Gonzap: Team Snagem's Boss, Sworn Enemy Turned Ally

Gonzap has never had a plan of his own. The boss of Team Snagem runs a gang of thieves that lives off Orre's Trainers, and both of his appearances tell the same story turned on its head. In Pokémon Colosseum, he works for Cipher and gets double-crossed by one of his own men; in Pokémon XD, he hands back stolen equipment and pushes a kid to tear down his former employers. A hulking brute who, twice in a row, ends up serving the other side.

Contents

• Team Snagem, a gang that lives off stealing Pokémon
• Colosseum: subcontracting for Cipher
• A Grunt's betrayal, and five years off the map
• Pokémon XD: the Snag Machine was too small for his arm
• Hyper Beam, then Roar: his battle method
• Gonzag, Gonzap, Drakrall: a name that won't sit still
• Gonzap at a glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

Team Snagem, a gang that lives off stealing Pokémon

Gonzap is both a Trainer and a gang boss: he commands Team Snagem, based in the Orre region, whose line of business is taking whatever Pokémon Trainers have on them. His bodybuilder physique, even bulkier in the second game, comes with the job.

His face does the rest of the identification work. His mustache and eyebrows are drawn wildly out of proportion, to the point of serving as his official description: nobody mistakes that profile for any other member of the gang.

As for his personality, he demands instant obedience and tolerates no dissent in his ranks, somewhere between shows of strength and snide remarks. One reflex saves him from cliché, though: when an opponent gets the better of him, he admits it out loud — and that detail drives the entire second half of his career.

Colosseum: subcontracting for Cipher

The gang would be nothing without its backer. In Pokémon Colosseum, Gonzap has tied himself to Cipher, most likely at Nascour's initiative, and in return the organization supplies him with two Snag Machines — the device that lets you snatch another Trainer's Pokémon.

With that equipment, Team Snagem moves up a league: it robs ordinary Trainers, and the stolen Pokémon head straight to the Shadow Pokémon Lab, where the team led by Ein turns them into Shadow Pokémon.

In other words, Gonzap thinks he's a partner when he's really a supplier. His gang is the first link in the chain — gathering the raw material — while Cipher keeps the technology, the lab and the outlets.

A Grunt's betrayal, and five years off the map

The setup collapses from the inside. One of his Grunts makes off with the portable Snag Machine and leaves behind, out in Eclo Canyon, an explosive farewell that brings the hideout down: his men scatter, and the boss takes a while to pick up the defector's trail.

His chance comes back when Realgam Tower opens to the public. There, Gonzap finds a Wes who has grown far stronger than the Grunt he once had under his command, along with a Rui who sees through the collusion between Team Snagem and Cipher. He tries to win back his former henchman, fails, and steps out of the way.

Once Evice is out of action, the gang spreads a rumor: the Snag Machine destroyed in the explosion is supposedly working again. The bluff has only one goal: luring the traitor back to the hideout to settle the score. Second duel, second defeat, and a Shadow Skarmory lost on top of it: Gonzap then vanishes for five years, vowing that Team Snagem will rise again.

Pokémon XD: the Snag Machine was too small for his arm

He returns at the head of the gang, this time without the slightest commitment to Cipher. His right-hand man Wakin brings him the Snag Machine the squad has just stolen from Michael, outside the wreck of the S.S. Libra — except that the device, built for a teenager, doesn't fit on his arm.

Hence the most unexpected move of his career: he gives the machine back to its owner, at the cost of a token battle, and throws in Gonzap's Key, which opens a chest on the ground floor of the hideout. The reasoning is crystal clear: the kid will take down Cipher, their common enemy, better than he could himself.

He even carries his help into the field. Outside the Cipher Key Lair, Wakin's Gloom uses Sleep Powder to put the two bodybuilders guarding the entrance to sleep. And after the final victory, Gonzap sets up a meeting at the Orre Colosseum, where he does some recruiting: having failed to get the better of Michael, he crowns him an honorary member of Team Snagem.

Hyper Beam, then Roar: his battle method

His tactic comes in two steps. First he goes for the biggest possible damage with Hyper Beam or a move of the same caliber; then, instead of sitting through the recharge turn that follows, he drives the attacker off the field with Roar and makes the replacement pay.

His documented roster numbers nineteen Pokémon, with Skarmory as his declared favorite. It includes the three final evolutions of the Kanto starters — Charizard, Venusaur and Blastoise — but also Gyarados, Salamence, Machamp, Pinsir and Electrode. As the final opponent of Round 5 at the Orre Colosseum, he draws four Pokémon at random from a list of six: Blastoise, Skarmory, Charizard, Slaking, Salamence and Venusaur.

Two technical oddities turn up in his teams. His Skarmory knows Hyper Beam and his Nuzleaf knows Aerial Ace, two moves outside their normal learnsets; and in one of his battles, every move he uses falls into the physical category, a direct consequence of the type-based split still in effect in Generation III.

🔥 Charizard is on his roster: browse the Charizard collection.

Gonzag, Gonzap, Drakrall: a name that won't sit still

In the French version of Pokémon Colosseum, the wanted poster put up at the Pyrite Town police station doesn't call him Helgonza, his French name, but Gonzag. The typo comes from a sloppy translation of his English name, Gonzap: French-speaking players therefore meet the gang boss under an identity that exists nowhere else in the game.

The poster was rewritten for the second game. It restores the character's correct name and singles out his irregular mustache as a distinguishing feature — a description that, for once, matches what you see on screen.

The other versions haven't agreed with each other any better. He becomes Drakrall in German and Golka in Spanish, while Italian takes the French name as is. French, Italian, Japanese and Chinese, on the other hand, keep the original sound: Helgonza is a direct transcription of the Japanese Herugonza.

Gonzap at a glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• Who is Gonzap in Pokémon Colosseum?
  The head of Team Snagem, a gang of thieves from the Orre region who rob Trainers of their Pokémon. He's one of the few antagonists who appear in both Colosseum and Pokémon XD.
• Does Gonzap work for Cipher?
  Only in Colosseum. The organization supplies him with two Snag Machines, and the Pokémon his gang steals go to the Shadow Pokémon Lab to be turned into Shadow Pokémon. Five years later, in Pokémon XD, he has cut all ties with it.
• Why does Gonzap give the Snag Machine back in Pokémon XD?
  Because the device his right-hand man Wakin brings him is too small for his arm, and because he's counting on Michael to bring down Cipher, now their common enemy. He throws in Gonzap's Key, which opens a chest in the hideout.
• What is Gonzap's battle strategy?
  Hit very hard with Hyper Beam or an equivalent move, then avoid the recharge turn by forcing the opponent off the field with Roar, which sends a replacement into the line of fire.
• Why is Gonzap called Gonzag in the French version of Colosseum?
  Because of a botched translation of his English name, Gonzap, on the wanted poster at the Pyrite Town police station. The second game fixes the poster and restores his name.

In short

Gonzap spends two games believing he's the one calling the shots, and two games serving someone else's plans: first Cipher's, which uses him as a Pokémon supplier, then those of the kid he gives the Snag Machine back to. His only real constant is a raw respect for whoever beats him, which turns the enemy from Realgam Tower into an ally of convenience outside the Cipher Key Lair. Team Snagem, for its part, is still waiting to be reborn.