Pokémon trainers want a bigger challenge, and one returning secret could save new games

There are always going to be players who complain about the general challenge a Pokémon game provides at a base level and yearn for ways to customize their experience outside of self-imposed challenges like a Nuzlocke. But not every idea optional difficulty boost needs to come from new mechanics—especially when there is already a feature Game Freak has used to great effect in the past.

In Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, it’s easier than ever to get your Pokémon to level 100 with all the Exp. Candy you earn from Tera Raids, but what does that level 100 mean to an NPC trainer with a strong enough team to stand against you?

The Pokémon franchise has a history of sticking hidden bosses in its games, whether it be Red at the end of Gold and Silver, or Cynthia surprising players in Undella Town as they closed their Unovan journeys.

Unfortunately, returning characters being hidden as optional challenge battles or secrets you can find have been absent on the Nintendo Switch iterations of Pokémon—and haven’t really been truly “hidden” since Black 2 and White 2, which had several. The Teal Mask, however, saw some shades of the optional challenge return and sparked some hope for future entries.

The Ogre Clan NPCs spread around Kitakami all have teams with levels sitting in the mid to upper 70s and featuring competitive movesets that you could see while playing online in most cases. 

For example, a couple of Ogre Clan members have weather teams, which are a huge part of the competitive scene. Giving their teams a rain or sun boost automatically makes their battles a lot tougher than most others in the game, and that’s exactly what players want to see more of in the future.

Since The Indigo Disk is supposed to take place in an academy centered around battling, those NPCs have players excited to potentially see even harder challenges in the future. And, with Blueberry Academy located in Unova, we could potentially see a familiar face from Gen V return as one of those “secret” challenges. 

At the end of the day, however, Pokémon is a game that is intended to be simple enough for younger players to pick up too, so it’s understandable why it might all seem too easy for the older crowd. Still, just having the option to make things a little more difficult would be cool without players having to create their own set of rules or hoping that Game Freak brings back Challenge Mode from B2W2.