A core aspect of every mainline Pokémon game, at least for me, is the story. In every game, the young player character sets out on a journey to defeat an antagonistic organization that has its own unrealistic, oftentimes insane, goal. At this point, it is a staple of the iconic franchise.
As it so happens, knowledge of the Pokémon antagonists is my specialty. I played my first Pokémon game, Pokémon Black, at 5 years old and instantly fell in love with the villainous organizations. Thus, I think that I am qualified to give my opinions on this subject. I will be taking the mainline Pokémon games, the Pokémon Adventures manga, and the Pokémon anime into account in this ranking. Additionally, I will only be talking about the six of the villainous teams, since I believe Team Skull, Team Yell, and Team Star cannot be considered true villains.
Ranking sixth on this list is Team Flare. It is agreed upon by many fans online that Team Flare’s goals were confusing and muddled. However, I still enjoy Team Flare as a concept. This villainous organization debuted in the 2013 games Pokémon X and Pokémon Y. Set in the fictional region of Kalos, which is equivalent to the real life country of France, these games centered around the universal concepts of life and death. The goal of this organization was to make the world a more beautiful place by killing everyone who is not deemed a chosen one by their standards. Many fans of the franchise do not like Pokémon X and Y, but I thought that they were good games. While the admins of Team Flare are not particularly memorable and its leader, Lysandre, does not disguise himself very well as a villain, I find them endearing.
Next up is Team Rocket, which is a pretty controversial opinion. I know that many hail Team Rocket as the best Pokémon villainous team, but I personally find them quite bland. They first debuted in 1996 in the first generation of Pokémon games, and returned in many second generation games, including Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal, and the remakes of the first two generation games. Sure, Team Rocket’s shtick of monopolizing and profiting off of the immersive variety of pokémon is more realistic than later villainous organizations’ goals, but there is nothing particularly special about it to me. I think the idea of a mafia in a children’s game is interesting and I respect the fact that Team Rocket set the standard for Pokémon villains to come, but they are simply not my top choice of a villainous team.
As much as it pains me to do this, I am putting Team Magma in fourth. This team has steadily been growing on me over time, though. Team Magma was introduced in Pokémon Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald and sought to expand the land so that humanity could develop further. Team Magma was shallow in the generation three games, having not much character depth, but they were later expanded upon in the 2014 generation three remakes, Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, and given new designs. Team Magma’s leader is Maxie, and its admins are Courtney, Tabitha, and Blaise, who is exclusive to the Pokémon manga.
My favorite incarnation of Team Magma, however, comes from the Pokémon manga, Pokémon Adventures, or Pokéspe as it is called by fans. This version of Team Magma stars a raging alcoholic of a leader and three admins who desire nothing more than to watch the world burn. A lot of fans believe that Pokémon Adventures soiled Team Magma and Team Aqua, but I really admire the fact that the creators of the manga gave the team’s personality without having much to work off of from the original games. Plus, I think that Team Magma’s uniforms for its lower-ranking members are great.
Team Galactic holds a special place in my heart. Pokémon Pearl was the second Pokémon game that I ever played. Pokémon Diamond and Pearl were released for the Nintendo DS in 2006, and Pokémon Platinum, an upgraded version of its predecessors, was released in 2008. Team Galactic, like many other aspects of the original generation four games, also gets an upgrade in Pokémon Platinum. While admittedly dramatic, I really like Team Galactic’s vision for an ideal universe: a world devoid of any emotion or spirit. Plus, I find Team Galactic’s commanders, Mars, Saturn, and Jupiter in Pokémon Diamond and Pearl with the addition of Charon in Pokémon Platinum, extremely loveable. Additionally, I think that their leader, Cyrus, is one of the most fleshed out characters in the Pokémon series as a whole. His anime counterpart is disappointing, but his manga version is, funnily enough, the first villain in the series to be redeemed. While I am not a fan of the outfits that the lower ranking members of Team Galactic have to wear and the teal bowl cuts that they sport, I still appreciate this villainous team greatly.
Earlier in this list, I placed Team Magma as fourth on my ranking of Pokémon villainous teams. However, it is impossible to talk about Team Magma without talking about its adversary, Team Aqua. The third generation of Pokémon games was released in 2002 and brought with it two new villainous teams, Team Magma and Team Aqua. Team Magma is fought in Pokémon Ruby, Team Aqua is fought in Pokémon Sapphire and both are fought in Pokémon Emerald. Since Team Magma wants to expand the land, it is only natural that Team Aqua wants to expand the oceans to give water type pokémon more room to thrive. Team Aqua’s second in commands are Shelly, Matt, and Amber, who, like Team Magma’s Blaise, only exist in the Pokémon Adventures manga. The team’s leader, Archie, is my favorite pokémon character to ever exist due to the manga, so maybe I am more than a little biased with this ranking. I think that the whole idea of a Pokémon villainous team composed entirely of pirates is just incredible. Plus, the heated rivalry between Team Magma and Team Aqua is one of my favorite concepts in any Pokémon game. I wish that Team Aqua’s battle theme was not identical to that of Team Magma’s, but otherwise, I enjoy everything about them. Alpha Sapphire only brought the team new life and more depth, although the manga version of Team Aqua is undoubtedly my favorite.
Undoubtedly, Team Plasma is the best villainous organization in all of the Pokémon games. I may be biased, however, since Pokémon Black was my first Pokémon game – I played it for the first time at age 5 – and Natural Harmonia Gropius, or simply N, the puppet king of Team Plasma, is one of my favorite characters in any media. The story of Team Plasma starts and ends with N, a boy who was raised by pokémon in the wilderness until he was found by his adoptive father, Ghetsis Harmonia Gropius. From the moment that N was taken in, he was locked away from the rest of the world and shown nothing but the impact of human abuse on pokémon. So, at the time that the games are set, it is only natural for N to want to liberate all pokémon from their cruel owners. He desires to awaken the legendary pokémon of Pokémon Black and White to change the world and shape it to his ideal. However, the protagonist of these games can teach N that not everything is black and white and that the world comes in varying shades of gray. At the end of the game, though, it is revealed that N was only ever adopted by his father, Ghetsis, so that he could convince the world to release all their pokémon and so that Ghetsis could be the only one to use pokémon.
I believe that Team Plasma not only has the best story but that they also have the best battle themes. N’s theme when he appears, Prisoner to a Formula, is also a personal favorite. I never skip the opening cutscene, which features N’s coronation, in Pokémon Black and White. The sequels to Pokémon Black and White, Pokémon Black 2 and White 2, feature an upgraded version of Team Plasma, Neo Team Plasma. Even the Pokémon Adventures version of Team Plasma is perfect. Seriously, Team Plasma is the greatest Pokémon villainous team of all time.
In summary, I really enjoy how the older Pokémon games handled their villains as a whole. All of the games’ villainous teams give me great nostalgia and I have good memories associated with each Pokémon game.
