The upcoming Pokémon Scarlet and Violet are the next generation of games in the mainline series, and they'll hopefully have an evil Team that's actually evil. The Teams, from Rocket to Yell, have been a part of Pokémon since its creation, but they've been somewhat lacking in the last few games. The lightening of the Teams is part of a greater complaint by some that the series is becoming more and more toothless, so hopefully, the next games can reverse the trend and show players a truly wicked criminal organization.
In Pokémon games, one of the major parts of the story is an antagonistic Team. These Teams typically serve as villains throughout the game, and although they have varying goals and ideals, they share a desire to steal Pokémon and impede the player character on their journey. Pokémon's Poké Balls have never caught humans, but the Teams might if they could, as they'll often do whatever it takes to stop the protagonist. Some Teams are simple; Team Rocket wants world domination, cut and dry, but others are more complicated. Team Galactic, for example, wants to rewrite reality itself. It's safe to say that they're fairly evil, but the last few Teams in recent Pokémon games haven't been as much.
Team Skull and Team Yell, the two most recent evil Teams, have been more annoying than anything. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet's Team, if indeed it has one, needs to be truly evil so that the series can move away from what it's done in the past and make its younger and older fans happy. Why it's been making its Teams less and less evil is something that may only ever be known to the company, but it might have something to do with the series' reputation as a kid's game and the attitudes surrounding video games in general in recent years. Pokémon Scarlet and Violet and Legends: Arceus are hopefully signs that the series is changing its ways.
Pokémon's Evil Teams Haven't Been Living Up To Their Reputation
Team Skull was the villainous organization of Pokémon's Gen 7 games, Sun and Moon and their Ultra versions. Although their name sounds sinister, they themselves aren't very much. Unlike the Teams that came before them, they don't want world domination or to free all Pokémon. The only goal they seem to have is to mess up the island challenge for anyone who attempts it, possibly because most of their members failed it themselves. They're a stark contrast with most other Teams and a jarring shift from the genocidal Team Flare of Gen 6.
Team Yell is the evil Team of Gen 8. Continuing the trend of the Teams being less evil, they're nothing more than Gym Trainers from Spikemuth who want to see Marnie win Galar's League Challenge. Sword and Shield isn't the hardest Pokémon game, and part of the reason is that Team Yell doesn't actually do much to stop players on their journey. The worst thing they seem to do is to harass one person with a bike, and even that helps the player character because he gives them the bike after they run Team Yell off. Even Team Skull, who worked for the Aether Foundation, is worse than Yell since they actively help Gloria or Victor in defeating Macro Cosmos.
Pokémon Scarlet & Violet's Team Needs To Be Evil Villains
There's a lot that's still not yet known about Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. How closely they'll follow the series' traditional formula for its mainline games is uncertain as of yet, but the games' open world is a promising sign that innovation is coming. It's not even known if there is an "evil" Team that will try to get in the player characters' way when the game releases. It's possible that Pokémon Scarlet and Violet proves every prediction wrong, and that there won't be a Team at all. If there is, however, it needs to be better (and more evil) than Teams Skull and Yell. Although other organizations stepped in to fill the evil void that they left, the fact remains that they're a sign that the games are growing more and more toothless as time goes on.
Many have had some complaints about the more recent games in the Pokémon mainline series, especially about the fact that they're light on innovation and have been growing too easy. Legends: Arceus came as a relief due to its new features, and Scarlet and Violet look like they will follow in its footsteps. It lacked an evil Team, however, and even though there were antagonists, it still didn't stop the trend of the Teams growing soft. Pokémon Legends: Arceus might have introduced tactics and new features, but Pokémon Scarlet and Violet need to do more in order to break away from what the rest of the mainline series has done. In order to attract fans that have wavered from the series due to its stagnation and hand-holding, they need to make a villainous Team actually evil.
Why Have Pokémon's Teams Been Getting Less Evil?
Among the many fans accusing Pokémon of coddling its players, there are some who ask why. The series' initial games were plenty difficult, so there has to be a reason for it to loosen its grip over time. One explanation is that the games are (and have been) made for kids, and while the ones who grew up with the early games were happy to play them, difficulty and all, newer generations aren't. Legends: Arceus' unnecessary Arc Phone proves that Pokémon, like many forms of media, is, unfortunately, pandering to its younger demographic more than its older one. Making the Teams less evil could be one part of how it's trying to appeal to younger audiences, or perhaps to the parents who would buy their children the games.
Despite what some might say, however, video games aren't just for kids, and especially not Pokémon games. Some of the biggest fans of the series are those who have been with it from the beginning, and plenty of people are not happy that they've been ignored in favor of newer, younger players. With long-standing series like Pokémon, there are large adult fanbases that might even be bigger than the younger ones.
Legends: Arceus and Scarlet and Violet's trailer are signs that the company is starting to listen to its adult fans, and Pokémon Legends: Arceus' Linking Cord proves new games might have some features that fans have been asking for, so hopefully Pokémon finds a good balance that makes all of its players happy. In order to do that, however, Pokémon Scarlet and Violet need to have an evil Team that's more like the dastardly Team Rocket than the supportive Team Yell.