Here's something I'd like to see in Generation Five:
Change the message coding for multi-hit moves such as Icicle Spear, Fury Attack, Bonemerang, Triple Kick, etc. Currently, when these moves hit, a post-hit message will appear, saying "Hit X time(s)!". This is ridiculous. There is no reason for there to be a "(s)" when it is clear that it has only hit once. For the instance of a single hit, could they not just code it so it says "Hit 1 time!", and for instances of two hits or more, code it to say "Hit X times!". It honestly wouldn't take that much more coding, plus the text would read more naturally.
Speaking of having the text read more naturally, why even include numeric symbols in the post-hit messages at all? It's bad grammar to use numeric symbols rather than spelling out the numbers. Also, in the instances of one or two hits the words "once" and "twice" can be used, respectively ("thrice" can be used for three hits but seems way too old-fashioned so I'd just stick with "three times"). Additionally, "Hit 2 time(s)!" is a sentence fragment as there is no subject nor is one properly implied. It should read either "It hit 2 time(s)!" or "[Opponent Pokemon's name] was hit 2 time(s)!" (I prefer the former, but either could work). So what I'm hoping for are these messages:
"It hit once!"
"It hit twice!"
"It hit three times!"
"It hit four times!"
"It hit five times!"
And you know what? While we're on the topic of multi-hit moves, let's talk about how these moves are displayed in battle. As they are right now, they are performed extremely inefficiently. That is to say:
-"SHIFTRY used Bullet Seed!"
-*Hit animation*
-*HP bar depletes*
-*Hit animation*
-*HP bar depletes*
-*Hit animation*
-*HP bar depletes*
-*Hit animation*
-*HP bar depletes*
-"Hit 4 time(s)!"
This takes up WAY too much time, especially for the moves with longer hit animations. I, for one (and I know I'm not alone in this), get severely annoyed when I have to sit through a five-hit Doubleslap; watching a Clefairy slap my Graveler around the face, seeing Graveler lose four HP, and then having to watch that happen FOUR MORE TIMES is just unbearable. If these moves were coded efficiently, they would ideally be performed something like this:
-"ARMALDO used Rock Blast!"
-*Hit-hit-hit-hit animation*
-*HP bar depletes*
-"It hit four times!"
This way, you don't spend more than the usual ten seconds watching a move. Even if a Hitmonchan gets lucky with its Comet Punch and hits five times you won't have to sit through more than half a second of extra animation than you would have if it had only hit twice. Another plus to this is that you won't be left so long in suspense wondering whether your Hariyama's Arm Thrust will hit enough times to knock out that Mightyena before it can counterattack; all the hits happen in the same animation so you won't have to wait long to find out how many hits landed.
This increase in efficiency would definitely save time, although it may present a problem when it comes to breaking Substitutes and factoring in abilities such as Effect Spore and Flame Body. However, these problems would probably be easily remedied.
Anyway, that's just my opinion on this small aspect of gameplay.
