The Pokémon anime has its own unique take on battles, which can differ quite a bit from how battles in the games work. While the anime has gotten more like the games over time, every now and then there’s still an incredibly bizarre scenario that pops up, something that would get a player laughed out of a competitive Pokémon game tournament. Ash Ketchum is a master of strange strategies and techniques, however, which has led to some truly baffling episodes over the years.
Sometimes battles are just absurd on their face, and both combatants employ odd tactics, while in other circumstances, it’s Ash’s unique brand of outside-the-box thinking that makes things especially weird. Occasionally, it’s just a consequence of logic that a real Pokémon would be able to do this strange thing, but most of the time, these bizarre battle techniques fly in the face of ordinary logic.
10 Pikachu Obliterates a Gym Leader in One Shot
Episode: “What’s With Wattson?”, Advanced Generation
In the episode “What’s with Wattson?”, Ash decides to challenge the Hoenn gym leader Wattson, who specializes in Electric Pokémon. Ash and Pikachu navigate Wattson’s gym, coming face-to-face with a robotic Raikou, which Pikachu attempts to attack and short-circuits. Once they face Wattson, however, Pikachu rapidly takes down each of Wattson’s Pokémon in one hit, leaving both Ash and Wattson stunned.
At the Pokémon Center, Ash discovers the Raikou incident overcharged Pikachu’s electric power, making it way more powerful than usual. Ash feels bad about steamrolling Wattson, who is extremely depressed over being defeated so easily. Ash explains what happened, but Wattson lets him keep the badge anyway.
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Ash’s 10 Hardest Pokémon Gym Battles
Gathering gym badges was one of Ash’s main goals in the series, but some gym battles were a little more difficult for Ash and Pikachu than others.
9 Ash’s Muk Smothers Bellsprout in a Horrific Victory
Episode: “The Fourth Round Rumble,” Indigo League
When Ash was battling in the fourth round of the Indigo League tournament, he found himself against Jeanette, a trainer who used grass and bug Pokémon. Her third Pokémon, Bellsprout, left Ash feeling overconfident, until it singlehandedly defeated both Bulbasaur and Pikachu, dodging with strange dexterity. That’s when Ash calls out his Muk.
Muk is able to tank several attacks from Bellsprout before simply crawling over it with its toxic body, basically drowning Bellsprout in poison goo. While the attack was technically a “Body Slam,” Muk just kind of slides on top of Bellsprout in a horrible wave of stench. This is Ash’s Muk’s only successful battle, and given how it played out, it’s not hard to see why Muk was benched.
8 A Hardheaded Battle of the Metapod
Episode: “Challenge of the Samurai,” Indigo League
One of the most ridiculous battles in the entire series occurs in the fourth episode. Ash’s freshly evolved Caterpie is now a Metapod which is only capable of using Harden. Ash is challenged by a kid calling himself Samurai, who uses bug types. After Ash’s Metapod shockingly shatters Pinsir’s horn, Samurai also uses a Metapod. The two Metapod are completely incapable of harming one another, and thus the battle just keeps going, to the point where Misty starts sunbathing out of boredom.
The battle is only ended when a swarm of Beedrill attack, causing all three trainers to flee. Who knows how long the hardheaded Ash would’ve kept at this impossible battle had that not happened, but the battle itself is hilariously weird.
7 Meowth Uses Outside Help to Defeat Onix
Episode: “Who Gets to Keep Togepi?”, Indigo League
When Togepi’s egg hatches, the main characters decide to hold a competition to see who gets to be Togepi’s trainer. Team Rocket’s Meowth ends up throwing his hat in the ring, but his first-round match is against Brock’s Onix, a bad type match-up if ever there was one. After taking a Rock Throw to the face, Meowth spots two buckets of water nearby and has a genius idea.
Meowth throws the buckets at Onix, apparently weakening it enough that his Fury Swipes are able to finish the job. Everyone is stunned, but Meowth gets the victory despite the obvious cheating. Of course, despite not winning the competition, Misty ends up owning Togepi, as it imprinted on her first, so Meowth’s efforts were for naught.
6 Squirtle Dances Circles Around Froakie
Episode: “Summer of Discovery!”, XY
Ash and friends attend a summer camp, where they meet another trio of trainers, named Tierno, Trevor, and Shauna. Tierno is a big fan of dancing, and incorporates rhythmic movements into his Pokémon battles with his Squirtle. Ash challenges Tierno and finds out the hard way that this is pretty effective.
Squirtle’s odd rhythmic battle style makes it very difficult for Ash’s Froakie to hit. Squirtle is even able to get in close enough to touch Froakie, throwing off its attacks until Tierno wins. Tierno’s dancing battle style comes back a few more times in the series, but it is never quite as strange as the first time it’s seen.
5 Pikachu’s Precision Spawns a Pokémon Meme
Episode: “Riddle Me This!”, Indigo League
Ash is set to battle against the Cinnabar gym leader Blaine, who first uses a Ninetales which rapidly defeats Ash’s Squirtle. Sending out Charizard, Blaine switches for Rhydon, but the disobedient Charizard flies away and is disqualified. This leaves Ash with Pikachu against a Ground-type Rhydon, which, by game rules, shouldn’t be able to harm it.
Ash yells the iconic line, “Pikachu! The horn!”, aiming Pikachu’s Thunderbolt for Rhydon’s horn, which somehow works as a lightning rod and knocks Rhydon out. This became so iconic of Ash’s anime shenanigans that the games would later give Rhydon an ability, Lightning Rod, which actually powers it up when hit with electric attacks rather than being a weakness.
4 Infernape Inexplicably Attacks from Underground
Episode: “A Real Rival Rouser!”, Diamond & Pearl
In Ash’s battle against Paul in the Sinnoh League, Paul opens with a Drapion, which sets up Toxic Spikes, a classic competitive strategy. He rapidly takes out several of Ash’s Pokémon, until Ash sends out Infernape, which once belonged to Paul. Paul switches to a Ninjask, but the Toxic Spikes are still a problem.
Ash decides to deal with these by having Infernape use Dig, an attack that can’t damage Ninjask. However, while underground, Ash orders a different attack, Flare Blitz, causing Infernape to emerge from underground, dealing massive damage to Ninjask and lighting the battlefield aflame, destroying the spikes. Everyone is shocked by this bizarre plan, which goes completely against the games’ rules, yet gives Ash the upper hand at last.
3 Pikachu Channels a Classic Strategy Decades Later
Episode: “Destination: Coronation!”, Journeys
Ash’s first World Coronation Series match is against the temporary gym leader of Vermilion City, a girl named Visquez who is taking Lt. Surge’s place. Visquez similarly battles with a Raichu, recreating the classic battle between Pikachu and Raichu from the original series. Pikachu even uses the same nonsensical strategy of grounding itself with its tail, this time enhanced by the use of Iron Tail, allowing it to avoid Raichu’s Volt Tackle.
The battle actually gets even weirder, as Pikachu is later able to protect itself from Electrode’s Aftermath ability with Electroweb, something that has essentially no defensive applications in the games. This was still a cool callback to Ash’s early battles and a nod to the most nostalgic fans.
2 Snorlax Goes Airborne, Thanks to Hyper Beam
Episode: “Wheel of Frontier,” Advanced Generation
Ash is battling at the Battle Frontier against a trainer named Greta, and the match is a simple 2 versus 2. Ash’s Grovyle falls to Greta’s Hariyama, but he calls out Snorlax to defeat it. Greta then uses a Medicham, which is faster and able to maneuver around Snorlax. Ash tells Snorlax to fire off Hyper Beams, but they miss, until he decides it’s a better idea to aim Hyper Beam at the ground.
The force of Hyper Beam lifts Snorlax into the air, allowing it to perform a Body Slam from high up, taking out Medicham and winning Ash the match. Hyper Beam is a powerful attack that might generate some thrust, but Snorlax, of course, weighs half a ton, and probably isn’t getting airborne that easily.
1 Ash’s Most Infamous Technique is Completely Insane
Episode: “Solid as a Solrock,” Advanced Generation
While battling the brother/sister gym leader duo of Tate and Liza, Ash decided to use Swellow and Pikachu. Despite being disrupted by Team Rocket to the point where the gym is destroyed, the battle continues outside. Swellow is at a type disadvantage to their Solrock and Lunatone, and Ash struggles momentarily in the battle. This is where Ash comes up with his most outrageous strategy to date.
Ash looks up and orders Pikachu to use Thunder on some clouds, baffling his opponents and friends alike. A bolt of lightning strikes Pikachu, riding Swellow, and both are engulfed in golden Electric energy, which supercharges their attacks and gives Ash the victory.
Needless to say, this is absolute nonsense as a strategy, one which would only result in Swellow fainting, making this one of Ash’s most infamous gym battles of all time due to the sheer absurdity of his win.
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