Why the Heck do these amazing pokemon learn crappy moves like hyper beam?

Question

Okay so Hyper Beam might be good for a normal type that has high sp. attack, but there aren't many of those, and there are amazing pokemon like gyarados with a crappy special attack that have to learn it. It just doesn't make sense. They don't even get STAB.

Answer 1

In addition to what Unrecognizable said, in the case of Gen I-III(Especially in Gen I) some moves were much better than they are now. In the first three Gens all Electric, Fire, Water, Grass, Ice, Dark, Psychic, and Dragon type moves were special. All Normal, Fighting, Poison, Ground, Flying, Bug, Rock, Ghost, and Steel were Physical. So back then Hyper-beam was a Physical move. Also note that it is a fact that all fully evolved Pokemon can learn Hyper-beam and Giga-impact aside from Unown. But Hyper-beam was actually a big threat back in Gen I because if you Fainted the Pokemon with it there was no recharge. Also in Gen I there was no Special Defense or S.Attack they were combined into Special. Gyrados actually had an amazing 100 Special, that is even higher than Charizard's was.

Comments

IMO your answer was better

Answer 2

Pokemon are given the option to learn moves doesnt mean you have to teach them to that pokemon its just there. That being said it would be pretty crappy if you gave gyarados only physical attacks and you got for example a modest nature lowering his attack and raising his Special Attack. Many moves are just there to be there and maybe some people think that having hyper beam on gyarados is a good thing( not meta-game of course).