The Pokémon franchise’s evil teams aren’t all created equal, in ways encompassing not only their antagonism’s scope but their leaders’ strength. They’re as iconic a part of the mainline Pokémon formula Gym Leaders and regional Champions, and each has its fans. Team Skull is a favorite as a lovably scrappy gang of outcasts bent on causing mischief and sticking up for each other, for example, while Team Plasma garners appreciation for their unexpected complexity. But only a few teams are likely to stand out in a trainer’s mind for their boss’s ability to provide them with a climactic and challenging battle.
There’s in-universe justification for particular team leaders making for middling opponents. For instance, Team Yell from Pokémon Sword and Shield follows Team Skull’s example as more interested in disrupting others’ journeys for personal reasons than loftier unethical ambitions. The closest thing they have to a leader is their hometown idol Piers, arguably Sword and Shield‘s best Gym Leader – and an honorable fellow who does his job as expected, providing the player with a perfectly beatable, single type-focused formal fight. Other leaders, like Team Rocket’s Giovanni and Teams Magma and Aqua’s Maxie and Archie, are memorable as characters but may not stand out for their boss fights due to the overall relative simplicity of early Pokémon.
The latter certainly wasn’t a point that stood in Pokémon X and Y‘s way in giving players a monster of a fight with Lysandre, leader of Team Flare. He may only have four Pokémon to send out in his showdown with Gen 6’s hero within his team’s base, but they’re hard-hitting creatures with solid type coverage – particularly considering his ace. Lysandre’s Gyarados can Mega Evolve, changing its typing to remove its double weakness to Electric moves and boosting the stats of an already formidable critter. Players still under-familiarized with how Pokémon Mega Evolution works by the time they face with Lysandre are especially likely to be unsure how to handle themselves once they whittle him down to sending out his sea dragon. Players in general, for that matter, may find themselves underprepared for the fight’s difficulty in an otherwise forgiving Pokémon installment.
If Pokémon’s Strongest Evil Team Leader Isn’t Lysandre, It’s Ghetsis
A series aficionado might feel the temptation to discount Lysandre’s challenge as artificial compared to the ease of the game surrounding him, but in that case, they can look to Black and White‘s Ghetsis. The puppet master of Team Plasma is infamous among Pokémon fans not only for his particularly loathsome nature as a sly manipulator and horribly abusive parent to affable antagonist N but for his genuinely daunting battle. Ghetsis totes not four but a full team of six of some of Unova’s strongest and most competitive Pokémon to play against, including the beastly attackers Bisharp and Eelektross, all over Lv. 50. However, his most notorious is his Hydreigon, Generation 5’s Pseudo-Legendary, standing at two levels higher than its teammates.
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet‘s own evil team has received an introduction, and as a pack of the player’s classmates, Team Star looks like it’ll follow in the footsteps of Teams Skull and Yell as a smaller-time band of troublemakers under less contextual obligation to wow with a massive challenge. But their Fire Crew head Mela’s fiery and fashionable appearance doesn’t rule out the possibility that its leaders will battle to make an impression – all that remains to see is how they’ll stack up next to Lysandre and Ghetsis as Pokémon opponents to remember.
