One Weird Pokémon Villain Detail Has Been Overlooked For More Than 20 Years

Summary Team Aqua's ironic lack of Water-type moves highlights a strange tradition in the Pokemon franchise over time.

Due to limited move pools in older games, Team Aqua members were unable to use any Water-type moves at all.

While Team Aqua's access to Water-type moves has gradually improved, their original lack of such moves remains a notable quirk.

The Pokémon franchise features an incredible variety of antagonists, but one particularly strange detail regarding a group of villains has gone mostly unremarked upon for decades. Although recent titles have tended towards having more individual true villains, a trend that has produced some of Pokémon’s most terrifying characters, the traditional "Team" still has a role to play in any given region. However, while all Teams have their own unique aesthetic, one also has a much more subtle, and ironic, quirk visible on close examination.

The role of a Team as a recurring opposing force in a Pokémon game originated with Team Rocket in Pokémon Red and Blue, and although Pokémon’s antagonistic Teams are not so truly evil anymore, much of this core philosophy remains intact. While each Team’s motivations and roles in their specific game’s story can vary greatly, the protagonist will undoubtedly encounter scores of Grunts throughout their journey, while also clashing with the Team’s leadership at climactic moments. However, modern technology allows for more complex interactions with Teams, whereas the limitations of older titles can have strange effects on a Team’s presentation.

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Pokémon’s Team Aqua Members Were Originally Incapable Of Using Water-Type Moves

Pokémon Sapphire's Ironic Villains

Team Aqua were originally introduced in Pokémon Sapphire, initially released in Japan in 2002 and then around the world the following year. Similar to their rivals Team Magma in Pokémon Ruby, Team Aqua drives the core plot of their game by attempting to awaken the Legendary Pokémon Kyogre in an ill-considered bid to expand the world’s oceans. As such, Team Aqua follows a clear nautical theme, sporting bandannas and frequently using various Water-type Pokémon. Despite this, in an extremely ironic twist, none of Team Aqua’s Pokémon in Pokémon Sapphire can use an actual Water-type move.

As strange of a situation as this is, there are underlying mechanical reasons behind it arising. In Pokémon Sapphire, Team Aqua Grunts have a small pool of Pokémon to pull from for their battles: Poochyena, Zubat, and Carvanha. Of these, only the latter has a Water typing (actually being dual Water/Dark-type), and in Generation 3, Carvanha learns no Water-type moves by leveling up. Instead, it only has access to such moves through the use of TMs, HMs, and breeding. Combined with the movepools of Poochyena and Zubat, this means it is impossible for a Grunt to use a Water-type move.

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Archie, Team Aqua’s Boss, as well as Admins Shelly and Matt, experience similar circumstances in Sapphire, as their own Pokémon draw exclusively from the same evolutionary families as the Team Aqua Grunts. Shelly and Matt both use both Carvanhas in their first encounter with the protagonist, before gaining Sharpedos in their second encounter. Archie, meanwhile, always uses a Mightyena, Golbat, and Sharpedo. Crucially, as with its pre-evolved form, Sharpedo learns no Water-type moves when leveling up, barring even the Boss of the water-themed villains from using any such fitting moves in his battles.

Team Aqua Has Slowly Gained Access To Water-Type Moves Over Time

Team Aqua In Pokémon Emerald & Alpha Sapphire

Of course, it should be noted that things have changed for Team Aqua in their subsequent appearances, albeit slowly. In Pokémon Emerald, none of Team Aqua’s leading figures gain any new Water-types (in fact, Matt loses his Carvanha/Sharpedo altogether). And with Pokémon Emerald still being part of Gen 3, Archie and Shelly’s Carvanha-line Pokemon are still incapable of using Water-type moves. On the other hand, a single Team Aqua Grunt encountered on the summit of Mt. Pyre does use a Wailmer, which is consequently the first Team Aqua Pokémon that can use Water-type moves.

It isn’t until Pokémon Alpha Sapphire that Water-type Moves finally begin to be considered commonplace among Team Aqua members. Shelly uses a Carvanha that knows Aqua Jet during her first two encounters with the protagonist, and some Team Aqua Grunts use similar Carvanhas. However, although Matt owns a Sharpedo, it still never has access to a Water-type move in its moveset, and Shelly’s Sharpedo in her final encounter does not either. Moreover, the same applies to the Sharpedo (and sole Water-type) belonging to Archie himself in the main game, although this does eventually change in the postgame.

In Alpha Sapphire’s Battle Maison, accessible only after completing the Delta Episode, Archie can join the protagonist as a Multi Battle partner. Here, his Sharpedo knows Aqua Jet and Waterfall, which replace the use of Scary Face and Slash in earlier encounters. This in turn means that working with him at the Battle Maison marks the first time that Archie’s Pokémon know any Water-type moves in the entirety of the Pokémon franchise.

Although Archie’s Sharpedo is still his only Water-type Pokémon in Pokémon Alpha Sapphire, it is also undoubtedly his ace as indicated by it being capable of Mega Evolution.

The Rarity Of Water-Type Moves For Team Aqua Is Incredibly Ironic

Water-Themed Villains With No Water-Type Moves

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It should also be noted that the version of Archie that later appears in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon as part of Team Rainbow Rocket, an Archie who successfully achieved his goals, owns both a Sharpedo and Kyogre which know a Water-type move – Liquidation for the former and Hydro Pump for the latter. Although Episode RR is once again postgame content, it is at least far more likely to be played through than the Battle Masion in Alpha Sapphire. For many players, this could easily make Archie’s Rainbow Rocket appearance the first time he is seen using a Water-type move.

Although careful examination of the games can reveal many interesting details about the Pokémon franchise’s villains, the extreme irony of an entire water-themed team being more likely than not to be even capable of using Water-type moves cannot be understated. While this has been alleviated over time, it is still a notable trend for Team Aqua, even as their Pokémon choices expand in Alpha Sapphire with Grimers and Muks, something which is itself a continuation of the tradition for Poison-type Pokémon to be associated with villains.

Although the choice to use the partially Dark-type Carvanha line makes sense for the evil Team Aqua, the fact that the same Pokémon cannot naturally learn Water-type moves in Pokémon Sapphire seems like a massive oversight, all things considered. However, considering the situation of even Archie himself in Alpha Sapphire, it seems to have become something of a strange tradition for the Team. In the end, this strange detail regarding one of Pokémon’s many villain teams is largely inconsequential, and even easily missed in the heat of battle, but the inherent irony makes it striking nonetheless.