Stupid legal moves on Pokemon

[Austrian ViceMaster Alex]

I'm working under the theory that they get a good running start, then take a big jump to whever their trainer wants them to Fly to. Kinda like the Hulk.

That's exactly what I thought in this matter. In fact, wasn't there an anime episode where a Pokémon did just that?

[Elec Man EXE]

Thats what I thought initially as well

But then they introduced the move Bounce, which would seem to be something like that (jumping and attacking with a flying type strike).

I dunno, maybe they just gave it to Dodrio because they figure birds should fly, regardless of whether they are "supposed" to be flightless or not.

And they can't remove the capability to learn certain moves any more, because it would cause issues when trading (since Diamond/Pearl are going to be compatable with Ru/Sa/E and FR/LG)

[ozhater1]

Thats what I thought initially as well

But then they introduced the move Bounce, which would seem to be something like that (jumping and attacking with a flying type strike).

I dunno, maybe they just gave it to Dodrio because they figure birds should fly, regardless of whether they are "supposed" to be flightless or not.

And they can't remove the capability to learn certain moves any more, because it would cause issues when trading (since Diamond/Pearl are going to be compatable with Ru/Sa/E and FR/LG)

That seems to be what they're going for, because Delibird, who strikingly resembles a penguin; a flightless bird, can also learn fly...

[Blademaster]

I find it funny that Delibird and Doduo, who don't even look like they have wings, can Fly, but non-avian Flyers, like Gyarados and Butterfree, can't learn it at all...

Incidentally, why is Gyarados a Flying type, anyway? I'd have made it a Water/Dragon, like Kingdra, or maybe Water/Ice or even Water/Fire. They could've even initially made it a pure Water-type, and then when 2nd Generation Pokemon came out they could've added some Dark into it - that's what they did with Magnemite and Magneton. I just don't see how Gyarados can possibly be a Flying-type...

And speaking of moves that Pokemon don't have but they should, remember Beedrill? It's a bee, but the stinger on its tail almost never sees use - its always those mutated forearm stingers that do the stinging! What's up with that? Beedrill seems like a prime Pokemon to learn Poison Tail, and yet... it doesn't... :-|

[Elec Man EXE]

Dragon/Water typing for Gyarados would make it absolutely uber, with only 1 weakness.

Kingdra only works that way because it has pretty low stats and a mediocre movepool.

Gyrados has neither of those limitations. It needs a double-weakness and other weaknesses, to balance it out.

I suppose they "could" have nerfed its stats to give it that typing, but its supposed to be a very powerful pokemon.

As for why they made it Flying/Water in the first place.... either they did have weaknesses in mind and wanted that double-electric weakness, or they envisioned it as a flying type because the bits on his body sort of look like wings.

[Chris 2.1]

It looks like those japanese dragons and I'm sure they fly in the sky. When the Simpsons went to China (or Japan? where Selma adopted the baby) there were Gyarados-esque Dragons in the sky, Im sure they wanted Homer to ride on their back.

Anyway arent they also used as decorative kites in japan? Like windsocks on sticks you run with. Maybe thats were the flying element came from.

Meh I dont know.

[Foguet]

What i have noticed in all the animations i have seen of diglett attacking it kind of wiggles its nose so my theory it that it does a nose wiggle like on Bewitched and magics up a scratch or areial ace. lol

But the curious thing is that, even if that scratch is magicked up, diglett can get paralyzed when attacking Shroomish!

[Zak]

On the subject of Relicanth, it's probably heavy enough to shake rocks around underwater and cause an earthquake.

Oh, and Dewgong with Signal Beam too. Only non-bug pokemon to learn it. Reason: unknown.

Isn't Volbeat the only other Pokemon that learns it altogether? I mean, technically it's true that it's the only non-Bug type to learn it, but that's like saying Volbeat is the only non-Water/Ice type to learn it.

Why does Munchlax learn Hyper Beam? He's not fully evolved...
-drew

Dratini and Dragonair, Larvitar and Pupitar, and a few other non-fully evolved Pokemon can learn it. Munchlax knowing it doesn't surprise me, considering it seems to be Snorlax's key move in the anime. The only thing that would surprise me if Munchlax could use it would be if it was considered a "Baby", and not just a pre-evolution (as in, it can't breed). But so far all pre-evolutions that were created in a later generation have been babies, so that's likely... even though Munchlax is bigger than the average baby. But if it isn't that'd be a first.



And by the way, ALL Pokemon can learn Return, Frustration, and Toxic (and a few other moves as well), except for ones that can't learn any TM's at all. Porygon and Porygon2 may be made of computer code, but they do have affection levels. In reality ALL Pokemon aren't real, so their "affection levels" are programmed in the game... so I'd guess that's how Porygon are to the Pokemon world.

Stuff like a Cloyster using attract when you can't see its body--that's kinda weird.

Mr. Mime knows Magical Leaf. That one always bothered me. Where does he get the leaves from, his ass?

How does a Sunkern cut?

Any Pokemon using attract is weird, and even if it's ugly or invisible I'm sure the Pokemon that's being attracted doesn't even understand itself why it's attracted, but it just is. There are a lot of weird things in the real world that have such an effect on you as well when you don't understand why: They're called drugs.

Magical Leaf... is just a Grass elemental version of Swift. Even when Grass types use it, they're not using any of their leaves, unlike Razor Leaf. It's just a bunch of lights in the shape of leaves... so I suppose a Psychic type using it can pass.

As for Sunkern cutting... doesn't it kinda have a propellor on it's head?

I read that Dodouo and Dodrio can't fly,but they can learn fly!!! That ruins the whole point of them being Ostriches, they are suppose to be able to run very fast,but have the inability to fly.

Since when are they OSTRICHES? Never heard that before... but anyway their gimmick is not being very good flyers, but usually things that the Pokedex says can only applies to the anime. But it says they aren't good flyers, it doesn't say they CAN'T fly. But anyway, yeah, Alex was right about them having to take a running start. It was in the Falkner Gym episode.

[Psychic_legend]

Well I hope Dodou and Dodrio aren't panguins! They must be Ostriches or anything around that family, and since when did Kingdra have low stats?

[Cool Trainer Jess]

Also........


Fire Blast with Garados(it's a water flying type!!!)

Shidinja with dig(its a bug!!!!!)

Raichu with mega horn(No Horn!!)

Celfary with metronome that turned into fly!!!!

Ferow with merror coat and uses surf!!!!

Snorlax can use surf!!!

Munchlax with hyperbeam!!!

Psyduck with confusion!!!

Gengar with Fireblast and Razor Leaf!!!

Hariyama with surf!!!

Sableye with flash!!!

Hariyamas are like Snorlaxes.(Snorlaxs?)Snorlax float on the water.So hariyamas seem like they can float to.Plus I saw the esopode with Ash battliing Brawly.He made his hariyama surf.

[SoulflameNinetales]

Kingdra only works that way because it has pretty low stats and a mediocre movepool.

Actually Kingdra's stats are quite decent, its only that Kingdra doesn't have any outstanding stats.

[Link]

Kingdra looks mean as well.

[Everoy]

Ponyta/Rapidash with Bounce doesn't make sense to me.

[The Blue Avenger]

Ponyta can jump over Ayer's Rock in one go. That's one hell of a Bounce.

[frylock]

A pokemon's type has very little to do with the attacks it can use. I don't see why an Aggron wouldn't have the ability to summon the same weird things as other pokemon of the same approximate shape and size. Relicanth, however, is a fish. Regardless of its type, how does a fish cause an Earthquake? It was actually the only move in Pm-5000fan's list that sounded truly odd to me.

Maybe he flops around on the ground really hard. He's part rock, so he has to be pretty heavy...

[Cheesey]

I can't decide whether Gastly learning Explosion makes sense or not. If it's all gassy, then an explosion of gas could be damaging, I suppose. But it's a bit weird thinking of Gastly doing it in the first place, being a ghost and not a solid thing like Geodude or Voltorb. Unless it's been described in the anime or something, I don't know how to picture it..

[ditto_pokefreak]

How can a Pidgey fly you from one city to another? It's about 3% of your weight.

Or a 20 lb Marill letting you Surf across a sea?

Speaking of Digletts, how do they use dig or rock slide while you're battling at sea? Wouldn't they just drown in the former?

[Elec Man EXE]

Fighting at sea is pretty wierd for most pokemon.

How does a Fire pokemon manage to fight in the ocean? Especially something like Magmar or Slugma? Same with Ground types, Rock types, and the like.

And where does any pokemon that can't fly stand? Do they swim, stand on a conveniently-placed rock? What?

[Foguet]

Fighting at sea is pretty wierd for most pokemon.

How does a Fire pokemon manage to fight in the ocean? Especially something like Magmar or Slugma? Same with Ground types, Rock types, and the like.

And where does any pokemon that can't fly stand? Do they swim, stand on a conveniently-placed rock? What?

And what about battles under the sea? I mean, when you're using Dive. I don't think a Charmander would last a second down there.

[Elec Man EXE]

I don't even know how you, as the trainer, survive down there when your Diving.

What, does the pokemon make an air bubble for you or something?

[mr_pikachu]

The same way that you survive at high altitudes while Flying.

And the way you breathe underground while Digging.

Not to mention how you survive the repeated collisions with rocks when you slide across ice... or how you're uninjured after jumping from the second floor of the Cinnabar mansion (RBY, FrLg)...

Shall I go on?

Yeah, there are many things that don't make sense sometimes about the Pokemon games. Oh well.

[Lady Vulpix]

Since we're speaking of environments...

Having a Kingdra to train at the AC/CC forum, I've always wondered how they manage in the games. They don't look like they could even maintain balance out of the water, how do they battle in any environment with no restrictions?

And similarly, how can pokemon use Fly, Dig, Dive, Earthquake, etc. inside buildings? Or Rock Throw and most other Rock and Ground moves in the middle of the sea?

[Blademaster]

Personally, I've always wondered how my Gyarados could use Surf in the middle of the Rout 111 desert...

[pokemasterfrank]

What are some moves that some Pokemon are allowed to have, even though it seems as though they shouldn't?

I'll start with a few...


Rest on Shedinja... what's the point if it only has 1 HP?

Aerial Ace on Diglett. I'm not even gonna try to justify that one...



~Zak

Highly roundabout, but maybe to get rid of a more threatening status affect with the temporary sleep effects of Rest?

[mr_pikachu]

Highly roundabout, but maybe to get rid of a more threatening status affect with the temporary sleep effects of Rest?

I would almost think that it would be more applicable with the Ditto/Shedinja combo in double battles. However, I would think that a Ditto would take too much damage from a super-effective move for Rest to be worthwhile... I don't think it could really tank as a Shedinja. Tough call.


EDIT: Wait... what if, in using the Ditto/Shedinja combo, you used Rest to force the opponent to hit with a super-effective strike (i.e. other effects, like statuses or weather, would be insufficient for a KO if Ditto occasionally used Rest to survive)? That might be plausible.

[+conspiracy+]

Since we're speaking of environments...

Having a Kingdra to train at the AC/CC forum, I've always wondered how they manage in the games. They don't look like they could even maintain balance out of the water, how do they battle in any environment with no restrictions?

Well, imo Kingdra would just balance on its tail, like how say a Sentret balances on its tail... its just one of those things where it may look weird, but thats just the way it is =)

And cmon people... this is getting a little too literal, lets all remember this is just a video game =/

=P

[Blademaster]

That is true, c0n5p1r4cy, but all video games have some scientific backbone to them if you bother to look.

For instance, the Super Mario Bros. games have taught us many scientifically-proven facts, including that eating an orange tulip gives you pyrokinetic powers. Duh - who doesn't know that, really?

[Foguet]

It's not exactly a move, but I always wondered why precisely Shedinja gives out 2 HP evs.

[UmbreonCurse]

Almost every Pokemon that can learn a TM can learn Return/Frustration, including Porygon and Porygon2...

Return and Frustration can only be used when a Pokemon really likes/hates you, but Porygon and Porygon2 are made entirely out of computer code...

How can a computer program like or dislike you - IT HAS NO EMOTIONS!!!

...It also has no brain - how can it use Psychic attacks?

I always assumed that's due to some kind of special AI, and besides, just because it has no emotions doesn't mean that it's not going to react when the trainer just keeps letting it faint all the time. Eventually, it's fancy-pants computer logic will tell it that it's just not benifitial to work with said trainer and that could evolve into something similar to frustration. Same thing for Return (only backwards, of course)
As for psychic attacks, well, it IS a psychic type. It's just how it's programed.

[frylock]

Porygon is normal-type. And Hitmonlee STILL doesn't learn Bounce and HItmonchan STILL doesn't learn Shadow Punch. "Punch" is in the move's name!

[BiGSh0t]

Alternatively, it could do it with its teeth (assuming that Diglett possess teeth, that is). Just rip a fang across the opponent's flesh, and voila! You have a Slash.

Where I come from they call that Bite...

[rinku]

In some cases, a pokémon can learn an egg move that doesn't make sense for the earlier evos, but does for the later ones. Shroomish learning False Swipe is a good example - makes little sense for Shroomish, but does for Breloom. But I guess you could rationalise *it's* version of False Swipe as being some kind of spore.

Snorlax surfing? It's clearly doing a cannonball into the water

But at the end of the day, any strange move can be rationalised as "magic".