A leaked Pokemon Black and White move would be a baptism of fire

Key conclusions

• Cutting content from leaked Pokemon games, such as the Melt move, reveals interesting ideas for the potential of future series.
• The Melt move would be strategically valuable in competitive play and double fights, as difficult as it would be for new players to learn.
• While Gen 10 may be on the horizon, the likelihood of seeing a truncated Gen 5 content return is low, including the Melt move.

Last week, Game Freak was the target of one of the biggest hacking attempts ever seen, if not the biggest, and it successfully flooded the internet with an incredible amount of undisclosed details regarding Pokemon games from Gen 1 to Gen 9. This unprecedented attack even led to some games in the series appearing online with their source codes and information about Gen 10 and Pokemon Legends: ZA also began to rise to the surface. With so many leaks, it's easy to miss some of the interesting things that have come to light, such as cut content from the past Pokemon games.

Excluded content is most often compelling in analysis because it suggests what else could have appeared in the series, as well as why it didn't happen when it was first conceived. for example PokemonThe leak of Jynx Mega Evolution has been discussed a lot on the internet as it may return from Pokemon Legends: ZA along with a leak of new Mega Evolutions for Zygarde and Zeraora. Among other leaks related to Black and white pokemonit was reported that one move was planned for the games and never saw the light of day – one called Melt.

Pokemon Black and White's Cut Move leak is a double-edged sword

Pokemon Black and White's Cut Fire-Type move would be the perfect icebreaker for new players

Melt was supposed to be a Fire-type move with a base accuracy of 100 and 15 PP, with text that read “Turns the enemy's Steel type into a normal type. Turns the enemy's Ice-type into Water-type.' The text may be inaccurate, given that it is translated from Japanese, and Pokemon games were very different in 5th gen in terms of design and competition. The modern version of this move would likely turn any pokemon into a normal type if it's Steel, and a Water type if it's Ice, whether friend or foe. That's why this move would be a big deal.

Usually, as long as there are no secondary types on defensive creatures, Fire-type attacks are super effective against both Steel and Ice Pokemon.

For beginners of the series who have not yet fully familiarized themselves with the table of types in Pokemon games, turning an enemy Ice-type Pokemon into a Water-type that is actually fire-resistant would be a lesson learned the hard way. At the same time, removing the steel-type's weakness to fire by making this Pokemon normal could have been equally problematic. However, this move could be very useful in double fights.

Why Pokemon Black and White's sharp move would be great in competition

One of the main elements of Art Pokemon games are all about strategy, whether it's on a casual level when it comes to the main story, or on a competitive level in high-end settings. The most used competitive format in Pokemon by a huge margin are double battles that involve a different kind of strategy compared to singles because players can use combos to make certain Pokemon much stronger or weaker than they would normally be. A good example is Indeede along with Pokemon like Hatterene for Expanding Force AoE damage when used on Psychic Terrain. In the case of Melt, this could be great for both allies and enemies.

For example, giving Melt to a pokemon with the joker ability will make it the first with that move due to the priority brackets. Perhaps players could use this on Steel/Cat-type allied Pokémon, one of the strongest combo types in the series, to make it Fire Resistant instead of Neutral. Likewise, a Pokemon like Obamasnow that is quadruple weak to fire can become Water/Grass with a fusion, becoming neutral to fire instead. Depending on which Pokemon had access to Melt, it could also be great against enemy creatures, such as making a Ice-type mono suddenly weak to Grass due to an allied attack, turning the tables on the opponent.

For an action like Melt, one could find an infinite number of entries in this series. For now Pokemon Gen 10 could be revealed as early as next year with a trailer peppered with content from the franchise's earliest days, as Gen 5 seems unlikely, so fans shouldn't hold their breath over Melt.