Grouping moves by animation style
I thought it would be interesting if we could group moves by animation similarities. A rough attempt, far from exhaustive:
"Beams" - a beam or jet shoots directly from Atk.to Def.
Dragon Pulse, Ice Beam, Signal Beam, Psybeam, Aurora Beam, Dark Pulse, Hydro Pump, Hyper Beam, Flame Thrower, Flash Cannon
"Shockwave" - a transparent shockwave effect
Water Pulse, Psychic, Bug Buzz
"Low Balls" - ball is produced in front of Atk. moving to Def.
Shadow Ball, Heavy Slam, Energy Ball?, maybe Rock Blast fits
"Sky Beam" - ball or ray is slowly produced above Atk. then moving
Zap Cannon, Focus Blast, Solar Beam, Draco Meteor
"Waves" - a curtain-like wave or ripple moving to Def.
Heat Wave, Sludge Wave, Aqua Tail
"Punches" - a fist with effects
Fire Punch, Thunder Punch, Shadow Punch, Ice Punch
"Winds" -
Icy Wind, Silver Wind, Ominous Wind,
Outrage, Blizzard, Brave Bird
"X slashes" - a cross is drawn through the Def.
X-Scissor, Night Slash, Leaf Blade, Cross Poison
"Twisters" - a vortex
Sand Tomb, Twister, Hurricane, Petal Blizzard
"Sneaks" - a zigzagging path
Shadow Sneak, Dig/Drill Run (forgot)
"Bombs" - a projectile tossed to the Def.
Sludge Bomb, Seed Bomb, Mud Bomb, Gunk Shot
"Falling material" -
Avalanche, Rock Slide,
"Defender effects" - an object appears near the Def. and hits it
Low Sweep, Vice Grip, Body Slam, Bone Club
Grass Knot...?
"Attacker effects" - an effect near the attacker, not focused
Play Rough, Dazzling Gleam, Close Combat?,...
Of course some moves may fit multiple categories and some may not resemble anything else.
With your help we might improve things here. Feel free to suggest additions and corrections or better categories.
Answers
I use Shadowball, outrage, dynamic punch, wild charge, Hydropump, solar beam, crunch, stone edge, ice beam virtually all the time. But not like I don't know the other moves, I've played the game everyday since July 2016. I don't dodge anymore either, aside from DG and HB but if I did, this refresher on animation has helped me a bit.
The idea is that:
Many moves do not give a clear clue of how they look by their names. We are used to a small number of common moves. We could use those to visualize less common moves which many of us may not have seen.
Remembering the animation can help determine fanciness and utility besides the numbers of dodge window and move duration.
For example, before I knew Aurora Beam I thought it sounded like an interesting move that would look anything like the northern lights. But in reality it is just a boring, colorless animation somewhat similar to Flash Cannon.
Also, some charge moves come with little visual warning of something brewing at the attacker first. If you are bad at seeing the subtle yellow flash and use a slow fast move, you may be surprised. The dodge window timing numbers are nice but I like to couple them to a visual reminder.
