The Pokemon franchise is full of memorable characters. Many fans become attached to their favorite monsters, sometimes building entire teams around them, but every generation also comes with a host of NPCs in significant roles: Rivals, Gym Leaders, Elite Four members, villainous team leaders, and so on. Whereas Niantic's mobile game Pokemon GO is a sort of celebration for the creatures brought to life, DeNA's mobile game Pokemon Masters EX gives the people of the Pokemon world their chance to shine. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet will no doubt add more names to this legacy.
An undersung category of Pokemon characters are the heads of different battle facilities. A battle facility is typically reserved for post-game content and centers more competitive battling than even a region's Elite Four and Champion offer, so many players may finish their time with a game before meeting these NPCs. However, Game Freak has begun revisiting characters in ways that build up the in-game universe for everyone while offering a fun nod to longtime fans. After Ingo's appearance in Pokemon Legends: Arceus, Scarlet and Violet would benefit from keeping this trend alive.
What are Pokemon's Battle Facilities?
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As mentioned, battle facilities come with a competitive edge. The original facility was Pokemon Crystal's Battle Tower, which set the groundwork for a place to take on streaks of battles for the chance to win prizes - with no experience points or money earned, and thus no incentive for traditional grinding. No leader waited at the end of Crystal's Battle Tower, but the concept would evolve with subsequent games.
Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire established a more modern iteration of the Battle Tower with different modes utilizing Generation 3's Double Battles and Multi Battles (alongside an NPC or other player via link cable). A version of this facility appears in just about every Pokemon game to follow, even if it isn't always a tower; Generation 5 introduces the Battle Subway, Generation 6 the Battle Maison, and Generation 7 the Battle Tree.
While Battle Tower is the most common facility, no doubt fans are most familiar with the greater breadth of challenges provided by the Battle Frontier. First introduced in Pokemon Emerald, the Battle Frontier supplements Ruby and Sapphire's Battle Tower with an amusement park of various facilities that offer unique challenges. For example, the Battle Factory relies on rental Pokemon, the Battle Palace lets monsters choose their own actions, and the Battle Pyramid asks trainers to go through a maze with limited resources. Pokemon Platinum introduced a Battle Frontier with new facilities, like the Battle Arcade that injects random elements into each fight.
Battle Frontier facilities are headed by a Frontier Brain that can be fought after achieving a high win-streak - including Rival Barry's father Palmer in the Gen 4 Battle Tower. Facility leaders also include Subway Bosses Ingo and Emmet, as well as the four Chatelaines of the Battle Maison. Other facilities include returning characters, such as older Gym Leaders and Champions in the Pokemon World Tournament; Cynthia, Red, Blue, and others in the Battle Tree; or former Champion Leon as the head of Galar's Battle Tower.
The Curious Cases of Anabel and Ingo
Twelve Frontier Brains were introduced across Generations 3 and 4, with Pokemon Black and White being the first games to technically offer them roles outside a battle facility. Platinum version's Battle Castle is headed by "Valet" Darach, who oversees matches on behalf of his patron Caitlin. Though Darach fights in place of Caitlin, due to her unmanageable psychic abilities, she returns as an Unova Elite Four member during the events of Black and White some years later. Dialogue makes reference to Darach, and she owns the villa in Undella Town where Cynthia comes to visit.
The next reappearance would be Anabel, former "Salon Maiden" of Generation 3's Battle Tower. In Generation 7, Anabel is a member of the International Police alongside recurring character Looker. She was reportedly sucked into an Ultra Wormhole and appeared in Alola, found by Looker and now-Island Kahuna Nanu, but suffering from amnesia. The character arc was seemingly foreshadowed in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, where Looker washes up in Hoenn's Battle Resort with amnesia, though Sun and Moon coin the term "Faller" for people like Anabel whose experiences make her a magnet for Ultra Beasts.
Pokemon Legends: Arceus treats Ingo much the same way, though not using Ultra Wormholes. Instead, Ingo is the only individual beyond the player character who is pulled through the Space-Time Rift that appears above Hisui. Like Anabel, he suffers from amnesia and winds up with the Pearl Clan as Sneasler's Warden. Yet Game Freak makes it clear he has memories buried just beneath the surface via heartfelt conversations that allude to his brother Emmett, as well as an instinct for battling and pulling off his conductor poses.
How Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Can Continue the Trend
While battle facility characters don't get much play in their original games, Ingo is a great example of someone given new life thanks to a reimagining. Popularity polls in Japan have shown Ingo and Emmet to be among peoples' favorite Generation 5 characters, but they did not have nearly as much notoriety abroad until Legends: Arceus added a new dimension to Ingo's character. The same could be said for Anabel, who had a small handful of lines in her original appearance but is now more fleshed-out beyond the Battle Tower.
Not much is known about Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, set in the equivalent of the real-world Iberian Peninsula. Fans have seen glimpses of Generation 9's starters and the region's open-world layout, but it remains to be seen whether Scarlet and Violet will have lots of returning characters like Sun and Moon, or an all-original cast like Sword and Shield. Yet Spain's proximity to France suggests the Battle Chatelaines could appear on vacation, or a character like Palmer could see more attention after his starring role in Pokemon Generations' Sinnoh episode. There are any number of possibilities worth pursuing, especially with characters like "Pike Queen" Lucy and "Arcade Star" Dahlia waiting in the wings.
Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are scheduled to release in late 2022 for Switch.