What are your thoughts on Team Rainbow Rocket?

[vondecayle]

They are something I wasn’t expecting out of the Ultra Games. I think it was very cool to bring back all the olds villains for one last battle, although I wish Lusamine hadn’t been asleep during the whole ordeal. It was interesting to me that they came from a different universe and how their actions potentially altered the course of history in the places the came from.

 

[Yardas]

I did enjoy the Pokémon battles but I think the overall execution of the whole story could've been better. The best part is the way it actually tells about a "what if scenario"...: "what would've happened if 'insert villain name here' would've been able to catch the legendary Pokémon of 'insert Poké-version game here' and eventually won against every single one of his opponents..."?

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

I thought it was a fine way to celebrate past games but the process to get to Giovanni was extremely tedious in a few places and some of the battles took far longer than necessary.

 

[Pokefan_1987]

I hated one of the puzzles in the story. The puzzle for when you have to get to Archie. The rooms have direction puzzles located in different corners and in the 3rd room a grunt will interrupt your round midway and remembering the sequence is important.
Also the sequence is randomized, you can't get a guide or record the sequence you got.

 

[Captain Jigglypuff]

I hated one of the puzzles in the story. The puzzle for when you have to get to Archie. The rooms have direction puzzles located in different corners and in the 3rd room a grunt will interrupt your round midway and remembering the sequence is important.
Also the sequence is randomized, you can't get a guide or record the sequence you got.

That’s the puzzle I vaguely remember being aggravating to get through. I couldn’t remember which Boss it was or what the exact puzzle was but I do remember having to start it over so many times because of how it was designed.

 

[Pokefan_1987]

That’s the puzzle I vaguely remember being aggravating to get through. I couldn’t remember which Boss it was or what the exact puzzle was but I do remember having to start it over so many times because of how it was designed.

It was when you go after Archie (Team Aqua) and the Rainbow Rocket Grunt is completely randomized every time you fail. It's absolute hell similar to ORAS Sootopolis Gym.

 

[Lord Godwin]

It was refreshing. The only thing I would have done is to pair up with various NPCs for various fights. You can choose 1 of 2 NPC for each fight:
1. Red or Blue Vs Giovanni
2. Wally or Anabel Vs Archie/Maxie
3. Cynthia or Looker Vs Cyrus
4. Grimsley or Colress Vs Ghetsis
5. Dexio or Sina Vs Lysander

I would also give full Teams to each evil Leader

Another option would be to give some sub-fight for each boss (basically fighting Admins/Executives).

 

[TwilightBlade]

Thought the idea was fine but the execution was pretty bad. Mostly it was more Kanto nostalgia pandering with some other villains thrown in.

Also I remember really hating some of the puzzles that you had to solve to get through the castle. The one with the flashing light patterns that you had to memorize drove me crazy and I eventually had to record that part with my phone because I just couldn't remember the exact pattern. :[

 

[Pokefan_1987]

Thought the idea was fine but the execution was pretty bad. Mostly it was more Kanto nostalgia pandering with some other villains thrown in.

Also I remember really hating some of the puzzles that you had to solve to get through the castle. The one with the flashing light patterns that you had to memorize it drove me crazy and I eventually had to record that part with my phone because I just couldn't remember the exact pattern. :[

That's like the one where the grunt that interrupts is, he is a nightmare if you don't have someone to memorize it.

 

[MinorMash31]

Yeah, I got like a headache for doing the flashing light patterns and when I thought I FINALLY got it but then the grunt goes and jumps me, bad memory. I did like the idea of fighting all the previous team members of the evil teams like an evil power ranger squad, but in the end, it would be better if each area had grunts that used Pokemon that were respective to their game, like team aqua grunts getting Mightyena and Sharpedo and Team Flare Grunts getting Manetric and Swalot (yes, I know they used these Pokemon I played their games), instead of like the rat and snake infestation. Also, these guys use golbat. It's so easy to breeze through them this late in game.

 

[Ransei]

My favorite antagonistic team. I don't care about their brief and somewhat goofy implementation in the postgame story. I just love how Kazumasa Iwao and friends found some way to justify BEING COMPLETELY UNAFRAID TO GIVE NOTABLE TRAINERS LEGENDARY MASCOT POKÉMON FOR ONCE IN A MAINLINE GAME by having a Giovanni come from some world he was more successful in and piecing together an entire team of more successful villainous leaders with their own legendary mascot Pokémon in attempt to take over the multiverse. Just this group alone had a bunch of villains with more developed teams than any other villainous team combined, because for the longest time, the bar was considerably low. Trainers who pose as region/world-level threats should have the Pokémon to back them up. Trainers said to be some of the most powerful in the series should have the Pokémon to back them up. Powerful legendaries, mythicals, etc should be used and fought off against more. This was a childhood dream come true, and fighting them off wasn't even too much of a challenge.

Yeah the player did quickly blow through their entire organization and defeated them but in all fairness this was after they had to deal with Ultra Necrozma by themselves with their Pokémon. We were qualified to easily handle this. It's fine that they weren't the primary focus of the story because there wasn't anything much they could do without it being repetitive filler. USUM's story was also largely about the story of Alola, Necrozma's influence on the region, aftermath regarding Necrozma's influence, and people forming different responses to find their own ways of dealing with said aftermath. There wasn't much room for Team Rainbow Rocket to be the bulk of this story and it had little to do with the world of Alola itself.

I don't care about this plotline being an attempt to pander to old fans because it was done in a way that truly gave something the mainline games should've had for a while and I don't get the complaints as this was significantly less panderous than the so-beloved PWT, which featured almost exclusively gym leaders and Champions from the first 5 gens and had its main appeal over normal battle facilities just be that...

(If you disagree with this last point, be honest, would you have enjoyed/praised the PWT if the only trainers were all random NPCs instead? I would be praising Team Rainbow Rocket even if they brought up completely new trainers instead of old villains simply due to the Pokémon they brought for us to battle off against and the stakes fitting accordingly to such. It was refreshing for a core series game to finally do this.)

 

[PokePoindexter]

I love the idea, and the battles against the bosses themselves are great, but the one thing I would knock it for is that they should've done more than just take over Festival Plaza and Aether Paradise. You've got the likes of Brooklet Hill, Wela Volcano Park, and Mt. Hokulani as respective places for Archie, Maxie, and Cyrus to take over, you could probably find some excuse to put Lysandre in something like the Abandoned Thrifty Megamart or Po Town (places Team Flare could try to make more "beautiful"), and Ghetsis... I could see him potentially going to the Altar of the Sunne/Moone to find the opposite mascot legendary to the one Nebby evolves into, or something else like that. Then have them all return back to their castle and have what we actually get in the games be the second half of the episode.

I mainly just wanted Episode RR to do more than it actually did.

 

[Phillies]

Wish they would use Team Rainbow Rocket for GO. The game could use the variety of characters that come with it. Especially if they would use the various grunts and administrators associated with each team.

 

[kero_chan]

I think Team Rainbow rocket made USUM a better game than Sun/Moon.

 

[Dalmasca12]

Probably one of my favorite teams.

 

[Bubble Ba'ath]

On paper, bringing together all the past villain leaders in an alternate timeline where they won is an awesome concept, and it’s easily one of the most fan-service-heavy moments Pokémon has ever done. Seeing Giovanni, Cyrus, Ghetsis, and the rest interacting was genuinely hype.
But in practice, it felt way too short and shallow. Most of the bosses barely had any story presence, the multiverse idea wasn’t explored at all, and it boiled down to a boss rush with minimal consequences. Fun nostalgia? Absolutely. A deep or meaningful postgame story? Not really. Team Rainbow Rocket could’ve been incredible if it was given more time and narrative weight.

 

[Lord Godwin]

Here are some Legendaries pairs for RR and the good guys:

https://www.deviantart.com/k2basior/art/Pokemon-SM-Episode-RR-Extended-1182010227

 

[Pokemon Power]

If they had appeared in the anime, they'd be a serious threat. Can you imagine Ash and the gang going up against every villainous team leader at the same time?

 

[Lord Godwin]

If they had appeared in the anime, they'd be a serious threat. Can you imagine Ash and the gang going up against every villainous team leader at the same time?

A good aftermatch of M8. Just add Rose for Galar.