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. 

Let's Play Mystery Dungeon DX, Part 10: Death in the Sky

So the final stretch of the game starts off with a dream. But it's not Gardevoir this time, but rather Gengar! Having been absent for a while, everyone's favourite bully and rascal shows up to try and eat my dreams and give me nightmares, because Gengar wants to expose me... for some vaguely-defined reason. He rants about me being a human before, and that means I can't be a good person. Interesting mindset there, Gengar!

However, a bright glowing light shows up, and drives Gengar off in fear (and tears, as revealed later). Okay, that's a bit random! It is also a bit random because I'm trying to save the world from a meteor, I think trying to 'expose' my true nature or whatever isn't something that you should be focusing on, Gengar. But the whole point of his character is that he's petty and obsessed with reputation, so okay. 

Gardevoir appears and gives me a bunch of revelations. Turns out that my purpose was to deal with this meteor, which is a fair bit less mystical than I thought it would be. And I don't want to be too harsh on a children's video game released more than two decades ago, but there are a lot of bizarre plot holes here. Gardevoir notes that the original 'me', the human, was selected because of some quality that would allow me to save the world from the meteor. Fair enough, typical isekai stuff. But then it leads to the question of the 'human world' and 'Pokemon world' that has never really been properly explained. The Pokemon in the Mystery Dungeon world clearly know what a 'human' is, and apparently one of their key legends involves a human, a Gardevoir and a Ninetales interacting with each other. A legend that is proven to be true and no one acts surprised that it's true. So at what point did the humans and Pokemon started to diverge? 

Anyway, Gardevoir also notes that apparently, before being isekai'd, I asked the mysterious forces that isekai'd me to wipe away all my memories. Not all of them, just most of them... because clearly I know I'm a human. Just... just not my purpose. Which is handwaved as me not feeling suitable for the job, and whatever I do in the world will fill me with that confidence that I am really the chosen one or something... which, again, not the smartest thing to do because a K-Pg extinction event level meteor is incoming to the world, and also... just what did the memory loss really prove? It's honestly kind of a weird insertion of this 'chosen one' and 'isekai purpose' plot that doesn't really fit all that well. It is telling that Ginji's Rescue Team introduces a different story beat to focus on for its climax; one that's apparently only explored in the epilogue, and that's also the one that most of the people I discuss Mystery Dungeon Red/Blue with remember the most.  

Gardevoir then also explains that at the end of this purpose, after dealing with the meteor, I can return to my world... but that would also mean parting with Bulbasaur. I am sad at this, and Gardevoir talks about how she, too, has to part and be separated with someone she was once close with, but meetings and partings are just a way of life. It's at this point that Gardevoir realizes someone is spying on the dream... and that interloper, Gengar, has ran away crying. 

Yep, again, without spoiling a 20-year-old game, all of this feels like it would've made for a much stronger emotional hook than whatever that was. Oh well!

The game lets me thankfully grind in other dungeons first, which I sorely needed. Not just because of the level thing, which I also desperately need, but I just need more apples! So the meteor is nice enough to continue falling down to earth while I run around some of the previous dungeons, building up Magnemite to use in Sky Tower.

As I head into Sky Tower, Alakazam and Xatu are sitting on Xatu's peak waiting for me. They tell me that the two of them created something called the Teleport Orb... and they also had help from a very shy Ghost-type Pokemon. Aww, Gengar! I mean, he's still scum, honestly, but at least he's helping out. The teleport orb lands us... in the middle of nowhere in the sky, leading to a comical scene where Mudkip and Bulbasaur fall several dozen feet until they land onto clouds that we can walk on. Any explanations to why these clouds are walkable, One-Piece or James-and-the-Giant-Peach style? No, no real explanations. My garlic frog and mudskipper boy can just walk on it just because. 

Sky Tower itself is connected to this cloud platform, and it's a impressive... well, giant tower made of clouds! It really does have a 'J-RPG last dungeon' vibe to it. And as I enter and prepare to fight a horde of Flying-type Pokemon, the first Pokemon I meet is...

...Forretress. 

Yes. The Pokemon based on a bagworm, a type of caterpillar. And not just that, also one that's covered itself in steel, and also has a visual resemblance to mollusks. Yes. Hundreds of feet above the ground, in a remote location where only those gifted with the powers of flight can reach, my first encounter is a metallic bomb bagworm. 

You know what? I'm not even mad. It's so funny, I can't be angry at it. 

Other Pokemon on this altitude are all Flying-types or are beings that levitate. I do get that they don't want everything here to be Flying-types, hence we've got hovering ghosts like Duskull and Shuppet, or levitating Pokemon like Weezing, Sorlock and Lunatone. But Forretress? Really? 

Anyway, after being defeated the first time, I started grinding a fair bit. I have a couple dozen Makuhita dojo tickets, and I decided on the party I wanted to bring to the Sky Tower, which is Mudkip, Bulbasaur and Absol. I pump up their stats with the pile of gummis and vitamins that I've never, ever used. Maybe that's why I've been finding some parts of the game so hard, I've kind of been gimping myself by not using these as soon as I get them. A bit more grinding to stock up on berries and seeds later, and I am back up on the Sky Tower grind. 

Sky Tower stands a whopping 36 floors, and I really do like the Pokemon population as we go up. Anything that floats or has wings are fair game, so we've got Scizor, Venomoth, Claydol... not sure about the Dusclops, though. Altaria, the dragon-bird made out of clouds, is perhaps the one that's the most sensible to see around.

Perhaps the most dangerous ones to me, however, are Tropius and Flygon, who just plain hit really, really hard and infest the upper half of the dungeon. Tropius is particularly dangerous to me because I run Mudkip as my main Pokemon; while Flygons just deal a lot of area damage in general. 

Through all of this, ranged attacks are my friends. Bulbasaur has Energy Ball, and Mudkip has the glorious Ice Beam, which deals super-duper-effective damage to a lot of Pokemon like Flygon, Tropius and Salamence. Absol having Fire Blast is also great for the Scizors and Forretresses that can tank the Ice Beams. Oh, yeah, the pseudo-legendary Salamence and Metagross show up in the last couple of levels, and those are as scary as they are in the regular main games. 

And, of course, at the topmost part of the tower is... Rayquaza himself. 

And just like all the legendary birds, Rayquaza is on a 'fight first, ask questions later' mentality. His pre-boss fight banter is a rather interesting one, where Rayquaza gives this huge rant about how he has spent the last hundred thousand years in the skies, and creatures on the ground should know their place -- just like how he knows his place in the sky. A bit different for you to get on ground when you're perpetually floating, Rayquaza, but oh well. 

The fight against Rayquaza, I felt, was a fair bit easier than Groudon was. The grinding I did before Sky Tower and through Sky Tower probably helped a fair bit, but Mudkip knowing the 4x effective Ice Beam is most certainly a major factor of why it went a bit easier. 

There is a bit of a gimmick with the Rayquaza fight where sometimes some tiles light up, indicating that a massive gust of wind is about to blow through... but with two of my three party members knowing moves that can hit Rayquaza from anywhere on the battlefield, it really is just a matter of endurance, spamming Tiny Reviver Seeds and Oran Berries, and just chipping away at Rayquaza. He's also got a pretty neat special animation showing off his Hyper Beam attacks. 

Ultimately, Rayquaza falls. And just like the legendary birds, Rayquaza shows that he's not actually done yet, and he's about to charge his Hyper Beam. Before he fires, however, an earthquake -- or rather, a skyquake -- shocks everyone present. Rayquaza is a bit confused about it until Bulbasaur yells at him to look up... and there's a meteor falling down from the skies! It's a really huge meteor, too, and some angles in the cutscenes make it look like it's larger than entire mountains. 

Rayquaza forgets being an elitist about whether you're a Pokemon of the land or the sky, and decides to take aim and fire on the giant meteor. Before he does that, he tries to test Mudkip and Bulbasaur's mettle, asking if they are ready should they turn to collateral damage. Of course, being anime protagonists, Mudkip and Bulbasaur yell something to the effect that they are always ready and wouldn't have came if they didn't know the risks. Rayquaza takes aim, and launches a Hyper Beam that hits the center of the meteor. The cutscene takes a hilariously long amount of time for what's basically just cutting to and from the same shot, but I suppose they spent a lot of time modelling that meteor and wanted some mileage out of it. 

The shock waves from the meteor launch Mudkip and Bulbasaur away... and I cut off to Mudkip in a strange, white smoky plane. Mudkip immediately identify this as him being turned into a 'spirit'. Which means it's the damned afterlife. Right, rather unexpectedly in a game that still mostly plays around the PG-13 rules of Pokemon, we get to see Mudkip in purgatory, in the border between life and death. 

And as Mudkip lies there, Gengar shows up. Gengar makes a whole big deal about going kekekekeh and dragging me to the 'dark realm'. Right, dragged off to hell by a shadow ghost! I also love how my character's first response to that is 'what the heck is the dark realm'? We get a scene of Gengar dragging Mudkip along... but around halfway through, Gengar goes all frustrated and he's obviously acting, because Arceus-forbid he does something nice. Gengar then decides to just 'leave me behind', and I wake up surrounded by the supporting cast on Xatu's mountain. Bulbasaur tells me that he, too, was rescued by Gengar. 

We then get into a bit of a celebratory moment. Xatu notes how the meteor disappearing is going to make the calamities and natural disasters slowly dissipate. The supporting cast gets all happy about it, and there's a bit of a joke about everyone trying to get Lombre held in place so Blastoise could shoot him with a Hydro Pump. It feels a bit odd and a bit too long, especially since Lombre is such a flat character that I'm not sure why he's being bullied like that. 

But as I, isekai Mudkip, watches all of this going on, the ghostly spirit of Gardevoir shows up and tells me that it is time. There's a bit of a whole tearful goodbye as everyone present realizes that my body is starting to break apart and turn into fragments of light. Bulbasaur gets all sad and cries about how this wasn't what he wanted, that we promised to be a Rescue Team, and how everything wasn't supposed to be like this, and why didn't I tell him what was going on. 

As I turn into a ball of spirit-light and float up into the sky, some of the more mature characters like Alakazam and Xatu try to comfort Bulbasaur, saying that Mudkip probably feels just as sad, and there was no real way to communicate it during the adventure. They also reiterate how saving the meteor was the purpose of why I came to the Pokemon world. Most of the characters get a line or two of dialogue, although the only memorable one is Shiftry, who bemoans never really managing to thank me. 

And at that point, as my spirit floats into the sky and the rest of the world of Pokemon mourn my passing, I hear 'voices' -- of whom the game doesn't indicate who -- talking about how my friend is heartbroken, how Bulbasaur is a true friend, and perhaps someday, we'll meet again. 

Then the credits roll. It's completely just words, and I really feel this would've been a lot nicer with like even generic screenshots of the adventures that Mudkip and Bulbasaur has been. As it is, a long unskippable credits scene isn't the best thing to sit through. 

And at the end, Mudkip in the ball of light responds to the mysterious voice he's talking to, saying that he doesn't want to leave, and he wants to go back to his friend. And thus, with the wish and choice being made, the strange powers that be send the ball of light back to the Pokemon world, and I remanifest as a Mudkip in front of my house, where I'm greeted once more by Bulbasaur. 

The end! Though not really, cause the game made sure to tell me that there are a lot more post-game content to deal with, please don't leave. 

But that's it for now from me for Mystery Dungeon DX. It's been a great, fun ride. I never had the chance to play Mystery Dungeon back in the GBA/DS days, since I never managed to find the cartridge for sale; and by the time I had some savings of my own, Mystery Dungeon was nowhere to be found on the shelves. The only way I could enjoy this wacky spinoff had been through strategy guides and the Ginji's Rescue Team manga, and I've seen my friend play through some parts of the story. It's always been fascinating to me that this is a world where we cut away the human portions, and focus fully on having the Pokemon as characters, something that I genuinely didn't realize I needed until I discovered the world of Mystery Dungeon. 

That said, how do I feel about the game? Knowing a lot of the story beats already, none of the plot twists (other than that there's a final level post-Groudon) are particularly new to me, so that is something that might've influenced my opinion on this game. I would also note how grindy the game is, and the gameplay cycle really isn't something that I enjoyed anywhere as much as any of the mainline Pokemon games... or maybe I'm just an old fart now. There are also many aspects of the story where the drama just doesn't hit, particularly everything revolving the 'main mission' of me being isekai'd, who are the powers that isekai'd me, and the specific connections to the human world... 

But ultimately, those are relatively minor complaints. I did truly enjoy the chance to play through this game and the story, and while I don't think I like the gameplay enough to fully complete the post-game -- I'll probably take a crack at some of the early missions -- I am happy to say that I at least completed the main story! So yes, until next time!

Random Notes:

• I will probably do the post-game which leads up to a bunch of revelations about the Ninetales legend at some point... but not right now. I'm not the biggest fan of the Mystery Dungeon gameplay cycle and the novelty has definitely worn off. I do want to take a break from the game and work through my list of other games -- Metroid Prime and Legends of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom are two Nintendo ones I do want to get through -- and so I might do a bit of a 'post-script'. Or I might not. I haven't done one for Shining Pearl, have I?
  
• The name Gardevoir has its root words in French, so in the past couple of dreams she has been signing off with au revoir, which I thought is cute. 
• Another Pokemon that shows up in the Sky Tower is Dusclops, which... doesn't make the most sense either, but at least its pre-evolution Duskull flies up and there's a slight bit of Ghost-type theme on the middle-lower floors. 
• But seriously, I depended quite a bit on Mudkip's Ice Beam. I brought some extra Max Ethers just to reload Mudkip's Ice Beams!
• Another type of items I haven't been using properly are the orbs. I think I used a Petrify Orb in one of the later levels in Sky Tower, and a Power-Up Orb in the Rayquaza fight... I just am one of those gamers that just hoard all the consumables for fear of using them, I suppose.
• I do know what Gengar's deal is, but since his story apparently all happens in the post-game, a lot of what he's doing in the main story really does end up feeling a bit like it comes out of nowhere, doesn't it?