For over two decades, fans of thePokémonanime followed the adventures of Ash Ketchum, a Pokémon Trainer from Pallet Town with ambitions to become a Pokémon Master. With his trusty Pikachu by his side, Ash traveled across numerous regions in the Pokémon world, battling strong trainers and building a diverse team. His efforts culminated in Ash becoming the number one ranked trainer when he defeated the previous champion, Leon.
Ash is well known for his unorthodox battle style and ability to quickly adapt and come up with strategies that bring out his Pokémon’s strengths. Sometimes, this tactic manifests as Ash’s Pokémon learning moves that their game counterparts cannot.This list will discuss the most notorious moves used by Ash’s Pokémon that they shouldn’t technically know. There won’t be a ranking; instead, the list will aim to inform about the moves’s nature and the role they played in the show’s narrative.
10Bulbasaur - Whirlwind
Seen in “Bulbasaur and the Hidden Village” and “The Ninja Poké-Showdown”
Bulbasaur is one of the most recognized and beloved members of Ash’s early adventures and the first Kanto starter he catches. The two met when Ash and his friends stumbled upon a hidden Pokémon Village Bulbasaur was guarding since he had a distrust of humans. Ash tried to catch Bulbasaur using Butterfree’s Sleep Powder, but Bulbasaur sent the attack back at Butterfree with a Whirlwind. He later used the move again to blow away a Venonat’s Stun Spore.
Not only does Bulbosaur not learn this Flying-type move, but Whirlwind doesn’t re-direct attacks. Its purpose is to blow away enemies, thus forcing another Pokémon out in a battle or allowing wild Pokémon to flee from trainers.The use of Whirlwind likely stemmed from a dubbing error, and since the Venonat battle in Johto, Bulbasaur has yet to use it again.
9Charizard - Tackle
Seen in “Pokémon Double Trouble”
EasilyAsh’s strongest Kanto catchbesides Pikachu, Charizard initially refused to obey Ash after evolving and only wanted to fight strong opponents. This situation changed after Ash won his trust while exploring the Orange Islands, and the two became a nigh unstoppable team capable of going toe to toe with legendary Pokémon. However, when Ash commands Charizard to use moves like Tackle, one can’t help but feel he was validated in disobeying Ash.
Tackle is one of the most basic attacks in the series and is used when a Pokémon is starting its training, but it is quickly swapped for something more powerful. The equivalent move for young Charmanders would be Scratch, which makes sense given their claws. Regardless, by this point in the series, Charizard is a veteran battler with access to powerful Fire-type moves and Seismic Toss, sowhy is Ash commanding him to use a weak movelike Tackle in the first place?
8Pikachu - Leer
Seen in “Hour of the Houndour”
No other Pokémon pairs as well with Ash than his trusty Pikachu. This Electric-Mouse Pokémonhas performed many impressive feats, from defeating gym leaders alone to holding his ground against legendary Pokémon. He also once faced off against an alpha Houndour who was leading his pack in a series of robberies, and the two began their match with a Leer off.
Leer is another move learned early that has a bit more staying power than Tackle, as it throws off the opponent and gets them to lower their defenses. However,Pikachu learns another defense-lowering move in Tailwhip, which makes sense given his friendly appearance and large tail. Still, it did lead to a comical moment as Pikachu and the Houndor glared at one another menacingly before the battle proper.
7Cyndaquil - Agility
Seen in “Hot Matches!”
To replace Charizard when he went to train in the Charisific Valley, Ash caught a Cyndaquil, who later evolved into Quilava when he briefly rejoined Ash inthe Sinnoh region. Unlike Ash’s other Fire-type starters who had traumatic pasts, Cyndaquil was laid-back, easygoing, and preferred to spend his time sleeping. When he did fight, he proved to be surprisingly agile, such as in a match against a Skarmory where he used Agility to dodge one of its attacks.
This is another example ofthe anime twisting how a move normally operates. In-game, Agility applies a two-times multiplier to the user’s speed stat, giving them a greater chance at striking first in battle, while evasiveness is tied to moves like Double Team or Minimize. This begs the question of why the writers didn’t have Cyndaquil use one of those moves, which the species also cannot normally learn.
6Totodile - Tackle
Seen in “The Fortune Hunters”
Whenthe iconic Squirtlerejoined the Squirtle Squad, Ash set his sights on a dancing Totodile and won the right to train him after defeating Misty. While not the strongest member of Ash’s Johto team, Totodile held his own in several important battles and made up for lost time with his infectious personality. However, even he couldn’t escape Ash’s strange obsession with using Tackle in battle.
Like Charizard,Totodile is another Pokémon who learns Scratch over Tackle, but it does learn similar moves that involve throwing one’s body at the enemy. The most obvious move is Headbutt, which Ash’s Totodile uses later in Johto. Amusingly, the English dub of the episode “Dueling Heroes” mixes up Headbutt with Skull Bash, another move Totodile cannot learn.
5Bulbasaur - Dig
Seen in “Bulbasaur… the Ambassador!”
By the end of Ash’s Johto journeys, Bulbasaur had become one of hisstrongest unevolved Pokémon. He also became quite the diplomat, which prompted Professor Oak to ask Ash if Bulbasaur could help keep the peace between different groups of Pokémon at the lab. Bulbasaur was able to get the groups to stop fighting, and he also coordinated them in creating a new pond to avoid further battles.
During the celebration, a large rock that had been excavated almost crushed an innocent Oddish, but Bulbasaur was able to rescue it. He then avoids getting crushed by using Dig, a move that allows the user to burrow underground for one turn before attacking their enemy from below. Amusingly,the anime brings up the fact that Bulbasaur can’t normally learn this move, though Professor Oak chalks it up to discover one’s potential in crises.
4Starly - Gust
Seen in “Two Degrees of Separation!”
Up until Alola, Ash tended to catch a regional bird. In Sinnoh, that meant capturing a Starly, who evolved all the way to Staraptor, one ofthe region’s most iconic Pokémon. He became one of Ash’s most reliable battlers in the region and, in their first meeting, used the Flying-type move Gust instead of the usual Peck attack.
The English dub actually caught this mistake and called the attack Whirlwind in the episode “Two Degrees of Separation!” which Starly can learn. However, this only happened once, and subsequent episodes called the attack Gust. Amusingly, as ofPokémon Legends: Arceus, Starly and its evolution can learn Gust, meaning thatthis mistake has been retroactively corrected.
3Tranquill - Wing Attack
Seen in “An Amazing Aerial Battle!”
Ash’s Unovan team is widely considered his worstdue in large part to catching even more team members than in Kanto, forcing him to rotate them out and stymie chances to develop their personalities. Ash’s Pidove was a prime example, as by the time she evolved to Unfezant, the only personality trait she had was undying loyalty to her trainer. That said, she managed to do something as a Tranquill no other member of her species could: use the basic Flying-type attack, Wing Attack.
One of the reasons the Unfezant line is so disliked in the main games is that, despite being a physical attacking Flying-type,it primarily learns special attack moves, such as Gust and Air Cutter. It’s also a strange choice because not long after using Wing Attack, Tranquill evolves into Unfezant in the same battle. Evolution grants her Aerial Ace, a superior Flying-type move that never misses, making one wonder why she was given Wing Attack at all.
2Litten - Slash
Seen in “They Might Not Be Giants!”
Ash’s Litten had a powerful journey throughout his Alolan adventure, which led to him becoming one of hisbest non-Pikachu teammates. Part of that journey involved mastering different moves, such as Fire Fang and Fire Blast, first taught to Litten by the Stoutland, who took him in. Yet Litten also demonstrated mastery over the high critical-hit move Slash, which he used to free himself, Ash’s Rowlet, and Lana’s Popplio are captured by Team Rocket.
Most feline Pokémon, such as Meowth and Persian, can learn Slash, so the fact that Litten cannot is a little perplexing. Still, it’s not like he wasn’t without other, albeit weaker, claw-based attacks, such as Scratch and Fury Swipes. The worst part is that because Litten focuses more on his Fire-type moves, especially when he evolves into Torracat, Slash gets buried, making its addition one thattheoretically makes sense but doesn’t amount to much.
1Nebby - Supersonic
Seen in “A Masked Warning!”
Nebby the Cosmog is a nebulous member of Ash’s team since he never officially caught the young legendary. However, Nebby appeared as part of Pikachu’s vision during his battle against Leon’s Charizard, so it’s fair to consider him a temporary member at the least. Though Nebby will one day evolve intothe mighty legendary Solgaleoas an infant, his list of moves is limited. Still, he does unleash a confusion-inducing Supersonic cry during Ash and Lycanroc’s battle against Gladion and Type: Null.
In the games,Cosmog can only learn two moves. The first is Splash, which amounts to hopping around and not attacking the opponent, and Teleport, which Nebby not only uses frequently but was the very move that brought him and Ash to Gladeon’s location. The addition of Supersonic is a harmless change thatmainly serves as a plot deviceto calm down Lycanroc when he goes berserk during the fight.
