The rivals seems to get worse with each installment. Will we ever get good ones again, or is our fate forever sealed?
>mfw we'll never get a Barry-tier rival again
>>25728557
That's not true. Barry was the best rival, and even if you disagree with that, he was objectively better than RSE Brendan/May or Wally
>that shauna
>>25728576
>TFW Porygon will never be relevant in the anime again.
>>25728578
>better than RSE Brendan/May or Wally
Well gen 3 didn't set very high bars in any area.
>>25728578
OP here, Barry is the exception. Without him in the mix they all seem to fall in order from Awesome, uninteresting, to unbearingly annoying.
>>25728576
>>25728578
>>25728624
>>25728627
Look, Sinnohfetuses. I know that Gen 4 is almost 10 years old, but don't let your newly-found nostalgia fool you. Barry was just as mediocre as the current rivals.
>>25728648
Give a rival with a better team than Barry's.
And he was a good balance between the twee obnoxiously friendly rivals and the asshole rivals.
>>25728648
Gen 4 wasn't my first game in the series so I'm not sure if the nostalgia rule applies here. I actually played the first three generations prior to getting Diamond and Pearl.
I've been fine with the Rivals for the most part. Though I wish we could go back to only having one.
The only Rivals I actively dislike are the XY rivals, because there's too many of them and they'e all such one note characters.
At first I thought it would be cool to have characters that appear to be traveling with you, like Ash and his companions in the anime. But then they really weren't that involved and their personalities were shit, and I often forgot what pokemon they even had... they were just so boring.
>>25728700
>Give a rival with a better team than Barry's.
OR/AS Wally
You forget that. Hugh was better than gary
>>25728717
Wally needed better pacing in his character development. You literally battled him only twice, once with his weak Ralts, then out of nowhere he comes out with a strong team.
>>25728557
Jesus christ Hugh was terrible, he was the first actual insane rival since the dude was all flips of nuts due to that MUH RESTORE SISTER HONOR crap. I cringed everytime this dude had a breakdown over his sister's purrloin and went nuts assaulting Plasma members for answers.
>>25728762
Why didn't he just catch his sister another purrloin instead of going I'M ABOUT TO UNLEASH MY RAGE? I doubt she would even notice the difference.
>>25728557
The only bad rivals were in X and Y. People hate Hugh from BW2 but he was fine.
He set out on a mission to do something unrelated to you, because the world doesnt revolve around you
Battles you so you both can be on top of your game
Realises throughout the game he was too rigid in his views on other people and actually loosens up
Then finally succeeds on his mission and sees you off to fight the league.
Gives back his sister's Liepard in an emotional scene
Then he's chilling in the town with the people he used to hate, and has a decent team.
I legitimately find him to be the second best rival, behind SIlver. Definitely the one with the second best arc too.
Barry was a failure (he never made it into the Gym Leader bar for strong trainers) and was rejected by his idol. Never learned to chill out, never learned to focus.
>>25728790
Animals can have different personalities. I've had four cats in my lifetime and even if they were visually identical to each other I would be able to notice them being different.
>>25728880
>He's only had four cats
Are you even trying?
I want a rival that's like Ash, but actually competent. He's traveled through many regions, collected hundreds of Pokemon, and starts off his journey's into new regions with different teams.
Difference is he's actually better than Ash and is an example of what caring for your Pokemon but also not being a complete fucking idiot can be. He's still got his Starter Pokemon from when he began his journey, but it's fucking been fully evolved for a long ass time now.
I want him to call Ash out for not evolving Pikachu out of sheer selfishness.
>>25728918
I'm not trying to bait. I've never had more than two cats at the same time, I'm not a crazy cat person.
>>25728929
So, Red then? He's traveled through at least three different regions if his Espeon in GSC is anything to go by.
>>25728976
Red's Been to Johto, Kanto and Unova
>>25728557
Then why was ORAS Wally the best Rival by far?
>>25729135
Exactly, who's to say he hasn't gone to even Hoenn, Sinnoh, and Kalos behind the scenes? Blue is even mentioned on making his way to Kalos despite not even encountering him so why not.
>>25729138
ORAS Wally isn't bad but he's barely even there. He shows up a couple times in the main story, not enough to be called best rival.
>>25728790
It's the only Purrloin that his probably beloved dead grandfather caught for his sister.
>>25728743
Not to mention OR/AS gave him a god awful generic JRPG garbage that you'd call a theme.
>>25728648
I liked that he was hype active and his music was pretty good too.
I liked Cheren. Hugh was okay but "muh purrloin" kinda ruined him.
>>25728735
>muh sister's pokeyman!!!1!
>muh rage lol
he tried to be edgy and ended up being a little bitch.
>>25728700
>And he was a good balance between the twee obnoxiously friendly rivals and the asshole rivals.
He was neither. He was just the single most retarded rival ever made.
>>25728624
>Well gen 3 didn't set very high bars in any area.
Certainly did better than 4 though. If there ever was a gen that represented GF's "how much shit can we remove for no reason and still have it sell" mentality it was 4.
This coming from a guy who picked the game up again at 4 and emulated 2 and 3 afterwards.
>>25730421
Oh come now, Ruby and Sapphires rivals were fucking godawful the first time they came round.
May/Brendan never even fully evolved their starter and literally gave up.
Wally came to victory road randomly which was a nice "oh shit" moment, but he was never a rival in the game until ORAS.
I'd literally say generation 3 never even had a rival since May/Brendan were so fucking incompetent.
1. Blue
2.ronald
3. Cheren
4. Silver
5. Barry
6, Mih poorloins
7. Calem
8. May
>>25728557
The biggest crime is that Tierno didn't have a Ludicolo.
>>25730778
Added storyline for Sun/Moon where he is the illigimate son of Miror.B and inherits his Ludicolos for a perfect dance team.
>>25730410
any reason or argument? Just personal terminal butthurt? Okay
>>25730469
Your #2 is honestly best taste.Ronaldwas always sort of tough to fight and you never really knew when he was going to show up. He reminded me of Blue, but he encouraged you to do better if you lost, and praised you if you won, while still being cocky and arrogant.
The best rival without a doubt was Silver. He had an interesting past and a goal that was something else besides become the best pokemon trainer. But most importantly, his philosophy regarding pokemon was a direct contradiction to what the player character is being portrayed as. He doesn't believe in being friendly with your pokemon and only cares for power and nothing else. He comes off as a total asshole, but that's mostly a result of total opposite ideologies. And most importantly, he actually has character development. He grows out of being angsty and obsessed with his father as well as learn that there's more to pokemon than just power. His Golbat eventually evolving into Crobat which requires a high amount of friendship is also a really great and subtle change.
Blue is close second, because he's just an asshole through and through. You feel good when you beat him and he makes you want to beat him. Honorable mentions to Barry and to a lesser extend Cheren.
Gen 3 had dogshit as far as rivals go. Fuck Hugh. The XY "rivals" are pretty terrible too.
>>25730870
Not him but like I said in >>25728810, he was the only rival that practically failed his arc completely, and never grew
>>25728810
I don't even need to explain why I like Hugh because this one says it so well. I want future rivals to have their own story that doesn't revolve around you
>>25731024
It also works because it's a rival where you both are happy about getting stronger, rather than X and Y's rival where he spends the whole game crying about losing to you
>>25730469
Not him but gen 4 was the worst game yet, not only did it remove actual mechanics and features but it had the worst rival in terms of development and personality. Until the end Barry didn't change one bit and remained the annoying little child he was when the game started and didn't even reach as far as the other rivals prior.
The only reason people like him is for the fact he had the best rival team until Wally happened in ORAS because he apparently provided some challenge although I personally didn't see what was so challenging.
By far Barry is the single most unlikeable rival ever fitting the single most uninspired pokemon game.
