Pokemon Black and White's Leaked Cut Move would have been a baptism of fire

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Important takeaways

  • Clipped content from leaked Pokemon games, like the Melt move, reveal interesting insights into future series potential.
  • The Melt move would have been strategically valuable in competitive play and dual battles, as much as it would have been difficult to learn for new players.
  • While Gen 10 may be on the horizon, the likelihood of seeing cut Gen 5 content is low, including the Melt move.



Last week, Game Freak was the target of one of the biggest hacking attempts it has ever seen, if not the biggest, and it managed to flood the internet with an incredible amount of secret details regarding Pokémon games from Gen 1 to Gen 9. This unprecedented attack even led to some of the games in the series appearing online with their source codes and information about Gen 10 and Pokemon Legends: ZA also began to appear. With so many leaks going on, it's easy to miss some interesting things that have happened, like cut content from the past Pokémon game.

Clipped content is more often compelling to analyze because it's telling in terms of what could still come to the series as well as why it didn't make it when it was first conceived. For example, Pokémons leaked Jynx Mega Evolution is being discussed a lot online as it could make a comeback with Pokemon Legends: ZA along with the leaked new Mega Evolutions for Zygarde and Zeraora. Among other leaks linked to Pokemon black and whiteit was reported that a move was planned for the games and never saw the light of day – one called Melt.


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Pokemon X and Y leaks explained

A huge amount of information has been revealed about Pokemon X and Y by the massive wave of leaks that recently hit Game Freak.

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

Pokemon Black and White's Cut Fire-Type Move would have been the perfect icebreaker for new players

Molten was supposed to be a Fire-type status move with 100 base accuracy and 15 PP, with the text saying “Turns the opponent's steel type into a normal type. Turns the opponent's ice type into a water type.” The text may be incorrect considering that it is translated from Japanese and Pokémon Games were very different back in Gen 5 from a design and competitive standpoint. A modern version of this move would most likely turn any Pokemon into a normal type if it's steel and water if it's ice, whether friend or foe. This is precisely why this measure would have been a big deal.

Normally, provided no secondary types are on defending creatures, Fire-type attacks are super effective against both Steel- and Ice-type Pokémon.


For newcomers to the series who have not yet fully familiarized themselves with the type table i Pokémon game, turning an ice-type enemy Pokémon into a water-type, which is actually resistant to fire, would have been a lesson learned the hard way. Meanwhile, removing a Steel-type's weakness to Fire by making that Pokemon Normal could have been just as problematic. However, this move could have been quite useful in dual battles.

Why Pokemon Black and White's Cut Move would have been great in competition

One of the main parts of the Pokémon gameplay is strategy, whether on a casual level when tackling the main story or on a competitive level in advanced environments. The most used competition format in Pokémon by a large margin are double battles, which involve a different type of strategy compared to singles as players can use combos to make certain Pokemon much stronger or weaker than they would normally be. A good example is Indeede paired with a Pokemon like Hatterene for Expanding Force AoE damage when used on Psychic Terrain. As for Melt, this could have been good for both allies and opponents.


For example, giving Melt to a Pokemon with the Prankster Ability would make it go first with this move due to priority brackets. Players may be able to use this on an allied Steel/Fa Pokémon, one of the strongest type combinations in the series, to make it resistant to fire rather than neutral. Likewise, a Pokemon like Abomasnow, which is four times weak to fire, can become water/grass with melt and instead become neutral to fire. Depending on what type of Pokémon would have had access to Melt, it could also have been good on enemy animals, such as making an Ice-type man suddenly weak to Grass from an ally attack, turning the game against the opponent.

There would have been endless applications for a move like Melt in the series. Yet while Pokémon Gen 10 could appear as soon as early next year with a trailer, cut content from as far back in the franchise as Gen 5 seems pretty unlikely to return, so fans shouldn't hold their breath over Melt.


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