What's up with Geodude's gen 1 moveset?
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I read on https://pokemondb.net/pokedex/geodude/moves/1 that in gen 1 Geodude learns Defence Curl, Harden, Self Destruct and Explosion. This seems like a strange combination of moves to me, and I have two questions.
Harden and Defence Curl appear to be identical, both increasing defence by one stage. Is there a difference that I'm missing? Why would Geodude learn both moves when they are the same?
Explosion and Self Destruct also appear to be almost identical, both causing Geodude to faint and also dealing heavy normal type damage. However it seems that Explosion deals only 170 base damage while Self Destruct deals 200. This is strange given that Geodude learns Explosion at a higher level. So, what's up with this also?
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According to https://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Geodude_(Pok%C3%A9mon)/Generation_I_learnset#By_leveling_up , in Gen 1 Selfdestruct had 130 power, while Explosion 170, that's why it's learned later.
While for Harden/Defence Curl I see no reason for that. Defense Curl doubles the power of the user's Rollout, but this is true only from Gen 2. They are the same identical move, a part from PPs.
Game Freak made several weird choices in Gen 1 games...
