This is just something random that i find kind of odd

Geodude and its evolutions is able to learn both Defense Curl and Harden...its the only Pokemon in R/B/Y that can do so

both moves do the exact same thing...raise your pokemon Defense by 1 stage

Defense Curl has 40 PP while Harden only has 30...giving Defense Curl the edge in my opinion (although it isn't much of an edge)

so why does Geodude learn the better move Defense Curl at Level 11 and then try to learn Harden at Level 26?...don't you think the game developers should have switched when Geodude learns the 2 moves around?

Well, I have no idea. o_O
This is pretty random, I guess.

...Shortest thread ever... It is kind of strange. Geodude should really only learn one of the two moves if they do the same thing.

Maybe it's a mistake? It doesn't make any sense. It could have been caused by a miscommunication or a lack of communication when they were giving it moves, although it makes sense that he'd be able to do both.

I don't think this was a mistake; this carried through Crystal. Most likely, they did this because of a lack of moves that Geodude could learn leveling up. Both are moves that could seem natural for him to learn. He's a rock and a ball. The same could not be said of, say, Sandshrew.

Or maybe this was a mistake initially, and they decided to keep it on in Gold and Silver to play to Rollout, while leaving a 'stronger' option to take as well.

Or it could have been ignorance, and then copy and pasted, before the whole thing had to be reprogrammed in Ruby and Sapphire, and they only then noticed the oddity.

...I like my first theory better.

From Gen II on Defense Curl complements Rollout, boosting it's power and thus became the more useful of the two. Whether the developers realized the prior nonsensical existence of both in the Geodude line's move set as an error and intentionally created this to set them apart or if it were just a coincidence is unknown.

Also keep in mind however that in Gen I Rock Pokemon moves were kind of scarce I believe. So they might have just needed a filler.

i must say that you have very sharp observation any ways thanks for sharing this with us

At least the Anime has some better distinctions. Harden literally hardening the body while Defense Curl calls for the Pokemon to curl up, which are two different actions. But yeah that's weird for the game perspective, especially in older games (Gens 1-3) when Pokemon don't learn too many moves via level up, or in general.

Well i definitely agree to Kiga Geodude doesn't have that many skills and these skills are for defense only. For me it's also natural that Geodude learns these moves he's a rock so why hesitate with his skills. Just sayin' though.