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

Generation VIII is here! And while it isn't as broadcasted as heavily as the 'National Dex' stuff, in addition to huge swathes of Pokemon simply not being playable in Pokemon Sword and Shield, a casualty that went unlamented are entire scores of moves that are simply... purged from the game entirely. While not including some of the more extraneous moves like Z-Moves or the Let's Go special Pikachu/Eevee moves are understandable, the fact that so many moves are just lost and not available feels like kind of a disservice. 

I do understand that it's a nice simplification of the game for newbies, to reduce the available amount of moves to something somewhat comparable to Generation III or IV. With moves, I can at least somewhat see the 'competitive field' argument. Not that I really find it a good reason myself, since it really does reek of them simply not caring enough -- or more likely, not having the time -- to program all of these older moves into the game. 

And I think part of my frustration with this 'move purge' is that, unlike the Pokemon species, there really isn't much in lieu of replacements for these 'lost' moves. When you do a rotation in a TCG, normally the cards that leave are replaced with ones that do a similar thing, but in a more balanced manner. And while we do have some new moves, they're also... not the most exciting? Which is probably why my Generation VIII move review took so long to write. 

And as such, I honestly do think that Pokemon lost something when so much of these new moves in a generation are just either gimmick signature moves, or, in the case of Generation VIII, part of a series of moves meant to fill a quota, in this case the Dynamax/Gigantamax moves. And honestly, the sheer lack of flavour in the G-Max moves in particular is what made writing this article so hard for me. I finished up most of the other moves, but for the Max/G-Max moves, it took me so long to write. So I do apologize in advance if I sound a bit too salty, but these are my honest opinions in reviewing these moves.

(This was originally supposed to be a single article due to the relatively smaller amount of moves, but my ranting ended making it a bit longer than it should be.)

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Normal-type Moves:

So to refresh your minds about the Dynamax/Gigantamax gimmick for Generation VIII, once per battle in certain areas, a Pokemon can become really big to turn into their Dynamax (or Gigantamax) forms for three turns, getting some buffs to their stats and replacing all their moves with "Max Moves". It's something similar to Z-Moves from Generation VII, with all attacking moves turned into their respective max moves, while all support moves turned into a specific variation. And some Pokemon get special 'G-Max' moves if they have Gigantamax forms, which allows them to use a unique variation. 

Which sounds like them trying to do a balancing act between Mega Evolutions and Z-Moves on paper. It sounds neat! On execution... I can't speak for the 'meta' implicatoins, but execution wise, it's almost always kind of boring and if I was a bit more cynical, I would point this out as yet another example of Generation VIII's rushed, cost-cuting measures because almost everything uses the same bunch of animations, robbing the whole point of what made Z-Moves unique in the first place. Which is really a shame, but honestly, considering the bulk of new moves in Generation VIII are tied to this Dynamax gimmickry, there really isn't much for me to talk about 'flavour'. But I'll get the Max moves out of the way for every type, but... if you can't tell, all things considered, I really do think that the Dynamax gimmick in Generation VIII is probably my least favourite of all the gimmicks we've had. 

(The fact that you only really have eighteen animations and they're not skippable means that you'll see them over and over and over again, so after a while despite being impressive on paper they kind of become quite boring.)

• Max Strike (Dai Attaku/Dy Attack) This is what all the Normal-type offensive attacks are transformed into, and the animation is probably the only thing that these Max moves do well. It's an over-the-top giant strike from the heavens with a lot of flashy lights, taking a nice advantage of the Nintendo Switch's comparatively better graphics. It's a bit less silly than VII's Breakneck Blitz, which is the Normal-type Z-move, but it's all right. 
• Max Guard (Dai Woru/Dy Wall) A fair bit more boring is the 'guarding' Max move, which is what all status move turns into. It's basically Protect. Again, conceptually it's okay. You go big, and one of the big stuff you do is a big forcefield. Neato.
• G-Max Gold Rush (Kyodai Koban/Gigant Koban), G-Max Cuddle (Kyodai Hoyo/Gigant Embrace), G-Max Replenish (Kyodai Saisei/Gigant Regeneration) ...but this is where things kinda fall off. All these fancy Gigantamax forms -- Gigantamax Meowth, Gigantamax Eevee, Gigantamax Snorlax -- have fancy new forms, and each of them have a specific new Gigantamax move... all of which are given such inspiring and memorable names starting with "G-Max". The animations? Exactly the same as Max Strike, with some effects that are not displayed visually. Coins burst out with Gold Rush, berries burst out with Replenish, which seems like such a cheap, additional tack-on. Remember how cool it is that some Pokemon got unique Z-move animations in Generation VII? All the animations with Snorlax waking up and charging at the enemy, or Incineroar summoning entire boxing rings, or Decidueye spinning around shooting shadow arrows into a tornado? Man, those were so personalized to each Pokemon and so memorable. 

• Court Change (Koto Chenji/Court Change) Depending on the release date of this article compared to the abilities one, you will or have seen me bitch about Libero. But Cinderace's signature move, Court Change, is actually very flavourful! In football (or soccer), the teams swap fields at some points in the game. Cinderace replicates this, swapping the effects of each field and moving buffs/debuffs onto the opposing field. Unlike the random favouritism of Libero, I actually really like this move's flavour. 
• Stuff Cheeks (Hobaru/Stuff Cheeks) Originally the signature move of the Skwovet line, this one has the Pokemon eat its berry to get whatever effect that the berry has and get a defense boost. It's a way to guarantee your Pokemon get the effect of the berry. Sure, it's kind of cute for the starting rodent, I suppose, and it's quite flavourful. Later generations would make this move available to other 'glutton' Pokemon like Swalot and Lechonk. 
• Teatime (Ochakai/Tea Party) ...why is this a Normal-type move? You'd think it's Ghost-type, since it's Polteageist's signature move. The effects are also kind of strange. Despite the visuals of Polteageist doing... well, poltergeist stuff on a spectral tea-set, the effect is... all parties in the field eat their berries? Uh? Okay?
• Terrain Pulse (Daichi no Hado/Terrain Pulse) A rather simple move, this was only available in the DLC through a move tutor. Terrain Pulse ties into the Terrain gimmick introduced in Generation VI -- Terrain Pulse changes its typing based on the active terrain at the time. Neat! Not much to say beyond that. 
• Power Shift (Pawa Shifuto/Power Shift) This is a very interesting move introduced in Legends: Arceus, which also came out in this generation. Power Shift basically swaps the physical and special stats -- both attack and defense -- allowing some Pokemon with weird movesets to benefit from different stats. In competitive play you really do want to build your Pokemon to their stats, but maybe you reeeeeeally want your Dusknoir to be destroying opponents with Shadow Ball instead of Shadow Punch. I can't say I don't understand, in my head Gyarados blasts Hyper Beams and Hydro Pumps instead of slamming onto them with Giga Impacts and Waterfalls. 

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Fire-type Moves:

• Max Flare (Dai Ban/Dy Burn) So yeah, the Max Fire-type move is just... a bigger Flamethrower that creates a big fire explosion. Admittedly there's only so much you can do with fire, but still... I dunno. Just 'Flamethrower but big' feels so lazy. 
• I think I haven't really mentioned that almost all of these Max moves have some kind of additional effect, yeah? I'll just note all of them here. Where possible, the weather or terrain associated with the type is unleashed by the move. Max Flare, for example, casts the sunlight weather effect. The water, ice and ground Max moves cast rain, hail and sandstorm; and the electric, psychic and fairy moves cast their respective Terrains. The rest, though? Just some random buffs or whatnot, which I thought was honestly kind of lame. 
• G-Max Wildfire (Kyodai Gokuen/Gigant Hellfire), G-Max Centiferno (Kyodai Hyakka/Gigant Hundred Flames), G-Max Fireball (Kyodai Kakyu/Gigant Fireball) And really, there isn't that much of an excuse that Charizard and Centiskorch's "Wildfire" and "Centiferno" basically have the same animation but with slightly different effects. Being a DLC form, Cinderace's "Fireball" actually does have unique animation... but it's honestly just Cinderace doing a regular attack animation of kicking the giant bunny fireball, so I'm not impressed either. 

• Pyro Ball (Kaen Boru/Flame Ball) Of course Cinderace gets two signature moves and a signature ability. Freaking Fire-type starters and their favouritism. I actually do like the flavour of Pyro Ball, though, where Cinderace isn't just kicking balls of fire (which already fits with his theme). He's actually kicking little rocks on the battlefield, and those get ignited and expand into the fireballs. I don't like Cinderace, but this little detail, I can appreciate. 
• Burning Jealousy (Shitto no Hono/Flame of Jealousy) The Sword/Shield DLC gives a bunch of moves that the dojo move tutor can teach you. For Fire, it's Burning Jealousy, where in a rather hilarious anime-style wackiness, the user gets so jealous at any opponent that had a stat increase, and attacks them and leaves them with a burn. Bit of a shame that the visual effects are just a 'big fire explosion', but at least the name and effects are cute. 
• Raging Fury (Daifungeki/Great Infuriation) Legends Arceus gives us some additional moves. Raging Fury is essentially Fire-type Outrage, and it honestly kind of fits the flavour of a 'fiery rage'! That's neat. In Legends Arceus, this was originally exclusive to Infernape and Hisuian Arcanine. 

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Water-type Moves:

• Max Geyser (Dai Sutorimu/Dy Stream), G-Max Stonesurge (Kyodai Ganjin/Gigant Rock Formation), G-Max Foam Burst (Kyodai Homatsu/Gigant Froth) Again... the animation for the water-type Max move is... just an over-the-top Hydro Pump. It looks cool, yes. The bright beams, the explosions of water erupting away as the beam is unleashed... but after all the flash disappears it's kind of just a beam? An unskippable beam of an annoying gimmick that you have to see over and over again if you want to engage with this game long-term. 
• And, again, my complaints continue where the names of attacks like "Stonesurge" and "Foam Burst", assigned to Gigantamax Drednaw and Kingler respectively, doesn't really reflect the flavour. No stones are shown with Stonesurge; and a giant Final Flash beam isn't exactly a 'foam' that traps the enemy. 
• G-Max Cannonade (Kyodai Hogeki/Gigant Bombardment), G-Max Hydrosnipe (Kyodai Sogeki/Gigant Snipe) The DLC Max moves fare a bit better, in a way, even if the animation mostly just involves zooming into the anatomy of the Pokemon in question. G-Blastoise just unleashes multiple streams of water from the little fortress on his back; G-Inteleon aims, shoots and it explodes the enemy in water.
• G-Max Rapid Flow (Kyodai Rengeki/Gigant Continuous Strikes) G-Urshifu does some rapid-strike moves. It's kind of what you expect from a kung-fu attack, and... normally I'd complain, but my standards for Max moves are very low so the fact that he received any kind of unique animation already gets Urshifu an A in my books. 

• Snipe Shot (Neraiuchi/Snipe Shot) This is Inteleon's signature move, and it has ol' Gecko James Bond point his finger-guns at the enemy and then unleash a compressed blast of water that just slams onto them. This ignores 'taunting' moves and abilities that draw in this attack like Storm Drain or Follow Me. I think I've gone on record that I'm a bit disappointed with how Inteleon's visual design turned out, but the finger-gun water sniping ability gets no complaints from me. 
• Fishious Rend (Era Gami/Gill Bite) Fishious! Like 'vicious'! Get it, get it, get it, ehhh? I love this pun. The half-and-half fossils of this generation get two signature moves split across the 'heads', and Fishious Rend is shared by Dracovish and Arctovish. It's basically a glorified prehistoric fish biting you, but a dunkleosteus looks creepily badass enough that I believe that their bites warrant a whole new move on their own. The effect is doubled damage if the 'Vish moves before the opponent, which I'm not really sure what the flavour is. 
• Life Dew (Inochi no Shizuku/Life Droplets) A bit of a rarity in this generation, this isn't a signature move or a move tutor move, but just a move that many Pokemon can learn. Life Dew just instantly heals the user and its allies by 25% of their HP. The flavour of 'healing water' that is quite common in fantasy fiction hasn't really been all that prominent in Pokemon outside of Aqua Ring, so I do like the addition of this one.

• Flip Turn (Kuikku Tan/Quick Turn) Flip Turn is basically Water-type U-Turn. The user deals damage then quickly switches out. This is the DLC tutor move for the Water type, and I didn't care at all for this the first time I saw it... until I was informed that Flip-Turning, or Tumble-Turning, is actually a technique that professional swimmers do to quickly change direction. And now I really like the flavour! 
• Surging Strikes (Suiryu Renda/Stream Strikes) This is Rapid-Strike Urshifu's signature move. He hits three times, flowing like the river and whatnot. I like the fun display of kung-fu movie tropes here, but I have to confess that beyond the fact that "it looks cool", I can't really find much to say. 
• Wave Crash (Uebu Takkuru/Wave Tackle) This is a move introduced in Legends Arceus, and is shared between Empoleon and the Hisuian Basculin line. It's a recoil move and is therefore the most efficient way to rack up the recoil damage needed for Basculin to evolve into Basculegion. In the original Legends Arceus, Wave Crash interacts with the 'action speed' mechanic that replaces turn order. In the full games, however, it just gets reduced to a straight Double-Edge clone. I do really like Legends Arceus for introducing some new mechanics separate from the original games, but I also acknowledge that sometimes not all of them can be translated well to the mainline games. 

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Grass-type Moves:

• Max Overgrowth (Dai Sogen/Dy Grassland) The Dynamax move for Grass-types is Max Overgrowth, which essentially summons shoots several seeds that emerge into of spectral giant mushrooms and grasses. I like the mushrooms for this one, and it's quite neat to see the slight contrast between the giant Pokemon stomping around and the normally much smaller grasses and mushrooms and whatnot. 
• G-Max Tartness (Kyodai Sangeki/Gigant Acid Attack), G-Max Sweetness (Kyodai Kanro/Gigant Nectar). These two are the G-Max moves of the Applin final evolutions. Which... okay, not all the G-Max moves are lame! For Appletun and Flapple, they summon giant apples instead of mushrooms, which is cute. 
• G-Max Vine Lash (Kyodai Bentatsu/Gigant Whipping), G-Max Drum Solo (Kyodai Koranda/Gigant Drumbeat) And, of course, DLC Gigantamaxes get more unique animations. G-Venusaur's G-Max Vine Lash is basically an over-the-top vine whip animation, while G-Rillaboom's drum solo summons a root through the ground that explodes upon the enemy. Slightly more neat. 

• Apple Acid (Ringo San/Malic Acid) Most Pokemon introduced in this generation gets a signature move, and the apple dragons of course get some. Appletun gets Apple Acid (the Japanese goes a bit more specific with 'malic acid'), where it vomits out some sour fluid that lowers the opponent's Special Defense. All well and good, but...
• Grav Apple (G no Chikara/G-Force) Look at what Appletun's brother Flapple got! "Grav Apple", or "G-Force" in the original Japanese. What has the Grass-type or apples have to do with gravity? Isaac fuckin' Newton, that's what! Flapple summons a tree and we get an animation of a giant apple falling down and smashing apart on the opponent's head. If the Psychic-type move Gravity is in effect, Grav Apple does more damage! That is how you do flavour. Holy shit. I didn't realize this move was a thing until I started reviewing stuff on this blog, and I feel like that's yet another reason why the Dynamax/Gigantamax gimmickry of this generation isn't a particularly good showcase of the actual Pokemon. I mean, yes, the visual designs of the Gigantamaxes are showed off, but all their moves are the exact same as everyone else. The most fun stuff in this generation are stuff like Inteleon's Snipe Shot or Dragapult's Dragon Darts or Flapple's motherfuckin' Grav Apple, you know? 

• Drum Beating (Doramu Atakku/Drum Attack) Drum Beating is Rillaboom's signature move, where it beats its drums a lot and a bunch of roots move across the ground to slam onto the enemy. I honestly kind of expected a bit more (especially compared to Cinderace and Inteleon's far more fun signature moves), but kudos for Rillaboom for at least having something neat. 
• Branch Poke (Edazuki/Branch Poke) This one is almost Grookey's other signature move, but it's also shared with the Phantump line. It's essentially a reskinned version of Leafage or Vine Whip, a weak early-level move that's flavoured a bit differently, this time with a branch poking you. I've been hurt more times by branches than vines or leaves, so yeah.
• Snap Trap (Torabasami/Foothold Trap) What a fun move, huh? This is Galarian Stunfisk's signature move, and it does what you expect it to do. Stunfisk latches on to the enemy like a bear trap, and it both traps the enemy in the field and also deals damage over time. Cute!

• Grassy Glide (Gurasu Suraida/Grass Slider) Grassy Glide, or 'Grass Slider', is the move tutor move for the Grass-type, and... I don't like the flavour of this one all too much. The idea is you sliding on the grass and hitting the enemy, so it gets a bonus damage if Grassy Terrain is in effect? Terrains are a bit ignored and so a bunch of moves that synergize with it is nice, but I feel this one feels a bit forced from a flavour standpoint. 
• Jungle Healing (Janguru Hiru/Jungle Heal) Jungle Healing is Zarude's signature move, which is also a reminder for me to actually watch the Zarude movie. Zarude would extend his vines and attach them to the jungle around him, and then draw enery from the jungle to heal itself and its allies, restoring health and status conditions. I do like the little contrast of a very feral-looking psycho-ape like Zarude having a super-powerful healing move!
• Chloroblast (Kuroroburasuto/Chloroblast) Chloroblast is almost assuredly a pun on Chloroplast, the organelle in cells that contains chlorophyll. This is the signature move of Hisuian Electrode, and takes the form of a gigantic beam of light as Electrode unleashes all of the stored chlorophyll energy within his body. I guess Hisuian Electrodes unleash plant-powered laser beams instead of exploding? Pretty sure they explode too in Legends. It's a powerful recoil move, because presumably Electrode 'burns out' its chloroplasts, but in exchange for one of the highest base-power Grass-type moves, tied with the starters' signature Frenzy Plant. 

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Electric-type Moves:

• Max Lightning (Dai Sanda/Dy Thunder), G-Max Volt Crash (Kyodai Banrai/Gigant Heavy Thunder), G-Max Stun Shock (Kyodai Kanden/Gigant Electric Shock) Again, just like the fire-type move, Max Lightning is... just a really over-the-top Thunderbolt. Which looks cool the first couple of times you see it, but there's not a whole lot of creativity here, I guess. Almost half of the Electric-type moves that already existed already summon a thunderbolt from the skies. 
• Volt Crash is G-Pikachu's; Stun Shock is G-Toxtricity's... there are effects for them, but I just find it so boring to list everyone's effects, so I'm not going to. I'll list the Pokemon that does them, but trying to find something interesting to write about these end up giving me such a bad case of writer's block that I'm not going to.

• Bolt Beak (Dengeki Kuchibashi/Electric Shock Beak) This is the signature move of the 'Zolt' fossils, where the 'bird head' portion of Dracozolt or Arctozolt lights up their beak and pecks the enemy. It's got a weird additional effect of getting a bonus if they manage to attack before the target. Okay? 
• Aura Wheel (Ora Guruma/Aura Wheel) Because Morpeko is a hamster, it runs around in an 'Aura Wheel' and slams onto the enemy as it runs in a wheel made out of electricity. It's cute. Depending on Morpeko's form, Aura Wheel swaps between dealing Electric and Dark type damage. Gimmickry, yes, but it's neat. 
• Overdrive (Obadoraibu/Overdrive) This one is Toxtricity's signature move, and it's unleashing an epic rockstar guitar TWAAAANG that explodes out in one of the nicest effects in Sword/Shield, taking the form of those musical beats in DJ machines that I don't know the exact terminology for. In a game where a lot of the animations are actually simplified, I really appreciate moves like Overdrive and Aura Wheel for giving us some really fun effect. Overdrive is also a sound-based move, which synergizes with Toxtricity's ability! 

• Thunder Cage (Sanda Purizun/Thunder Prison) Thunder Cage (or 'Thunder Prison' in the original Japanese) is Regieleki's signature move, and it looks particularly cool in the anime. Regieleki already has his arms be made up of a bunch of viney, ropey fingers that open and close, so it really lends well to the imagination of it opening these up and making them into a cage. The anime interprets this, however, as Regieleki's legs exploding into a giant skirt or root system of electricity that cages his opponents. The actual effect is basically a simple damage-over-time thing, but the visuals are really nice. 
• Rising Voltage (Raijingu Boruto/Rising Bolt) Kinda boring. Rising Voltage is the tutor move for the Electric type, and it's just an upwards-rising lightning bolt that gets boosted by Electric Terrain. I guess it's cute that in Generation IX it ends up being the signature move of the long-necked Raging Bolt? Eh. 
• Wildbolt Storm (Kaminari Arashi/Thunderbolt Storm) Wildbolt Storm is Thundurus's new signature move thanks to Legends Arceus. Another 'storm' attack, Wildbolt Storm afflicts its opponents with paralysis. Rather simple, but also fitting with the flavour of a lightning-themed weather god. 

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Poison-type Moves:

• Max Ooze (Dai Ashiddo/Dy Acid), G-Max Malodor (Kyodai Shuki/Gigant Stink) This one's okay. Three giant pillars burst out of the ground, enveloping the enemy. It's something a bit more flavourful than 'just a poison beam'. I am... kind of surprised we don't have a 'Poison Terrain' yet? Really? You'd think that it would've been an easy video game trope to add into Pokemon moves. 
• G-Max Malodor is G-Garbodor's version of the move... and there actually is a difference here because the giant pillars of poisonous goop are now BROWN! It looks suitably disgusting. See? It's not that hard to change some of the moves to look a bit different!

• Corrosive Gas (Fushoku Gasu/Corrosive Gas) This is the Poison tutor move, and... I actually like the flavour of this one! The user unleashes a cloud of corrosive gas around it that "melts down" all of the held items of everyone else. The flavour of a corrosive acid destroying items is pretty solid, and I find it one of the favourites out of the DLC tutor moves. 
• Shell Side Arm (Sheru Amuzu/Shell Arms) This is Galarian Slowbro's signature move, and Galarian Slowbro's whole deal is that his spiral Shellder shell is now a Mega-Man style cannon. Can you just imagine Slowbro cocking that shell like a shotgun, and then firing off a round that explodes into a cloud of poison? I really like this one just from a flavour standpoint. 
• Dire Claw (Feitaru Kuro/Fatal Claw) Dire Claw, or "Fatal Claw" in the original Japanese, is Sneasler's signature move. To be honest, I actually find Sneasler to be one of the more forgettable Hisuian evolutions. Dire Claw is... interesting? It has a 50% chance of casting not just Poison, but also Paralysis or Sleep. I'm not sure how that last one came around. It just feels honestly kind of random and I'm struggling to think of what the flavour is for the lanky, moutnain-climbing weasel. 
• Barb Barrage (Dokubari Senbon/Thousand Stingers) And Barb Barrage here is Hisuian Qwilfish and Overqwil's signature move, which, in addition to being able to cause poison, has a variation of Venoshock's effect (increased damage if the enemy is poisoned) but for all status conditions. Oh, and Qwilfish needs to have this move to evolve into Overqwil!

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Dragon-type Moves:

• Max Wyrmwind (Dai Doragun/Dy Dragoon), G-Max Depletion (Kyodai Gensui/Gigant Decay) The Dragon-type summons a vertical tornado, and two dragon wings spin around before the tornado explodes. It's... all right? Not particularly Dragon-flavoured, but then again what is? I like the little pun with 'Dragoon' in the original Japanese and 'Wyrmwind' in the English. It's okay. 
• Depletion is G-Duraludon's signature move, and a giant winged tornado isn't something that you'd normally associate with a walking building. 
• Dynamax Cannon (Daimakkusu Ho/Daimax Cannon) Dynamax Cannon is one of Eternatus's signature move. Being the anti-Dynamax Pokemon, Eternatus's Dynamax Cannon is just a really huge fuck-off laser beam. It deals bonus damage to Dynamax Pokemon, which is both a nice little counter to these gimmicky bastards but also quite thematic from a lore perspective. 
• Eternabeam (Mugendai Bimu/Infinite Beam) In his "Eternamax" form, Eternatus transforms into his eldritch hand/worm/satellite form, and unleashes a whole load of laser beams down at the enemy. In-game, the Eternabeam animation is the only way that you can see Eternatus in his 'Eternamax' form after the boss fight, since that isn't a form you can access in normal gameplay. That's cool, actually. Eternabeam has a similar 'cooldown for one turn' similar to Hyper Beam. 

• Breaking Swipe (Waido Bureika/Wide Breaker) Breaking Swipe, or 'Wide Breaker' in Japanese, is originally almost a TM-exclusive move in Generation VIII (Duraludon learns it naturally), and it's kind of a way to give Dragon-types an AoE move, isn't it? The flavour is basically similar to Dragon Tail (the tail glows and the user swings it), but with the main selling point being the ability to hit two opponents. Can't say I'm too excited about this one. 
• Dragon Darts (Doragon Aro/Dragon Arrow) The best signature move, this one belongs to Dragapult. Dragapult launches the Dreepies hiding in his little missile pods, and they fly towards the enemy and explode. They're fine, because the little babies are already ghosts! Back in Generation VIII, there is even a little easter egg that if another Pokemon copies Dragon Darts, the 'missiles' are not Dreepy but a glowing purple energy dragon. That's cute! 
• Clangorous Soul (Souru Bito/Soul Beat) Clangorous Soul, or "Soul Beat", is Kommo-o's signature move. With the Z-Moves being removed in this generation, Kommo-o doesn't have anything special going for it, so they actually did a nice thing and repackaged Kommo-o's original "Clangorous Soulblaze" into this move... which gives Kommo-o the same buffs, but now he has to sacrifice some HP to get it. Poor Kommo-o! 
• Scale Shot (Sukeiru Shotto/Scale Shot) This is the Dragon-type tutor move, and... it's a nice, flavourful one. The idea is that the Dragon-type launches its own scales like throwing knives or something, making this move a multi-hit one. But as the scales are launched, the user's Defenses are lowered, while the Speed is increased. Pretty simple 'shed armour, be faster but weaker' flavour here. I like it. 
• Dragon Energy (Doragon Enaji/Dragon Energy) Dragon Energy is Regidrago's signature move, and the power of this move is tied to Regidrago's own "life force" -- the higher Regidrago's remaining HP, the more powerful this is. It's all right. It's no Thunder Cage. 

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Ice-type Moves:

• Max Hailstorm (Dai Aisu/Dy Ice), G-Max Resonance (Kyodai Senritsu/Gigant Melody) This one is a bit more creative -- the user creates a bunch of giant icebergs in the sky that then plummet and shatter all over the opponent. It also explains the casting of the 'Hail' weather effect better than the water and fire type moves.
• G-Max Resonance is G-Lapras's version of the move.
• Triple Axel (Toripuru Akuseru/Triple Axel) This is the DLC tutor move for Ice, and it's hilarious in that it's meant to be a figure skating move, reinterpreted as the Pokemon coating their legs in ice and then doing said Triple Axel move to kick the enemy multiple times. It's particularly hilarious in this anime example of Mr. Rime kicking a badass, presumably while tapdancing. 
• Glacial Lance (Burizado Ransu/Blizzard Lance) This is Ice Rider Calyrex's signature move. Where upon riding up on top of Glastrier, Calyrex summons a giant lance made out of ice and chucks it at the enemy. It's a neat visual, if nothing else, fitting with the idea of a jousting knight.
• Mountain Gale (Hyozan Oroshi/Iceberg Wind) Mountain Gale is Hisuian Avalugg's signature move, and to call it a 'gale' is a bit of a misnomer. Its original Japanese name, which translates to roughly "Iceberg Wind", is more descriptive because Hisuian Avalugg quite literally drops several icebergs down onto the enemy. This originally had a completely different effect relating to action orders in Legends Arceus, but in the proper mainline games, it causes flinching instead. 

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Bug-type Moves:

• Max Flutterby (Dai Wamu/Dy Worm), G-Max Befuddle (Kyodai Kowaku/Gigant Bewitchery) Despite being given the utterly confusing name of "Dai Worm" in Japanese, Max Flutterby actually summons a bunch of glowing butterflies that fly towards the enemy, and then explode in a giant Dragon Ball Z energy dome. It's... it's not very 'Bug'-y other than the butterflies, is it? I'm not the biggest fan of Savage Spin-Out from Generation VII, but at least that's unmistakably very Bug-flavoured. 
• I'm also kind of disappointed that G-Butterfree's unique version, G-Max Befuddle, doesn't colour the butterflies in Butterfree's colours. 
• Skitter Smack (Haiyoru Ichigeki/Creeping Strike) The Bug-type DLC tutor move is... it's got a cute name, representing the Bug-type scuttling behind the opponent and then striking it. This lowers the Sp. Attack stat. Okay. Kinda boring, honestly. I don't have much to say about this one, it's not particularly 'buggy', and if we're being honest, fells more like a Dark-type move.  

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Flying-type Moves:

• Max Airstream (Dai Jetto/Dy Jet), G-Max Wind Rage (Kyodai Fugeki/Gigant Wind Strike) I actually really like this one. The Flying-type Max move is a giant horizontal tornado that actually looks super-badass, ripping up the air and the ground as it blasts through the enemy. It's more of a 'wind element' move, I guess, but it does make sense when you've turned into a giant bird to unleash such a devastating tornado upon the enemy. 
• Wind Rage is G-Corviknight's version of the move. Unfortunately, despite the badass design, the mini-Corviknights don't do anything in the move. 
• Dual Wingbeat (Dabaru Uingu/Double Wing) The Flying-type tutor move. This one is simple. Birds tend to have two wings. So you hit them twice with your wings. Thus, the Dual Wingbeat -- or 'Double Wing' in the original Japanese. This is actually the first Flying-type multi-hit move. Not the most creative, but it's okay. 
• Bleakwind Storm (Kogarashi Arashi/Chill Wind Storm) Legends: Arceus gave the Forces of Nature signature moves, and Tornadus got the very badass "Bleakwind Storm". The idea of this attack is that Tornadus weaponizes the cold, chilly winds to hurt the opponent, causing them to be afflicted with Frostbite (Legends: Arceus' version of Freeze) or a lowered speed in subsequent generations. I like the principle of giving some of the more ignored legendary pokemon new moves, and having suffered through cold winds myself, I can see why this move is quite damaging. 

Gotta Review 'Em All - Moves [Generation VII], Part 2

The second part of my coverage of Generation VII's moves! Again, there's a lot of new named moves here, even though a fair amount of them do just utilize similar animations with each other. As a refresher, this generation has a bunch of 'series' of moves, particularly the Z-Moves introduced in the Sun/Moon games -- each type has a Z-Move that corresponds whenever a Pokemon holding the requisite item decides to use a Z-Move to attack. There's also the partner Pikachu/Eevee moves, which are cute little special moves that's only given to the partnr Pikachu and Eevee in the Let's Go games, which admittedly does bloat up this list a fair bit.

Also at some point in this article I got a bit frustrated talking about a signature move followed by a signature Z-Move, and I kind of lump some of them together. 

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Dragon-type Moves:

• Devastating Drake (Arutimetto Doragon Ban/Ultimate Dragon Burn) After sitting out the previous generation and getting no new moves, Dragon returns with a vengeance! Which is... very interesting! Devastating Drake, or Ultimate Dragon Burn, is an interesting one. Dragon as a type has always been rather nebulous as far as being an 'element' or a type, but usually moves like Dragon Pulse or Dragon Claw can contend with just being purple-white glowing displays of power, draconic power. What is draconic power defined as, though? Well, the Generation VII team decides to literally make the beam created by the Dragon-type Z-move... as just pink-white energy in the form of a wyvern that swoops in and creates a big fuck-off anime explosion on the enemy! Pretty neat, it's been a while since we've seen a move that creates a construct that resembles a creature or something. 
• Dragon Hammer (Doragon Hamma/Dragon Hammer) This one is Alolan Exeggutor's signature move. The coconut tree that also happens to be a dragon. It's basically just Alolan Exeggutor using it's long-ass body as a makeshift warhammer, slamming down at the enemy and that's considered a hammer. Okay. Later generations give this move to Tropius of all Pokemon, which is not a dragon.
• Clanging Scales (Sukeru Noizu/Scale Noise) and Clangarous Soulblaze (Bureijingu Sorubito/Blazing Soulbeat) These are pseudo-legendary Kommo-o's signature move, as well as the associated Z-Move it transofrms into. Since Kommo-o is all about interlocking pieces of armour that clang around and make noises, his signature move is this, where it uses that noise to attack the enemy by rubbing his scales together. It has the bonus effect of lowering the enemy's Defense. The associated Z-Move, Clangarous Soulblaze, however, is a bit of a letdown compared to the base version of the move because... well, it's just exactly the same thing, but Kommo-o jumps into the air before unleashing the sonic boom. Not much to say here. 
• Core Enforcer (Koa Panissha/Core Punisher) Core Enforce is Zygarde's signature move, and... it's a beam! It's a multi-coloured beam, coming forth from the core of mighty Zygarde since it's Generation VII that finally gave Zygarde some attention and some brand-new forms. Because Zygarde has style, though, it carves a Z-shape on the ground with that beam. This alone is a pretty damn cool little detail that I do think separates it from the many, many 'legendary shoots a DBZ beam' attacks. 

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Poison-type Moves:

• Acid Downpour (Ashiddo Poizun Derito/Acid Poison Delete) Okay, 'Acid Downpour' is pretty cool sounding, but there's just something particularly badass about 'Acid Poison Delete'. No, the grammar syntax doesn't exactly work, but it's just one of those attack names that sound cool, y'know? It... it really does kind of feel very basic, though. It's basically what you'd expect from a Poison-type Z-move, and doesn't do anything particularly over-the-top with it. It's just a bunch of purple, noxious goop surrounding the terrain and then slamming onto the target. I really do like the Poison-type, so this one being kind of a letdown is, well, a bit disappointing. 
• Baneful Bunker (Tochika/Pillbox) Again, this is the generation of signature moves being basically tailor-made to certain Pokemon, and for Toxapex we've got Baneful Bunker, where Toxapex closes up its dome-like starfish hands and points all the spikes outwards. This essentially acts not just as a variation of the 'Protect' move, but also causes anyone that makes contact with Toxapex to suffer from the poisoned status, which is extremely flavourful for a dome/shield-based poisonous starfish Pokemon!
• Toxic Thread (Doku no Ito/Poison Thread) Of all Pokemon, Spinarak gets a signature move in Generation VII, and it is Toxic Thread. And at the time of writing, Spinarak and Ariados are still the only Pokemon able of using Toxic Thread! It's not the most novel move, basically reducing the enemy's speed and poisoning them, but I definitely appreciate it whenever an older Pokemon gets a brand-new signature ability or move! 
• Purify (Joka/Purify) Pyukumuku's signature move, and... this is an interesting one? It only works if the allied Pokemon has a status condition, but Pyukumuku will cure that condition and heal 50% of their HP. It's cute, but ultimately it's so situational even in double battle. I'm also not particularly sure what the idea of this attack is supposed to be, though. 

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Fighting-type Moves:

• All-Out Pummeling (Zenryoku Muso Gekiretsu Ken/Full Force Unrivaled Fierce Fist) Fighting only gets the single Z-Move, and after so many new Fighting-type moves in the past couple of generations, I do like it that it's taking a bit of a breather. All-Out Pummeling (or "FULL FORCE UNRIVALED FIERCE FIST") is probably one of my faovurite Z-Moves in just how over the top it is. They could've just settled with a big punch, or a simple ora-ora-ora animation... but no. The Pokemon punches/kicks so rapidly that a stream of giant palm thrusts, punches and kicks burst out of the force of their punches and slam onto the enemy like the bullets of a machinegun. Glorious. This is the Z-Move that you're likely to first experience, which I thought was particularly fun. 

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Fairy-type Moves:

• Twinkle Tackle (Raburi Suta Inpakuto/Lovely Star Impact) "Twinkle Tackle", or its funner Japanese name "Lovely Star Impact", isn't particularly impressive. The enemy is just tossed into a realm of weird gumball and cotton candy colours, and the Fairy-type just slams onto them and creates a whole lot of twinkle-twinkle little stars. Basically what you'd expect from a Fairy-type Z-Move, honestly, and while the animation is itself pretty, I don't find this particularly interesting.
  
• Let's Snuggle Forever (Poka-Boka Furendo Taimu/Bip-Bop Friend Time) Mimikyu gets a signature Z-move, and what a move! I recommend you guys check it out. First up, Mimikyu just... darts around in the landscape around the opponent, scaring the shit out of them... and then jumps up above them with the glowing eyes of its unknowable true form glowing creepily. This plays into Mimikyu's own lore as a creature with its original form unable to be comprehended by normal beings. Mimikyu then engulfs the enemy like a demonic blanket, actually becoming deformed and large... and then begins to beat the shit out of the enemy before spitting them out. Absolutely fun, and easily one of the best Z-Moves out there. It doesn't just have to be a beam, people!
• Floral Healing (Furawa Hiru/Flower Heal) Floral Healing is Comfey's signature move. It heals half of an ally's HP, and is increased if the terrain is Grass. Cute, and it fits with Comfey's whole "grass-themed healer that's not actually a grass-type", but otherwise not too unremarkable.
  

• Natrure's Madness (Shizen no Ikari/Nature's Wrath) This is the Tapu quartet's signature move, basically being the move Super Fang where the Tapus will cut down half of the enemy's current HP. It's animated as being... a bunch of purple light explosions? Boring, but then with the right item, you can upgrade it into:
  
• Guardian of Alola (Gadian De Arora/Guardian de Alola) Hell yeah. Another contender for the best Z-Move in the game, Guardian of Alola causes the Tapu to fold back into their 'mask' form... and then summon a gigantic humanoid construct of energy from the power of the earth. This is just so over-the-top, the Guardian of Alola is never really explained... and yet it really does fit them as being Tiki mask guardians that protect and reside over their island. You can just totally see the Tapus summon this gigantic body to fight against the Ultra Beast invasion, right? Very cool.
  
• Fleur Cannon (Fururu Kanon/Fleur Cannon) Speaking of being 'just a beam', Fleur Cannon is Magearna's signature move. It's a pink beam that decreases Magearna's Special Attack stat after being used. The idea is that it's a super-powerful cannon that can be fired once, I guess? Magearna has this whole vibe that it's a soul/death-powered wepaon, but while her ability Soul-Heart (buffs Sp. Atk when a Pokemon falls) and Fleur Cannon (a super-powerful weapon that cripples Magearna's Sp. Atk) on paper are flavourful, the way they're actually interact with each other with in-game mechanics isn't the best.
  
• Sparkly Swirl (Kirakira Sutom/Sparkle-Sparkle Storm) Let's Go Eevee's Sylveon-inspired move. It sure summons a pink tornado. I don't have anything else to say.
  

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Psychic-type Moves:

• Shattered Psyche (Makishimamu Sai-Bureika/Maximum Psy-Breaker) Oh, I actually really like Shattered Psyche (or Maximum Psy-breaker)! What initially just seems like a generic 'giant psychic field' attack has the user summon a giant psychic field, and then launch the opponent into the air, at which point they get tossed around like a pinball across a bunch of hexagonal invisible forcefields, and then they slam into the psychic background itself which shatters. Was it all a genjutsu all along? Pretty cool. 
• Glitzy Glow (Dobadoba Ora/Glitzy-Glitzy Aura) Right, the Let's Go Eevee move. This is sure an Espeon-inspired move with glowing purple Psychic effects. I don't have much to say here. 
• Psychic Terrain (Saiko Firudo/Psycho Field) All the other 'terrain' moves were introduced in the previous generation, and VII adds in Psychic Terrain... not much to say here. It increases Psychic-type damage and it disables priority moves. Never been the biggest fan of the Terrain moves, but Psychic Terrain felt one of the more forced ones. 
• Speed Swap (Supido Suwappu/Speed Swap) Tying up the trinity of moves with Power and Guard Swap, Speed Swap just swaps the speed stat with the target. I really don't have much to say here.

• Genesis Supernova (Orijinzu Supanova/Origins Supernova) Mew gets a signature Z-Move, which is meant to recall both its status as the 'original' primordial Pokemon and it using giant psychic bubble-shields in the first anime movie. Mew summons a bunch of bubbles, causes them to rise up in the form of a DNA double-helix, then combines it all into a gigantic psychic ball that it drops at the enemy. Pretty neat animation. 
• Psychic Fangs (Saiko Fangu/Psycho Fang) And this is just Fire Fang but Psychic. Yes, the act of biting someone with your fangs, a very physical attack... is psychic, which by definition is the act of using your mind over your body to do stuff. This one made sense in Generation VII where it's the signature move of the Water/Psychic biting fish Bruxish, but not so much when later generations made it much more available. I felt like, legendary signature moves aside, keeping Psychic as a mostly-Special-category type honestly works well. 
• Instruct (Saihai/Command) Instruct is Oranguru's signature move, where it uses the badass gravitas of a strategist or a guru or a teacher to force whoever it targets to use the move again. Okay. It's cute, and there are some niche uses for this one, I guess.

• Prismatic Laser (Purizumu Reza/Prism Laser) Necrozma gets three signature moves, thanks to being the star of the sequel games. The first of these is Necrozma's signature move in Sun and Moon, where it launches multi-coloured light by using its body as a giant prism, with a pretty badass animation. It's effectively a Psychic-type Hyper Beam, forcing Necrozma to recharge the next turn. 
• Photon Geyser (Foton Geiza/Photon Geyser) This one is available only in the Ultra games, where Necrozma or one of his forms creates what looks like a break in reality, and it becomes a ball of light that gets launched at the enemy. Not very impressive, if we're being honest... legendaries and Generation VII have so many giant balls of energy beams that this one really does fall by the wayside. 
• Light That Burns The Sky (Ten Kogasu Metsubo no Hikari/Heaven Scorching Light of Destruction) However, use Photon Geyser with the Necrozma from the Ultra games, in his full light-dragon mode, and it turns into "Light That Burns the Sky", which is the over-the-top final finisher move for Necrozma. It's basically a Spirit Bomb or something from Dragon Ball Z, where Necrozma gathers energy on the tip of his beak, with energy rising all over the surroundings of the battlefield... and then Necrozma creates an energy ball on the tip of his mouth. And as he points the energy ball upwards, it expands, doubles, triples, all done with sharp cuts that I felt was really damn cool! Again, while it's rather simple in the realm of anime over-the-top moves, the execution is cool enough and a boss fight against something like Ultra Necrozma does need a finisher like this. 

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Ground-type Moves:

• Tectonic Rage (Raijingu Rando Oba/Rising Land Over) The Z-Move for the Ground-type is Tectonic Rage, or "Rising Land Over". This is another one that I felt is particularly cool! The user splits the earth and drops the enemy into a gigantic fissure in the ground. That sounds like enough of an over-the-top move to count as a Z-Move... but then the user leaps up and charges in like a javelin, pushing the enemy so deep through the ground that they fall into a magma pocket, before a gigantic eruption appears. Very creative, and absolutely fun! I do really feel like half the fun of talking of Generation VII's moves is its insane Z-Moves. Man, I miss Gen VII. 
• High Horsepower (Juman Bariki/100,000 Horsepower) Despite its name, High Horsepower isn't actually the Mudbray line's signature move. It's given to a bunch of other Ground-types even in its debut generation, and it's been a recurring TM ever since. It's basically a physical category Ground-type move with no real secondary effect... and it's a bit special because it's so late into the franchise's life that we're getting such a vanilla move. I guess they wanted to give out a simple physical Ground-type single-target move that's not Dig? Eh. 
• Stomping Tantrum (Jidanda/Stomping Tantrum) Another basic single-target Ground-type move, this one has the flavour of the Pokemon stomping the ground in frustration... and we get the interesting flavour that the power doubles if the previous move failed. Cute effect, but I really don't see either 'High Horsepower' or 'Stomping Tantrum' being particularly flavoured as a Ground-type or involving anything with the earth or sand or mud. 
• Shore Up (Suna Atsume/Sand Gathering) Oh, this one is cool. This is the Sandygast line's signature move, where they heal by absorbing and gathering sand from their surroundings. It's a very 'elemental creature' thing, and I honestly am surprised that we haven't gotten something like this for other 'elemental'-esque like Grimer or Koffing... though I suppose Pokemon does actually shy away from straight up just making elementals? In a cute move, Shore Up heals even more HP if there's a Sandstorm brewing. 

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Steel-type Moves:

• Corkscrew Crash (Chozetsu Rasen Rengeki/Super Spiral Combo) The Z-move for Steel-types is "Corkscrew Crash", where the Steel-type will... spin around in place until it becomes a gigantic anime drill made up of nothing but force, and it just... zips towards the enemy and explodes. It sure is interesting, but not my favourite out of the generic Z-moves. 
• Sunsteel Strike (Meteo Doraibu/Meteor Drive) and Searing Sunraze Smash (Sanshain Sumassha/Sunshine Smasher) These are Solgaleo's signature move, as well as Dusk-Mane Necrozma. A lot of these legendary Z-Moves do more or less the same thing with their non-Z counterparts, so I'll really just lump them together. Sunsteel Strike or Meteor Drive is much cooler, I feel, with Solgaleo jumping into the sky, creating a miniature sun and then rushing down with the force of a fucking meteor that rams and explodes on the enemy. "Meteor Drive" indeed! Searing Sunraze Smash does the same thing but with a bit more fanfare. Solgaleo creates a portal into the Ultra Dimension, and instead of just charging down as a meteor, we get to see Solgaleo spin around into a ball (like Flame Wheel) before smashing into the enemy. Despite all of the fiery sun effects, however, this is still considered as a Steel-type move mostly for Solgaleo's STAB bonus, I guess.
  
• Smart Strike (Sumato Hon/Smart Horn) A bit of a random move that is originally TM-exclusive, Smart Strike (or "Smart Horn") is basically a Steel-type attack that never misses. I really do feel like they could've given this a much better or flavourful-sounding name like 'Heat-Seeking Strike' or 'Target-Hunting Strike' or something. As it is, it really does sound generic.
  

• Anchor Shot (Anka Shotto/Anchor Shot) This one is Dhelmise's signature move. Newer generations have changed the animation into a generic silvery, metally chain and anchor, but the original Generation VII animation includes a mossy-green chain and a golden anchor which fits with Dhelmise himself much better! In addition to the damage, Anchor Shot 'anchors' the enemy in place, preventing them to flee. Flavourful!
• Gear Up (Ashisuto Gia/Assist Gear) A rather bizarre move, this one is unique to Klinklang and Magearna. Man, they really like giving Klinklang gear-themed signature moves, huh? Gear Up increases the attacking stats of all Pokemon... with the Plus or Minus ability? Yeah. That's very niche, I'm not sure what having plus and minus have anything to do with gearing up, and honestly it really does feel redundant with Klinklang's other gear-themed moves.
  
• Double Iron Bash (Daburu Pantsa/Double Panzer) I like the Japanese name of 'Double Panzer', but it's basically just a multi-hit move. This is Melmetal's signature move, and it's... two punches? Really? That's honestly pretty disappointing. Melmetal is like this legendary Pokemon made up of liquid metal, comprised of several hundred Meltan melting into a single giant monstrosity, and its signature move is... punching the enemy twice? Really?
  

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Bug-type Moves:

• Savage Spin-Out (Zettai Hoshoku Kaitenzan/Absolute Predatory Spin-Out) This is another one that's a bit difficult to do, since there is such a wide variety of Bug-types in terms of how they look and how they attack, similiar to the dragons. So they decided to take one of the earliest and more iconic Bug-type moves, String Shot, and make it into an over-the-top attack. The Bug-type launches a whole lot of web that wraps the enemy up in a cocoon... and then spins around and slams it into the ground, does the titular 'spin-out' as they drag the cocoon across the terrain, before charging in and slashing the cocoon for one last move. Pretty cool, and it's a way that screams 'bug' while still looking relatively creative!
• There's also a running gag back in the day about Incineroar being able to use this move, and thanks to Incineroar's attack animation it looks like he's pelvic-thrusting and unleashing a gigantic white pillar from his crotch region. 
• Lunge (Tobikakaru/Lunge) A rather simple attack that feels is just added to pad out move variations, Lunge is a simple physical attack that has the chance to lower the enemy's Attack stat. I do feel like this does fit the Bug flavour in a way, since a lot of bugs either use jumping/lunging as a predatory or escape strategy. 
• First Impression (Deai Gashira/Head-On Collision) Originating as Golisopod's signature move, this would be given to a bunch of other Pokemon as well later on. I really do feel like this is a very flavourful move, though! Golisopod's whole deal is that it's a very imposing-looking giant isopod-monster that looks like it can tear you apart... which is its very powerful 'first impression'. This move is basically a more powerful Bug-type Fake Out, in that it can only be used in the first turn Golisopod enters the battlefield, but later on he'll have to rely on weaker Bug moves. 
• Pollen Puff (Kafun Dango/Pollen Ball) Originally Ribombee's signature move (and it's still the only Pokemon that learns this move naturally), this one is pretty simple and a typical usage of video-game healing mechanics. Pollen Puffs damages the enemy, but can heal the target. It really is similar to how in Pokemon you could handwave pollen or water or whatnot to heal or harm with the same breath, yeah? It's just how you flavour it.

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Ghost-type Moves:

• Shadow Bone (Shado Bon/Shadow Bone) This one is Alolan Marowak's signature move. It sure is bashing your enemy with a bone empowered with ghostly powers! I really can't muster much excitement for this. Some of the signature moves can be really fun, but some is just basically repeating what the original concept of the pokemon already is.
  
• Never-Ending Nightmare (Mugen Anya e no Izanai/Invitation to the Endless Night) This is the base Ghost-type Z-Move, and it's a simple but cool one. The Pokemon creates an illusory field of a spooky forest or something, and a dozen purple-black tentacle-hands rise up from the ground and start enveloping the enemy. This becomes a dome that then explodes. Pretty fun, but... as you'll see from the moves below, there are a lot of Ghost-type Z-Moves that kind of play a lot more with the theme of 'ghostly super move'.
  
• Moongeist Beam (Shado Rei/Shadow Ray) and Menacing Moonraze Maelstrom (Munraito Burasuta/Moonlight Blaster) Let's start off with these two. These are the signature moves of Lunala and Dawn-Wings Necrozma, by extension. Moongeist Beam is pretty simple, Lunala creates a bunch of little pinpoints of light, which combines into a big glowing beam that unleashes moonlight down onto the enemy. Empowered with the Z-Move power, it becomes Menacing Moonraze Maelstrom (much cooler than "Moonlight Blaster"). Lunala summons an Ultra Dimension portal, knocks the enemy inside, then creates six beams that converge into one to blast them apart. I'm... I'm really not sure why these moon and dimension-themed attacks are 'Ghost' type other than to give Lunala STAB.
  

 

• Spectral Thief (Shado Suchiru/Shadow Steal) and Soul-Stealing 7-Star Strike (Shichisei Dakkontai/Seven Star Soul Stealing Kick) These are Marshadow's moves. Spectral Thief has a pretty cool animation where Marshadow punches the enemy and a bunch of ghosts rise up after the punch hits. The idea is that Marshadow hides in the shadow and steals the enemy's power, or rather, the buffs they have, before the attack lands. Z-Moved up, it becomes "Soul-Stealing 7-Star Strike", which... it's basically a Kamen Rider kick combined with a Rurouni Kenshin strike. Marshadow punches in quick succession to create a seven-pointed seal, then does a Kamen Rider kick, and lands away from the enemy. A couple seconds later, the seal explodes. Neat!
  
• Spirit Shackle (Kagenui/Shadow-Stitch) and Sinister Arrow Raid (Shado Arozu Sutoraiku/Shadow Arrows Strike) My favourite starter signature move is Spirit Shackle, Decidueye's signature move. As a ghostly archer, Decidueye shoots a ghostly arrow... at the opponent's shadow! This basically 'pins' the shadow to the ground, causing the effect of them not being able to escape or switch out, which is way move flavourful than many of the signature moves given out in Generations VI and VII. Naruto fans would even recognize the Japanese name as "kagenui", or shadow stitch, the Nara Clan's signature ability! Powered up by the Z-Moves, it becomes 'Sinister Arrow Raid' which is another one that really does feel like a fighting game finisher. Decidueye flies up, summons a fan of like 20 arrows, and then divebombs down while the arrows fly behind him. Decidueye pulls up, but the arrows just impale the enemy like a goddamn air raid. Pretty badass!

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Dark-type Moves:

• Black Hole Eclipse (Burakku Horu Ikuripusu/Black Hole Eclipse) And we close this Generation VII move coverage with the Dark-type. Other than a couple select moves like Dark Pulse, the Dark-type has never really been all about using the powers of darkness or shadows or whatever, and has mostly been about fighting dirty. But Black Hole Eclipse just has the Pokemon unleash their inner Blackbeard and summon a gigantic black hole that sucks in the enemy, which then proceeds to shrink into a much smaller size then explode. Pretty cool move, very anime-esque.
  
• Baddy Bad (Waruwaru Zon/Bad-Bad Zone) The last Let's Go move, this one represents the power of Umbreon. It is a bit more interesting than the others, creating a blast of light and then darkness, but I've really ran out of anything to say about these uncreative Let's Go signature moves.
  
• Power Trip (Tsukeagaru/Be Audacious) Krookodile of all Pokemon gets a signature move for just a single generation. Krookodile doesn't even do anything in Alola! Power Trip (which doesn't include actually tripping the opponent) has Krookodile deal even more damage based on how many stat increases he has. Pretty... interesting move! I do find that this is totally a 'Dark-type' thing to do, just to get all high and mighty thanks to all of the energy and stat increases that the Pokemon has.
  

 

• Throat Chop (Jigoku Zuki/Hell Thrust) Called "Hell Thrust" in Japanese, this move has, I think, shown up a lot in the post-Alola games in the learn-sets of a lot of Dark-type Pokemon. The English name is very descriptive, though. Throat Chop has the user, well, do a karate-chop onto the opponent's throat, which deals damage and prevents them from using voice-based attacks for 2 turns. It's rather fun flavour, and it totally does fit with the idea of Dark-types being pragmatic and hitting them where it hurts.
  
• Brutal Swing (Bunmawasu/Brutal Swing) This was a bit more generic, basically just swinging around your arms wildly regardless of who you hit. Brutal Swing also damages allies. I do like the name, but it's otherwise a pretty generic physical Dark-type move. I guess you can't just Bite and Crunch all the time, huh?
  
• Darkest Lariat (DD Rariatto/DD Lariat) And we'll close this off with one of the best moves out there. Incineroar's two signature moves. Darkest Lariat, or DD Lariat, seems to just be a generic lariat move. But no. Incineroar T-poses and then spins around like a goddamn Tazmanian Devil before slamming into the enemy! I really am slightly sad that in modern-day games Darkest Lariat is no longer exclusive to Incineroar, but it's also hilarious that a bunch more Pokemon apparently are now able to unleash their inner wrestler upon their foes.
  
• Malicious Moonsault (Haipa Daku Kurassha/Hyper Dark Crusher) And empowered by the Z-move, Darkest Lariat transforms into Malicious Moonsault or "Hyper Dark Crusher", where Incineroar... summons a fucking wrestling ring and does the awesome wrestling smackdown on the enemy. Every adaptation of this move has a bit of a field day with hamming this up. The Super Smash Bros version even has Incineroar pummel the enemy upwards and upwards before doing the meteoric smashdown. 

Pretty cool, and I love that they really do play into the Z-Moves being spectacular for... well, for at least Incineroar, Decidueye, Mimikyu and Primarina. Not all of the Z-Moves really work, though, and I am actually a bit flummoxed that there's very few signature moves given to the Ultra Beasts. Only Blancephalon and Necrozma has them! And... I can kind of understand why this generation did cause a bunch of the moves to be axed come Generation VIII, with the sheer amount of Z-Moves and Let's Go Eevee and Pikachu's nonsensical attacks. I still find that it's a huge loss, though, particularly with how well-crafted a lot of the Generation VI-onwards signature moves are, and how many of them are tied to the identities of these Pokemon.