3rd Gen Mr. Dad Norman

As Marriland calls him... Anyway, Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald are the first - and so far only - games in the series (ORAS notwithstanding) that we see the player character's father, in Norman, who appears at the Petalburg City Gym and is the Gym Leader there. He uses Normal-type Pokémon, and at the beginning of the game he gives Wally a Zigzagoon so he can catch his first Pokémon using it. When your time to battle him comes after you obtain four badges, watch out, because his Slaking are very strong! In Emerald they swapped one of them for a Spinda and Linoone, but they still are nothing to mess with.

What did you think of the first time we get to see the player's father in-game? For that matter, how was battling him for you? Was he ever easy or hard for you? If so, how did you go about beating him? Discuss.

I always thought the Father vs Son battle was epic. I loved having my Combusken/Blaziken take on his Slaking. It always left a cool image in my head.

I really liked having the player's dad take on a significant role in the game. There are too many absentee father games, and enough other father characters appear in the series that it makes sense for the player to have a father who appears at some point. Norman also gave you a good reason for moving to Hoenn and journeying in the first place, and he gave you a mid-game goal to work towards, which was nice.

I had a hard time with him in one of the games (maybe Emerald? I don't quite remember) because his team seemed so strong. More recently, he hasn't been so challenging, but he did make a good gym leader, and it was fun to have a father/child gym battle.

I think this is the only game to actually have a father which you can talk to! And he is one amazing dad to the character. You don't really meet him much throughout the game until you're able to battle his Gym, aside from him giving Wally a Zigzagoon to help him catch a Ralts. And battling your own dad as a gym leader felt amazing! Really gave it that good feeling and boost. Especially because it was a difficult event! Those memories >.>

It was pretty cool. You could finally battle a family member lol.
He wasnt that hard to beat, he mostly relied on a Slaking that kept loafing around.

Firstly the fact your Dad actually appeared in the game was a great point. This made you feel your parents actually had a decent marriage and not that he had just left and never came back or just died or something.
Secondly, his role in the games is quite cool, being able to face him as Gym Leader. This really made some good dialogue. You could almost feel his double feelings about his lose and his son/daughter's victory.

H.A.N. said:

Firstly the fact your Dad actually appeared in the game was a great point. This made you feel your parents actually had a decent marriage and not that he had just left and never came back or just died or something.
Secondly, his role in the games is quite cool, being able to face him as Gym Leader. This really made some good dialogue. You could almost feel his double feelings about his lose and his son/daughter's victory.

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I also liked how he told Wally to show us how to catch a Pokemon, instead of some old random creep.

When I was a kid, I thought it was pretty cool that the player's dad is a Gym Leader! Now? Well, I think the player's dad isn't doing a good job in being an actual dad. No hate on Norman though, he's pretty cool, but the games didn't do a good job at showing him being an actual fatherly figure aside from that ONE call during the boat ride to Dewford Town.

Zeffy said:

When I was a kid, I thought it was pretty cool that the player's dad is a Gym Leader! Now? Well, I think the player's dad isn't doing a good job in being an actual dad. No hate on Norman though, he's pretty cool, but the games didn't do a good job at showing him being an actual fatherly figure aside from that ONE call during the boat ride to Dewford Town.

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That's true. But I dont think you can expect a lot from the family aspect. I mean, you are let on your own as a 10-year old kid. I mean its nice to have freedom, but that is too much freedom given by your parents at the age of 10 +/-

H.A.N. said:

Firstly the fact your Dad actually appeared in the game was a great point. This made you feel your parents actually had a decent marriage and not that he had just left and never came back or just died or something.

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Decent marriage? You mean that having your mother live at home by herself while your dad lives in a gym in another town and never-ever comes home, or is ever seen together with his wife, is a good marriage?:P

Yeah, when I played Fire Red (my first Pokemon game), I always wondered what happened to my player character's father. I bet he left and joined Team Rocket...

Saxorus said:

Decent marriage? You mean that having your mother live at home by herself while your dad lives in a gym in another town and never-ever comes home, or is ever seen together with his wife, is a good marriage?:P

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It's not like he's never home. He is when you return home after beating the Elite Four. It's hard to say anything about the time scale, as you never make your time to sleep, but it could be well possible that your whole adventure happens in just one day. If so, Dad could just have his job from let's say 8 to 6 and be home in the evening.

I liked seeing finally seeing the player character's dad instead of wondering where he went or if the player character's mom just really got around but he's not doing a good job as a dad. Still he's pretty cool.

I thought it was pretty cool that you actually had a father in this game, opposed to the posibilities of a absent father or no father in the other games.

Ive never liked Norman, Hes meant to be an epic gym leader but in reality offers no challenge at all. He should have had better pokemon than Slaking and vigorth.

^ Really? Because a lot of people have struggled big time with his Slakings, even with their Truant ability.

But other than that, I know that some people think he's an uncaring father who treats Wally better than the player. And many are known to give him a daunting demeanor in their own playthroughs.

Pendraflare said:

^ Really? Because a lot of people have struggled big time with his Slakings, even with their Truant ability.
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I found him easy to bulldoze with my team in Alpha Sapphire (I think so in Ruby as well but can't remember as that was years ago). Fighting pokemon just take him apart. They should have gave him a something other than 2 slakings and vigorth.

Norman wasn't hard for me. After his last pokemon by Combusken evolved into a Blaziken :D

It's definitely a unique change! I had a hard time battling him and he's probably the hardest Hoenn gym leader for me. It's the only game iirc to stray away from the traditional mom and child structure and I'd like to see some more diverse families for the player character in the future. Maybe a single father would be nice...? :)

I'm in with the Hoenn region games including us a father. They've given him a role, so Norman wasn't just there for nothing. :)