Pokemon's Most Obscure And Useless Moves

[@Mngalahad]

the ariados spider web is actually a really good way to catch the johto beasts in pokemon firered and leafgreen: you breed an ariados with a ledyba so you get spiderweb on ledian, which is a pokemon with baton pass. so you use spider web, trap entei or raikou with it and then baton pass into a soundproof pokemon like electrode.

[@agentblackbird9435]

Ledian having a use is crazy

[@a-s-greig]

An even better way is to just use your Master Ball.

[@funnegunne9320]

-and then suffer getting the other two after wasting it...

[@TheSimo182]

You can only get one though, depending on your starter, so not really a problem

[@DerToasti]

that's a ton of work lol. first train ariados up to level 43 to learn spiderweb (spinerak can be caught at lv 14) then train the ledyba egg up to a level where it can outspeed the legendary beast. And then op top of all that train an electrode up to a level where it can at least survive a hit or two.

[@mystikx2205]

My favorite thing about Spider Web is that, in Gen 9, they made it unusable. Then they decided to introduce a new spider Pokemon and give it Block, a move that's literally the same thing as Spider Web.

[@healthyminds9279]

Sounds like they didn't feel like making an animation for Spider Web :/

[@theapexsurvivor9538]

​@@healthyminds9279yeah, making spidops hop and drop a slightly modified sticky web sprite on the opponent was too hard...

[@barriertrio4456]

that spider was block shaped though

[@ngotemna8875]

​@@theapexsurvivor9538 You joke, but yes It's a multibillion dollar corporations they cut every corner they can

[@rjd1922]

Actually they removed Spider Web in Gen 8, which makes slightly more sense.

[@DrachenIvy]

i actually used captivate when i fought cynthia in platinum, i believe her team is all-female so i just threw it on one of my male mons to weaken her special attackers. truly the pinnacle of niche

[@stigmaoftherose]

Most people don't realize, but almost every trainer's pokemon is the same gender as the trainer with obvious exceptions such as gender locked pokemon.

[@toyecatm2558]

Actually on a romhack called Pokemon Renegade Platinum where enemy trainers have improved teams, Captivate with a male Pokémon is a pretty consistent way to beat Fantina. Lead with a Dark type, use Captivate on Drifblim while it uses Calm Mind and it will eventually pass the Special Attack changes to Mismagius (which is part Fairy in RenPlat) with Baton Pass. So you face a weakened Mismagius, switch to Torterra (which can have Shell Armor), setup, and sweep.

[@goldman77700]

​@@stigmaoftheroseI use a female Salamence in the ORAS battle tower and would occasionally get hit by attract from enemy female mons. 😂

[@jamesrobson8308]

@@toyecatm2558 I think I actually used a captivate bibarel or staravia when I played It a while back

[@olivercharles2930]

tHANS @@toyecatm2558

[@deathstinger13]

an easier way to describe Miracle Eye is to call it a psychic variant on Odor Sleuth/Foresight. It has the same nullification of evasion improvements, it just removes dark's immunity to psychic instead of Odorsleuth/Foresight's removal of ghost's immunities. It might be interesting to see it return as an ability, akin to Scrappy or Corrosion

[@PokemonWoop]

That would definitely be an interesting ability!

[@deathstinger13]

@@PokemonWoop about as interesting as other abilities that remove opponent immunities like scrappy or corrosion to counter ghost and steel respectively. Wouldn't be surprised if we eventually get one to counter flying and levitate's ground immunity some day too, since we've already had the move Gravity

[@KevinEontrainer381]

I think there should be a Pokemon that has passive Miracle Eye as ability. Basically Scrappy equivalent for Psychic

[@cristhianmontoya6648]

Def should get an ability cause dark types are a lil op.

[@duckymomo7935]

It was renamed as minds eye lol but still functional as scrappy

[@yannickgrignon2473]

You know, I kind of like that sentiment at the end. I agree that there can be value found in moves who's only real purpose is giving kids a moment to think about if they want to learn them (and then inevitably choose "no")

[@PokemonWoop]

My 6 year old mindset: "if it doesn't do damage, it's useless"

[@alexrennison8070]

@@PokemonWoopAmen. I remember being so disappointed at Pokemon that would learn something like reflect at level 65 or so. When Gen III was current I wanted to see what the animation for all the moves looked like. So I would look through my Emerald strategy guide at all the unique moves Pokemon might learn. I remember grinding Grumpig to level 55 or something daft to see what Bounce looked like. I was so deflated to see it just use Fly.

[@thegreatphantus1627]

I love how atmospheric these videos are. It's such an unorthodox choice but it adds a lot to these videos.

[@AvariceOverlord]

It definitely gives me "documentary" vibes.

[@ariechriswell2669]

Reflect Type was actually a niche tech move in Gen V OU on Latias. It allowed you to turn the tables on any Tyranitar trying to Pursuit trap you by turning into a Dark Type and resisting the hit

[@danijeljovic4971]

I've also seen some Starmie use it to counter Ferrothorn back in ORAS since you resist gyro ball and can't get leech seeded

[@nerdyfalco408]

​@@danijeljovic4971it already resists gyro ball, did you mean power whip?

[@danijeljovic4971]

@@nerdyfalco408 oops yeah you're right. Also knock off too

[@metha9987]

Side question, will you lose STAB when you use this move?

[@Anzyll]

@@metha9987 Yeah, but from what I know, Starmie mostly ran Thunderbolt/Ice Beam anyway.

[@GamerJrdn]

It's weird that Porygon couldn't learn Reflect Type, Conversion basically did the same thing in Gen 1 so it'd make logical sense for it to be able to do that but maybe it'd make Porygon2 and Z too good

[@BryceRogers_]

In Gen. 2, I put Spider Web on all my Smeargle. It's the saucier trapping move. Then you give it Spore, Super Fang/False Swipe, and Fly for the prime pokemon-catching loadout

[@PokemonWoop]

That's one saucy moveset you've got there I do wonder how Smeargle flies through the sky though

[@bigmeaty9000]

​@PokemonWoop they flap their ears

[@paulelderson934]

​@@PokemonWoopIt just paints the sky beneath your feet, then repaints it to be your destination.

[@AZV0108]

3:22 I might be one of the rarest users of Spider Web ever existed lol. Back in Gen 7, for a Monotype Bug, I ran an Araquanid with Spider Web, Soak, Toxic and Rest to stall and get rid of any other wall/threat to the team. And it's safe to say that set not only worked, but it was way more effective than it may appear. Sad the move has been deleted from the series, I would love to bring back my Stallaquanid

[@NecromancyForKids]

Infestation also forced the Pokémon to stay in and deals damage

[@KevinEontrainer381]

​@@NecromancyForKids Infestation can wear off unlike Spider Web though. Thats probably the only downside

[@sillentgamer64]

Miracle Eye is basically the same thing as Foresight, but for the Psychic-Dark relationship instead of the Normal-Ghost relationship. I didn't realize it also resets evasion, so that would make Foresight the worse of the two, especially when most Normal types can learn Dark type moves to counter Ghost like Bite, Feint Attack or Knock Off. And most can learn Shadow Ball too.

[@kanibelazy0585]

Foresight has a niche to it tho especially for Hitmon Family since they known for always having Rapid Spin.

[@ascriptmaster]

Foresight actually also resets evasion.

[@legendofrayquazagaming5125]

@@ascriptmaster As does Odor Sleuth

[@shinyarchen_39]

The thing is Miracle Eye still leaves you at a disadvantage. The only Pokemon that get it are weak to Dark, so you’re wide open to taking super-effective STAB damage when you use it. It’s an even bigger risk than Foresight for a smaller reward.

[@GoldenGrenadier]

It has very niche use on articuno. It's the only Pokémon with an accuracy guaranteeing move and on OHKO(at least in gen 4 that I know of). It absolutely shreds those annoying evasion tanks in places like battle tower and the master class in pokemon battle revolution.

[@InsomniacMatt]

Bite went from physical in Gen 1(normal), to special in Gen 2 when it became a dark type, and regained physical in Gen 4

[@alexrennison8070]

Bite was in Gen I? Normal type?

[@Yell0wBoo]

​@@alexrennison8070karate chop was also normal

[@AvariceOverlord]

@@alexrennison8070 The Dark and Steel Type didn't exist yet, so a lot of moves went from Normal to whatever type Gamefreak felt like giving them after Gen 2. I believe a lot of Ghost Moves were also physical back then, which was a big downside considering Gengar had great Special stats.

[@elizacogen711]

​@AvariceOverlord all ghost moves were physical

[@TheAuron32]

yup, its why Crystal Legacy swapped that around, making Dark Physical and Ghost Special, works really well too.@@AvariceOverlord

[@nightnday6675]

Useless Moves 15 year old me: Anything that did not inflict damage.

[@NairbNroh]

5:24 small mistake, but Shadow Moves are totally usable by the player while you have Shadow Pokemon.

[@PokemonWoop]

Yeah, standard Woop mistake right there

[@Fungo4]

And they're not typeless, they're just Shadow type.

[@magnuspkmn]

The only one I was pretty familiar with was Spider Web, since Koga's team on the Johto Elite Four features an Ariados who loves using it. I'm glad it at least got SOME love from GameFreak there!

[@PokemonWoop]

Yeah, Spider Web sounds like such a cool move, but it's sadly just not really good... Also, I believe that Ariados' moveset was supposed to be for trolling (spider web to trap, then double team and baton pass)

[@Celia_Dawn]

Reflect Type was actually really good on Mega Latias in competitive! It basically let it Terastellize versus Pokemon like Tyrantatar or Ferrothorn, two of its most common answers.

[@chrisjohnsen8448]

I actually used Reflect Type in a recent SV run. I had a Gengar on my team and I had it use Reflect Type at the Ghost gym after my Farigiraf became Dark Type with Tera in order to more readily body Rhyme's team.

[@l0st5oul45]

Reflect type was interesting competitively too, having a bulky reflect type starmie with scald and possibly toxic was kinda nutty

[@panchampangoro4999]

Reflect Type has untapped potential on Gengar imo I used to run a Mega Gengar with Reflect Type, Hex, Will-O-Wisp and Protect and walled out a Gliscor once 😂

[@jmcbango]

Side reflect type in doubles sounds kinda crazy. Especially in a tera metagame. Might have to cook with this later

[@christiancinnabars1402]

Miracle Eye would go bonkers if it also raised the user's accuracy, even by one stage. Alakazam smiting enemies with a 93% accurate Focus Blast? I'm all for it.

[@maestro9765]

Isn't that redundant? The whole theoretical appeal of miracle eye is that you wouldn't need to use focus miss. If focus miss actually hit then miracle eye would not even be discussed in the first place. Or better yet, why can't Alakazam get aura sphere?

[@flightlessmonarch2313]

Rare instance where I've actually intentionally used one of these obscure moves before: Reflect Type. Fun little niche build for Starmie back in gen 6 that worked surprisingly well simply based off the fact no one ever expected it

[@TheRubsi]

From my experience of more than 20 years in gaming, the games that contain "useless" and "strictly worse" moves/items/mechanics and allow for some insane abuse and min-maxing usually are the best. There is a reason why the devs included Salami as a Weapon in BG3 ... :-D 😀

[@sobblegaming350]

You mentioned ariados' old signature move but its new one is even more obscure(toxic thread). Genuinely cant remember what the move does but it was introduced all the way in gen 7.

[@agentblackbird9435]

Yeah I remember Spider Web but I can never remember Toxic Thread

[@SSBBPOKEFAN]

From what I remember, Toxic Thread is basically String Shot+Poisonpowder.

[@PokemonWoop]

Apparently Ariados did run Toxic Thread in competitive for a bit

[@Zomby_Goast]

The player is able to use Shadow Moves! Just not outside the story mode of the GameCube titles

[@PokemonWoop]

Huh, the more you know Of course, it's not a Woop video without a dumb mistake lol

[@heartbeat4atinman]

I think another commonly forgotten move is Ion Deluge. It's a rather situational (and kinda useless) effect with a small learnpool, but what makes it stand out is that in unpatched versions of USUM, it was glitched and would always fail. It's so forgettable that even Game Freak forgot about it.

[@Fam0usFarm3r]

The ending comments are very true for pokemon. People forget that it's a solo game first, with competitive coming second. Yes, there are pokemon that are pretty much useless competitively, but serve a function in a solo play through (looking at you, bug type pokemon).

[@CoralCopperHead]

Eh, I mostly ignore the bugs, they're handed out like candy to fill out your party at a point in the game where having a full party isn't really required. By the time it is, you've got access to a much wider array.

[@mistydayremainsofthejudgment]

i dunno why but i love learning about these useless moves no one uses/forgets about/ended up deleted eventually. psywave is my personal favorite

[@PokemonWoop]

You should definitely check out the other three I've made! It's surprising how many moves get swept under the rug

[@nicocchi]

Well if you think about it Odor Sleuth/Foresight/Miracle Eye remove immunities from Ghost/Dark types, obviously that means it's a must have in Hackmons to deal with Wonder Guard Sableye/Spiritomb instead of literally any other strategy that makes more sense, including but not limited to not playing Hackmons before Gen VI

[@Kickiusz]

Idk if that would even work, and besides there's also Gastro Acid and Mold Breaker, both of which are more useful and were available before gen 6.

[@cowkip]

Gonna do a wombo combo of reflect type and synchronize, starme is a bout to hard carry, and Miracle eye actually saved me in one of my runs. Very niche move, but useful if you have nothing for dark types.

[@765craven4]

Miracle Eye is a pretty underwhelming move in game for sure. I've actually been reading a genuinely incredible fanfiction called "The Origin of Species" where Miracle Eye was created during the events of the story and it had world altering affects. It features a more gritty and realistic world where Pokemon are more akin to animals and there are Dark humans, who, like Dark Pokemon, cannot be detected by Psychics, human or Pokemon. Something like Miracle Eye, that even temporarily can remove that protection from a Dark human or Pokemon, has long reaching ramifications that alter the course of history. It's a very good read and is still in progress and regularly updated, strong recommend for anyone who is interested in a more mature Pokemon story that takes a very analytical, in depth approach to a Pokemon world.

[@j.rileyindependentproductions]

Wow... Reflect-type would be really cool on Shedinja, the only Pokemon that could really use it.

[@Ningflingslinger]

Was almost gonna say Reflect Type's sole purpose was to enable another near-useless move you didn't mention here called Synchronoise, but then I checked who could learn both those moves and found only Kekleon. And even then he only learned Reflect Type as a special Dream World move, so post-Gen 6 it's like he doesn't at all.

[@Kickiusz]

Synchro does have some very niche uses, it's a great way to easily bait out a switch. Also, Golduck can use it as a surprisingly good coverage for Water types. It would be more useful if there was more than bloody _one_ (as of gen 6) Pokemon that can use it and isn't either Psychic or Dark.

[@Regular-Sized]

Bruh 9:50 I really needed to hear this right now. The timing is kinda freaking me out lol This popped up on my timeline and, while I was listening, I was also thinking less-than-kind thoughts about myself. So yea, thanks. Imma keep trying my best and adding a lil flavor to the world 😂❤️

[@PokemonWoop]

Hey, that's awesome! Hearing that someone's been positively affected by my melodramatic ramblings is really heartwarming

[@snoozbuster]

You ever heard of a move called rototiller? I never saw it before playing through ultra sun for the first time recently. I think there’s a lot of weird moves in gen 6/7 that got abandoned in the move to the switch games

[@Glory2Snowstar]

I have a tradition of watching your videos whenever I’m at a special house by the cape. They’re so cozy :)

[@Jaknife101]

I didn't know "powder" was a move until just this year. Almost expected it to make it in here but ah well, it's either not that not that obscure or so obscure that it was overlooked lol

[@Jaknife101]

For those curious, it's a move only known by Vivillion. It damages the opposing pokemon 25% of their max hp if they use a fire move after being hit by it. Very strange move.

[@PokemonWoop]

I actually talked about it in part 2 of the forgotten moves series! That one had a very weird oversight to it in Gen 8 that isn't super well known

[@Hydrocannon]

8:15 "Most forgotten Psychic type move" he says... COMPLETELY FORGETTING KINESIS EXISTED SINCE GEN1

[@WilliamScavengerFish]

My main Pokémon catcher is a smeargle with FALSE SWIPE, HYPNOSIS, RECOVER and SPIDER WEB. Smeargle has high speed so it works well.

[@jondo7680]

Why not mean look?

[@WilliamScavengerFish]

@@jondo7680 mean look and spiderweb do the same thing (mean look has 5 pp, spiderweb has 10). For sleep, you could spore, hypnosis, sleep powder, sing. I chose hynosis for the high max pp. go with mean look if you wish. You need only decide on a plan. The whole process takes time. I made use of the trainers house to get the moves. I ended up using a female smeargle (male would have been useful for move breeding).

[@Paul-lt8le]

Really love the random Digletts fact you through in there because you didn’t have enough content for 10 mins. S tier stuff man

[@PokemonWoop]

Thanks! I thought it was a pretty cool fact!

[@monopolyrubix1875]

The Shadow move factoid is wrong. Shadow moves can be used by the player, and they only have a physical-special split in XD. Colosseum only had one shadow move, which was physical.

[@Zealous0ne]

Reflect Type did have a niche in Gen 7 OU by Mega Latias. Calm Mind, Stored Power, Reflect Type, and Roost. Alternatively it had a use on Mega Lati on defensive sets with BoltBeam + Roost and Reflect Type. The first set was used as a check to Clefable and unaware mons. Stored Power + CM would brute force Unaware mons with high BP and Celf as a staple mon would get checked with Reflect Type. Was one of my favorite sets when climbing OU since I was a huge mega Latios/Latias fan.

[@ArchonKain]

Oh yeah! I remember using Captivate all the time when I was doing the Pokemon contests to get every ribbon back in Pokemon Diamond, good general move you can add and remove with little consequence as a Pokemon is leveling since you'll have moves to replace later down the line

[@MarcBrightside]

I did actually get some use out of Miracle Eye, once, in a Platinum Randomiser. It was the only way I could break through Mars' Skuntank at the Valley Windworks. Now, Wonder Room, Eerie Impulse, Synchronoise, those are moves I've never even considered using.

[@Thomas-hx3pr]

Miracle eye found a niche in fanfiction. Psychic types are difficult to write around on account of their telepathy. In universe it makes it difficult for authors to have characters keep secrets when a passing psychic type can just scoop them out of the character’s mind. As a result authors tend to either counter telepathy with other psychics or dark types. This is where miracle eye finds a niche in either interrogation (read crazy invasive mind reading). Alternatively, fanfiction plays it fast and loose with the only knowing four moves rule. It gives psychic types more of a reason to use miracle eye when you can use more of your movepool than just focus miss.

[@cooloak8096]

I've read a few fics where the main character is a Zorua or Zoroark, and sometimes Miracle Eye comes up as a plot point. I'm specifically thinking of one where Ash is a Zorua, and [SPOILERS for chapter 50 of Zorua Trainer by FriTik on AO3- I highly recommend reading it first] He (and another Dark-type who was there at the time, and also a Riolu for some reason?) gets cloned by Mewtwo, but *not* controlled to fight himself. Mewtwo does know Miracle Eye in the fic, and he even uses it earlier, but it wore off, and Mewtwo is too confident in himself to bother using it again, which eventually allows Ash and the gang to stop him.

[@GohTheGreat]

Pokken tournament players could never forget miracle eye. It allowed both Shadow and Normal Mewtwo to perform an infinite combo.

[@KevinEontrainer381]

I actually used Reflect Type on an ally Zoroark in a link battle to fool my opponent. It was a Latias Reflect Typing a Zoroark disguised as Infernape. Seeing my friends face doing 0 damage when using Psychic on my Latias was priceless

[@piemanlad]

Funny enough i actually did use aridos to catch the legendaries in my playthroughs back when i was a kid 😂 i dont think i knew about meanlook at the time and somehow ran into figuring out about spiderweb so trained up a legendary catching aridos every playthrough 😂

[@PokemonWoop]

That's epic

[@Shinyeeveelutions]

I love the music you used in this video. So relaxing

[@Villain_Killin_Dylan]

Stuck in Time sounds like Snorlax DLC

[@guillemtb1671]

I remember Miracle Eye so much I gave it to a fakemon I made! It was obviously a filler move and it was only there because it fitted its Pokedex entry, but still.

[@RoarkeIsBored]

Ngl I thought Reflect Type was a Mystery Dungeon exclusive move or something since I only ever remembered seeing it on my most recent playthrough of Super. I think these moves are pretty neat even in niche and situational and I feel like you could possibly make use of them if you plan things correctly, and I think they add nice flavor to the Pokémon that use them

[@PokemonWoop]

Yeah, even though many of them are pretty terrible in a normal playthrough, I think that they add some nice flavor for those who want to try something unique

[@bmac4]

Something worth noting about the physical/special split is that it was basically always an option to apply by the Pokemon Company, at least in Gen 3. For starters, by this point contact and non-contact moves were already a thing. As well, according to an old user who goes by the name Doesnt who made a patch for applying the gen 3 phys/special split to fan mods, there's a byte in the data of every move where if it's set to 0, the move is considered physical, 1 makes it special, and 2 makes it non-attacking.

[@General-i1y]

What really stands out to me is that this is the first Pokemon Analysis/Deep Dive Video that has a "transcedental" kinda vibe too it thanks to the choice of music and your calm voice. Paired with the message you gave at the end really made this stand out from all the other Pokemon Theory channels. Keep it up. Good stuff.

[@shylar763]

Reflect Type is a cool move but it's main drawback is how it's use is very situational

[@LanturnsPannies]

Another great update from the legend Woop 😺👍

[@CoralCopperHead]

Your final point reminded me of something I read from one of the Magic: The Gathering devs. Don't remember it exactly, but it was something like "There are four factors that make a card terrible. If it fills between one and three of them, it will be literally unplayable. If it fills all _four_ of them, *_someone will win a tournament with it."_*

[@MortChrist]

You are absolutely correct about your ending realization. And then again, seemingly useless moves do exist for more than flavour's sake. Some are just game freak experimenting in different ways, but moves can absolutely also exist for educational purposes for players. And that's okay, just like Brock's Onix and your average evil team grunt exist for similar reasons.

[@peng1luver259]

9:12 for miracle eye, some situations arise where you don't have a neutral or super effective move. It allows the user to super effective hit dark poison and dark fighting types with psychic type moves. However, the move foresight/odor sleuth or pokemon with the ability Scrappy have one niche use against Sableye and Spiritomb, making them weak to fighting type moves as I discovered by playing with a loppunny as my ace making high jump kick and jump kick super effective. Any Ghost Dark types can be made weak to fighting types as far back as Gen 3 due to all three options of dealing with them existing in Gen 3. In Gen 4, you get more mileage with Cynthia's Spiritomb being weak to fighting on a foresight/odor sleuth/ Scrappy pokemon but the game I discovered this trick in was Gen 7s Ultra Sun after I played Ultra Moon and wanted to Challenge myself to use only stereotypical feminine Pokemon and oddly enough, loppunny got the most milage and basically took the lead in every fight which is why I respect Loppunny's power as it even earned me a battle tree win and got me the ribbon for that tree. If I had a choice between a STAB supereffective Psychic move against something like Skuntank in gen 4 or a fighting type who doesn't do well against dark types, than I would utilize the Miracle Eye and a psychic type move although ground type solves it well

[@thecryingsoul]

"What's your purpose in life?" "I'm here to add flavour when contrasted against better people"

[@Leto85]

Badly descripted moves remind me of the Dutch handbook for Pokémon Red and Blue staring that by using the move Substitute the created clones would fight independently. This got me so hyped to get Substitute on my Mewtwo, but no: no extra fighting clones.

[@Pandacalifornia]

I was considering using Miracle Eye on Gothitelle with Stored Power since it could trap the opponent, but by the time I thought of it, it was in Sword and Shield and I think it was removed.

[@luisivanpozos2090]

Love this videos, some of them make me remember my silver and sapphire playthroughs, thanks

[@PokemonWoop]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@TheSassJacket]

This is edited like a "My parents farted under my blanket but I don't have any proof" creepypasta.

[@PokemonWoop]

Yeah that sounds about right

[@spaghettiking7312]

I like how the content is completely wholesome, yet the editing makes it look like a creepypasta.

[@trevorstevenson4038]

Make Nightmare only castable when the pokemon is asleep, but continue even if the pokemon wakes up. Make the weather condition Hail, cause all normal and fighting moves to have 30% recoil, cos how much more does it hurt to hit your hand in cold weather.

[@kylewagoner]

I definitely used Airados a ton in Gen 2 and def used that move to catch Entei, Raikou, and Suicune.

[@catriamflockentanz]

5:26 What makes you believe that Shadow Moves cannot be used by the player? If you snatch a Shadow Pokémon it knows at least one Shadow Move (in fact in Colosseum it is always the same as only one exists) and you can use it or them as long as the Shadow Pokémon isn't purified as often as you want. It's not a good idea as Shadow Pokémon cannot level up but that doesn't make Shadow Moves unusuable by any means.

[@YawnBlue]

I love how this video has the vibes of a "mysterious folk tales and unsolved murders" video.

[@timboslice8559]

This guy gets so deep about the intricacies of pokemon and I love it! Subscribed

[@ALE98TROLL]

I used miracle eye on my "Keikei" Kadabra to beat Cynthia's Spiritomb in my first gen4 playthrough. What a memory

[@mattevans1643]

I used its counterpart move foresight, which instead of removing the dark type, removes the ghost type. Which makes it weak to fighting.

[@PokemonWoop]

I guess that's the charm with these rare moves! You'll remember specific times where they came in handy

[@maestro9765]

I wish I had read this before. Spiritomb was horrible for me with my team of only psychic and ghost pokemon. Ended up having to use cheesy substitute + disable strats with Kadabra to disable shadow ball, followed with a barrage of ice punches from gallade. I could have used Miracle eye, but the problem is that Spiritomb would've knocked me out on it's turn after using miracle eye and I didn't want to lose my Kadabra just on the first round, especially not since it was my strongest actual Psychic user. All the other ones I had were mixed attackers.

[@SwerveStarEx]

Miracle Eye was probably an attempt to do something like Foresight and Odor Sleuth, which allows Normal and Fighting moves to hit Ghosts. Unfortunately for Miracle Eye, the users of those two moves aren't weak to Ghost.

[@Nelsito99]

7:52 because of dynamax adventures you would see the move when going after latias as one of the bosses

[@MISTERLOLCRACKERS]

The physical/special split, in a way, happened even earlier. Starting in Ruby and Sapphire with Rough Skin. Only moves that make physical contact will trigger it regardless of type. You could call this it's own thing though.

[@goronberry]

Physical and contact moves are 2 different things though. For example earthquake is a physical move but it doesn't make contact so it isn't affected by rough skin or other abilities that rely on contact moves

[@robertlupa8273]

@@goronberry Also Overheat made contact in Gen 3 for some godforsaken reason. :v

[@Labyrinth6000]

Don’t forget Bronzing line for some unusual reason can learn Steel wing in Gen 6 when the TM for Steel wing used to be something else that was more fitting in Gen 5.

[@JimnyThePython]

I was playing a Pokemon white soullink nuzlocke randomizer with a friend recently and I had a sigilyph (I think). I had to fight N who sent out his purrloin. I freaked out because my only attacking move was confusion, then I realized I could actually use Miracle Eye.

[@Mage_Nichlas_]

There's also another instance of a Pokémon wrongly being given an -s for the plural of it. In Sun and Moon if you talk to Alolan Professor Oak(I think in the library), he will ask you about the local variation of "Persians" when talking about Alolan Persian.

[@rainbowdash8003]

Physical/special split was coded into gen III. Some moves make contact, and others don't. But instead of using that for damage category they trolled the players with things like Dark type Physical attackers.

[@pxm2337]

Contact is an entirely different concept from physical/special attacks. There are physical attacks that don’t make contact and special moves that do.

[@ShrexyGuy]

Exactly, this dude is kinda fuckin dumb. And judging by his intro to the next move overreactive

[@zesty2538]

I wanted say the move Teleport but then i tought of its outside battle uses and remember always picking up that trade abra in Oreburgh city for fast travel purpose (Before Fly) and how nice it is to teleport back to a poke center instead of having to go all the way back if i had to backtrack somewhere to pick up a tm or item

[@HideoV]

That Onyx ppkedex entry implies that the digglet tunnel ending in Pewter and Rock having an Onyx are connected! Cool

[@stardmg]

I *was* thinking that maybe the Nature Power oversight being present in Emerald is due to Emerald being built off of Ruby and Sapphire, but then strangely enough Emerald has the *entire* soundtrack of FR/LG in its code for some reason, so maybe it was developed concurrently with Emerald?? If so that makes the Nature Power screw-up remain just as confusing...

[@CovenantAgentLazarus]

I don't see how anybody who has been playing Pokemon since day one, doesn't already know all of this.

[@EinDose]

I remembered Spider Web because it was part of my gen 3/4 Perish Trap Smeargle set! I think I sort of convinced myself it was a trapping move that stuck on the opponent rather than the user, through. Which makes some logical sense--a spider web is still THERE even if the spider isn't, so surely Spider Web would trap the opponent even after the user is gone in a way Mean Look doesn't.

[@CardKingAce14]

while working on my move dex, spotlight and mat block were the last two to obtain. also funny how they removed spider web and instead gave ariados an even more obscure exclusive move in toxic thread.

[@SantaKUN38]

reflect type is actually really useful for ti@s and starmie since it makes them resist most pursuit trappers, it used to be very common in gen 6 to have reflect type as an option for teams that were reliant on starmie or tias to check keldeo, since they would else be way too easily caught off guard by ttar or even bisharp. with reflect type starmie you could check their moves, scald burn and recover any damages with little to no risk !

[@weedleenthusiast7882]

I legitimately combined Miracle Eye with Mind Reader, because of them having an overlapping effect, so I was like, "How are you forgetting the Miracle Eye into Sheer Cold combo on Articuno!?" And then I realized that Mind Reader is what I was thinking of

[@weedleenthusiast7882]

So the only niche use for Miracle Eye I can think of is for like, hitting a Drapion super-effectively if you don't have a ground type Pokemon

[@Imamotherfreakingavocado]

I've never known what captivate does, you're telling me it's just a worse version of eerie impulse 💀

[@Mrtyjr]

Regarding Miracle Eye, you say resetting your opponent's increased evasion is way less useful than if it would have reset your lowered accuracy. For that you already switch out but if you're stuck with an opponent that's very defensive and used many double teams, helpful moves would then be never-miss moves like Swift, but also Foresight, Odor Sleuth and Miracle Eye that brings increased evasion (not lowered) back to normal and I believe even for the remainder of the fight, so if it continued to increase its evasiveness it would be ignored by the user of Miracle Eye and in double battles your other Pokemon would also benefit from it. Still a very situational move but quite an interesting one that they came up with.

[@jacob127409]

I'm reminded of the game Lunacid that has a spell called Lithomancy. The only thing it does is whenever you use it on an inanimate object it begins to scream serving no purpose whatsoever unless you wanna be annoyed while in that room.

[@Beleth420]

Such a great game. I havn't played since last update. I was capped at 70. I heard its full release now but where do I go now lol is it the prison?

[@nicholasschake8113]

Trapping moves in Gen 2 are also useful if you’re trying to catch some of the species that randomly flee. This was also supposed to be the use of Fast Balls, but they were bugged and only worked on a few species.

[@chrishandsome6542]

I feel like these moves existed in the sake of unacknowledged battling evolution to come. Which never came but it was thrifty to add them just in case.

[@armorbearer9702]

(1:54) I like your idea. Personally, I would prefer the move be a gamble version of Attract. Instead of a three stage drop, keep the two stages, but give the move a 50% chance of infatuating the opponent.

[@fellow9939]

8:29 "it's learned by a select few pokemon; many of which are forgettable themselves" List contains: *Kadabra *Alakazam (tbf if you didn't have friends or a second copy of a game you never had one of these) *Metagross *mewtwo *xatu numbers don't check out here chief these are some of the most prominent psychic-types

[@ttarzzxz3711]

Hey, I remember miracle eye cuz I know it was used in one of the PokeStar studios movies cuz those are like mini puzzles. I think it was for the horror zombie movie one where you only have a sigilyph and the opponent is a dark type alien thing. I have vivid memories of that and the wonder guard dark/ghost type where they give you Soak on a basculin so it's susceptible to an electric move they also give you

[@Matando]

I'm surprised you didn't mention the bug where in gen2 if you use "Mean Look" or "Spider Web" on one of the roamers and they then use roar they are just......... never to be seen again.

[@jmcbango]

Seen alot of comments about the competitive niche of reflect type, but haven't seen anyone mention spider web! Spider web actually saw some use on araquanid in gen 7. Its water bubble ability made its liquidation very strong in spite of its low stats. As such, most water types could switch in and wall it out. That is, until it started running spider web and toxic. The idea was that, once you bring in araquanid, the opponent would switch to their water absorb mantine if they had one (they likely did). You trap the mantine on switch-in with spider web, then stall it out with toxic (and potentially protect)

[@OryxTheMadGod3]

Great video, gonna go watch the other 3 now

[@zeckemyro7031]

Magneton's gen 1 Pokédex entry also uses normal plural as it mentions MAGNEMITEs. Every other gen keeps that s out, though.

[@Lukke0]

I love your content so much, its incredible how different your pokemon videos are, the editing is amazing as well, keep it up man!

[@Maelmc_]

Reflect Type has a weird niche when you want to theorize the maximum damage possible, in that a lvl 1 Smeargle can learn Reflect Type and also a bunch of other moves to make the setup easier

[@JDoradoTube]

Your voice over is easy to listen to and binge. A lot of poketubers have shrill and booming voices, so it only holds my interest for so long 😂

[@MortonGoldthwait]

It's so much fun to watch that one second where ads try and fail to bypass AdBlock.

[@benjulesrun9057]

back in the day Smeargle used Spider Web on obnoxious Baton Pass chains, I'm assuming because it had more PP than Mean look or Block