Does Earthquake actually cause an Earthquake?

Started by Mr. Squirtle December 31st, 2014 11:42 AM
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Mr. Squirtle

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Seen July 2nd, 2022
Posted May 2nd, 2020
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8.4 Years
Several people I know in person, including myself, do not understand how the move Earthquake logically makes sense. Yeah, sure it is super cool for a little kid: "Oh yeah! My Rhydon cause an entire earthquake to kill your Charizard!!!" "Ha! shows what you know, Charizard is a flying......"

But seriously, do pokemon actually create an entire earthquake just to hit the opponent?!!? First of all, it would destroy the entire neighboring city. Second of all, even if there was an earthquake, it wouldn't hurt you. Nobody can get hurt by the ground shaking around below them, unless objects were falling on top of you. Third, in the anime and manga, the user doesn't actually cause an earthquake. Instead, they more or less shoot some concentrated shockwave through the ground towards the opponent, or they cause the ground to lift below their feet(Colosseum/XD on gc). Technically, this isn't even an earthquake, so it seems that earthquake is some sort of misnomer.

How does earthquake actually work? Any theories? Is it not actually an earthquake? What would be a better name for a ground type move that did what 'earthquake' did (shoot a shockwave at the opponent instead of causing large-scale destruction of a mile-radius area)? Shockwave sound like a better name for the same move but it is already an electric type move.

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Posted September 22nd, 2018
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I always drew parallels between Earth Power and Earthquake, as their animation is incredibly similar in Pokemon Battle Revolution. So my guess would be that earthen pillars hit the opponent from underneath? If you want a better name for it, how about Spire?

Totally didn't steal that from Golden Sun.
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Seen January 1st, 2023
Posted March 23rd, 2022
3,316 posts
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Well the game descriptions for the move basically all say the user shakes the ground which damages the opponent aka an Earthquake. I would imagine in battle the user can direct the Earthquake to where the opponent is and the actual occurrence only happens over that small area of land.

The opponent takes damage because the ground is shaking (probably violently) below them causing them to fall over though in a more dramatic and hurtful way than just randomly falling. Or you could say Earthquake is the less dramatic version of Fissure. So the move causes an earthquake which breaks apart the land underneath the Pokemon making the ground uneven and causing small fissures that the opponent falls into. Or based on your anime description the move sends a shock wave through the ground that strikes the opponent.