Throughout the lengthy Pokémon anime, there have been plenty of encounters with a variety of fun pocket monsters. From regulars to Legendaries, fans have witnessed an impressive array of difficult battles, fearsome captures, and not-so-friendly meetings. And while many have been incredibly satisfying, there have also been some match-ups that left fans wanting more.
With Legendary Pokémon comes the expectation of stellar sequences to bring them down and conquer them. These rare and dominating Pokémon are supposed to be the best of the best, so it’s assumed that it takes even more incredible power to beat them. However, that doesn’t always seem to be the case.
10 Mewtwo Beats Articuno With Just One Move
A battle between two Legendary Pokémon should be long, tough, and spectacular. But none of these words can be used to describe the battle between Mewtwo and Articuno in Pokémon Origins.
Articuno doesn’t land a single attack and is knocked unconscious after only one hit from Mewtwo. Charizard, the final Pokémon in this encounter, both takes several attacks from Mewtwo and lands a few return blows before ultimately winning. Articuno has a higher base stat total than Charizard, so it should have stood a better chance against Mewtwo. It’s off-putting that Articuno was so quickly defeated.
9 Pikachu’s Z-Move Defeats Tapu Koko In Defiance Of Type Advantages
This fight between Pikachu and Tapu Koko is overall a fantastic event that kept fans on the edge of their seats. But Tapu Koko is the Guardian Deity of Melemele Island and a Legendary Pokémon, so the way Pikachu defeats it doesn’t quite make sense, even though Pikachu does land several attacks initially that could have helped weaken the Land Spirit Pokémon.
The battle ultimately comes down to both Pokémon attacking with a Z-Move. However, Tapu Koko’s Z-move was Guardian of Alola, a Fairy-type move with advantage on Pikachu, and yet it was Pikachu’s Z-move that won the day.
8 Goh Captures Suicune Too Easily
While Goh capturing Suicune was an amazing moment for the young trainer, it left a lot to be desired. He just made catching a Legendary look too easy. While Suicune is already worn down from cleansing pollution, there’s barely any fight before Suicune is tied down.
Plus, the fact that Suicune escapes a similar situation later in the episode unaided makes the initial capture feel slightly rushed. The biggest issue is that Goh uses only a basic Poké Ball. It’s generally expected that an Ultra Ball is needed to secure a Legendary, and the fact that Goh captures one with only a Poké Ball devalues Suicune.
7 Darkrai’s Sudden Loss After Three Consecutive Victories Made No Sense
In this matchup between Ash and Tobias, Tobias’ Darkrai faces a total of four opponents: Heracross, Torkoal, Gible, and Sceptile. Darkrai quickly knocks out each of the first three opponents with two moves or less. This is impressive, but expected. What isn’t expected is that Sceptile then beats Darkrai with just one attack.
Even during the previous matches, Darkrai was only hit twice in total. With this in mind, Darkrai appears to fall pretty suddenly for a Legendary Pokémon that easily beat its previous three opponents.
6 Lugia Was Tricked By Team Rocket
Team Rocket manages to capture Lugia by using its child as bait. While it’s understandable that, as a parent, Lugia would do anything to try and save its child, this particular defeat still doesn’t feel right.
Lugia simply closes in on its caged child and is immediately trapped within an energy field. Lugia doesn’t even try to destroy the cage before being trapped itself. Plus, Ash and his friends warn Lugia three times that it’s a trap, but Lugia doesn’t heed them. This could be explained by Lugia’s panic over its caged child, but it’s still strange that Lugia is easily captured without a fight.
5 Necrozma’s Power Is Discredited By Its Defeat
The ultimate battle against Necrozma and its alternate forms was overall an enjoyable sequence that ended in the simultaneous defeat and restoration of Necrozma. However, with Necrozma being, essentially, a top-tier Legendary Pokémon, the battle seems to discredit Necrozma.
When Necrozma separates from Nebby after absorbing an incredible amount of power, it just serves to enrage Necrozma more. And yet, it’s almost immediately after this that Necrozma is hit with an additional two Z-Moves that serve to defeat and restore it. After the build-up to separate Necrozma and Nebby, this final blow comes off as significantly less impactful and devalues the status of the Prism Pokémon.
4 The Lake Guardians’ Abrupt Abduction Undermines Them
In Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl, the Lake Guardians Azelf, Mesprit, and Uxie are captured by Hunter J without much of a fight. While Mesprit and Uxie are able to make one offensive attack each, there’s no actual fight between the Pokémon and the hunter. Instead, all it takes is one hit from Hunter J’s arm cannon to defeat them.
Even as one of them dodges the first blast, it’s quickly hit a second time, ending the conflict and leaving all three captured. This trio of Legendaries shouldn’t have been so easily seized.
3 Regice Loses To Pikachu Despite Its Advantage
While this battle doesn’t necessarily disappoint, it does disregard Regice’s advantage over Pikachu, which then leads to Regice’s easy defeat. The frozen battlefield grants an obvious advantage to Regice as Pikachu has difficulty moving on it, but this advantage disappears during the battle even though the ice is still there.
Plus, both Pokémon are hit by two attacks each before the third hit finishes Regice, even though Regice’s base stats are significantly higher than Pikachu’s. This battle devalues Regice as a Legendary Pokémon, and especially as a Legendary Pokémon that should have had an advantage given the field.
2 The Forces of Nature Were Somehow Ambushed
This battle and subsequent capture is an odd one since the Pokémon never fight their captors before they’re defeated, too preoccupied doing battle with each other. Thundurus and Tornadus are fighting against Landorus, with Landorus attempting to subdue the other two. After Landorus visibly weakens the others, beams of lasers just appear and form cages to trap each of them, rendering them helpless.
Given that Landorus doesn’t appear to be significantly weakened, it’s a startling defeat, especially since they didn’t even have a chance to try and defend themselves against their captors.
1 Cresselia’s Devastating Win Over Darkrai Was Illogical
In Pokémon the Series: Diamond and Pearl, the fight between Cresselia and Darkrai is quick and surprising — though to even call it a fight is an overstatement.
The two crash into each other a few times without actually causing any damage before Cresselia uses Lunar Dance. The fact that Lunar Dance is a Psychic move and null against the Dark-type Darkrai doesn’t seem to matter as it causes Darkrai to retreat. Despite Darkrai’s type advantage over Cresselia, the Pitch-Black Pokémon doesn’t even attempt to fight back. This entire encounter is strange, and it doesn’t make much sense how Cresselia came out victorious.
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