With the coming of the new games, i've seen a lot of people wishing for non-friendly rivals like the ones we had in XY. However, a good number of anons dislike 'edgy' and 'mean' rivals like Blue and Silver,
I get that a rival must be competitive and push you to your limits. But what does really make a good rival? His/her backstory, interactions with the player, development, pokemon team?
Finally, who's your favorite rival?
I think character development is the biggest thing for me, since it makes them memorable. Wally is an example of that, and he's also my favorite. I like his Victory Road fight in both RSE and ORAS.
The only rival who ever pushed me to my limits was Barry, and that's because I forgot to heal pretty often when I was 10, so I don't like to use that as criteria when talking about rivals.
Silver was probably my favorite. Felt like an actual rival and a real threat. Plus, he undergoes some really good character development, relatively speaking for a Pokemon game.
>>26474749
Blue is by far the best.
Rivals need to give me motivation to battle with them constantly, and not just fucking nicknames
Blue and Silver were perfect because they were dicks enough to make you WANT to fight them, but also have enough personality to invest in their story and development as characters. Barry was pretty derpy, but also smug enough to be a rival. Bianca and Cheren was a perfect blend of "asshole, competitive type", and "friendly, caring neighbor type"
XY failed miserably at not only having 4 fucking rivals, but also throwing random bullshit in, and not enough character development to be fully invested in battling them. Serena/Calem says they're your "friend", but after continually fighting you, they just walk off and leave, not bonding with you or anything. Some friend huh? Trevor is just a "filler" friend and just seems to be thrown in there to be the smart one of the bunch. You almost never lose at his "dex battles". The only good ones were Tierno and Shauna. Hell Tierno is only good to provide comic relief and actually HELP you out (i.e giving you shit like what he thought was a mega stone). Shauna, while cringy and annoying, spent more time with you than ANYONE ELSE.
I enjoyed Blue and Silver as rivals, especially Silver. Barry was okay, and I like Cheren and Hugh.
The "rivals" from X/Y are horrible, though. All of them. Shauna is the most irritating character in Pokemon to me. I can't stand her.
>>26474749
>Green
>edgy
Edgy means nothing anymore.
You even beat the edge out of Silver, no idea why anti-edgefags are complaining.
I just want another jerk rival, or at least a smug one. If you ask me, good rivals are ones that seem like a threat whenever you fight them. If the S&M rival picks the starter weak to I actually think that would be kinda interesting if he trains it to still be good against your's despite it's type disadvantage.
Kanto-Unova all had great rivals. Each one had an interesting personality that brought something unique to the game.
Kalos rivals were shit. I only remember Calem and Shauna's names. The characters had generic and overdone personalities. The interactions were mostly boring, and I can't even remember what any of them did during the climax.
A good rival is something new. I'd like to see a brother/sister rival, personally.
How would you feel about a rival who is a jerk but is also romantically interested in you?
>>26475693
Femdom rival mite b cool
The reason i dislike the Friendly Rival is that they've been done much more than the Unfriendly one
And also because they feel more flat
>Barry is energetic
>May/brendan is underachieving
>Tierno is a fat dancer
>Photoguy has a camera
>Serena/calem shows up sometimes
>weirdhair-girl has weird hair
that's roughly all those characters have, though wally and Gen5 was a bit better because they actually had a story that was somewhat interesting, except Cheren, but his personality was still better than the others above
>>26475693
>The male rival becomes infamous as a sexual predator and stalker
Silver an wally are the best rivals for me, thanks to their remakes.
Silver went from "i hate everyone i shall become strong so everybody shall realize i am good" to "i understand the mistakes from the past and know i need to achieve peace before strength"
Wally went from "maybe i am weak, but i shall never give up, i don't want to live jailed in my room, i want to live an adventure" to "This was a long way, i am not that weak, i shon't let you destroy my dreams, i shall fight anyways.
Barry is funny, Blue is a chad, Bianca/Cheren had great potencial, XY """""rivals""""" are just gimmicks for a "friendship is magic" plot.
>>26475808
Not to mention both had badass battle themes.
Also, you forgot your opinion about Hugh.
>Blue
He was a patronizing shit but he took his journey as well as helping his grandfather seriously. He even gave you advice and some items. He earned that spot as Champion and the final fight was satisfying as you've both been neck and neck for so long. A good rival.
>Silver
Downright edgy criminal because of his background who broke past his Hot Topic phase as you continuously put him in his place. Seeing him change was good and interacting with him afterwards was nice. Good rival.
>Brendan/May
Professor Birch's assitant first, your rival second. Fucks off before even defeat the villains. Shitty rival with nothing personality wise. Shit Rival.
>Wally
Starts off a sickly boy who wishes to be independent after gaining a pokemon. He then runs away and becomes a badass, however you never see any of his development. Great character. Bad rival
>Barry
Energetic, impatient and rather annoying bit rubs off on me. He at least takes his journey seriously and provides a challenge all the way to the end. It's also rather cool to learn his inspiration is hos dad being the fucking Tower Tycoon. An ok friend and rival.
>Cheren and Bianca
A good duo who provide peppy support and encouragement as well as legit advice and a reminder that you're not the only one trying to make it big. Their career paths after B/W was a great reflection of their development. Great rivals but work as a pair.
>N
Very unique rival and his role in the story is good. His battle style reflecting his personality and ideology is great. He was great to interact with and his battles were all pretty solid, all the way up to the final one.
>Hugh
Unconventional in motivation but their to be a great friend and support as well as a good challenge and trainer. Him already having more experience than you as a trainer within the game makes him a bit intimidating. Good rival though he doesn't really feel like an opposing challenge in your journey.
cont.
>>26475984
Not him but Hugh is a mixed bag for me. I think he would have been better if he was translated better....
In terms of music, blues champion theme is the best rival music hands down
But i think cheren and hugh are the best when it comes to battles
Blue was okay, but never really posed a threat
Silver was shit, all trash talk while he had the shittiest team ever
May was alright good music as well. Is wally even a rival?
I dont really remember barry doing anything besides being easy and annoying
I really like cheren as a character and what he does in the game in b/w, decent team as well. Bianca is cool but basically just a weaker cheren
Hugh is great and i love his theme
Serena and her friends are just straight up trash
>>26476032
>Serena/Calem
Seemingly detached as fuck from the group and not very involved in your journey personally compared to the others as a rival. Shitty rival.
>Shauna
I appreciate her as a friend within the game and she tries hard to catch up to you as if telling you, 'Don't forget I'm here too.' But she's little a challenge. Better rival than Serena but not great. Great friend though.
>Trevor
Timid and more focused on the Pokedex but this is reflected very little. He could have been a neat new spin on a rival but he didn't cut it. Shauna tagalong. Ok friend.
>Tierno
He's a neat friend but not really a rival. He'd work as a Contest rival in Hoenn or Sinnoh.
tldr. Kalos and Hoenn had very severly lacking rivals. Kanto and Johto had great rivals. Sinnoh and Unova had a good mix of friend and rival.
>>26474749
Top Tier
Blue, Barry
UNLEASH MY RAGE Tier
Hugh
Better than OK
Cheren & Bianca, Wally
OK Tier
N, Silver
Meh Tier
Brendan/May
Below Meh Tier
Serena/Calem, Shauna
Irredeemable Shit Tier
Those two faggots
I honestly don't have high hopes regarding the new rival(s) for Sun and Moon.
Let's see if GF can make them at least 'decent'.
>>26476317
After X/Y, I have lost all hope in getting a good rival. They'll force them to be your best buddy in the whole world despite saying nothing to them, and they'll talk about how incredible of a trainer you are and suck your dick every step of the way.
I think Hoenn will always have my favorite character designs.
>>26474749
It's fine if we have friendly rivals
The reason XY rivals were shit weren't because they were like "Let's be friends ~uguu!~"
It's because they had shitty two mon teams where not even all move slots were used.
It would be great if we got a group of rivals with proper teams and maybe one time you face against one rival, or have a double battle with two or even a fucking triple or rotation battle with three. and with teams of 5 or more mon.
Fuck game freak is it so hard to give your important npc's full teams?
>>26474749
Silver, but Wally is a close second
>>26476425
Silver is bestgirl.
>>26476476
>bestgirl
More like bestwife
>>26475005
>You almost never lose at his "dex battles"
It's literally impossible to lose. If you manage to avoid any encounters in the mountain region before seeing him again, you'll still automatically win despite being at 0.
Gary > Silver > b2w2 guy > actual feces > everyone else
>>26474749
Barry is the only one that mattered since he was the only one that ever built a decent team.
Blue is ok for being the champion I guess.
The rest literally do not matter.
>>26475984
Hugh is...well
I love the design
I love his battle theme
I love his behaviour
But i feel his plot was not developed, we only know Team plasma stole his purrloin and his sister blah bla blah. But we don't see anything to relate.
The manga shows what i expected, but the games just show a new character with a backstory we don't know.
Colress was awesome bc he isn't a mad scientist or a bad guy, he just want to achieve his ideals and Team plasma was a way. He even help us bc he thinks we have "something special". The manga even show this and the game developed it well.
If hugh was like Colress, i would be pleased
God tier: Hugh, Barry (Hugh has a neat music theme and history, but... ONLY 3 POKEMON)
Meh: Wally (Cool, badass boy, even with that nature)
Bad: Silver, Blue (Too rough)
Too Bad: May/Brendan
Shit: The rest (Cheren is excusable, but too annoying).
Can N be considered as a rival or is he a villianous team leader/executive?
>>26474749
My personal favorite was probably Hugh or ORAS!Wally
Also, Blue/Green weren't really edgy, they had the antagonist rival thing right, it was Silver that was a pathetic edgelord
