Team Rocket's Goal in the Gen 1 games

[Leaf_Ranger]

First of all, I'd be happier if Rainbow Rocket didn't existed. Seems more of Gen. I pandering and adding multiverse villains to call on nostalgia.

Team Rocket is the most common used team for different purposes in the games and mostly in the anime.

In Gen. I they're just the yakuza type gang that hangs at casino's and harass others to get what they want. No direct plot connection to Mewtwo, Mew and the legendary birds. The fact that they had conquered cities like Celadon and Saffron makes it seem more like a common territory move from a gang than that of a bigger organisation.
In Gen. II not much has improved. Slowpoke's tails, really? Calling out to Giovanni like a bunch of orphans? I'd like more of the lake plot than all the previous. They could even have that connected to the ruins of Alph that would make certain Pkmn evolve instead of AncientPower.

USUM just augmented Giovanni's role's based on the anime which has a bigger and better portrayal of Team Rocket as an evil organisation with tentacles reaching far and wide and that's what we need to see in a future Kanto game or inclusion of Team Rocket. We need more Admins. and more agents like what we saw in Chronicles and movies, different outfits, ranks, weapons and gadgets, modus operandi, etc.

There should be a game where the plot is "simply" the clash of TIPolice and TR. Imagine that we could choose a side and the start of the game would be coming to a new region through the S.S. Anne as an undercover agent for one of the factions and had to start building a new base of operations, with a system of quests including capturing or liberating Pkmn, obtain information, recruit people, namely a Prof. .

 

[Rainfall]

[posted draft--plan to edit later, sorry!]

I really enjoy this thread and the idea! The raison d'être for the villainous team has in many of the games been a/the core driver for the narrative.
Some not likely/necessarily well-edited thoughts on this I have. They're not very good, they're just my thoughts. And I often go on tangent.

I feel that each region (and associated debut generation) introduces some major and minor themes with theme. The main themes tend to relate to both the primary/mascot legendary grouping and the villainous team's mission.

(I might use the terms "region" and "('debut) generation' " interchangeablely, so please excuse my lack of clarity there.)

I'll start with a thematic overview.
Gen 1: g; p
Gen 2: t; g?
Gen 3: c; r
Gen 4: o; s, c
Gen 5: l & b, [..]
Gen 6: m/e, [..]
Gen 7: a, p
Gen 8: e & e

Gen 1: [...to copy over later]

[...to complete, sorry!]

 

[RK9]

Kabutops/Omastar would have been enhanced a la Mewtwo.

This one is really cool to think about in hindsight considering what Genesect is.

 

[Bolt Strike]

There should be a game where the plot is "simply" the clash of TIPolice and TR. Imagine that we could choose a side and the start of the game would be coming to a new region through the S.S. Anne as an undercover agent for one of the factions and had to start building a new base of operations, with a system of quests including capturing or liberating Pkmn, obtain information, recruit people, namely a Prof. .

Never going to happen. Game Freak won't let you play as a villain because it's a kid friendly series and they want to keep the storyline fairly innocent. I think a branched storyline where you can choose between opposing sides would be interesting, but that's not how they're going to do it. If they're ever going to go that route it'd be between two sides that could both be considered "good" but just have equally valid conflicting views. Something closer to say, Magma vs. Aqua minus the apocalyptic legendary plot, or the Unova Pokemon League vs. the "good" remnants of Team Plasma in BW2 under N and Rood. Team Rocket won't be part of that since there's no real redeeming qualities in that organization, they're just evil for the sake of being evil.

 

[SlowGinFizzzz]

Fossils (fossil Pokémon?) = money
The game corner = money
Controlling Silph Co. = money and power
(Mewtwo = power)

Ultimately Team Rocket just wants money and power. They are involved everywhere so they can make money from everywhere. Don't forget, Team Rocket is based on the Mafia, after all. I actually quite like that there's no one big apocalyptic goal they're working towards and instead they're just this kinda lowkey, but also kinda omnipresent criminal organisation that essentially controls Kanto (or tries to, at least). This being said, I do wish the Mew/Mewtwo plot was more fleshed out and not just "here's a vague reference, there's some diary entries, just connect that with the manga and the first movie and voilà!", it's a shame Let's Go (or even FireRed/LeafGreen) didn't provide some more depth and insight into this matter.

 

[Leaf_Ranger]

Never going to happen. Game Freak won't let you play as a villain because it's a kid friendly series and they want to keep the storyline fairly innocent. I think a branched storyline where you can choose between opposing sides would be interesting, but that's not how they're going to do it. If they're ever going to go that route it'd be between two sides that could both be considered "good" but just have equally valid conflicting views. Something closer to say, Magma vs. Aqua minus the apocalyptic legendary plot, or the Unova Pokemon League vs. the "good" remnants of Team Plasma in BW2 under N and Rood. Team Rocket won't be part of that since there's no real redeeming qualities in that organization, they're just evil for the sake of being evil.

For all the blame that GF can take due to their recent failures (compared to previous games and not sales wise), I think TPCi is also to blame in that kid-friendly approach. Unfortunately and despite not being the truth, continuing with the same formula can be used as an argument that Nintendo games are for kids.

 

[Bolt Strike]

For all the blame that GF can take due to their recent failures (compared to previous games and not sales wise), I think TPCi is also to blame in that kid-friendly approach. Unfortunately and despite not being the truth, continuing with the same formula can be used as an argument that Nintendo games are for kids.

I don't think they're necessarily wrong for going kid-friendly, because otherwise they're leaving money on the table for a very lucrative market for them. GTA Pokemon is never going to sell as well as a kid-friendly Pokemon because you can't sell the former to kids. That being said, I don't think ONLY focusing on kids is a good idea too for the same reason, cutting out your longtime adult following is also going to limit sales. I think what Pokemon needs to be is a series for all ages, something that kids and adults alike enjoy. And for the most part, I think that's what they've tried to do.

At any rate, joining Team Rocket doesn't really fit that well. They're trying to promote positive values for kids, they won't want to let kids go all GTA stealing and killing and all of that when they might not yet understand why it's wrong to do those things IRL. Adults, yes, but not kids. So they won't do that.

 

[Daenerys]

I mean did they need to have a complicated goal? I thought it was hinted at that they were mainly after money and stole rare Pokemon to sell on the black market.

 

[Bolt Strike]

I mean did they need to have a complicated goal? I thought it was hinted at that they were mainly after money and stole rare Pokemon to sell on the black market.

Well, yes and no. They don't need a complicated goal per se, but the problem with Team Rocket is that the storyline typically hinges on the evil team's plans, and with Team Rocket's events being generic bad guy stuff that, it was a major part of Kanto's storyline feeling pretty dull and empty (the other major factor being most of the characters being glorified punching bags on your quest to become Champion with little to no meaningful characterization). The issue is a matter of how do you make fighting Team Rocket more interesting?

 

[RK9]

I don't think every enemy needs to be deep to be honest. I think Team Rocket was great just for being easy and simple "WE just want money and power to rule Kanto from the shadows". But of a Yakuza in Japan vibe. I can really appreciate.

It's also really cool how a 10-years old just went "Nah, I'm not having it." and just toppled them all by himself. (Contrary to other generations where you at least get some sort of help of others like your rivals or Gym Leaders or something.)

 

[Norzan]

If anything, i'm getting sick of post-apocalyptic scenarios that are in danger of being caused by an evil team or some single person because their plan is absolutely ridiculous and over-the-top, and Team Rocket not attempting it is something i can appreciate. That and legendaries being always the center focus for a lot of the story, i miss when all legendaries were relegated to optional stuff exclusively. Remember going to Whirl Islands and have no clue what was inside except for a legend of a pokemon that causes whirlpools? That was cool and i miss that.

The problem with Team Rocket is how underdeveloped to hell they are, they barely have any character. I don't want them to be relatable given their goal, but you can be an asshole while being entertaining and charimastic. Not a single character in Team Rocket reaches anywhere close to that, they are really bland and boring to me.

 

[El Squibbonator]

Except for our favorite three members from the anime, of course.

 

[Leaf_Ranger]

I don't think they're necessarily wrong for going kid-friendly, because otherwise they're leaving money on the table for a very lucrative market for them. GTA Pokemon is never going to sell as well as a kid-friendly Pokemon because you can't sell the former to kids. That being said, I don't think ONLY focusing on kids is a good idea too for the same reason, cutting out your longtime adult following is also going to limit sales. I think what Pokemon needs to be is a series for all ages, something that kids and adults alike enjoy. And for the most part, I think that's what they've tried to do.

At any rate, joining Team Rocket doesn't really fit that well. They're trying to promote positive values for kids, they won't want to let kids go all GTA stealing and killing and all of that when they might not yet understand why it's wrong to do those things IRL. Adults, yes, but not kids. So they won't do that.

Well, yes and no. They don't need a complicated goal per se, but the problem with Team Rocket is that the storyline typically hinges on the evil team's plans, and with Team Rocket's events being generic bad guy stuff that, it was a major part of Kanto's storyline feeling pretty dull and empty (the other major factor being most of the characters being glorified punching bags on your quest to become Champion with little to no meaningful characterization). The issue is a matter of how do you make fighting Team Rocket more interesting?

While not being the best example (namely due to some censorship), I think Star Wars is a good comparison example on how to diversify and having from more adult stories to kids' shows and I think Pkmn should follow that way. I know they won't give up the younger market because each year there are newcomers to the gaming world and to Pkmn but the franchise has a well established older fanbase that wishes to be catered to.

Team Rocket isn't (nor should be) complicated in terms of wanting a new world that requires a Legendary Pkmn and a moral point to be made in the plot but due to their size and regional branches we can have a more complex story with factions within TR striving to get the upper hand inside the organization or lead it into a new direction (for example, going more military-style with a careful recruitment process, more effective instead of just being a casino gang, scientists trying to come up with the next great tool...). Generation II gave us four Adms. that could fit these roles, namely after what happened in Goldenrod and having failed to reunite with Giovanni.
Playing as TR doesn't necessarily needs to be GTA...you could be an agent pretending to be a trainer that captures Pkmn to fill the needs of the organizations and so you could have quests based on that, set up a secret base of operations, lead an exploration team kooking for fossils. The Team Rocket trio is a nice example fo that, because they're part of a very evil organization and yet you don't see them actively participating in cutting SLowpoke's tails, beating Pkmn (except for Seviper), etc. and they appear in the anime.

 

[Bolt Strike]

Playing as TR doesn't necessarily needs to be GTA...you could be an agent pretending to be a trainer that captures Pkmn to fill the needs of the organizations and so you could have quests based on that, set up a secret base of operations, lead an exploration team kooking for fossils. The Team Rocket trio is a nice example fo that, because they're part of a very evil organization and yet you don't see them actively participating in cutting SLowpoke's tails, beating Pkmn (except for Seviper), etc. and they appear in the anime.

They still wouldn't do that. Game Freak isn't going to have a kids game where you play as a member of a mafia-esque organization engaging in crime, no matter how benign the actual tasks are. They don't want kids thinking TR's ideology is okay. That'd be liking thinking it's okay to make a kids game where you play as a Nazi and look for occult artifacts. No, they don't want kids thinking being a Nazi is okay even if all you're doing is just digging for artifacts, even by making the protagonist a Nazi it's encouraging them to think their ideology is okay. Extreme example, but you get the point. In more mature games aimed at older audiences, you might see something like that because then the protagonist is either nuanced enough that you can understand why they side with a criminal/hate organization, or because the audience is mature enough to understand the consequences of those actions IRL but wants to explore fantasies of doing those things. But kids generally cannot handle this, so Game Freak would steer away from this idea.