Manga move errors

In the Pokémon manga, a situation will sometimes occur in which a Pokémon knows a move it cannot learn legally in any of the games. It is unknown whether these are actual mistakes, a writing policy of not having to stick to the games too closely, or merely the Pokémon using an attribute that shares the name of a move in the games.

Occasionally, in-game event Pokémon that can be transferred onto the main series games have a move that is not normally included in that Pokémon's moveset (a prime example being Pokémon Box Ruby & Sapphire, which gave away four separate Pokémon with moves that were not normally available to that specific Pokémon).

List of manga Pokémon with moves that they cannot learn in the games

Ash & Pikachu

Artwork Name Move First use Picture
  Ash's Pikachu Tackle One Half Of A Poké Ball  
  Ash's Swellow Tackle Battle Till The End! Drake, One Of The Elite Four!l  
  Noland's Articuno Tackle Off To The Battle Frontier!  

Pokémon Adventures

Artwork Name Move First use Picture
  Ken's Jynx Psybeam The Jynx Jinx  
  Zapdos from Thu-Fi-Zer Gust The Winged Legends  
  Blue's Machamp Slam A Charizard... and a Champion  
  Crystal's Natee Fly A Flaaffy Kerfuffle  
  Ruby's Nana Hyper Beam The Beginning of the End with Kyogre & Groudon XIV  
  Riley's Lucario Bonemerang Deprogramming Porygon-Z  
  Phione Heart Swap Different Dimension Battle XI  
  Petrel's Golbat Lick All About Arceus V  
  Black's Musha Teleport School of Hard Knocks  
  Korrina's Riolu Bone Rush Connecting with Gardevoir  
  Sun's Dollar Tackle The Announcement and the Prize  
  Henry's Twiggy Leafage Crackle!! Practice Battle  
  A Team Yell Grunt's Galarian Linoone Sucker Punch Zap!! A Rising Beam of Light  

Mentioned only

Artwork Name Move First use Notes
  Bruno's Hitmonlee Shadow Ball Yellow arc Bruno's Hitmonlee was revealed to know Shadow Ball on the official web site. However, Hitmonlee is unable to learn the move.
  Hau's Popplio Bubble The Delivery of Rotom and the Girl Professor Kukui mentioned that his Popplio, which he later gave to Hau, used Bubble. However, Popplio is unable to learn the move.

Pokémon Colosseum Snatchers

Artwork Name Move First use Picture
  Folly and Trudly's Whismur Tackle PCS1  

Pokémon Pocket Monsters

Artwork Name Move First use Picture
  Red's Clefairy Barrier The Big Battle In The Viridian Forest!!  
  Red's Clefairy Transform Take Out The Rival Onix!!  
  Green's Machamp Comet Punch The Pokémon Banana League (Part 2)  
  Red's Clefairy Hypnosis Great Discovery of the Fossil of the Era!!  

Pokémon Gold & Silver: The Golden Boys

Artwork Name Move First use Picture
  Gold's Pidgey Peck The Legendary Pokémon Appears!  
  Gold's Bayleef Stomp Extreme Power!! The Friday Pokémon  

Pokémon Zensho

Sprite Name Move First use Picture
  Satoshi's Charmander Tackle Prologue: Pallet Town  

How I Became a Pokémon Card

Pokémon in How I Became a Pokémon Card will often use moves that they cannot learn in the games. However, this is because this series is based on the Pokémon Trading Card Game, so the "illegal" moves Pokémon use in this series are moves from their TCG cards.

Former errors

Ash & Pikachu

Artwork Name Move First use Notes Picture
  Ash's Corphish Water Gun A 'Thank You' That Transcends Time Ash's Corphish used Water Gun. However, Corphish was unable to learn Water Gun until Generation VIII.  

Pokémon Adventures

Artwork Name Move First use Notes Picture
  Blue's Charizard Fly Kalling Kadabra Blue's Charizard used Fly. However, Charizard was unable to learn Fly until Pokémon Yellow.  
  Sabrina's Kadabra Hypnosis Kalling Kadabra Sabrina's Kadabra used Hypnosis. However, Kadabra was unable to learn Hypnosis until Pokémon Legends: Arceus.  
  Articuno from Thu-Fi-Zer Gust The Winged Legends Articuno from Thu-Fi-Zer used Gust. However, Articuno was unable to learn Gust until Generation II.  
  Moltres from Thu-Fi-Zer Gust The Winged Legends Moltres from Thu-Fi-Zer used Gust. However, Moltres was unable to learn Gust until Generation VIII.  
  Agatha's Arbok Bind Weezing Winks Out Agatha's Arbok used Bind. However, Arbok was unable to learn Bind until Generation V.  
  Ruby's Mumu Hydro Cannon The Final Battle VIII Ruby's Mumu used Hydro Cannon. However, Swampert was unable to learn Hydro Cannon until Generation IV.  
  Sapphire's Chic Blast Burn The Final Battle VIII Sapphire's Chic used Blast Burn. However, Blaziken was unable to learn Blast Burn until Generation IV.  
  Emerald's Sceptile Frenzy Plant The Final Battle VIII Emerald's Sceptile used Frenzy Plant. However, Sceptile was unable to learn Frenzy Plant until Generation IV.  
  Platinum's Empoleon Vacuum Wave Floatzel and Jetsam Platinum's Empoleon used Vacuum Wave. However, Empoleon was unable to learn Vacuum Wave until Generation IX.  
  Zinzolin's Kyurem Sheer Cold The Final Battle: Crushed Ambition Zinzolin's Kyurem used Sheer Cold. However, Kyurem was unable to learn Sheer Cold until Generation VIII.  
  Essentia's Hawlucha Brave Bird Hawlucha Attacks Essentia's Hawlucha used Brave Bird. However, Hawlucha was unable to learn Brave Bird until Generation VIII.  
  Bonnie's Dedenne Electric Terrain Xerneas Gives Bonnie's Dedenne used Electric Terrain. However, Dedenne was unable to learn Electric Terrain until Generation VIII.  
  Lillie's Cutiefly Pollen Puff Regeneration!! The Power of the Sun and the Moon! Lillie's Cutiefly used Pollen Puff. However, Cutiefly was unable to learn Pollen Puff until Generation IX.  

Mentioned only

Artwork Name Move First use Notes
  A Team Plasma Grunt's Gothitelle Hypnosis At Liberty on Liberty Garden A Team Plasma Grunt's Gothitelle was revealed to know Hypnosis, but the move was executed off-panel. However, Gothitelle was unable to learn Hypnosis until Generation VIII.
  Y's Fletchy Ember Fast-Thinking Froakie Y told her Fletchy to use Ember, but the move was never seen being executed. However, Fletchling is unable to learn Ember before Generation VIII.

Pokémon Pocket Monsters

Sprite Name Move First use Notes Picture
  Red's Clefairy Tackle Pikachu Was Kidnapped!! Red's Clefairy uses Tackle. However, Clefairy was unable to learn Tackle until Pokémon Legends: Arceus.  
  Cleffa Tackle Clefairy Becomes a Father…?! A Cleffa uses Tackle in this chapter. However, Cleffa was unable to learn Tackle until Pokémon Legends: Arceus.  

Pokémon Zensho

Sprite Name Move First use Notes Picture
  Blaine's Arcanine Fire Spin Cinnabar Island Blaine's Arcanine uses Fire Spin in the chapter. However, Arcanine was unable to learn Fire Spin until Generation II.  

See also

Move errors in various Pokémon canons
AnimeMangaGameTCG


  This article is part of Project Manga, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each series of Pokémon manga.