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I seem to be caught in an endless loop in Pokemon Yellow. My Charmeleon is using Rage and the Snorlax keeps using Rest. Charmeleon can't do enough damage to kill Snorlax before he wakes up. Will Snorlax ever run out of PP on Rest?

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Technically speaking enemy Pokemon in Red, Blue, Green, and Yellow never have their PP reduced in response to using a move and it is never checked as a condition for the AI to select a move. (I learned this stepping through the mostly well commented Pokemon Red disassmbly https://github.com/iimarckus/pokered ) Snorlax will always be able to use Rest.

In Gold and Silver onward enemy Pokemon DO use PP and aren't able to use a move that PP is depleted for.

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    Bulbapedia does confirm this, although it's a one-liner.
    – Doktoro Reichard
    Commented Sep 18, 2015 at 20:10
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    Side note: besides of the PP consumption "bug", you can force a single-moved wild pokemon to use "Struggle" by using "Disable" on his only move. I saw it happening for the first time on a Pidgey and caught it only to understand what kind of move "Struggle" was. Imagine my 10-year-old-face when the moveset was not listing it XD
    – Andrea Jens
    Commented Sep 18, 2015 at 22:09
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No they cannot. In Gen I alone, trainer Pokemon and wild Pokemon have infinite PP for all their moves.

The best way to catch that Snorlax in your situation is to either use a stronger Pokemon that can inflict damage faster, level up Chameleon until he can inflict enough damage before Snorlax uses rest, or use a Pokemon in the battle that can cause Snorlax to fall asleep or become paralyzed. (Butterfree is good for this because you can catch its beginning stages early on in the game in Viridian Forest, so you might have one lying around in your box. It learns Stun Spore and Sleep Powder levels 14 and 15).

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    I just wanted to add that, even though I've never seen a trainer or wild Pokémon run out of PP, I have seen trainer (though not wild) Pokémon stop using certain moves after spamming them often enough. I'm not sure if I was lucky, or if the AI simply changed its behavior after a while to mask its infinite PP, but it's still worth keeping in mind.
    – Nolonar
    Commented Sep 18, 2015 at 17:59
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    Deoxys in Alpha Sapphire will use struggle when it runs out of moves. Found this out by trying to catch it with a lvl 40 Sableye (immune to Deoxys' moveset) I'm unsure about any other series however
    – user125178
    Commented Sep 18, 2015 at 18:05
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    This is at least partially incorrect and should not have been selected as an answer until updated. This is untrue for Gen II and up...otherwise the move "Spite" (and later, the ability "Pressure") wouldn't even exist.
    – BCDeWitt
    Commented Sep 18, 2015 at 18:45
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    Plenty of people have had a legendary struggle itself to death because they were trying to catch it in a cool-but-ineffective ball. Just Google shiny struggle and you'll find plenty of testimony and video evidence, dating back to at least 3rd gen.
    – user2357112
    Commented Sep 19, 2015 at 1:40
  • Okay sorry it looks like my answer was wrong. I was just answering based off memories from years ago when I was playing Diamond for the first time, and it seemed like this wild Pokemon never stopped doing moves. So I remember quickly going and Googling to see if wild Pokemon had PP and getting a WikiAnswers link of something that said they had no PP.
    – Guy
    Commented Oct 3, 2015 at 5:04

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