Pokemon’s Team Rocket is no doubt the most recognizable criminal organization your 10-year-old protagonist ever found themselves faced with taking down, whether that’s in the Nintendo games or on Pokemon Go. Lead by their illustrious leader Giovanni, the Yakuza-like syndicate had a seemingly endless control over the Kanto region, obtaining ownership and operation of the Celadon Games Corner, and placing Giovanni in the position of Viridian City’s gym leader.

However, this was not to last, as after Giovanni’s stumble from power in Gen I, the Team Rocket encountered three years later in Gold and Silver is a shell of the former enterprise. In fact, apart from their choice of Pokemon and the love of their former leader, the similarities between this new group and the organization of the past are few and far between. What changed for Team Rocket in this three-year gap? How did the group go from a renowned criminal organization to a group of Slowpoke tail entrepreneurs?

10 Dropped Recruitment

Every Pokemon fan remembers traversing the lucrative Nugget Bridge above Cerulean, home to arguably some of the game’s toughest trainers, possibly owing to it being an undercover Team Rocket recruitment operation. It’s a shock even now to go back and realize what a grip Team Rocket had over Kanto, owed most likely to its enormous and lucrative operations.

After the group’s disbandment, it seems recruitment had all but dropped for Team Rocket, with a smaller contingent of members appearing in Gen II and almost no recruiters to be seen. This may be due to the fact that Team Rocket had only just starting to get back on its feet or perhaps the group had become a more secretive and illicit operation.

9 Started A Secret Warehouse

Something you’ll only ever have noticed had you played the Gen I remakes Fire Red and Leaf Green was that Team Rocket owned a secret warehouse on the Sevii Islands located to Kanto’s far south.

This warehouse contained various grunts and admins, along with cages of stolen Pokemon. When defeating the grunts found here, the late news would arrive that Giovanni had vanished causing them all to leave, supposedly to fragment elsewhere before forming the Johto branch.

8 Hatched A Pokemon Evolution Plan

The Rocket Warehouse on the Sevii Islands didn’t just contain stolen Pokemon to use and sell but also to experiment on.

When searching computers in the base, you stumble on plans for forcing Pokemon evolution, something that would eventually come to pass when you are attacked by a rampaging red Gyarados at the Lake of Rage in Gen II. This was the first time players hear of these plans, with the three-year break eventually leading to the building of this device and headquarters underneath Mahogany Town.

7 Promoted Their Grunts

While at the Sevii Islands, you come across several grunts and admins that you need to defeat before finally dissolving the Rocket Warehouse for good. Several of these admins are encountered again as Rocket Executives in Gen II.

Ariana, Petrel, Proton, and Archer were all admins in the Rocket Warehouse, though at this point unnamed. This has been proven through their Pokemon, as one of the Rocket admins at the warehouse has a Golbat, Weezing, and Houndoom, matching Archer’s party in Pokemon Gold and Silver.

6 Stole Pokemon

Stealing Pokemon was nothing new for Team Rocket, having distributed Pokemon as prizes in Celadon Game Corner, stolen Cubone skulls in Lavender Town, and sold Pokemon Fossils for profit. After all, the group’s motto was “Steal Pokemon for profit. Exploit Pokemon for profit. All Pokemon exist for the glory of Team Rocket”. Catchy.

In the Rocket Warehouse, you find caged Pokemon, possibly for selling or experimenting on with forcing evolution. Although these are freed, Team Rocket never truly stopped stealing and abusing Pokemon for profit.

5 Grew A Smaller Contingent

When you encounter Team Rocket for the second time in Gen II, you wouldn’t be wrong in thinking they seemed a little less coordinated than in Gen I.

There seem to be a lot fewer members around, possibly due to a lack of direction and recruitment after Giovanni’s hasty retreat. It seems the Team Rocket encountered in Gen II is one just starting to find its footing, that is before you quickly dissolve them for the second time.

4 Lost Giovanni

After Giovanni’s quite frankly embarrassing defeat to a ten-year-old, it’s no wonder he felt the need to quietly slither into the shadows and go into hiding.

In HeartGold and SoulSilver, a time jump event with Celebi gives players an insight into what became of Giovanni during the generational gap, seeing him hiding and awaiting news of Team Rocket’s return. After defeating him, the radio sparks with the message that Team Rocket has taken over Goldenrod’s Radio Tower causing him to leave isolation and meet with them.

3 Began Silver’s Origin Story

Silver is by far the most complex rival you’ll come across in the entire franchise, seeming constantly bitter and stealing one of Professor Elm’s starter Pokemon. What some fans may not know without doing some serious digging, however, is that he’s actually Giovanni’s son.

His connection to Giovanni is confirmed in the Japanese HeartGold and SoulSilver Celebi event, as you see Giovanni’s retreat into isolation after his defeat by Red. Silver yells at his father that he’ll train harder and become stronger than him, and explains why he decides to help you attack Team Rocket later on in Gen II.

2 Became Less Legal And More Brutal

Team Rocket in Gen I is a highly organized group, owning the Celadon Games Corner and a Pokemon gym. This made Team Rocket appear almost Yakuza-like in staying afloat through a seemingly legal-looking facade.

In Gen II, however, Team Rocket appears more like a chaotic mob. The group’s reintroduction sees its members stealing Slowpoke to cut off their tails to sell as gourmet food. There’s no doubt that Team Rocket did pretty some deplorable things during its time, but stealing kids Slowpokes to cut off their tails? That’s low even by Team Rocket’s standards.

1 Became Extremely Fragmented

In Gen II’s Kanto you find a random Team Rocket grunt when trying to locate the Power Plant missing machine part. This Rocket Grunt seems to have little to no idea about the disbandment of his group and after you defeat him quickly leaves to spread his Rocket message elsewhere.

It seems Team Rocket dissolved so quickly that perhaps many of its members were left in the lurch, and it must have taken a while for the news to finally settle that Giovanni was defeated by a ten-year-old. What’s funny is that you can encounter this Grunt again, albeit 11 years later in Pokemon Black and White’s Icirrus City, living a rocket-less existence with a wife and young son.

NEXT: Pokemon: Ranking Every Main Member Of Team Rocket From Worst To First