Gotta Review 'Em All - Moves [Generation IV, Part 1]

Hopefully this won't take as long as it took for me to make the Generation III moves segment. But here goes!

Generation IV is probably one of the most significant shake-up for Pokemon moves. All the hundreds of moves from the first three generations fall now into a completely different Physical/Special Split. Previously, whether a move is deemed as a Physical move or a Special move depends on the type they are associated with. So the Fire-type is always a Special move. But from Generation IV onwards, Fire Punch would be a Physical move, whereas Flamethrower would be a Special move, playing more into the flavour of the move itself instead of just the type, while also allowing, say, Fire-types with a high Physical Attack stat to not be completely useless. 

Anyway, I think Generation I through IV are the ones to introduce the most amount of 'global' moves.  But I do feel that with a few exceptions, a lot of the moves introduced after this generation don't really get a lot of 'screentime' in media. Though that's also probably with the rise of having so many brand-new signature moves unique to a certain Pokemon evolutionary line as well!

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Normal-type Moves:

I think this is the last generation with like 20+ Normal-type moves? I don't remember, but I do know the first four generations dropped a gigantic amount of Normal-type moves. Still really think a lot of them could be moved over to Fairy or Dark or Fighting, honestly. 

• Giga Impact (Giga Inpakuto/Giga Impact) With the Physical/Special split, some moves that were once good for Pokemon with high Physical Attack stats are no longer useful to them. Like Hyper Beam! So that's why they introduced (and will introduce) a bunch of new move variations that helps to solve this problem. Giga Impact is 100% identical in functionality to Hyper Beam, it's just that it works off of Physical stats instead of the Special-type Hyper Beam. It's always portrayed as the Pokemon using Giga Impact slamming onto the enemy and creating one gigantic anime explosion. Particularly cool in the 3D games!
• Rock Climb (Rokku Kuraimu/Rock Climb) While HM's will stick around for a couple more generations, Generation IV is probably the one with one of the lamer HM's, Rock Climb. I suppose it does make sense in the very mountainous region of Sinnoh, but I'm kind of confused how this functions as an attack. How do you hurt someone with the act of rock-climbing? And furthermore, it always confuses my brain that this is a Normal-type move. I mean, I get it. But at the same time it has 'rock' in its name and I always associate any move that has 'rock' in its title with the Rock type. 
• Feint (Feinto/Feint) Not to be confused with the Dark-type Feint Attack, Feint refers more to, like, a feint in swordfighting. Basically the effect allows you to bypass an opponent who used a protective move like Protect or Detect. Very situational, but neatly flavourful. 
• Natural Gift (Shizen no Megumi/Nature's Blessing) An interesting move that's a bit more impractical than it actually is, Natural Gift has a Pokemon consume a berry, and then convert that berry into an attack. The type and power of the attack depends on the berry itself. It's like Hidden Power with several extra steps, and you also need to supply the Pokemon with berries to boot. Very interesting mechanic, it's a shame that it's way too impractical in actual gameplay. 
• Wring Out (Shiboritoru/Wring Out) So, uh, you... grab the foe and wring them out? How does someone survive being 'wrung out', anyway? For the most part, the Pokemon that can do this move are those with long, tendril-like appendages. Tangela, Guzzlord, Weepinbell, Cradily, Jellicent... but Kabutops and Jynx can do it too, and I'm not sure how. Wring Out deals more damage the more percentage of HP the enemy has, which, okay, sure. 
• Trump Card (Kirifuda/Trump Card) A very bizarre move, especially when you consider that only four Pokemon naturally learns this. Eevee, Slowking, Minun and Magearna. It deals greater damage the less PP the move has left, which means only the final usage of the Trump Card move deals maximum damage. Weird.
• Last Resort (Totteoki/The Best for Last) Cut my life into pieces, this is my- anyway, Last Resort is a somewhat similar move to Trump Card, Last Resort is only usable if a Pokemon had used its there other moves at least once. Interesting gimmick and a very flavourful one, albeit it's extremely impractical owing to the fact that most Pokemon battles tend to be decided in under four moves.  

This generation has a bunch of interesting non-damaging Normal-type moves. It's also the generation where we finally aren't overwhelmed with a gigantic flood of normal-type moves, though, so maybe these are a bit more prominent thanks to that. 

• Captivate (Yuwaku/Allure) I could've sworn this move got retconned into Fairy-type... honestly, I could make whole articles about moves that should be moved into other types instead of just Pokemon! Anyway, Captivate's animation is a bunch of hearts, and it's somewhat similar to Attract where it only functions to opposite-gender Pokemon. Instead of inflicting the attraction status, though, Captivate debuffs the Special Attack stat. 
• Lucky Chant (Omajinai/Good Luck Charm) Kind of a cute move, Lucky Chant has the Pokemon pray for good luck, which manifests in... bad luck for the enemy, since they won't land critical hits. Okay!
• Me First (Sakidori/Take in Advance) A very interesting move that I really thought shold be a Dark-type move, Me First basically has the user 'cut in line' and steal the enemy's move in advance, then unleash it with more power. Unlike moves like Sucker Punch or Counter, Me First will actually fail if the opponent already executed their move. Rather strange move, and I honestly forgot this move existed!
• Copycat (Manekko/Imitate) Something somewhat similar to Mirror Move, Copycat just... copies the last move used in the battle. I do feel like it's one of those wacky moves that just feels super-situational. 
• Acupressure (Tsubo o Tsuku/Point Strike) Kinda cute! A Pokemon uses acupuncture on itself or its ally to boost its strength. I really do feel like this should be a Fighting-type move, though, but the only Fighting-type that can learn this is Meditite. Everyone else that can use this move are Pokemon like Qwilfish, Dodrio, Drapion and Maractus who have the thorns. 
• Double Hit (Dabaru Atakku/Double Attack) A very basic multi-attack move, not too dissimilar to Doubleslap or Fury Attack. The reason this is notable, of course, is that it's the move required by Aipom to learn before evolving to Ambipom. Not too much to say beyond that, it's not a very interesting move. 
• Crush Grip (Nigiritsubusu/Grip Crush) Many legendaries get their signature moves since Generation III, and Crush Grip is Regigigas's signature move. I guess when you see his masive golem fingers, you imagine it squeezing you hard and breaking every bone in your body? The animations tended to be Regigigas sending out a gigantic hand to crush the enemy, and I've always thought that it was rather odd that they never made a custom animation to use Regigigas's own claspers since it's his signature move. Eh. 
• Judgment (Sabaki no Tsubute/Strike of Judgement) Arceus's signature move. Or, well, if you somehow read a geeky dissertation about Pokemon moves and don't konw who Arceus is, this is GOD'S JUDGMENT. The depiction of this move has been different over the different media, but nowadays it normally involves Arceus glowing, then a goddamn airstrike of heavenly beams slam rain down all around him. In Generation IV and V, Judgment is portrayed as a black-and-white supernova with the opponent as the center. Arceus is the first legendary to have this property, but Judgment will change type depending on which plate you have on Arceus, which changes his typing as well. In Legends: Arceus, there is a specific plate that will immediately transform Arceus into whatever type (and ergo whatever Judgment-type) the enemy is weakest to, which is pretty damn awesome. I don't tend to get super hyped-up about these sorts of legendary attacks, but Arceus' is pretty badass. 

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Fire-type Moves:

Generation IV is the first generation to really dial back the number of new moves compared to the first three, and... a lot of them are just trying to balance out the Physical/Special split. Again, I absolutely love the balancing act done with this, giving us a greater diversity and making Fire-type Pokemon with a physically offensive stat spread far more useful. 

• Fire Fang (Hono no Kiba/Fire Fang) Generation IV introduces the 'fang' series of moves, which tended to be tied to move tutors or breedng/egg moves, and it basically involves the animalistic Pokemon coating their fangs in the element of whatever they're using. Fire, in this case. It's great because it gives a neat physical move to anyone that doesn't have fists to learn Fire Punch, and the fang moves are a great mid-game move between Ember or whatever and the late-game attacks for physical-attacking Fire-types. In practice, like the 'Punch' moves, the elemental fangs also tend to allow type coverage to Pokemon not of the respective type, which is either a neat thing to not cripple a Pokemon thanks to their type, or kind of overpowers certain others depending on who you ask. I do find the Fang moves extremely dull beyond that, though, so this is probably the only huge writeup I'll do for the four fang moves. 
• Flare Blitz (Furea Doraibu/Flare Drive) Flare Blitz is the more powerful physical Fire-type move, essentially functioning like a Fire-type Double-Edge, dealing recoil and stuff. Pretty standard anime stuff, I suppose, but to be fair, I don't really think that Pokemon previously had an ability where you do something like this? 
• Lava Plume (Fun'en/Volcanic Plume) Not to be confused with Eruption, Lava Plume is another Fire-type move associated with volcano-based Pokemon like Numel or Torkoal or Heatran. It's not particularly memorable if you're being honest, and its gimmick is that it deals damage to everyone in the battlefield other than the user. I suppose this one is more explicitly lava/magma, which kinda falls under a different flavour. 
• Magma Storm (Maguma Sutomu/Magma Storm) Heatran's signature move! It is usually depicted in other media as a gigantic tornado of fire, and it's basically Fire Spin, but has an initial huge burst of damage instead of just doing a DoT over time. 

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Water-type Moves:

Water was Special pre-Gen-IV, though I'm actually surprised that this generation only introduced two physical Water-type moves. 

• Aqua Jet (Akua Jetto/Aqua Jet) Definitely a favourite of mine, Aqua Jet is a physical Water-type move that... has priority! Which means that it always hits first. Displayed well in the anime and manga with the Pokemon launching itself forward with the titular aqua jet, a little figure manipulating a controlled geyser of water. It's cool, practical, and thanks to the debut generation, a little associated with the Buizel/Floatzel line, the quintessential speedy Water-type Pokemon. 
• Brine (Shiomizu/Brine) Referencing high-concentration salt water, Brine is a move that basically hits for medium damage -- essentially the middle ground between Water Gun and Hydro Pump. I guess they wanted something that looks a bit more aggressive than Water Pulse? Brine basically deals more damage to oppnonents with less than half health. Why? Well, rubbing salt into the wound hurts more, after all. Cute!
• Aqua Ring (Akua Ringu/Aqua Ring) There really was some effort to make Water have some 'healing' abilities, which is a common theme in other RPG's... but doesn't really seem to catch on in Pokemon? Aqua Ring generates a ring of water that restores health over time. I remember it exists, but that's basically about it. 
• Aqua Tail (Akua Teru/Aqua Tail) Not much to say here, the physical-category equivalent to something like, oh, Surf or whatever. It sure is a Pokemon using their tail to slap their enemy and somehow it generates water. I really don't have much to say about the [type] [anatomy] moves. 

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Grass-type Moves:

Grass was Special too, and, well, as you can see here, in addition to the requisite bunch of status moves, Grass got a bunch of powerful Physical moves too.

• Energy Ball (Enaji Boru/Energy Ball) I guess it's about time that Pokemon had a Special Grass-type move that didn't take two turns to charge? I kinda wished that they had buffed Solarbeam a little bit more, though, since most Special Grass-type Pokemon just runs Energy Ball. I'm... very neutral about this move's appearance. I mean, I get it, it's a concentrated mass of plant energy or whatever, but... every type does that, y'know? 
• Leaf Storm (Rifu Sutomu/Leaf Storm) ...like Leaf Storm! Yeah, why can't this be the cool 'evergreen' special Grass move? It's even a pretty sensible 'upgrade' to Razor Leaf, Magical Leaf and Petal Dance! A gigantic tornado of leaves! Instead, Leaf Storm is just a reskinned Overheat, a move that cripples the user. Oh well. 
• Grass Knot (Kusamusubi/Grass Knot) This one is a lot more fun! Yeah, it's a reskinned Low Kick, where it deals more damage the heavier the opponent is... but that's because the attack manifests in a knot of grass that literally trips the enemy and has them fall flat on their face. Now we're talking something creative and falling into the realm of fun things you can do with plants! I also feel like Gardenia, the Grass-type gym leader in Sinnoh, uses this move a lot!
• Power Whip (Pawa Uippu/Power Whip) A gigantic whip of vine or tentacles that deals damage. Basically a more powerful Vine Whip. That's about it, really. Probably the most memorable part is that some really weird non-plant Pokemon like Goodra and Lickitung can use it. It sure is a Physical Grass-type move, which the generation needs to add a couple of since most Grass-types fall in the Special category.

• Wood Hammer (Uddo Hanma/Wood Hammer) Like Wood Hammer! How do you physically beat up an enemy when you're a plant? Why, with the hardest part of a plant, of course, the goddamn trunk of a tree. My Torterra had so much mileage out of this move! This move is learned by any Pokemon with a tree design to it. Trevenant, Exeggutor, Abomasnow, Rillaboom... and even some others that you wouldn't think would have it, like fake-tree Sudowoodo, or Mimikyu and Komala, who both have little logs with them. Cute!
• Seed Bomb (Tane Bakudan/Seed Bomb) Another physical Grass-type move is Seed Bomb, where you'd think the seeds would explode and thus the move would be classified as special, but the descriptions make it clear that it's the hardness of the seed shells that makes this move a bit more notable. A lot more interesting than generic ol' Energy Ball. 
• Worry Seed (Nayami no Tane/Seed of Worry) This is a pun on a Japanese saying, nayami no tane, which translates to 'cause of worry', but is also literally 'seed of worry'. A very interesting move where the Grass-type launches the titular Worry Seed and that causes the enemy to worry so much that their ability itself transforms into Insomnia. That's right, you're weaponizing generalized anxiety in the form of a seed with toxins and hallucinogenics to make your opponent unable to sleep! (And remove their other ability, too, which is the main usage of this).
• Seed Flare (Shido Furea/Seed Flare) Shaymin's signature move. It sure is a beam of green energy that blasts the enemy. It basically is a strong special move that lowers the enemy's special defense stat. Not too much to say about it, if that one Shaymin movie didn't exist, because that movie actually expands more on the mechanics of Seed Flare, where Shaymin draws pollutants and absorbs it to itself, and then launches the purified 'energy' at the enemy. I don't think there's a quantifiable method to transform pollutants into energy, but in the same vein I don't think hedgehogs are supposed to transform into flying deer when exposed to flowers, so.

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Electric-type Moves:

• Thunder Fang (Kaminari no Kiba/Thunder Fang) Oh, hey, copy my talk about Fire Fang above, note that Electric used to be a Special-category move, and copy paste it here. It's basically the same thing but sparkly. 
• Discharge (Hoden/Electrical Discharge) An explosion of electricity that zaps everyone in a double battle. There's a cheeky bit where you can plant an ally with Lightning Rod to buff the other enemy, but it's basically just a middle-range Electric-type move. Cool name, but it's rather similar to all the other Electric moves. 
• Charge Beam (Chaji Bimu/Charge Beam) It sure is a laser beam! Unlike Zap Cannon, Charge Beam offers an extra buff to Special Attack. I really don't have much to say here. After three generations of different permutations of zapping, it's really hard to muster too much enthusiasm. 
• Magnet Rise (Denjifuyu/Electromagnetic Levitation) A cute move that's not actually used too much by Electric types, this is learned by a lot of already-hovering Steel-type Pokemon. It basically allows the Pokemon to hover above ground, as if they had the ability Levitate. It's cute, and a lot of these more 'robotic' Pokemon like Forretress and Porygon and Metang are already hovering anyway. Neat showcase of electromagnetism, too!

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Ice-type Moves:

• Ice Fang (Kori no Kiba/Ice Fang) Oh, hey, copy my talk about Fire and Thunder Fang and move it here, kthx. 
• Avalanche (Yukinadare/Snow Avalanche) An interesting move! Avalanche is already something associated with ice and snow that we haven't really had represented as an attack, but the effect even works with the all-too-common trope in movies of an explosion triggering a massive avalanche. Avalanche-the-move has double damage if the attacker, which is the 'snow mountain' in this case, and that triggers an even more massive avalanche to be created! It's also a physical move in a type that was previously special in previous generations. Interestingly, while this is a TM move, the only Pokemon that can learn this move naturally in Generation IV was the Jynx line. 
• Ice Shard (Kori no Tsubute/Ice Throwing Stone) Similar to Aqua Jet above, Ice Shard is basically an increased priority move for Ice-types. Pretty cool name, and shooting actual tiny shards of ice is kinda different from the ice-beams and auroras and snow blasts and icicles we had before

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Bug-type Moves:

Generation IV was very good for Bug-type moves mostly because they finally got a decent batch of damaging moves that isn't the highly-inaccurate and highly-exclusive Megahorn. Was Signal Beam literally the only good Bug-type move in Generation III? Dang. But it's nice to see that Bug-types do get a lot of love in this generation, at least move-wise.

• Bug Bite (Mushikui/Bug Bite) I can't believe it took them four generations to realize that the most annoying things that insects do to humans is to bite them. Bug Bite is a fun little move that is many physical-attacking Bug-types get as the mid-game move, and there is a fun effect where a Pokemon using Bug Bite will also consume whatever berry the enemy is holding. Cute!
• X-Scissor (Shiza Kurosu/Scissor Cross) A lot of Bug-type Pokemon have big-ass blades, and any anime character dual-wielding blades will inevitably slash them in the shape of an X. This is basically that, made into an attack and given to the Bug-types. Not a whole ton to say beyond that, a pretty fun physical move that adds into the list of decently-powered moves for bugs!
• U-Turn (Tonbogaeri/Roundtrip) A very fun move, U-Turn has the Pokemon slam onto the enemy, dealing damage, before retreating into its owner's Pokeball and asking the owner to send out another Pokemon. It's basically hit-and-run, a 'free switch' while still dealing damage. Of course, the reason that this attack is Bug-type and not Dark or Flying is that its Japanese name, tonbogaeri, or 'round-trip'... has tonbo in it. Which is dragonfly in Japanese. Yep! Nintendo loves their puns!
• Bug Buzz (Mushi no Sazameki/Insect Noise) Anyone who has ever lived in an area with cicadas can probably attest to how noisy the fuckers are, and since Pokemon is a game made in Japan, yeah, you can bet that at some point the noise from these insects will get translated into an attack in the game. This is a move that's widely spread amongst Bug-types, too, since it's a bit easier flavour-wise for most Bug-types to make a noise with their wings instead of summoning a beam like Signal Beam. 
• Attack Order (Kogeki Shirei/Attack Order), Defend Order (Bogyo Shirei/Defend Order) and Heal Order (Kaifuku Shirei/Heal Order) These three are Vespiquen's signature moves, and are often shown in-game as Vespiquen summoning a bunch of bee minions that look different from the Combee to do things as ordered by the queen of the colony. Presumably these are the things hidden in the hive under her skirt, though the anime and manga showcase Vespiquen commanding a bunch of Combees instead. It's interesting, and at least back in Generation IV, Attack Order was one of the harder-hitting physical Bug-type moves, only losing out to Megahorn. Defend Order sharply buffs Vespiquen's defenses, and Heal Order, well, heals Vespiquen. Pretty cool that they dedicated so many moves to Vespiquen of all Pokemon!

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Poison-type Moves:

Poison didn't fare as badly as Bug did, since they had Sludge Bomb from Generation II and that's a pretty universal move compared to Megahorn, but they kinda always needed some more help. And, again, the aforementioned physical/special split did end up giving Poison a variety of new weapons to play with. 

• Toxic Spikes (Dokubishi/Poison Spikes) This is the generation where entry hazard meta became a thing, and it's something that you'll probably barely notice if you don't play against other players or in the Battle Tower. Toxic Spikes is one of these entry hazards and probably one of the less-useful ones, where the Pokemon scatters a bunch of caltrops coated in Poison, poisoning any Pokemon that comes in afterwards. It's kinda interesting because like it sister move Spikes (which we'll cover in Ground) any floating Pokemon (be it Flying-type, Levitate or Air Balloon) won't get stabbed by it. Cute!
• Poison Jab (Dokuzuki/Poison Stab) Since Sludge Bomb, Poison's most powerful move, is moved to Special, we need a new Physical Poison move, and Poison Jab fills in that role! It's neat that they pre-empted the fact that Poison-type has a lot of creatures without hands, so it's 'Poison Jab' instead of 'Poison Punch'. The Pokemon basically coats an arm or a tentacle with poison and then jabs their enemy! 'Jab' also has some wordplay association with injecting poison, doesn't it? 
• Cross Poison (Kurosu Poizun/Cross Poison) Slightly weaker than Poison Jab, but having a higher critical rate chance, I associate 
• Gunk Shot (Dasuto Shuto/Dust Shoot) The 'Thunder' for Poison-type, being a high-power, low-accuracy move, Gunk Shot is described as throwing filthy garbage at the enemy. Only in Generation VI, the animation literally has the user manifest a gigantic metal trash can and chuck it at the enemy, whereas in all other generations it's just a blob of poison. Give me back my trash can attack, Nintendo! Hell, it even makes sense that the trashcan Gunk Shot is inaccurate, it's presumably harder to aim a chucked trash can compared to Sludge Bomb or Venoshock!
• Gastro Acid (Ieki/Gastric Juice) Not to be confused with Acid or Acid Spray, Gastro Acid eliminates the effect of the enemy's Ability. I'm not sure of the logic why digestive acid is able to stop, oh, Gengar from levitating or Exploud from being soundproof, but... well, I honestly don't have anything particularly clever to say here. It's certainly a good 'tech' move, to borrow a TCG term, but flavour-wise it is kind of strange. 

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Dragon-type Moves:

Normally I leave Dragon, Dark and Steel for last, but this time I just feel like doing Dragon first before the other types. Generation IV gave us a bunch of interesting Dragon-type moves, especially with Dragon-types being more and more prevalent in the Generation III-V meta.

• Dragon Pulse (Ryu no Hado/Dragon Wave) It's a purple beam of draconic energy, not to be confused with Dragonbreath, which is a purple flame of draconic energy, or Dragon Rage, which is a purple blast of draconic energy that explodes outwards. Anyway, coming in to fit the other 'pulse' moves, Dragon Pulse sure is a pulsating wave motion attack!
• Dragon Rush (Doragon Daibu/Dragon Dive) An inaccurate but powerful physical-type Dragon move, I kinda feel like this one was just randomly tossed in so Dragon Claw and Outrage aren't alone. I really don't remember this move existing at all. Later on, bizarrely, they added an interaction where Dragon Rush always hits targets with Minimize and deals extra damage. I'm... not sure why?
• Draco Meteor (Ryuseigun/Meteor Shower) Borrowing its pun from the Japanese term for a meteor shower, ryuseigun, which has 'ryu' or dragon in its name, Draco Meteor is just badass, okay? One of the highest-hitting Dragon-type moves where you literally call down meteors from space itself, and usually this meteor glows in the creepy purplish colour that Dragon-type is associated with... yeah, Draco Meteor is, and for now, still one of the most 'OH SHIT' moves out there. Practically all Dragon-types are able to learn this move, but usually it's treated as a specific 'secret art' akin to Frenzy Plant, Blast Burn and Hydro Cannon, where you either have to find a specific move tutor or a TM to teach your dragon this move. Neat!
• Roar of Time (Toki no Hoko/Roar of Time) The signature move of Dialga, the God of Time. The movies tend to give Dialga a pretty special animation for this, where his tail-fin-things expand, his diamond glows, and he unleashes the mother of all explosions, and you'd think a move called the 'Roar of Time' is able to do something funky. Turn back time to the previous turn, or skip an enemy turn, or something along those lines... nope? It's just a Hyper Bream, where the god of time is subjected to cooldown? Man, that sucks. In the Adventures manga, Roar of Time works like that, though, where Dialga distorts and bends and twists time in the area affected by its beam-roar. 
• Spacial Rend (Aku Setsudan/Subspace Tear) Spacial Rend, likewise, doesn't actually do anything with space, though it's a bit harder to imagine 'space-fuckery' being translated well into a video game format. The aesthetics are always cool, though, especially in the 3D games where Palkia will literally shatter the space around the opponent, having the entire image of your screen fall apart like a glass painting over another same scene. Very cool! The Adventuers manga also has something cool where Palkia seems to create a portal to another panel in and of itself, causing attacks to fly through his localized portals to other parts of the battlefield. At least they tried to communicate Spacial Rend's space-ness in animation!

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Ghost-type Moves:

• Ominous Wind (Ayashi Kaze/Eerie Wind) A great little horror trope, and I guess this is the mid-game damaging move for Special-attacking Ghost-types, which, surprisingly, it didn't have before, with how situational Night Shade is and how specific to ghosts with hands Shadow Punch is. So yeah, you just summon the creepy ominous winds that permeates most horror movies and use that chill to damage your enemy. Somehow, it boosts the user's stats, but I guess ghosts in movies do get spookier when the environment is spookier!
• Shadow Claw (Shado Kuro/Shadow Claw) The equivalent to Shadow Ball, but for Physical-leaning Ghosts, I also do think that Shadow Claw is a way to 'give' the Ghost coverage to a lot of non-Ghost-types since it's a lot more believable that a Salamence or a Nidoking or something could coat their claws in shadow and strike the enemy. The animation for this is always cool, though... there's just something so satisfying at seeing these shadowy Wolverine blades tear apart an enemy.
• Shadow Sneak (Kageuchi/Shadow Strike) Shadow Sneak is a weaker Ghost-type move that trades off damage for priority. I used Shadow Sneak a lot with my Mimikyu and Aegislash back in the 3DS generation, and I've always loved the animation for this, too -- the shadow of the ghost lengthens and then strikes the enemy as it rises up. Very amazingly shown in a lot of the anime and manga, too, where they can get a bit more customized with the spooky shadow animations. 
• Shadow Force (Shado Daibu/Shadow Dive) And we close this off with Giratina's signature move, Shadow Force, which is kinda similar to Fly or Dive (the comparison is even more explicit with the Japanese name, Shadow Dive), where Giratina disappears for a single turn -- diving back into its shadowy antimatter distortion dimension -- and then appears behind the enemy and striking them with all the explosive force of the shadows. It can also bypass moves like Protect, which I guess is because Giratina rises up from the shadow of the enemy or something?