8 AMAZING POKEMON MOVES REMOVED
Pokemon fighting is based on moves. Although type and holding items are important, moves decide what each Pokemon does in battle. It is crucial to have a variety of moves-types and support capabilities for every member of your team, especially when you are battling at a competitive level.
When creating the perfect team, there are many options. Game Freak has made it a point to restrict the options for players in recent years. After Pokémon Sword & Shield were released players discovered that half of the Pokedex had disappeared, leaving just under 150 moves. While some of these moves were quite pointless and should have been cut, others were being used by single players and competition trainers. Now, they must look at new strategies in order to avoid the Pokemon moves that were deleted.
8 – FORESIGHT
Foresight was a strange choice of removal. However, it was essential for those who needed it. Foresight was not a competitive move. Normal-type moves could hit Ghost-type opponents or evasive ones. Although it wasn’t the most important piece of utility, certain players will be grieving its loss. Ghosts are known for pushing trainers into difficult spots, and it’s annoying to give them less options.
Before the cut, 69 Pokemon were able to learn Foresight. However, a staggering 66 of them were from Generation 5 and earlier. This is a move Game Freak didn’t want to support anyway so it makes more sense that they cut it.
7 – HEAL BOX
There are very few ways to heal during competitive battles. Although moves can help, wasting turn healing can cause more damage than good. Regenerator and other abilities can also be used to heal if they are switched out of battle. The flip side of the coin is that an opponent might find a way for you to heal in battle. This could be devastating and undo all your hard work. Heal Block is here to help.
This stops the opposing team’s healing process for five turns, as may be obvious from the name. Five turns in competitive is too long and can lead to problems. Although it might be argued it’s too powerful it is balanced by the fact only 21 Pokemon were able to learn it. It is especially remarkable considering that only 21 of the 21 were competitively viable. These battles become a lot less strategic when it is removed.
6 – EMBARGO
The key part of battling is using held items. There are many options available so that every Pokemon can have two or three items that will work perfectly for them. They can increase their attack power, defense might, or support capabilities by bringing the right trinket to battle with them. This gives them a competitive edge. Other players will naturally try to take away that competitive edge. Embargo.
This moves stops the opposing team using their held items for five rounds. This move would eliminate the little bonuses players could rely on to help them get through battle. It also allows for players to reevaluate their strategies. This move should be removed. A staggering 119 Pokemon could learn it, which may seem a little excessive. Game Freak would have preferred to remove the move from the movepool of 50 than to cut it completely.
5 – CHIP AWAY
Chip Away feels like a move that never got to live. It was only added in Generation 5. Although it didn’t see much competition, Chip Away was a move that had a place in the game and was perfect for certain situations. It is a Normal-type attack move that has 70 Base Power and 100 accuracy. It’s a good attack for single-player. It does have a kicker. It is important to note that any stat changes the user made would be ignored in order to make this move.
This would have meant that it was not affected by buffs. However, it also meant that it wasn’t affected by debuffs which makes it so valuable. Although it’s not the best move, it could be enough to get players through the Elite Four. It’s a relatively late addition to the movepool and could be learned by a surprising number of Pokemon, 50 in total. Although it is not the most difficult move to remove, taking it out seems pointless.
4 – DRAGON RAGES
It is not an extraordinary move, and it may not have been used as often as it should. It was fun to play with and unexpectedly meet. Dragon Rage, a move most Dragon-types learned in their early levels, does 40HP damage and can be used to deal additional or less damage. It was rare to find a playthrough with Dragon Rage because most Dragon-types can’t be encountered until later in the game. It still served its purpose.
Anyone who has played any of the games that were run under Nuzlocke rules knows why Dragon Rage was lost. It was terrifying, but exciting, to encounter a Pokemon with Dragon Rage while playing under this style of game, especially with a randomizer. In the beginning, 40HP was often a one-hit kill. It was fun to find a way around it. However, getting the move on your opponent was great and allowed players the freedom to play for a while. While it may not be noticed by everyone, certain players will grieve its loss.
3 – PURSUIT
It is not a move that can be removed. Because of its unique effect, Pursuit was a very popular move. Although a Dark-type attack with 40 base power may not look very special, it is not. It can hit when an opponent switches out of combat, and if it hits this way, it gains double power.
This was a huge help in battles. This move was used to prevent a weak opponent from running away and to do significant damage to those types that are weak to Dark. A staggering 149 Pokemon could learn this move, so almost everyone would have had it on their team at one point in their adventure. This may have made the game more difficult in the end, with 149 creatures having to adjust their learn-sets.
2 – Z-MOVES
It’s becoming apparent that the various gimmicks they introduce aren’t lasting long in this world as the Generations continue to roll. Mega-Evolutions, while still a popular addition, were forgotten about after Generation 6. Unsurprisingly, Alola’s Z-Moves became a distant memory when Generation 8 arrived. Z-Move was not as popular and strategic as Mega-Evolution but they had a lot of battles to offer.
These powerful moves required that Pokemon had the correct item in order to use them. Trainers needed to carefully consider which Pokemon they wanted to own the Z-Crystal. It was also a difficult task to choose the right moment for it to be released. It could be wasteful to do it too soon, but it could prove disastrous to wait too long and let the opponent do it first. Also, although the animations in Generation 7 weren’t very good, it would have been cool to see them updated to take advantage of the Nintendo Switch’s greater capabilities.
1 – HIDDEN POTENTIAL
Hidden Power was a very popular competitive move. However, one Pokemon has been rendered unusable by its removal. Unown has yet to be added in a Switch game. If it is, then some serious changes will be needed if Hidden Power doesn’t come back with it. This is because it is the only move that it can learn. The move is very popular with trainers because it can theoretically be any type.
It was hugely beneficial for Pokemon to have the ability to store unexpected types in their arsenal. This greatly increased the number of enemies it could defeat. A Garchomp might think that it is safe against an Infernape, but then the Infernape unleashes an Ice-type Hidden Power. Each creature’s IV determines the type of the move, so trainers will need to be skilled at raising and breeding their team to get exactly what you want. This move was highly popular because it required great skill to use and reap the rewards.
