With all the Generation-1 pokemon (Red and Blue versions) running all over the place I find myself more and more nostalgic about my old Pokemon Red playthroughs (R.I.P. Haunter/BLACK FOG). As a queer side-effect of this, I've been turtling myself more and more into the ways of the older games. Guess I'll never quite get over this disease I have: adulthood.
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I am actually in the small but stubborn camp of people who thinks that the first generation's treatment of Special vs. Physical attacks and defenses makes the most sense. Back then there was no such thing as Special Attack and Special Defense, there was just "SPECIAL" which was your attacking and your defending stat for Special moves. What made an attack a special attack or a physical attack was just the element of the move in question: fire = special, fighting = physical.
The current split for Special and Physical attacks occurred in the diamond and pearl era and it is that attacks which require physical contact or that use physical objects (rocks, swords, scythes, etc.) are physical--and attacks that don't require physical contact are special. As far as special goes, it is basically just beams and stuff, or things that are more ethereal. Pretty straightforward, totally understand what they are going for, and furthermore this allows a fire pokemon to use both physical fire moves like fire punch and special fire moves like flamethrower. It totally makes sense from a gameplay perspective and Gyarados is
still grateful for this. Alternatively, a rock type can attack physically with rock throw or specially with power gem. I am still not quite sure what the hell a power gem is and what makes it a "rock" technique, but I digress.
This "new" special/physical model makes sense by basically having physical moves--moves that require a pokemon to use its muscles--scale in damage with a pokemon's attacking stat as its
strength. The logic is that whether a punch is normal type (mega punch) or fire type (fire punch) it should still depend on how strong the pokemon throwing it is.
Special and Physical defenses, on the other hand, are a bit less
obvious. Physical defenses refer to the resiliency of a
pokemon to getting punched in the face. Obviously a pokemon like Onix
would be able to be punched in the face to less effect than, say,
Pichu. Special defense, on the other hand, doesn't really
mean anything. Is this a stat based on the pokemon's reflectivity? How well it refracts all those ice beams in order to
take less ice beam damage? Is it the presence of flame-retardant skin?
Or a gelatinous body that is resistant to cold or heat-based moves? But aren't these all
physical attributes anyways? We'll get back to this...
I want to take this opportunity to point out that I do not
disagree with this way of looking at it, but I feel
that this is only part of the equation and that it misses some of the narrative subtlety of the "older ways".
Under the old ways, certain types of moves were deemed "special" moves and all other moves were said to be "regular" or retroactively, "physical" moves. Special moves included any fire moves, any ice moves, and any electrical, grass, water, or psychic moves (fine, technically "dragon" too, but there were no damage-dealing dragon attacks back then). Everything else was physical: rock, poison, normal, fighting, ground, etc.
The particularly quick (or at least the particularly not-stupid) already see that
any fire move, be it fire punch or flamethrower, is special. While this seems to be an issue given my previously noted grievances, it actually makes sense in its own way: special moves don't refer to whether a move makes physical contact or not--but rather refer to the element of the move in question. This is why a fire punch is special--it is a regular punch that is charged with the element of fire--which is something that not every pokemon can manage with proficiency.
Regular moves, in this paradigm,are not moves that make direct contact, but are moves that don't require any particular
extra ability to use. Basically, any pokemon could feasibly pick up a rock and throw it at a foe (rock throw), any pokemon could throw out a punch (karate chop), but not every pokemon has the ability or wherewithal to make their punch crackle with electricity (thunderpunch). Naturally, not every pokemon has the proper training to execute
every single regular move, but a regular move is basically a move where a pokemon needs not require the ability to summon special energies. The word special is slightly misleading. Special really refers to
elemental prowess.
This also makes sense from the "defense" side: a pokemon with a high "special" is more in-tune with the elements, so not only would they be able to summon elements with more proficiency, but they would similarly be able to brush off elemental attacks with that same proficiency. Finally, a "special defense" that works! Why, oh why, did you have to split it into Special Attack and Special Defense, Nintendo?!?
Neither method is perfect. The old way has issues rectifying things like why an Alakazam (which is not a particularly
muscular pokemon) can punch someone for minimal damage with mega punch, but can then tear an opponent apart with a fire-charged punch. The new way has trouble answering the question of how a meathead like a Hitmonchan has the ability to summon fire, ice, and electricity for its punches with extreme proficiency--as well as the question of what the hell special defense
is and what bullshit reflective skin a Blissey must have in order to take fire blast for minimal damage but to cripple in fear of a fire punch.
