Sounds just how, in Gen 7, Togetic could learn Smart Strike, but neither Togepi or Togekiss could, but the latter can now learn it in Gen 8.
In Gen 6, TM67 was Retaliate which both Togetic and Togekiss got but notably not Togepi.
My guess is that when they changed TM67 to Smart Strike they wanted to remove it from the Togepi's family moveset. But, while they did it with Togekiss, for whatever reason Togetic slipped through and kept TM67, thus being able to learn Smart Strike.
Gen 7 rolls arounds, instead of making it so Togetic & Togekiss was unable to carry over Smart Strike, being they both have spikes on their head (Smart Strike's Japanese name is "Smart Horn", thus all the horned Pokemon learning it) they decided to let it slide and let them keep Smart Strike, adding it onto Togekiss's TM list.
If this sounds familiar its pretty much what also happened to the Elgyem family with the move Steel Wing. TM51 was Ally Switch in Gen V but was changed to Steel Wing in Gen VI, yet despite not having wings the Elgyem family kept it. For whatever reason they let it slide; maybe because it would be too much of a hassle to remove a Move which honestly the Elgyem family wouldn't use anyway (problem fixes itself essentially), maybe they thought an alien based on the Area 51 incident having a Steel Flying-type move felt appropriate, or a little bit of both.
Among the Forces of Nature, Landorus is strange because in addition of having access to both Sludge Bomb and Sludge Wave, the only Grass-type move it can learn is Grass Knot. It also can't learn Rototiller, a move that helps Grass-type Pokémon.
Tornadus and Thundurus aren't the easiest Pokémon to justify both Sludge moves, but I interpret this as a prank gone horribly wrong. That said, I wonder if Thundurus could have a Fire-type move.
And then, we got Enamorus, the Herald of Spring, with a signature move called Springtime Storm.
In her LPA movelist, she has ZERO Grass-type moves and can be taught Sludge Bomb. She can also be taught Earth Power but I wanted to focus on Sludge Bomb.
Landorus Sludge & Till: If it can make the land fertile it also likely has the power to make it barren. It's likely just a natural poison that, being the Forces of a Nature, they have access to. If anything I would say Landorus makes more sense knowing it than Tornadus and Thundurus as what Landorus does likely causes chemical changes, right way creates nutrients for increased fertility, but the wrong way creates harmful poisons. But for flavor it should get Rototiller, give it as another Level 1 Move that it needs to relearn.
Fire-Rus: While it does get a Fire-type move, note the Dex is saying its lightning creates is what creates fires and likely only with flammable objects. If they follow this idea than all Electric-types should be able to learn a Fire-type move. That said I'm surprised the Forces of Nature don't get Heat Wave which is usually a shoe-in Fire-type Move for Flying-types until SwSh, and even then its only Tornadus (and likely because of its Therian Forme). Though if Therian Formes are being considered, maybe Thundurus should get Flamethrower as its based on a dragon.
Enamorus: The dex entries make it questionable whether she actually brings the Spring or its just that she can sense when the season changes and that's when she comes back (to Hisui at least). Even Cogita isn't so sure in one of her poems, joking at the end it could just be maybe the reason Enamorus leaves during Winter because it hates the cold. Like the above Landorus using its power over the land to make it fertile, Enamorus is using its Fairy-type magic, none are directly controlling the plants like a Grass-type would. Now I would still give Enamorus some Grass-type Moves, maybe they will if accessible in SV. As for also getting Sludge Wave, well Enamorus isn't called the "Love-Hate" Pokemon for no reason; it can be very
"toxic" toward those it don't like.
Starting with the pure Psychics,
- Alakazam has the best combination of special and speed, as well as Recover, but is limited to Seismic Toss for other Psychics.
- Mr. Mime sacrifices special, speed and recover to get Thunderbolt, which it only shares with Starmie.
- Hypno drops special, recover and a lot of speed to get Hypnosis, and with sleep being up to 7 turns this gen, it's a pretty big deal. It's also bulkier to afford it more turns to land the sleep.
And the Water/Psychics, Starmie gets Recover, Thunderbolt and phenomenal offensive stats, while Slowbro's Amnesia can let it win games in a turn.
And then the other two are defined by their reliable sleep moves, with Exeggutor getting to keep paralysis in exchange for its lower speed than Jynx. Meanwhile, Jynx is stuck being the only Psychic without access to paralysis, and instead has to carry itself through STAB Blizzard.
I would imagine method of obtainment also dictated things:
- Alazakam being the most hard to obtain, first having to catch and evolve an Abra, and then finding someone to trade your Kadabra to and back from (which back then meaning either knowing a kid with a Link Cable or having one yourself). Thus it gets the high stats and healing move.
- Mr. Mime was likely the easiest, it was an in-game Trade for a Pokemon you catch around Mt. Moon so you could get it before Misty if you're willing to do the leg work.
- Drowzee was a bit way into the game, on Route 11, and evolving at Level 26 meant you'd be training it for at least 10 Levels before evolving to Hypno. Some waiting & work, but gets the Sleep-inducing move and "tanky" so not a bad pick if you're looking for a simpler Psychic-type.
- Staryu was way into the game, needed a Super Rod, and a Water Stone to evolve (but first let it learn some useful Moves like Recover, maybe even wait till Hydro Pump at Level 47). Pretty tasking, though can be done within the game unlike evolving Kadabra.
- Earliest you can get Slowpoke is Celadon with a Super Rod. And you get it at Level 15, which mean 22 Levels before evolving to Slowbro. On on hand its a Level evo so not too hard, but on the other hand you'll have it quite a bit as a Slowpoke, so I guess the resulting Slowbro is acceptable if you don't have a solid Water- and/or Psychic-type yet or want something more bulky than Starmie.
- Exeggutor is an odd one, you first need to get it as a Level 24-25 Exeggcute from the Safari Zone. Now you just need a Leaf Stone to evolve it, though not too soon if you want some useful utility Moves. And even then once it evolves you need to teach it Psychic and Mega Drain/Solar Beam via TM! Highest Special Attack aside from Alakazam, but is it worth it? I'm thinking not.
- Jynx is an in-game trade like Mr. Mime but slightly more complicated. You need to trade it for a Poliwhirl, which means first getting the Good Rod, catching Poliwag which can fished most anywhere at Level 10, and train it up 15 Levels. It's some work though I suppose it being part Ice and above I say above average stats justify the little extra work.
A bit of a minor one, but the only Physical Psychic move Alolan Raichu can learn is Heart Stamp, which itself was an event move for Pikachu in Gen VI, before Alolan Raichu existed. Considering that the Pikachu line has been able to learn moves like Headbutt and Skull Bash in the past, I am surprised that Alolan Raichu is incapable of learning Zen Headbutt.
It can't reach the point of Zen as its mind eventually drifts to wanting pancakes.
The Rocks are pretty cool because they also exhibit the tradeoffs and interesting mon design. All 3 Rock/Grounds play very differently (especially Onix!), while both Rock/Waters play different from them and each other, and nothing really plays like Aerodactyl.
Well I guess if I did it above, but I'm going to batch them up:
Golem/Rhydon: So this is an interesting case of "pick your poison"; or rather "pick your hinderance". You get Geodude first in Mt. Moon or preferably Rock Tunnel, and at Level 25 it evolves into Graveler who is pretty solid (pun intended). But then this is where Graveler hits a wall: it's a Trade evo. This is a make or break point, if you can Trade it to evolve it into Golem, congrats! But if you can't, and you want a strong Rock/Ground, then when you get to the Safari Zone that's when you can get Rhyhorn. At Level 25. And it doesn't Evolve until Level 42! Now, it's certainly "worth" the power if you can't get Golem or just want the "best" between the two. However, if you can get Golem, I have a feeling a lot would be more drawn to getting it just so that have Golem's power at their earliest convenience.
Fossil Pokemon: Now, since they don't learn any Rock-type Moves, this is an odd case. Assuming you know what you're picking, you're not getting Omastar because of its Rock-type, you're getting it because its a strong Water-type and willing to wait till Cinnabar to get a Omanyte and train it to Level 40. Kabutops you're not getting it cause it's a Rock-type or even a Water-type, you're getting it for Slash Crit hax... though there are considerable better options earlier. It almost feels like they're meant to be a distraction for the ACTUAL Fossil Pokemon you'd want: Aerodactyl! Sure you get either the Helix Fossil/Dome Fossil right away, but after getting Cut you'd want to make a trip back to Pewter before going to Cinnabar Island to get the Old Amber via the backroom of the Museum. Now you get the best Flying-type in the game, super fast, super strong, and gets Fly, Dragon Rage, & Bite/Double-Edge (along with a few choice Status Moves). Even if you got Golem/Rhydon it wouldn't be a bad choice, it's not like it's going to be using any Rock or Ground moves.
Onix: I stand by my theory that Onix was nerfed just so it could be Brock's Pokemon. Look through my old posts I posted two different stat spreads what I think it could have been originally (
one and
two), but it gets the same idea across: Good HP/Attack, high Defense, and low Special & Speed. I also wouldn't be surprised if it was just supposed to be in Victory Road, maybe as a last minute option from Golem/Rhydon. But no, it was made weaker thus made available earlier and, unless you REALLY need the defense, Geodude should be your go-to Rock-type at that point.
Yanmega's PokeDex entries say it bites prey apart. This makes sense given it's a dragonfly (although why they make it a Special attacker is beyond me).
So, it makes sense that Bug Bite would be part of its arsenal.
So how does it learn this move of using its bug-based powers to bite foes apart?
It has to be reminded how to do that from a human via Move Reminder.
Well it's just trying to knock out the opponent, not eat them.
Why do so many birds get Tangled Feet (Japanese: Tottering Steps)?
Hm, well when translations fail, time to deep dive into the actual Japanese name. In Japanese, Tottering Feet is "Chidori Ashi".
What does "Chidori Ashi" directly translate into? Hint, it's not "Tottering Feet". It directly translates to "Plover Feet".
Plover, as in the small species of bird wading bird. These birds have long longs and, paraphrasing from wikipedia, "They feed mainly on insects (...) which are obtained by a run-and-pause technique, rather than the steady probing of some other wader groups".
"Okay, that explains the birds, but what about Spinda and Mr. Rime"?
Oh, well you see, they're drunk. Or rather, they're walking/acting like they're drunk. For "Chidori-Ashi" has also become a Japanese slang term for a drunk person (just type "Chidori-Ashi drunk" into Google and it'll give plenty of examples).
FUN FACT: "Chidori-Ashi" is also a
karate term. It's a way of walking by crossing your feet, either going forwards or sideways, to always assure your body is facing forward (toward your opponent). So in the future if we get a martial arts Pokemon that randomly knows Tangled Feet, you now know why.
Pidove is a pigeon and didn't get this Ability.
Oh, do you want to jump down the hole that is
the Japanese pun which dictates the Pidove's family entire design? Here's the specific secton:
"For Pidove... it gets complicated as it involves a Japanese pun which Lava Cut Content explains. But to start off, they wanted to make Pidove a pigeon from the start but, feeling a bigger pigeon wouldn't look any more powerful, made Tranquill an oriental turtle dove and Unfezant a pheasant. Simple enough.
This is where it gets complicated, the Japanese name for pigeon is "hato" which sounds like the Japanese transliteration word for how English pronounces "heart", "haato". So, they incorporated a heart-shape into Pidove's design. Note that this heart shape sticks with Pidove throughout its evolution line, though it goes from being on its chest to also covering its face.
Now, why does it evolve into an oriental turtle dove and then pheasant? The oriental turtle dove's Japanese name is "kijibato". "Kiji" means pheasant, and if you combined "kiji" together with "hato", "kijihato", due to Japanese pronunciation rules it sounds like "kijibato".
(That's right, the confusing Pidove family's evolution line can actually be logically explained via Japanese word pun...)
So, what does this have to do with its Ability, Big Pecks? Big Peck's Japanese name is "Pigeon Breast". In Japanese, this is pronounced "Hatomune". But wait, see how that word has "hato" in it? Yup, that word, in addition to meaning "Pigeon Breast" has another meaning: "A proud heart"... Oh, and it's also a name of a type of Japanese chest armor:
Hatomune dou (going to guess that's why its a Defense-focused Ability).
Why does Switcheroo... exist? It has the exact same effect as Trick, and basically the exact same animation as Trick. Its flavor is... kinda different? I guess? Based on their descriptions, Trick seems more like it's "hey check out my neat held item, woah can I see your held item, anyway nice talking to you bye" whereas Switcheroo is just a more more straightforward stealthy swap, but like, that really doesn't seem like enough of a difference to create a whole separate item switching move. Swapping items faster than the eye can track could be considered a kind of trick, at least to me.
No, that's the difference.
Trick's Japanese name is "Trick". And the literal Japanese word is transliteration of the English Word "Trick" into Japanese vowels:
To
rik
ku.
Swithceroo's Japanese name is "Secret Switch". It's literal Japanese translation is "Surikae", which from what I can find simply does mean changing over/exchanging something (often secretly or silently). Yeah, there's no deeper meaning.
- I think the idea between the two is that Trick is as in a "magic trick" (hence Psychic-Type). It uses its magic/psychic powers/sleight-of-hand to swap items.
- Switcheroo are like the con man who do the cup game on the street, keep your eye on the cup with the ball, don't get distracted, not that it matters, as the con mon had already sleeved the ball and now all the cups are empty. But this time its the target's item that's taken, keep your eye on where it goes, sneakily switched the item with yours, and viola! Hey, this isn't your item, oh well, don't know where yours went so you can have this one. Huh? The item I have looks like your item? No, no, we just so happened to have the same item, well, used to, yours got lost but you got a "nice" other item in return...
And yes, you may now list ALL the Pokemon this doesn't make sense for. And I'll probably agree with most of them, but in GF's mind there's two item switching Moves: one which is via magic/out-smarting and another via deceit. If they give one to a Pokemon the general attitude of the species depends on which one they get... according to GF.