Z Move Animations

Am I the only person that hates the animations? I understand that the games are targeted towards a younger audience, but when we think about stuff like IV breeding, EV training, Egg Move chains, GameFreak knows there are older players.

What is this Z Move garbage!? Have you actually seen the Pikachu Z Move animation? What about the Legendary smashing?

Please tell me I'm not the only one that feels complete dread and a fair bit of hate each time I see these animations. What is even worse, these will most likely be like Mega animations and can't be skipped.

Z Move animations, full Dex leak, what is GameFreak doing!? I'm going back to Gen 6.......

Azire said:

Am I the only person that hates the animations? I understand that the games are targeted towards a younger audience, but when we think about stuff like IV breeding, EV training, Egg Move chains, GameFreak knows there are older players.

What is this Z Move garbage!? Have you actually seen the Pikachu Z Move animation? What about the Legendary smashing?

Please tell me I'm not the only one that feels complete dread and a fair bit of hate each time I see these animations. What is even worse, these will most likely be like Mega animations and can't be skipped.

Z Move animations, full Dex leak, what is GameFreak doing!? I'm going back to Gen 6.......

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I understand the concern for Z-moves but I humbly disagree. Think they look fine for what they are( minus the fighting one I admit because it looks hilarious because the Pokemon itself isn't moving) but that's my only problem with them. As for your other points:

I don't think Z-moves necessarily stink because they are made for younger audiences. Like you said, Gamefreak is trying to appeal to them and I feel it's a good idea. Remember that while Pokemon is geared towards children it was never intended to be that way in the beginning. It's just that now, children are the majority who play the games so they have to find a way to appeal to them to get more money. I understand that older audiences might be annoyed, but I'm also part of that group, and I'm able to tolerate it because when I was a kid playing Pokemon, I only used Hms and spammed powerful moves. At least Z-moves can have the possibility to be viable for both audiences. Children get flashy looking moves, Z-moves help Pokemon that could use them(or make them more powerful). It's a win/win in my eyes. If they don't work, they don't work and Gamefreak takes them out. Simple. If they do work, they can stay, but at least don't cry foul when we haven't played the game yet to see if Z-moves actually work.

Also, just like Z- moves are optional, IV training, Ev training, and Egg Moves are also optional. You don't have to use it if it bothers you.

"What is this Z Move garbage!? Have you actually seen the Pikachu Z Move animation? What about the Legendary smashing?"


I don't think it's right to judge Z-moves considering we don't know exactly how much power they have and if they're useful yet. For all we know, they can be very good. I also don't have a problem with the Pikachu Animation. I didn't see a framerate drop anywhere and it's a matter of preference really? Also, "Legendary Smashing" Do you mean the Tapus Z-move? In my opinion that's the best one. Who wouldn't want to have a smile of bloodlust while destroying your enemy in a single punch XD? It's silly, yeah, but once again, it's all a matter of preference. I feel Gamefreak should be allowed to experiment once in a while and create something new that could be considered fun.

"Please tell me I'm not the only one that feels complete dread and a fair bit of hate each time I see these animations. What is even worse, these will most likely be like Mega animations and can't be skipped."

Why are you dreading the Z-moves? Is it because it's different from what we usually get or is it because you just don't like it? If it's the latter, I can get behind that, but I hope you understand that these moves are optional and that even mega animations could skip the small cutscene in the beginning in Gen 6. Don't want to see the animation? Don't use them. From what we see, only the major trainers in the game will use them anyways, so they shouldn't appear too much to bother you(but then again, it's all preference really).

"Z Move animations, full Dex leak, what is GameFreak doing!? I'm going back to Gen 6......."

Yes, go back to an obvious lackluster Gen 6 where Megas are Op and other Pokemon are overshadowed by them making those Pokemon even more obsolete. Let's not forget that Gen 6 also had the least amount of Pokemon(while Alola currently has more) and that some of them really sucked(Aromatisse...), a lackluster villian team, easy champion battle, and basically no challenging rival.(obvious sarcasm).

You have the right to like Gen 6, but just as you do, I also have the right to disagree. In my honest opinion Z-moves needed to happen earlier. If Z-moves are supposed to make more Pokemon viable as many get overshadowed, it's not that bad of an idea. It could fail because no matter what there will always be Pokemon with poorly distributed stats, but at least we have multiple options for the Z-moves. At least all Pokemon can learn them minus the popular ones. And yeah, Legendaries get specialized Z-moves, but they're legendaries. I expect that. Just because Gamefreak tries something new, doesn't mean it's the end of the world. Most of the features in this game are optional, including Z-moves. If you don't like it, it's best to avoid it. Saying we should go back just because some people don't like it, is unfair to those who do.

P.S. The Dex leak is also optional to see, it's you're fault if you decided to spoil yourself early.

I personally think the Z move animations look awesome, they are ridiculously over the top and really make the move feel special, it's a move you can only use once per battle so making it super flashy just makes it even more exciting!
The specific Z moves look specially awesome, I can't wait to see what other Pokemon get them (I'm hoping for the starters and rockruff myself)

And animations aside I think Z moves overall are just great, unlike Megas every pokemon can use a Z move, I didn't use Megas at all during my X playthrough and I barely touched them during AS either, I feel like I'll be using Z moves a lot more since all of my favourite pokemon can use them.
They also come with tons of options since they are based on regular attacks, so the same Z move can have multiple outcomes, thus making them really interesting when it comes to strategies, I think they will be really fun to use!

I feel you misunderstand me. The concept of Z Moves is fine. It is the animations that bother me. That Pikachu animation that the character does is just ridiculous. It looks so stupid, like I can't take just how stupid it looks.

We actually have a lot of knowledge on how effective the Z Moves will be. We can also make educated guesses oh how the Z Moves will boost other moves based on the information we already have.

My issue with the Dex leak is not that it was leaked, it is that this has to be the weakest Dex in terms of style and creativity. It it really bad.

So in short, Z Moves? I completely understand why they are in the game. It is the ANIMATIONS that make your character look incredibly stupid and excessively childish. I'm not opposed to the Z Moves, I just hate the animations.

The Dex appears to be incomplete with so many single stage Pokémon, a good number with terrible designs, and Ultra Beasts which are almost unanimously hated. Then we get Alolan forms, which as a Gen 1 Fanboy, I figured XY pandered to us already. The Alolan forms are about 50/50 on good changes, and terrible designs.

There are good designs like the Ninetales line, then there is stuff like the Persian and Diglett/Dugtrio which look like bad fan art. To be fair though, Ninetales just looks like really good fan art.

Azire said:

I feel you misunderstand me. The concept of Z Moves is fine. It is the animations that bother me. That Pikachu animation that the character does is just ridiculous. It looks so stupid, like I can't take just how stupid it looks.

We actually have a lot of knowledge on how effective the Z Moves will be. We can also make educated guesses oh how the Z Moves will boost other moves based on the information we already have.

"My issue with the Dex leak is not that it was leaked, it is that this has to be the weakest Dex in terms of style and creativity. It it really bad."

So in short, Z Moves? I completely understand why they are in the game. It is the ANIMATIONS that make your character look incredibly stupid and excessively childish. I'm not opposed to the Z Moves, I just hate the animations.

The Dex appears to be incomplete with so many single stage Pokémon, a good number with terrible designs, and Ultra Beasts which are almost unanimously hated. Then we get Alolan forms, which as a Gen 1 Fanboy, I figured XY pandered to us already. The Alolan forms are about 50/50 on good changes, and terrible designs.

There are good designs like the Ninetales line, then there is stuff like the Persian and Diglett/Dugtrio which look like bad fan art. To be fair though, Ninetales just looks like really good fan art.

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Oh! I see. I apologize, I get where you're coming from now.


"We actually have a lot of knowledge on how effective the Z Moves will be. We can also make educated guesses oh how the Z Moves will boost other moves based on the information we already have."

Do we really? I mean, don't get me wrong a lot of competitive players have made educated guesses about how Z-moves can be useful, but other than how we use them, or how they can be useful, it's all speculation at this point.

"My issue with the Dex leak is not that it was leaked, it is that this has to be the weakest Dex in terms of style and creativity. It it really bad."

Okay, let me disagree here. I understand that this dex is small and that people don't like that( I don't like it much either), but at this point I feel unless there is a huge outcry about it, we aren't getting too many new mons in the future. However, what I will say is that while I didn't like the small dex in X and Y and like it here because Alola is more spread out and non-linear.(Unlike Kalos where you only had small portions of places to go).

As for the designs of the Pokemon, can I ask how is this Dex lacking "creativity"? You don't need 150 Pokemon to make a good dex. Look at Gen 5. As much as I love that generation and the large amount of Pokemon in it, so many of the Pokemon go unnoticed due to there crappy moveset (Basculin), crappy ability (Archeops), or poor stat distribution(alomola). I'd rather have a small dex of really good Pokemon, rather than 100 Pokemon that are either broken or not viable in the slightest.

Also, whose to say bigger Pokedexes don't show a sign of laziness? I'll point to Gen 1. Out of all the designs we could have gotten, we got a Krab, 3 semicylinders put together(Dugtrio), a Pokeball(which is probably the laziest design because it's just a circle), and 3 Magnemites put together. (Don't give the excuse it's just the first Gen because other games did at better job of portraying monsters at the time in the same genre.) How is that any better than Pokemon actually functioning like real life animals and adapting to their environment in various ways? Some of the designs are weird, and I admit there are a couple I don't like, but it's obvious some time and effort went into it. (Yes, even including Alolan Dugtrio).

Pokemon are basically the equivalent of real -life animals in the games, and in real life, animals don't always look cool and edgy. Some look weird, creepy, or downright disgusting.Creating the same type of cool and edgy design for every single Pokemon would make the game boring. I understand a lot of people want this, but once in awhile there needs to be some variety. It's the same problem I had with Digimon a while back, the monsters looked cool, but after awhile, they all tended to look like the same cool/edgy factor applied over and over again( with little exceptions here and there, but not a lot).

Alola Pokemon may not be the most appealing to the majority of players, but at least they tried to give some lore to the Alolan Pokemon so it makes sense. At least we don't have Pokemon in this gen that's just a circle. I understand(as an artist myself) that everyone has there preferences, but whenever someone tells me that a newer gens design sucks, I really need proof to show me that it's any more worse than Voltorb.

"So in short, Z Moves? I completely understand why they are in the game. It is the ANIMATIONS that make your character look incredibly stupid and excessively childish. I'm not opposed to the Z Moves, I just hate the animations."

I get that, but I hope you realize that you're playing as a kid in the game, right? I get the game is for everyone, but to be fair, your character has to be at least 12 years old. And as a 12 year old kid, you still do childish things. I feel as dance moves, Z-moves exemplify that childish nature of your avatar.However, I can understand why some people don't like it and to me, I can see it being a matter of preference.

"The Dex appears to be incomplete with so many single stage Pokémon, a good number with terrible designs, and Ultra Beasts which are almost unanimously hated. Then we get Alolan forms, which as a Gen 1 Fanboy, I figured XY pandered to us already. The Alolan forms are about 50/50 on good changes, and terrible designs."


You are right that the dex is incomplete( it was actually proven in the newest trailer that the Pokedex is not complete), but I don't see why having so many single stage Pokemon is such a bad thing. It sucks they don't evolve, but I don't see people complain about Klefki or Rotom. They work fine as single stage Pokemon. Whose to say that these new Alolan Pokemon can't work as being single-staged? Many of them already have broken abilities. I don't see them struggling to much anytime soon. Also, I mentioned this above already, but "terrible design" is subjective as I have yet to see a Pokemon worse than Voltorb in this Generation.

Um....A lot of people I know don't necessarily hate Ultra Beasts, they just think they are weird. The only people I see hate Ultra Beast are the ones who think it can't be a Pokemon because it's "too different".(not that we know what they are, but right now it's uncertain to say the least).

I will definitely agree that Alola forms are 100000% Kanto pandering bullshit and I hate it, but they are optional, sobecaues I don't have to use them, I won't. However, once I complete the game, I will actually give them a chance and see if I like them. I can sort of agree with you on Alola forms being 50/50 chances of being good, but a lot of them like Alolan Muk look promising. I think Alolan Persian looks terrible too, but I don't think it's design is objectively bad( considering inbreeding could've caused that face but enough of that) Alolan Dugtrio looks odd, but it's too funny for me to hate personally. It seems to be a reference to Pele's hair( A form of lava that kind of looks like hair) and while it's execution could've been better, I can give them props for trying a new concept.

Ninetales looks heavenly af! Sign me up :D

WOOOOOOOO BRO!! Give those fingers a well deserved rest lol. (Just checked your profile gender, can still be a Bro, just saying.)

Yes we can figure most of the Z Moves as most will just be boosting regular moves by what appears to be a mathematical calculation. The only Z Moves we can't figure out are those that are exclusive to certain Pokémon, (like Eevee for example). Not every Pokémon gets an exclusive Z Move. What that also tells me is that not every Pokémon will be viable as they say it was intended. Obviously those that don't have exclusive moves, it will be better to just use better Pokémon that use the same Z Move.

I think we have another misunderstanding on the Pokédex. I don't care about the size, I am mostly complaining about the designs. While you are correct and each generation has dumb Pokémon designs, this Dex has a lot of bad designs, AND a low number meaning we can't just ignore the bad Pokémon.

I have seen A LOT of hate for Ultra Beasts.

I did not know that the Dex was confirmed incomplete. Thanks for the info, I'll have to YouTube it.

Actually we do know what two of the exclusive Z moves do. Eevee's Z move raise all its stats by 2 stages while the Tapu's Z move does 75% of damage to the opponent Pokemon's remaining HP.

I have no issue with how over-the-top and goofy the Z-Move animations look, personally.

But I can imagine with how long they are, that if any Z-Move becomes a competitive staple, it's going to be very tiresome having to watch the animation in each and every battle. At least the Mega Evolution animation took up 2-3 seconds and was done.

Z-Move animations also eat up the Battle Timer--could we possibly see Z-Move animations used for the sake of stalling out the timer?

I quite like the Z-Move animations tbh, they're meant to be fun and different and Game Freak came up with some good ideas tbh. It might get kinda annoying seeing it in every battle but the look of the moves themselves is pretty decent.

Azire said:

WOOOOOOOO BRO!! Give those fingers a well deserved rest lol. (Just checked your profile gender, can still be a Bro, just saying.)

Yes we can figure most of the Z Moves as most will just be boosting regular moves by what appears to be a mathematical calculation. The only Z Moves we can't figure out are those that are exclusive to certain Pokémon, (like Eevee for example). Not every Pokémon gets an exclusive Z Move. What that also tells me is that not every Pokémon will be viable as they say it was intended. Obviously those that don't have exclusive moves, it will be better to just use better Pokémon that use the same Z Move.

I think we have another misunderstanding on the Pokédex. I don't care about the size, I am mostly complaining about the designs. While you are correct and each generation has dumb Pokémon designs, this Dex has a lot of bad designs, AND a low number meaning we can't just ignore the bad Pokémon.

I have seen A LOT of hate for Ultra Beasts.

I did not know that the Dex was confirmed incomplete. Thanks for the info, I'll have to YouTube it.

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Lol, don't worry about my fingers, I draw and write a lot to begin with. I've gotten used to it XD Also, don't mind calling me a Bro. I don't mind it at all.

'Yes we can figure most of the Z Moves as most will just be boosting regular moves by what appears to be a mathematical calculation. The only Z Moves we can't figure out are those that are exclusive to certain Pokémon, (like Eevee for example). Not every Pokémon gets an exclusive Z Move. What that also tells me is that not every Pokémon will be viable as they say it was intended. Obviously those that don't have exclusive moves, it will be better to just use better Pokémon that use the same Z Move."

I can get behind this, we haven't seen all the exclusive Z-moves, so I really can't make a judgement on whether or not they work until I see it in action. I agree with the last part of your sentence as well. I'm sure there might be a stinker Z-move in there, but hopefully, some Pokemon that needs it can use it. Hopefully...

"I think we have another misunderstanding on the Pokédex. I don't care about the size, I am mostly complaining about the designs. While you are correct and each generation has dumb Pokémon designs, this Dex has a lot of bad designs, AND a low number meaning we can't just ignore the bad Pokémon."

So you don't care about the size? You kind of made it sound like you did, but oh well, it's probably my fault on my end of the discussion. Anyways, for the designs I admit, some are really weird, but they'll grow on me eventually. I still firmly believe that the designs aren't crap, but I think I understand why people think that.

When I searched up an interview with Junichi Masuda/Shigeru Ohmori they mentioned how the design process for Pokemon has changed and that now they have to consider a Pokemon in a 3d model. From this interview, I think the reason why so many Pokemon turned out weird was because it's not just sprite art anymore. Now, they have to worry about the 3d models and how each Pokemon will look in the models. This is one of the reasons why I like Incineroar in-game. It's concept art looks like shit, but in battle it actually looks kinda decent(even though it's not my favorite). I also think people don't like the designs because they are more-cartoonish? But, Pokemon in my opinion always had the cartoonish look. It's just way more noticeable now( a part of the marketing to kids really) and I think, it puts people off. I can see why if you're not are not a fan of the style, but I honestly don't think it's a bad direction to go in. However, I clearly see that people have different opinions and I can't stop anyone from liking/hating a design. In the end, it's all preference.


"I have seen A LOT of hate for Ultra Beasts.

I did not know that the Dex was confirmed incomplete. Thanks for the info, I'll have to YouTube it."


I guess people are not liking Ultra Beasts because not fitting the traditional role of Pokemon boggles too many people's minds. It really shouldn't be the case as Deoxys exist and it's otherworldly, but no one seems to bring that up when I discuss Ultra Beasts at all XD.

Yeah, I'm surprised too. It turns out Totem Wishiwashi was not on the leaked-Pokedex so there might be some more to come(even the dataminers said there was still some more stuff missing). I figure there will be more Pokemon in the future, but maybe only 10 max.

Going back to Z-moves, they incorporate what I would call the "dance culture" of Hawaii and I feel that the animations look pretty decent. As I mentioned in the earlier posts, the only one I don't like so far is the Fighting-type Z-move as it looks so derpy XD.

It might become quite tedious with how long some Z-moves actually take to perform, but most of the animations are pretty impressive imo! The most recent one was the Psychic-type Z-move and I think that looks to be one of the best animations of all the Z-moves.

I have two gripes, one is about Z-Moves having the lack of animations! Like what the heck? Like your character is doing all this body motions and your pokemon (excluding the 3 starter, Pikachu, Alolan Raichu, Eevee, Snorlax, and the Tapus but even then...) they just stand there. Sounds like a pet when you carry around and do whatever it wants! Yep! Game Freak got that right! LOL!

My other gripe about it is when they receive the damage. Like they shouldn't get the same animation when you get hit by a "normal move" you know what I mean? I love the Psychic Z-Move, but that Passimian at beginning was literally getting the ping-pong treatment and gave no bricks until that end animation. Like what? That move looks like your literally destroying your mind. You shouldn't have the same animation with a move like that. LOL!

I mean, look at the Ghost Z-Moves one to?! Your literally getting strangled by shadowy hands and your just... accepting it? FEAR IT! It's so blank. It's like adding half the substances, but it's understandable because it's still in development and I still want it. Like Cookie Dough! <3 That's how I see Z-Moves, I still love it all. Just need to add more dramatic to the dramatic.

When we say animations, are we talking about the attack itself or the pose the trainer/player character makes?

Cuz the actual attack animations are fine to me, but, save for one, I don't like the poses the trainer/player character makes during Z-moves

Nah said:

When we say animations, are we talking about the attack itself or the pose the trainer/player character makes?

Cuz the actual attack animations are fine to me, but, save for one, I don't like the poses the trainer/player character makes during Z-moves

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I actually like both the attack animations, and the protagonist movements that seem to be related to types. Then again, everyone has opinions on that.

I love the arm movements. I want to do them every time I do a cool Z move. I love Snorlax's the most.

I like eevee's z move.. I hope it's useful

I've liked what I've seen of them so far. They're only usable once per battle, so I don't think they'll slow down the pace too much. Plus, they remind me of the good times I had with Inazuma Eleven, lol.

The female dance animations are adorable.

I like them mainly cause they're so over the top and remind me of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure.

I think Z-Moves are alright, and I think these moves are executed pretty well, given that they are only usable once per battle, and also the fact that the execution of the movement fits their typing, like for example, a trainer doing a peek-a-boo pose thingy when launching Ghost Z-Move, or having wave motion akin to sea when using Water Z-Move, for instance.

thedestinedblade said:

Plus, they remind me of the good times I had with Inazuma Eleven.

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That's what I first thought of it as well, and how it's executed in the anime (at least in the trailers at the moment) drive the point further, feels like a déjà vu for me, and it fits for being an ultimate move of some sort.