaming tornado at Team Rocket

That reminds me, I saw a Japanese fan video point out how funny it is that in gen 1 Articuno learns Blizzard at level 51, Zapdos learns Thunder at level 51 and.. what does Moltres learn at level 51? Leer. This has caused Moltres to gain a nickname in the JP fandom, "Leer-san" or well, "Mr/Ms. Leer".

 

[Spider-Phoenix]

And if I recall Moltres is mostly special so defense drops are useless for it

 

[Pokefan_1987]

If you want a bigger crime, go for Moltres's inability to get Flamethrower by leveling up back in Gen 1. Articuno had Ice Beam and Zapdos had Thunderbolt, but Moltres got Fire Spin... and I'm pretty sure people thought it would be OP, especially after seeing how Vulpix used it to shoot a HUGE flaming tornado at Team Rocket.

I sure remember that episode. And still Fire Spin doesn't do much damage on its own. I think the anime overhyped it since Team Rocket always lose.
In a big contrast to the games the Fire Spin move on the original TCG Charizard deals a whopping 100 HP of damage but removes all your energy. Now that is powerful but a huge energy loss for 4 cards.

 

[Luthor]

I always figured kecleon's ability made camouflage relatively redundant as a move, as it'll only change its type briefly before it inevitably takes a hit and changes type again.

Probably does. I guess it could potentially be useful if someone changed your type to ghost and then you use it to become a normal type before the next attack (situational I'll admit but how often is camouflage not a situational move) . To be honest when i thought it learnt it it was more a move that I thought made sense for a pokemon famous for blending in and changing type more than it being a useful move for it.

 

[Yveltal91057]

Inteleon can’t learn Camouflage despite being based on a spy.

 

[MrJechgo]

I sure remember that episode. And still Fire Spin doesn't do much damage on its own. I think the anime overhyped it since Team Rocket always lose.
In a big contrast to the games the Fire Spin move on the original TCG Charizard deals a whopping 100 HP of damage but removes all your energy. Now that is powerful but a huge energy loss for 4 cards.

The thing is that anime has bigger Shonen-like fights, but in the games, you can OHKO just about any Pokémon with the right moves ^^; Due to the fights' over-the-top looks, some moves were exaggerated a lot. For instance, Squirtle's Hydro Pump had it retract in its shell, spin around and spouting powerful jet streams from the holes like a huge shuriken. In the games, it's just a powerful water blast

I'll give credit to Fire Blast being a kanji-shaped blast, although the kanji itself means "big" or "great", and not "Daimonji", which is the move's Japanese name XD

 

[Sceptile Leaf Blade]

Little damage or not, Fire Spin was broken in gen 1 because it locked the target in and prevented them from making a move. You could Fire Spin lock them all the way down to 0 health and there was nothing they could do about it. They could switch but the switch-in would just get stuck in the same Fire Spin lock

 

[PoDiRancher]

Charizard not knowing how to use Fly in the original games is weird. Pretty sure he was shown flying in some art as well, so it must have been an oversight. They did correct it in Yellow at least.

 

[Pokefan_1987]

Samurott not knowing Sacred Sword by default level up moves in all generations. Having to use it on a Smeargle and hope you have a female Oshawott can take a while. The Oshawott line is literally based on water swords and Samurott gets a Samurai motif.

I'm sure other pokemon could benefit from Sacred Sword though aside from the Justice Four, Keldeo, Aegislash Kartana and Zacian. Sirfetch'd could maybe use it?

 

[NeedsAName]

Inteleon can’t learn Camouflage despite being based on a spy.

...what. That's actually really weird. It should at least learn it by breeding, though I'd personally make the whole line learn via level-up at Level 40-something.

 

[Luthor]

...what. That's actually really weird. It should at least learn it by breeding, though I'd personally make the whole line learn via level-up at Level 40-something.

Also being based on a spy I still find it odd Inteleon can't learn any fighting move. So many famous spies do fight directly and while I would understand it not getting moves like Superpower (someone made a fair argument given that its a sniper it might not learn hand to hand which I do get the argument) but I still think it should be able to learn the more deceptive fighting moves like Low Kick and ranged fighting moves like focus blast.

 

[NeedsAName]

Also being based on a spy I still find it odd Inteleon can't learn any fighting move. So many famous spies do fight directly and while I would understand it not getting moves like Superpower (someone made a fair argument given that its a sniper it might not learn hand to hand which I do get the argument) but I still think it should be able to learn the more deceptive fighting moves like Low Kick and ranged fighting moves like focus blast.

Looking through its Level-up moveset right now and that is... slim. Only non-Normal or Water attacks are Sucker Punch and U-Turn, which, while good, really could use something to help. At least something to hit neutrally on Pokémon like Kommo-o and Primarina.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

Looking through its Level-up moveset right now and that is... slim. Only non-Normal or Water attacks are Sucker Punch and U-Turn, which, while good, really could use something to help. At least something to hit neutrally on Pokémon like Kommo-o and Primarina.

Intelleon can also learn Acrobatics via the Move Rememberer. That can easily cripple Kommo-o since it is a Flying type attack.