More move slots

[Rothometapratis]

How about more moves a pokemon can have at a time. 4 is few. In the anime a pokemon could have like 6 moves at least and it gets too boring to have only 4. Give it some variety. I would love to become 6 or more. You?

 

[Sandshrew4]

Well I think that 4 moves is good because think of some uber knowing six moves. It may not be allowed for tournaments but fun battles wouldn't be much fun now would they? (Unless of course you also had an uber with six moves).

 

[Rothometapratis]

Well I think that 4 moves is good because think of some uber knowing six moves. It may not be allowed for tournaments but fun battles wouldn't be much fun now would they? (Unless of course you also had an uber with six moves).

Dunno what an "uber" is.
It 'd be much fun for me I guess and tounaments would work with it. I mean why not? It's not their call.

 

[Sandshrew4]

Ubers are pokemon so powerful they are not allowed in tournament play. That is the whole "they wouldnt be allowed in tournaments" thing. Basically, pokemon so powerful they arent allowed in tournaments would get even more powerful.

 

[Sydian]

I used to think we needed more, but I think 4 is fine honestly. It's just enough to get what you need without being too broken, I think.

 

[Krazzikk]

Yeah it would be broken, and the whole competitive play would change. But it would be nice to have the option anyways for casual games just for fun. Or maybe it could have its own tier?

 

[PlatinumDude]

4 moves is fine for me. Sometimes having an extra moveslot or 2 might be game-breaking.

 

[Blue Emerald]

Having four moves encourages you to make the best decisions when selecting which moves to keep and which moves to forget or ignore. These moves are what define the role your Pokemon plays in your party, and also determines what Pokemon yours is good against and which ones are good against yours.

Four's also a nice even number; not too little, not too much. ;)

 

[LividZephyr]

I think it would be good if Pokemon could have five or six moves in total, but you could only set four at a time to use in battle. That would be a great way to, you know, not have HM moves wasting a spot (I'm looking at you, Diamond and Pearl) and would still force strategic decision. I like having only four in a battle, personally - it's just the HM crap that aggravates me, though it was fixed in BW1. Let's hope it stays that way because I don't want to have to lug a Bibarel in to Victory Road ever again.

 

[Golurks Were Meant to Fly]

In the anime a pokemon could have like 6 moves at least and it gets too boring to have only 4.

To clarify, I'm pretty sure they would only have four, they just didn't show the "move deleting process" so a pokemon would learn a move and then forget a move but you wouldn't see it so it would look like they'd have five moves.

Anyway, I used to be really annoyed how there were only 4 slots, because I wanted to use as many moves as I could/didn't realize HM slaves were possible, but now it seems more fair/more strategic so I'm fine with it. It's fun to make the perfect moveset within the confines of only being able to have four moves.

Although how does a pokemon "forget" a move right on the spot. Do all pokemon trainers have one of these?

Spoiler:

(image no longer exists) *Will Smith included

 

[Krazzikk]

No all trainers, infact, do not have one of those.

The man in black from the desert resort comes in and erases their memory for them :3

 

[LividZephyr]

I actually think Pokemon forget moves with time. If a Pokemon only uses a certain number of moves, then they won't remember the ones they haven't used in a while. The anime can do that with some Pokemon knowing 6 moves because they use those moves more often.

Just a theory, though I don't know how much sense it makes...

 

[pleryt16]

I stay stick with four. Not only because it has been four moves in every single pokemon game, but because if there are 6 moves, it would be way too overpowered. Four causes you to have more of a strategy.

 

[Rothometapratis]

To clarify, I'm pretty sure they would only have four, they just didn't show the "move deleting process" so a pokemon would learn a move and then forget a move but you wouldn't see it so it would look like they'd have five moves.

And I'm pretty sure that they would have more. For example in season 1 episode 14: "Electric Shock Showdown", Raichu uses 6 moves:
1. thundershock
2. mega punch
3. mega kick
4. some kind of tail-slam
5. bodyslam
6. thunderbolt
I can bring many examples. Did you really really think that they had 4 only moves at a time?!

I stay stick with four. Not only because it has been four moves in every single pokemon game, but because if there are 6 moves, it would be way too overpowered. Four causes you to have more of a strategy.

Even if it would be op, it'd op for all equally, so it doesn't matter. And more of a strategy is only good. Who doesn't like variety? And if it's only 2 more how much harm can it cause really?

 

[LividZephyr]

I don't know how recently a Pokemon in the anime has used five or six moves in a single battle. Most of the ones I remember are from the original series; since then, Pokemon seem to have been forgetting moves as they learn new ones, like Satoshi's Pikachu forgetting Volt Tackle to learn Electro Ball (which confuses me, but still).

Looking over Shinji's Pokemon, all of his used up to four at a time. Though it appears that Hikari's Pochama used five moves during the stint in Unova; Mamoswine only used four.

For the record, I'm only using the Japanese names because I haven't watched the anime much at all since tPCI switched to the fan dub and feel like it makes more sense to use the Japanese names for the anime. But this is for another discussion...

 

[droomph]

I think that four is sort of a strategy-inducing thing, because it forces you to think twice about wasting a slot for HMs, a new move, etc.

Although I don't think they forget them, they just stop focusing on using those moves.

 

[Blue Emerald]

And I'm pretty sure that they would have more. For example in season 1 episode 14: "Electric Shock Showdown", Raichu uses 6 moves:
1. thundershock
2. mega punch
3. mega kick
4. some kind of tail-slam
5. bodyslam
6. thunderbolt
I can bring many examples. Did you really really think that they had 4 only moves at a time?!

Well, the anime also believes that Shadow Ball can hit a Normal-type, Petal Dance confuses the opponent, Will-O-Wisp is an actual attack that doesn't burn the foe, Blaze and Overgrow increase the power of all attacks, Sandstorm is a Ground-type version of Gust, and that you can switch out a Pokemon with itself during a battle, so I really don't think using the anime as an example when it comes to the rules of the game's battle system is the best thing. The anime has shown time and again that it doesn't like to follow the game's rules. =P

 

[Yuzuru Otonashi]

I'm just curious, is there a reason why people love to reference what the anime does? I mean, the manga(s) also exist. At that, the mangas/Anime are based on the games, not vice versa, so it's the Anime ignoring the game.

4 moves is a balancing factor. If you had 1 more you'd be able to deal with a lot more threats and the tiers could be subject to major changes. If you had 2 more it would be even more drastic. 4 is a nice, even number that gives you ENOUGH coverage without too much.

 

[Rothometapratis]

The anime has shown time and again that it doesn't like to follow the game's rules. =P

I would like it if it would. And it would make more sense to me.

I'm just curious, is there a reason why people love to reference what the anime does? I mean, the manga(s) also exist. At that, the mangas/Anime are based on the games, not vice versa, so it's the Anime ignoring the game.

I guess, cause the anime is much more famous and popular than the manga. I haven't read any manga.

4 moves is a balancing factor. If you had 1 more you'd be able to deal with a lot more threats and the tiers could be subject to major changes. If you had 2 more it would be even more drastic. 4 is a nice, even number that gives you ENOUGH coverage without too much.

Maybe that's an issue, but it's only because the movesets are sooo cheesy(not fair). I mean like you have Snorlax who's able to learn any type moves and counter everything with just 1 pokemon. Snorlax doesn't seem like a fire-type or electric-type pokemon and in fact it's a normal-type, but it can learn both flamethrower and thunderbolt and lots other. And it's not only the normal-types that can do that. I say at least put a limit on how much of different type moves a pokemon can use, cause it's ridiculous to see a Golem for example to use toxic, flamethrower, thunderpunch and earth power(please don't come up with handy explanations about how Golem is able to use toxic etc, because I can do that too, but it's still ridiculous).

btw I know I whine a lot

 

[LividZephyr]

Biggest offender:
https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Drake's_Dragonite

Said Dragonite was created with such a vast movepool to be unstoppable. Perhaps that's their "logic" and a more powerful Pokemon COULD master a number of moves, but not the way the game was coded.

I really don't want the games to become as ridiculous as the anime, but I WOULD like a real-time battle system since they need a new direction. I see no reason to have more than four battle moves at any given time (though I would like an extra slot for HMs, or for other attacks to function the same way [like Brick Break = Rock Smash or Mega Punch = Strength, things like that).

Really, no use in toying with tradition, but if a fifth move could be rotated in, that adds a different dimension to the strategy, as opposed to constant dwelling on sameness. Tweak it and experiment. Add new things to whet our appetites. We need that.