Looking back at the Villains in Pokemon

[Glen-i]

So with Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon featuring a big massive throwback to a whole bunch of past villains from the series, I thought it'd be nice to look back on the many villains that the series as a whole has given us. Both mainline and spin-offs alike. It goes without saying that there will be MASSIVE BLATANT SPOILERS THROUGHOUT! So, you know... Careful.

I'll also be analyzing how good their evil plan was and whether it could have actually worked if some random kid didn't ruin everything.

Just as a heads-up, I'm gonna be mostly ignoring the anime, because I just don't have much knowledge on it. Also, this is gonna be a pretty long read already.

Spoiler

Giovanni is easily the most well-known villain from the games, probably because he's from Pokemon Red and Blue. He's the leader of Team Rocket and also, in a surprise twist, the 8th Gym Leader. His master plan involves stealing rare Pokemon and using them to pretty much take over the world. A pretty basic plan for a pretty basic game. It all unravels though when the player ruins his scheme to take over Silph Co. He then disbands Team Rocket once he is defeated yet again in Viridian Gym.

Giovanni, being from generation 1, is also mentioned in a number of other games. In particular, he's mentioned in Gold/Silver (He actually appears in HeartGold/SoulSilver) and appears as one of the many trainers you could fight in the Pokemon World Tournament from Black 2/White 2 as well as Pokemon Stadium. He also has a son who serves as the Rival in Gold/Silver.

Could this plan have worked?

Sometimes the best plans are remarkably simple, and it doesn't get much simpler than Giovanni's. So assuming the player doesn't show up, it's safe to say that Giovanni probably would have gotten away with it. It really shouldn't, but seeing as how he managed to keep his identity as a Gym Leader completely secret, I have to assume the Kanto Pokemon League are utterly incompetent. So, yes. It would work.

Spoiler

Uhhhh... Pokemon Gold and Silver doesn't really have a main villain, so I'm gonna use the character they used in the remake HeartGold and SoulSilver.

Archer. Sorry, what was that? Who? Yeah, precisely. Archer is the leader of the reformed Team Rocket that appears in Pokemon Gold and Silver. His plan is to seize Goldenrod Radio Tower and use it to get back in contact with Giovanni in the hopes that he'll come back to lead Team Rocket. It kinda falls flat for two reasons, one being the typical random Pokemon Trainer busting in and beating the ever loving crap out of him, the other being the typical random Pokemon Trainer using a Celebi to time travel and beat up Giovanni before he sets off for Goldenrod City. How unlucky is that?

Archer doesn't really appear in other games.

Could this plan have worked?

It was very damn well close! HeartGold/SoulSilver reveals that Giovanni did hear the radio broadcast and was planning to go reform Team Rocket before random kid got in the way, so if you took the player out of the equation, this plan would have been a huge success. What Giovanni would actually have done after that is a whole different story.

Spoiler

Let's start with Maxie. He's the villain of Pokemon Ruby and the leader of Team Magma. His plan involves using Groudon to expand the landmasses and provide more habitats for Pokemon. Plans quickly go awry when he uses the wrong bloody McGuffin and sends Groudon into a uncontrollable rage.

Archie on the other hand is the villain of Pokemon Sapphire. His plan is the exact opposite of Maxie's. Using Kyogre to expand the ocean. And just like Maxie, he uses the wrong mystical item and ruins everything.

Could these plans have worked?

Nope, this is one of the very few instances where the player doesn't directly ruin the villain's plan. They both fail because Maxie and Archie are both idiots. Even if they didn't use the wrong thing to control the Pokemon they were going for, it still wouldn't work. Groudon would have just ended up melting the nearby Icy cave and actually increase the sea level. Archie wins the award for stupidest Pokemon villain though, because his plan would have had little to no long term impact, as this comic shows.

 

Spoiler

Mayor Es Cade is actually Evice and is the leader of Cipher. Using his disguise as Phenac City's mayor, he allows Cipher and Team Snagem to go along with his plan of creating powerful Shadow Pokemon. The plan comes to a grinding halt once the player defeats him right at the end of the game. He's quickly arrested afterwards and is only mentioned in the sequel, Pokemon XD.

Could this plan have worked?

Yes, quite easily. He was the mayor of a city, corrupt government and all that. That's a lot of political clout he can utilise. Surprisingly well thought out, and personally, it was the first Pokemon game which I thought, "That's a pretty good plan"

Spoiler

Master Greevil takes over the reigns of Cipher in Pokemon XD, and proceeds to use... the exact same plan as in Colosseum. Except this time, with a Lugia. Oh, and no mayoral position.

Could this plan have worked?

Uhhhh... I don't think so... I doubt the Orre police would have fallen for this one again. Sure, you've got a big mean Lugia and all, but you know what they say about the definition of insanity.

Spoiler

Gengar is the leader of Team Meanies, which is the lamest evil team name ever. But then, he's not really evil, he's just a dick. Impeding the player whenever possible, he ends up crossing the line when he reveals that the player is actually human to the residents of Pokemon Square, right after they learn about a prophecy where a human transforming into a Pokemon foretells the end of the world. This forces the player to go on the run as a fugitive so they're not, you know, killed. He disappears once the player finds proof that they have nothing to do with the apocalypse. (It's because of a meteor) Did I mention this game's for kids?

Right after the final boss, the player has a near-death experience and Gengar, being the Ghost Type that he is, attempts to finish the job, but has a sudden change of heart.

Completing most of the post-game content reveals that Gengar himself was the human the prophecy was talking about, after he left the Gardevoir he was training for dead after it got cursed by a Ninetales. The player helps him to revive Gardevoir at the cost of her never remembering Gengar. He never does reveal what his actual name is.

Could this plan have worked?

Well, it actually did work, for a bit. His mistake was sitting on his laurels after the player goes on the run. So yeah, change that and it'd work flawlessly.

Spoiler

Gordor is the leader of the Go-Rock Squad, whose plan is to use copies of the Ranger's Capture Styler to control Wild Pokemon and cause all sorts of problems. He's aiming for Entei, Suicune and Raikou to achieve world domination and all that. Naturally it takes the player drawing circles around them to scupper those plans.

Could this plan have worked?

Nah, for one simple reason, he needed the player to reach Entei in the first place. Take the player out of the equation and he'll never get Entei. Unwinnable situation.

Spoiler

Cyrus is the leader of Team Galactic. He wants to use Palkia and Dialga to destroy the universe, and create a new one as it's god. Quite the lofty goal, that. Luckily, a random kid beats him in a Pokemon Battle on Spear Pillar and he gives up. Cyrus is bloody creepy though. He just looks dead inside, which is quite unnerving.

Could this plan have worked?

He wants to destroy the universe, you tell me. You see, the problem with destroying a universe is that the person who does that tends to be part of that universe. So he would effectively kill himself. So he could never create that perfect world he wants so bad. And that's even assuming Palkia and Dialga can even make a new universe, which they can't. It's a stupid plan.

Spoiler

Dusknoir is the main antagonist of the second Pokemon Mystery Dungeon game. He travels back in time from a future where time has stopped to prevent Grovyle, who also time-traveled, preventing that future from happening. Yeah, it's pretty complex. Basically, he wants that Grovyle dead so time remains stopped in the future.

To better understand the way Dusknoir goes about this, it's imperative to know that Grovyle is aiming to collect the 5 Time Gears, so he can put them in Temporal Tower and prevent time stopping, this has the unfortunate side effect of temporarily stopping time in the area the Time Gear was, quickly making Grovyle a wanted criminal in the present time. The problem is, that Grovyle is pretty good at sneaking around, so Dusknoir decides to enlist the help of the Guild explorers to help capture Grovyle. This includes the player. The plan works perfectly and Grovyle is brought back to the future, but not before Dusknoir drags the player and their friend to the future with him. After a botched execution, the player escapes with Grovyle, who convinces him that Dusknoir is the bad guy. This eventually leads to Dusknoir's downfall when the player and Grovyle defeat him in the Hidden Land and Grovyle is forced to trap both himself and Dusknoir in the future, allowing the player to return the Time Gears to Temporal Tower.

It's safe to say that Dusknoir is easily the most complex villain to date in the Pokemon games. He's a manipulative genius who very nearly gets away with it. And yet, the main reason he does all this is because he's afraid that the future changing would erase him from history as well.

Could this plan have worked?

You can't really ignore the player in this scenario, because the player also traveled back in time to change history (Yeah, Mystery Dungeon stories rock). Strangely enough, it's the secondary friend that proves to be the spanner in the works for Dusknoir. If he had left that friend in the present time, there'd be no way Dusknoir's plan could fail. So yeah, another close call.

Spoiler

Blake Hall is the leader of Team Dim Sun. His nefarious scheme involves using computers to control the minds of Pokemon. Pretty standard fare, really. His plan goes down the toilet when he tries to control a Darkrai and overloads his machine.

Could this plan have worked?

No, he got greedy. In fact, if the player wasn't there, he'd be dead.

Spoiler

Purple Eyes is the head of the Pokemon Pinchers. His master plan involves him waiting until his boss, Edward, creates special armour for a Mewtwo, and then stab him in the back (Not literally, this isn't a Mystery Dungeon game), and take the armour for himself, allowing him to control Mewtwo. Of course, the player puts an end to that when he draws circles around a Mewtwo a whole bunch.

Could this plan have worked?

Yeah, it's a pretty lazy, but well thought out plan, wait until someone creates awesome thing, then steal awesome thing for yourself. The player is the only thing that ruins his plan.

Spoiler

Dennis... I mean, Ghetsis Harmonia is the leader of Team Plasma. His plan involves convincing the residents of Unova that Pokemon Battling is wrong using N as his spokesperson. N can speak with Pokemon and is convinced that Pokemon Training is nothing short of cruel. This is just a front, however, as Ghetsis wants to be the only person with Pokemon, effectively giving him all the power. And he wants N to revive Zekrom and Reshiram so that he can catch them himself to make himself even more untouchable. The plan goes tits-up when the player defeats N right at the end of the game and Ghetsis loses the plot and battles the player.

Ghetsis marks a remarkable departure from mainline Pokemon Final Battles. Instead of the usual Champion fight, you fight Ghetsis. And he is certainly no slouch. Boasting Pokemon in the Level 60 region, he's easily one of the toughest fights in the game. Plus he uses a hacked Hydreigon, and you can't get more evil than that.

It's kinda implied that he suffered a stroke at some point, due to his eye mask, his slightly slouching mouth and the fact he never uses his right arm. (In Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon, he even throws Poke Balls with his left arm)

Could this plan have worked?

Not really sure about the whole "Getting people to release their Pokemon" deal, but he certainly has the Pokemon he needs to become the most powerful trainer in Unova, at least. Add Zekrom and Reshiram to the mix, and he'd be very scary. In fact, he's already scary.

Spoiler

Nobunaga is a warlord whose goal is to conquer Ransei so he can destroy Arceus, which is said to appear once someone does that. He's not actually a Pokemon character, technically, what with this being a crossover game.

Could this plan have worked?

He could definitely conquer Ransei, he's already half way there when the game starts, and he's got a Zekrom and a shiny Rayquaza. As for destroying Arceus, I'm not so sure... What kind of problems could arise from killing the Pokemon equivalent of God? Not the smartest idea, in my opinion.

Spoiler

 

Yup, those are the villains. Didn't see that one coming, huh? While Kyurem is technically the main villain, Munna is the main driving antagonistic force in Gates to Infinity. On Kyurem's request, she goes around sending any humans who have transformed into Pokemon back to the human world so that they don't destroy the Bittercold. The Bittercold is a nasty piece of work that will end up destroying the Pokemon world, and they both know this. In fact, they want to die along with the world.

In other words, they're a suicide cult. This game is rated PEGI 3.

The plan fails because the player beats both of them and ends up destroying the Bittercold through sheer power... of friendship.

Could this plan have worked?

Yeah, no Pokemon is able to even go near the Bittercold, so remove the player, who is the last remaining human in Pokemon form, and they win. Or lose, because they die. But they want that... Hmmm...

Spoiler

Lysandre leads Team Flare and he wants to create a new, beautiful world in his image. He needs Xerneas/Yveltal to make an "Ultimate Weapon" utilising their power to kill everyone who isn't part of Team Flare. Of course, the player stops this plan dead. It's heavily implied that Lysandre dies in the ensuing explosion from his Ultmate Weapon malfunctioning.

Could this plan have worked?

I guess, I can't really see anything majorly wrong with the plan. Kalos has a pretty awful police force, because this guy doesn't even try to hide the fact he's blatantly evil and no-one figures it out. So, he does what Cyrus couldn't. Although I doubt he's able to rebuild the world the way he wants.

Spoiler

Nuzleaf is one of two main antagonists in this game. The other being Yveltal. Nuzleaf does most of the work though. However, it's a brainwashed scenario this time, as Nuzleaf is under the control of something known as Dark Matter. His main goal is to kill the player so that Dark Matter can continue with it's plan of flinging the Pokemon world into the sun. So yeah, pretty big stakes, as per usual for Mystery Dungeon.

The plan is made a hell of a lot easier when the player suffers amnesia as a result of their previous clash with Dark Matter (The game begins after the amnesia sets in, so you know none of this when you start. Nuzleaf changes tack and pretends to be the players friend in order to manipulate them into helping him up Revelation Mountain so he can open up a sealed spring with water that can cure petrification, which Yveltal has been whacking legendary Pokemon off with.

Could this plan have worked?

Not quite, Nuzleaf suffered from getting too greedy. If he had just killed the player, there'd be no hope.

Spoiler

Lusamine is the president of Aether Foundation. Her goal is not exactly clear, but she claims that she wants to protect all Pokemon out of love. Unfortunately, "love" consists of freezing Pokemon to preserve them. She wants to use Cosmog to venture into Ultra Space and spread that love to the Ultra Beasts there.

Safe to say, Lusamine is more than a bit deranged. Her plan goes horribly wrong when she's posessed by Nihilego.

Could this plan have worked?

What plan? Freeze all the Pokemon? Even without the player, this wouldn't have worked because she sorely underestimated Nihilego. In fact, this is the second situation in the Pokemon games where the player saves the villain. Despite that, I should say that I do like Lusamine. She sells creepy nutjob very well. 

Boy, that took forever! But there's all the villains that have appeared in Pokemon games. Which one is your favourite? Any you didn't like?

Edited November 24, 2017 by Glen-i

[Ronnie]

Nice work.

The only Pokemon game I've ever played (and likely will ever play) is X and the cardboard cutout villain with the most cliched master plan ever made me realise... people don't play Pokemon games for the storyline!

[Hero-of-Time]

Cracking read @Glen-i. although I skipped the MD ones just in case I play them at some point.

My vote goes Giovanni. You never forget your first.  Plus, he looks evil, was a gym leader and froze and then shattered a Pokemon in the manga. 

[Julius]

Brilliant post @Glen-i! 

Spoiler

What are your thoughts on the theory that Giovanni’s motivations in the game not only push Rocket to catch rare Pokémon, but specifically Mewtwo?

For instance (and I’m probably missing a lot of other evidence, but alas), Giovanni drops a Silph Scope on B4F of their Celadon Game Corner hideout, which can be used in the game to identify the Ghost Pokémon of Lavendar Town’s Pokémon Tower; it would seem that Giovanni might have been after Ghost Pokémon due to them being strong against Psychic Pokémon (i.e. Mewtwo). It could also explain why he was after the Master Ball, even if it was only a prototype: he wanted to capture Mewtwo, specifically, at any cost (I mean, literally and figuratively I guess), and this would enable him to do so. I know the film’s aren’t considered game canon, but capturing Mewtwo the mass market Poké Ball isn’t exactly the most reliable way to capture Mewtwo.

I just like the hints of a potential stories here and there in the games to be honest, though I loved it when they want much more plot heavy than usual with Gen V.

3 hours ago, Ronnie said:

Nice work.

The only Pokemon game I've ever played (and likely will ever play) is X and the cardboard cutout villain with the most cliched master plan ever made me realise... people don't play Pokemon games for the storyline!

I’m of the opinion that the Mystery Dungeon franchise has the most underrated story in a Japanese video game, especially considering Explorers of Time/Darkness/Sky.

But yeah, it’s something I’d like to see them flesh out a bit more with the Switch games when they come. Gen V hinted at greater potential for storytelling than I think even some diehard fans were expecting, so I’d love to see Pokémon dip further into the storytelling aspect of being a JRPG, in similar ways that Breath of the Wild and Odyssey leaned into their respective genres (action adventure and platformer, respectively) for a fresh and exciting take on the franchise.

[Jonnas]

Pretty cool retrospective. I only played the first 3 generations, but I've been aware of the villains Pokémon has had. I was hoping to see Guzma in there, but I guess he wasn't the main villain, huh?

Though I don't think "How close they got to their goal" is that important as much as their presence, design, and characterization. For example, Archer was pretty close to his goals, but his goal was to be someone else's lackey, and he's super generic. On the other end, Lysander's goal seemed doomed from the start, but he's got a cool look and theme song going for him.

20 hours ago, Glen-i said:

this guy doesn't even try to hide the fact he's blatantly evil and no-one figures it out

Anyway, I was always fond of how simple Giovanni is in concept: a Mafia don hiding in plain sight as an official Gym Leader. He looks the part, too. Too bad his team gets wrecked by HM03.

Spoiler

She looks super creepy. A Pokémon serial killer? Whose motivations tie into her status as an abusive mother? She honestly sounds like the best villain of the bunch.

(And just to reiterate the previous point, it's weird to talk about a serial killer villain in terms of "Have they fulfilled their goal?", considering a serial killer is constantly fulfilling their goal in any given story)

I know you didn't want to touch on additional material, but Manga!Giovanni is a pretty awesome villain whose team does not get wrecked by HM03. It doesn't get wrecked at all. He's a highly pragmatic trainer who destroys Red's team super efficiently by summoning multiple Pokémon at once, jamming the opponent's Pokéballs with poison sting, and being 5 steps ahead in general. He only lost that match because Red's attack was a couple of seconds faster than he anticipated (Red was wearing insulating gloves, which allowed Pikachu to fire a Thunderbolt directly at Giovanni from the Pokéball. The Manga gets weird.)

Edited November 24, 2017 by Jonnas

[Glen-i]

20 hours ago, Ronnie said:

The only Pokemon game I've ever played (and likely will ever play) is X and the cardboard cutout villain with the most cliched master plan ever made me realise... people don't play Pokemon games for the storyline!

Not necessarily, while the basic storyline of good VS evil is normally pretty by-the-books, Pokemon games, especially lately, has some great characters with interesting backgrounds. It started with Ghetsis and N in Black/White and has carried on with a number of characters in Sun/Moon. Even old characters like Anabel from Emerald has been retconned to have more interesting backstories. Plus, if you want great storylines with surprisingly dark undertones, you go to Mystery Dungeon.

16 hours ago, Julius Caesar said:

 

  What are your thoughts on this Giovanni theory? (Reveal hidden contents)

What are your thoughts on the theory that Giovanni’s motivations in the game not only push Rocket to catch rare Pokémon, but specifically Mewtwo?

For instance (and I’m probably missing a lot of other evidence, but alas), Giovanni drops a Silph Scope on B4F of their Celadon Game Corner hideout, which can be used in the game to identify the Ghost Pokémon of Lavendar Town’s Pokémon Tower; it would seem that Giovanni might have been after Ghost Pokémon due to them being strong against Psychic Pokémon (i.e. Mewtwo). It could also explain why he was after the Master Ball, even if it was only a prototype: he wanted to capture Mewtwo, specifically, at any cost (I mean, literally and figuratively I guess), and this would enable him to do so. I know the film’s aren’t considered game canon, but capturing Mewtwo the mass market Poké Ball isn’t exactly the most reliable way to capture Mewtwo.

 

That certainly makes a lot of sense. Which is more than I can say for other fan theories. (That Kangaskhan and Cubone one has more holes in it than an Exploud) In fact, after seeing Giovanni's team in US/UM, I think it's pretty much canon.

Although, you did remind me that in the original games, Gengar, the only Ghost type, is actually one of the worst Pokemon you could put up against a Mewtwo. Due to Gen 1's lack of any good Ghost attacks and Gengar's Ghost/Poison typing. Nothing to do with the theory, just a funny side effect of Gen 1's balance issues.

4 hours ago, Jonnas said:

Though I don't think "How close they got to their goal" is that important as much as their presence, design, and characterization. For example, Archer was pretty close to his goals, but his goal was to be someone else's lackey, and he's super generic. On the other end, Lysander's goal seemed doomed from the start, but he's got a cool look and theme song going for him.

It's a reasonable point, I wasn't trying to suggest that the quality of their plan was the most important aspect to them. I just found it fun to think about "What if's".

4 hours ago, Jonnas said:

I was hoping to see Guzma in there, but I guess he wasn't the main villain, huh?

No, he definitely isn't. But Guzma is a very interesting case. His ambitions are incredibly, well, unambitious. He's content to just interrupt people doing the Island Trials, and during the course of the game, if the player looks hard enough, you can find plenty of stuff that fills in more of Guzma's backstory.

Spoiler

I particularly liked stumbling upon Guzma's parents house on Route 2 after finishing the game. I couldn't help but feel a little sorry for his mother, who tells the player something along the lines of, "I knew all those people bad-mouthing Guzma were lying" She clearly heard what Guzma had been doing, and I have to wonder if she actually believes what she's saying.

As much as I roll my eyes at the constant Kanto references in Sun/Moon, it certainly has some of the most interesting characters in Pokemon, and I hope that Game Freak keep that trend up. (With a bit more Gen V plot quality)

Oh, and I just want to point out, that just because I didn't mention the anime or manga, doesn't mean no-one else can. I just know incredibly little about them, so I didn't want to focus on them.

Oh, and for reference. My favourite villain is from the second Mystery Dungeon game. Ghetsis is my favourite mainline one.

Edited November 24, 2017 by Glen-i

[Ike]

On 11/24/2017 at 9:40 AM, Jonnas said:

 

 

Oh, so that's how his videos ended up in my feed. I was going to post this as well.

I'm a total genwunner so I have to go with the OG and go with Giovanni, I liked his twist in Red/Blue.

Runner up is probably Cyrus, the guy was nuts and just decided to hang out in the Distortion World and if it counts, N. I guess he was more of a rival though.