Move Tutors

Move Tutors are NPCs scattered around the regions who can teach Pokémon moves outside their typical move set. They first got introduced in Pokémon Crystal and have appeared in almost all mainline games since, including several spin-offs. Some of them will impose certain restrictions or conditions onto the player, while others will offer their services for free. Remember not to confuse Move Tutors with Move Reminders.

In Pokémon Crystal, after beating the game and entering the Hall of Fame, a Move Tutor can be visited outside Johto's Goldenrod City Game Corner every Wednesday and Saturday. He can teach the player's Pokémon three different moves for 4.000 coins each. After learning either Flamethrower, Ice Beam, or Thunderbolt, the older man will enter the Game Corner. He will not tutor you until the next Wednesday or Saturday comes around. Note that these three attacks are breedable.

Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen, while being the first Pokémon remakes ever made, have also incorporated features of later games while staying faithful to Pokémon Red and Blue. One of those features is the frequent appearance of Move Tutors across Kanto and the Sevii Islands. Those Move Tutors do not appear in the Generation 1 games.

In Generation Generation 3, many systems have got reworked for Pokémon, including the TM list. Moves that have been TMs before Gen 3 became regular moves and can now be taught once through the listed Move Tutors.

In addition to the regular Move Tutors available in the game, a woman is living on Cape Brink in the north of Two Island. She will teach a move to each of the fully-evolved Kanto Starter Pokémon, but only if the Pokémon has a maximized Happiness stat.

In Pokémon Emerald, several Move Tutors are encounterable throughout the Hoenn region and its respective Battle Frontier. Keep in mind that the moves not obtainable through Battle Points are only learnable once per save game.

There are two Move Tutors located on Sinnoh's Route 210 and Route 228 in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. The female Move Tutor located on Route 210 teaches Draco Meteor to any dragon type Pokémon that has a maximized Happiness stat, while the Move Tutor on Route 228 functions similarly to the old lady living on Cape Brink from Pokémon FireRed and LeafGreen. Like in FireRed and LeafGreen, Route 228's Move Tutor will teach an elemental variant of Hyper Beam to a fully-evolved Starter Pokémon with maximized Happiness. Unlike in FireRed and LeafGreen, however, the possible Pokémon to tutor these moves to are not limited to Venusaur, Charizard, and Blastoise, but include every available Starter Pokémon up until this point. However, there is a catch: The taught move will always correspond to the Pokémon's primary type. Additionally, the attacks are teachable as many times as the player likes.

Pokémon Platinum has the same two Move Tutors available as Diamond and Pearl, as well as three new ones located on Route 212, in Snowpoint City and the Survival Area. These Move Tutors charge specific shards of various colors for their services that are obtained available through mining deep down in Sinnoh's Underground. Each move costs eight shards.

Pokémon HeartGold and SoulSilver brought back all moves that were already available in Pokémon Platinum but expanded the move roaster with 14 additional attacks exclusive to these two games. Most of them are only accessible in the post-game as the Move Tutors are located in the Frontier Access and require, similar to Emerald, a set amount of Battle Points.

Pokémon Black and White got released with a significantly reduced amount of Move Tutor moves. The ones that remain are the elemental Hyper Beam variants taught by a Move Tutor located on Route 13 and require a Starter Pokémon with a maximized Happiness stat and the Draco Meteor move offered by either Drayden (Pokémon White) or Iris (Pokémon Black). Either of them is the game’s Opelucid City Gym Leaders. Furthermore, there are now elemental Pledge moves that can be combined to unlock additional effects in double and the newly added triple battles. Lastly, there are two event Pokémon that possess an attack unique only to them. The first one is the event Meloetta that can learn Relic Song when brought to Café Sonata in Castelia City. The second one is the event Keldeo, which can, when brought to Moor of Iccirrus together with Cobalion, Terrakion, and Virizion, learn Secret Sword.

Pokémon Black 2 and White 2 incorporated the same moves teachable through Move Tutors as their prior versions but made them accessible at different locations. Most of them are now available at the Pokémon World Tournament located to the south of Driftveil City. Moreover, Draco Meteor and Relic Song are still acquirable at the same locations as in Black and White, but Secret Sword got moved over to the Pledge Grove. Additionally, the tradable shard items first introduced in Pokémon Platinum got reintroduced to acquire certain moves from four different Move Tutors. These are in Lentimas Town (takes Blue Shards), Nacrene City (takes Green Shards), Driftveil City (takes Red Shards), and Humilau City (takes Yellow Shards).

Pokémon X and Y started with the same Move Tutor move set as Pokémon Black and White did. This time, Draco Meteor is taught by a Move Tutor located on Route 21. The Pledge moves can be learned in Laverre City and are still limited to only Starter Pokémon with a maximized Happiness stat. The remaining attacks are all obtainable in Snowbelle City, including Meloetta's and Keldeo's signature moves!

Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire have been the highly anticipated remakes of Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald. With their remaking, they brought back a ton of teachable Move Tutor moves available in prior Pokémon generations. Most of the Move Tutors outside the Battle Resort are obtainable in Mauville City, including the elemental Hyper Beam variations and Pledge moves, as well as Meloetta’s and Keldeo’s signature moves. Only Draco Meteor and Dragon Ascent are acquirable in Sootopolis City (Draco Meteor) and the Meteor Falls (Dragon Ascent). The rest are buyable in the post-game at the Battle Resort. In it, you can trade collected Battle Points with four unnamed Move Tutors that all stand right next to each other.

Like in every generation of Pokémon, several Move Tutors are scattered across Sun and Moon's region called the Alolan archipelago. Noteworthy is the obligatory Draco Meteor Tutor in the form of a female Ace Trainer who requires a dragon-typed Pokémon with a maximized Happiness stat to learn the offered move. Right beside her is a tutor who will teach Rayquaza its signature move, Dragon Ascent, without any further requirements. And lastly, there is the Move Tutor responsible for tutoring the elemental Pledge-moves or the elemental versions of Hyper Beam located in Hau'oli City. Remember that the Pokémon in question needs a maximized Happiness stat, too.

Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon offer the same Move Tutor options as their prior versions, with slight location variations. However, they expand upon the concept and offer many additional moves in exchange for Battle Points (or how the locals refer to them: 'Beach Points') all around the Alolan archipelago. Specifically, the Move Tutors reside in front of their tents at several beaches on Akala, Melemele, Ula'ula Islands, and at the Battle Tree on Poni Island.

The Move Tutors that are encounterable in Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! are somewhat unique to the series as they only pertain to the player's Partner Pokémon and are version-exclusive! These Move Tutors offer various moves to help the player tackle certain stages of the game. Once the player meets an unknown tutor with a new set of teachable attacks, the prior tutors are updated to offer the same moves that have been unlocked by the new Tutor.