smocks

fiat lux

Female
California
Seen March 25th, 2019
Posted March 10th, 2019
If you remember in Generation 2-4, the move curse was listed as "???" type. Why did Nintendo list it as ??? at the time, were they planning something? What if it was planning to become a real type? If it was a real type, what name it would have?
(just for fun, ik how the move Curse has been altered to be ghost but yea, what if ??? could've of been a real type?)

COOLTRAINER♂

Speedball 2: Brutal Vanilluxe

Male
Seen July 1st, 2019
Posted January 2nd, 2017
235 posts
9.5 Years
I think they just wanted to bring attention to Curse having an unusual effect and got fed up programming special cases in by the time they made BW. The presence of a ???-type Arceus was probably a programmer wanting to stop bad things from happening if you used a cheating device.

Mister Coffee

Blathering Fool

Male
Seen November 7th, 2020
Posted June 12th, 2019
992 posts
11.7 Years
I always thought the purpose of the move "Curse" being "???" was due to the fact that it has always been technically the only Dual typed move. The move's explanation says it works differently for ghost typed pokemon, which I always thought implied that for any pokemon that uses this move that is not a ghost typed pokemon, the move takes on a secondary type that is not ghost type. My assumption was, it was Ghost type for Ghost types and it was Normal type for everything else, since they couldn't fit two types into a single move, they identified it as "???" due to it being able to be two completely different typed moves under two different typed based conditions. For as long as I had seen the move's ??? typing, I had never really thought it was going to ever be an actual pokemon type, I always just looked at it as a simple answer to a complicated type based problem.
Masters of Hoenn


"Somewhere off in a distant world, an island exists, where the ocean only meets the sand, where the weather is always warm. An adventure begins, traveling from the vast lands into the deep seas, chasing into the heart of the tropics, where the plants are vibrant and the beasts are fantastic. We will find each other there, chasing the fleeting dreams of a land full of beauty and potential."
Male
Obscure cities, that are dark.
Seen July 4th, 2016
Posted July 4th, 2016
611 posts
8.5 Years
It's a bit like the 'rival's' name at the time, which was also '???', in the game's canon. In general, '???' was probably not to be treated as a stable type, but rather a marginal thing, and the move 'Curse' was mostly proper to the 'Ghost' type, rather than some separate type. It was meant to represent in part the move's having a special effect for one type, but also being usable for other types differently, and highlight this gimmick generally. This also fit with the presentation of Ghosts in G/S/C, which was more common and mysterious. It also made it interesting when the rival had a Gastly or Haunter in their team. In general, the '???' type was kept around for a while, so it's unlikely that they planned on doing anything with it.
When it dawns that Keats' idea of 'negative capability' is basically reducible to the public perception of Lucario.