Pokémon Gold & Silver 10 Ways Team Rocket Changed Between Generations

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Pokémon Gold & Silver 10 Ways Team Rocket Changed Between Generations

Pokémon's Team Rocket has seen considerable change. Today, we'll look at the most significant changes they saw between generations one and two. Team Rocket went through a lot of changes when they appeared in Gold & Silver. In the original Pokémon Red & Blue they were a far different organization with a strong leader, direction, and several successful operations. In fact, apart from utilizing similar Pokémon in battle and having a similar modus operandi, there isn’t a whole lot that is similar between the two versions of the criminal enterprise. Here are some examples of how the new Team Rocket has struggled over the years and a few examples of how they actually are doing better. THEGAMER VIDEO OF THE DAY

No Giovanni

Perhaps the most noticeable difference is that is absent for the entire game. This strong and business savvy leader is off on solo training in some unknown, remote location. Because of this Team Rocket is struggling without him. Team Rocket is more than aware of this as they spend a good portion of the game attempting to get in contact with Giovanni and bring him back. It seems even his most ambitious underlings recognize life was better with the mobster around.

Fewer Members

Another noticeable change is that there are fewer Team Rocket members than there were in the first games. In Team Rocket had enough members to mine fossils in Mt. Moon, harass citizens in multiple towns, run a casino, and hold the entire town of Saffron City hostage simultaneously. Meanwhile, Team Rocket in has just enough members to run each operation one at a time. This signifies far fewer numbers and just enough to achieve a single goal at a time.

Small Scale Operations

Because of their dwindling numbers, Team Rocket is forced to keep their operations small and simple. They flood the market with Slowpoke tails, evolve the Magikarp in the Lake Of Rage to sell Gyrados, and then take over Radio City. As mentioned before the prior team held an entire city hostage, ran a casino, and even ran a legitimate . These actions require a ton of planning, cohesion, and organization to perform simultaneously, something the newer Team Rocket could never pull off on that kind of scale.

No Recruitment Efforts

Surprisingly, while the newer Team Rocket is smaller in number and scale, there seemed to be no effort at recruitment. The older Team Rocket had the Nugget Bridge gauntlet. would have to battle their way through a number of trainers of varying talents before reaching the end where a Team Rocket member would be waiting to recruit them. So not only was there a method to obtain members, but there was a filtration system to ensure that the only ones recruited were skilled . The newer Team Rocket lacks this system entirely.

Manage To Steal A Pokémon

One thing the new Team Rocket accomplishes that the old one didn’t was to steal a Pokémon from another trainer. In Gold & Silver Team Rocket manages to get their hands on someone’s Slowpoke and uses it to start their Slowpoke Tail enterprise. The old Team Rocket never accomplished this. Sure they managed to steal prototype technology, fossils, TMs, and other things, but not once did they ever snatch someone’s Pokémon. Granted a Slowpoke isn’t terribly hard to come across and catch in the wild, but the fact they managed to pull this off shows perhaps a bit more ruthlessness or cunning then the previous Team had.

Multiple Leaders

Giovanni’s organization was set up with him as the leader and a few underlings acting as managers. He was the ultimate authority of the organization. But the new Team has multiple Executives who are directing the organization. Though it’s not obvious if this is advantageous in any way. Giovanni was able to run multiple large scale operations simultaneously and accomplished a lot by himself. Perhaps one perk is that if one Executive is compromised the entire organization still has a leader to keep things afloat, something the new Team didn’t take advantage of.

Don t Run A Legitimate Business

Another interesting change is that Team Rocket doesn’t run legitimate businesses. In Red & Blue Team Rocket ran and operated a legitimate casino. The machines had a payout that was honored by the business and Pokémon were given away as prizes for big winners. Having a legitimate business is a tremendous asset to a criminal organization. It’s a source of reliable and safe income to provide stability and can be used to launder money. Having a legitimate profitable business should have been a priority for the new Team Rocket, but it’s something they never focused on.

Don t Control A Gym

Another change is that Team Rocket isn’t in control of a Gym. Giovanni was the leader of the Ground gym and would hand out badges to those who defeated him. A Gym would be incredibly useful as it’s a means to train members of the organization, recruit new members, accept bribes in exchange for badges, and other monetization efforts. It could be that the new Team Rocket didn’t have anyone capable enough of running a , which is likely the case given their Pokémon teams.

Harmed Pokémon

The new Team Rocket is also unique in that they are the first ones known to actively harm Pokémon. In operating their black market operations they cut off the tails of multiple living Slowpoke in order to sell them. Granted this was retconned in later entries so that cutting off the tail doesn’t cause harm, but at the time this wasn’t the case. It’s another example of how the new Team Rocket may have been more ruthless without Giovanni’s code of honor to keep them grounded.

Base Of Operations

The final difference between the villains of the generations is that the new Team Rocket never has a permanent base of operations. They’re set up temporarily in the Radio Station, but they don’t have a home of any kind. The older Team Rocket had the Rocket Game Corner and the Ground Gym to fall back to and operate out of. So not only was the new Team Rocket directionless (and some might argue leaderless), but they also lacked a place to call home.