Impossible for Smeargle to sketch Sleep Talk?

Question

Hi, I posted this elsewhere but haven't been able to find an answer so far, I'm hoping someone here knows!

I am playing gen 2 (on cartridge) and wanted to get Smeargle to learn Sleep Talk. To do so I've tried 3 different approaches, all of which have had the same outcome. Step 1, encounter Smeargle (of course), step 2:

• my Pokemon (awake) uses Sleep Talk; it fails
• my Pokemon (already asleep) uses Sleep Talk; uses non-damaging move
• my Pokemon (awake, and knows only Sleep Talk) uses Sleep Talk; it fails

In all 3 cases, opposing Smeargle tries Sketch which is followed by 'It didn't affect [my Pokemon]!". It then proceeds to use Struggle on future turns because it has no PP.

So I am coming to the conclusion it isn't possible for it to learn Sleep Talk (in this gen at least), since even if it needed another move first, no trainers/wild Pokemon (as far as I'm aware) use Sleep Talk in the game so a Smeargle belonging to me, already knowing other moves, would never be able to sketch the desired move. On the other hand, I can't find this documented anywhere, so perhaps I am doing something wrong.

Most likely this will involve knowing more about the game mechanics/code than I do -- would love to hear some thoughts!

Comments

If an asleep pokemon with only sleep talk uses it would that work?

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You could try sketching in a double battle, though I dunno if there's any in gen 2

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@sm4evr doesn’t work either! @Z-Cytokine no double battles in gen 2

Answer 1

Metronome, Mirror Move, Mimic, Sleep Talk, Transform, and Sketch itself all run a snippet of code whose effect is to say "You know how there's normally a variable in memory keeping track of the last move I used, for purposes such as Counter, Conversion2, and Sketch? Well, this move is specifically not supposed to be exposed to those effects, so instead of keeping this move in the history, scrub it so the game thinks I haven't used any move at all instead."

That call makes their intentions pretty blatant.

Comments

So you're saying it's impossible to sketch sleep talk?

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Thanks for the reply, really helpful! So why is this mentioned almost nowhere do you think? Every place I’ve looked up for ‘moves Smeargle cannot sketch’ doesn’t mention Sleep Talk