4th Gen Barry or Silver?

[Dragon]

Barry is at times childish, impatient, and rash, Silver is equally as serious, uncaring, and sometimes even cruel. No doubt comparing these two is like apples to oranges. However, as different as they may be, they still carry the characteristics of all Pokémon rivals. They are both determined and they each have a desire to be the very best~

Both of them are pretty easy to take care of in the games (at least in my opinion anyway), so it really comes down to their personality, point of view, and training and battling style that makes up their rivalry characteristics and differentiates the two from each other.

In your opinion though, who would you say is your preferred rival? Or rather, the better made up rival of the two? Seeing as how different they both are, I'd say it's up to personal taste in how one likes their rival to be; whether that be someone who is more serious, more focused and darker or someone who is more free spirited, jokes around every now and then, yet still able to hold their own in a fight~!

 

[Fun Size]

No question for me it's gotta be Barry. Barry was fun and enjoyable in both the games and in the anime. Silver was way to serious and after a conversation in the games I'd always want to punch him in the face. I mean come on it's a Pokemon game sure there's going to be those parts in the story where it's going to be serious, but I never thought Pokemon in general should be very serious. You play Pokemon to have fun and I think Barry really fit the bill.

 

[Guardian]

Silver as a rival, Barry as a companion.
Both are pretty cool actually. Silver is a jerk, and actually makes me want to battle him and beat him. Barry is pretty cool though, meeting him every now and then and talking to him. And he has his own personality unlike May/Brendan in R/S/E who were alright, but they werent really memorable.

As I said, Silver is a great rival, he has a story and personality, the same as Barry, but this guy for a companion and friendly competition.

 

[Pave Low]

I 100% agree with Sven. Barry has a fun and joyous personality, which made him an interesting character to bump into and talk to in the game. His dialogue was nice to read during parts of the game because it was different and more bubbly than everyone else's. Silver was your same old rival who would try his best to beat you and harass you.

 

[Hikamaru]

I liked Barry more of the two rivals, because he's really funny. I always cracked up at his "I'll fine you if you're late" dialogue, and while I never beat D/P/Pt he's still always a very hilarious character that makes me smile, but he's strong as well and even once had his starter (Torterra/Infernape/Empoleon) in Platinum become the highest-leveled Pokemon owned by an NPC outside of battle facilities, until Red's Pikachu surpassed him again.

 

[Meadow]

To be honest, I always liked Generation II Silver a lot more than his Generation IV counterpart. Even then, I'd still go with Barry, because not only did he have a memorable personality, but I found him very fun to battle (blame the music). Also, the way he showed up at the Spear Pillar to assist you against Team Galactic was pretty epic, and I was able to take him seriously despite his silly nature.

 

[bobandbill]

Silver. I liked Barry too though! I wasn't annoyed by his hyperactive personality (and I liked his battle theme too; Pulseman remix!), but he didn't give the same sort of development nor the sense of satisfaction about beating him as Silver did. He was a guy I liked to dislike, if that makes sense.

 

[CoffeeDrink]

Silver, totally. I think he was meant to bring back the snotty "I'm better than you even though I lost, smell you later loser" vibe that I enjoyed when Blue was palling around. Now it's all friendship and rainbows and ponies. Screw the ponies and your rainbows, I want someone to antagonize me into becoming the master just so I can curb stomp them into the dust for, just for credit chits and giggles.

I don't particularly enjoy the friendly rivalries in the games and think they should be put away for at least the next two generations.

It's been awhile since Game Freak introduced a new rival that made you want to crush them, or make you seethe with anger when they showed up. When Barry shows up I feel more like "Annoyed: Oh, it's Barry. Again." but with Blue and Silver I actually worry about the levels of my Pokemon, because if I lose he'll laugh at me and take half my money.

Barry and all the 'fluffy non-threatening' rivals give me no sense of victory after whopping them on the brain.

The friendly: "Oh! You've gotten strong Player! I will get stronger too! One day I'll win!"
as opposed to the mean: "No! How can this be! After all the work I did? This isn't over Player! Next time we meet it will be you running to the Poke center!"

You know, things like that. I don't really want to feel camaraderie in my Rivals, they're called Rivals for a reason. You want to be better than them at everything, not annoyed that they show up. You have to feel heat, sparks, adrenaline. Not just: oh.

I just want Barry and the others to leave me in peace and stop telling me how well their Bidoof is doing.

 

[curiousnathan]

Silver. I like them both, but Silver looked, sounded and acted like a formidable opponent; something a rival should be. While Barry provided a challenge his general personality wasn't very appealing and it didn't give off a sense of danger or sinistrality that Silver did.

 

[mikey]

I prefer Silver as well. I feel as if Silver is everything a rival should be in a Pokemon game. Like Gary. Silver was also a challenge and I liked that. I liked Barry too, but not as a rival, but as a friend. I feel as if Barry didn't have the rival spirit like Silver did.

 

[Bellsprout]

Can I say neither? I think Silver has the worst design out of all the rivals, but I like how cruel he is as he actually feels like a rival. The whole "friendly neighbor" thing they've been doing for a while now as the rival is really lame to me. It doesn't feel like a rival at all just an annoying pest who lives next door to you who won't leave you alone.

 

[Khoshi]

Barry. He always used to make me smile with his fine obsession, and he has the potential of being one of the strongest rivals in all of Pokemon, when levels are accounted for. He's also kinda cute, and he's related to a Frontier Brain of all people.

 

[lucario750]

Barry is to funny silver a jerk

 

[blue]

Barry. I do like Silver and have liked him since GSC (even though I thought originally he was female), but Barry comes across more energetic and is actually somewhat of a challenge as you progress and battle him.

 

[Necrum]

I like Silver more, but not for hating Barry. I did used to hate Barry a lot, but after playing Platinum a handful of times I noticed just how good of a character he is. Really in Pokemon games your Rival is much more the developing character than yourself, because form the start you're a good person (subject of debate of course since you battle innocent animals :P GO TEAM PLASMA WOO). Most rivals can be broken down the way you would break down a main character in a film.

Barry's development may not be super obvious, because of how natural it is. Throughout the game he will always make a stupid joke about how you owe him a large sum of money if you're late. This promptly stops as soon as he finds himself unable to save the legendary Pokemon of the lake he was sent to protect. His powerlessness to stop Team Galactic really puts him through a loop. Until that moment Pokemon battles were just fun. He wouldn't get too mad when he lost to you because you're friends. But losing to a Galactic Admin was so huge for him. By the end of the game we find a much more mature Barry who has a better understanding of the world, and is a much more serious individual without losing what charm he has in his personality. For this reason I grew to like him.

I have always liked Silver. He is probably my favorite rival of any game. As the child of Giovanni, he starts off with a very skewed view of Pokemon. However his unwillingness to go with his dad into Team Rocket shows that deep down he IS a good person. The first time you see Silver in game, he is a total dick. He kicks you around, calls you names, constantly talks about how much stronger than you he is, all the signs of a bad trainer. He goes on like this for a long time too, because of how much better he is than everyone else in the world. Except for you. And that drives him crazy. But what really takes the cake is the exact thing that makes Barry interesting: His entire view of Pokemon is shaken by losing to a powerful trainer. The roles are flipped this time though, Silver is challenged by one of the best trainers in the area, the Pokemon League Champion Lance. Before this you were just a fluke, but the fact that there's another trainer out there that can best him really hurt his ego. This leads him to build a better bond with his Pokemon by training in the Dragon's Den, and even managed to evolve his Golbat to a Crobat, which could only happen if he was liked by it.

tl;dr Pokemon Rivals are more complicated than they appear if you pay attention to them

 

[Wraithe]

I have yet to play much of D or P, but from the little that I have played, I have found Barry to be a little annoying. All rivals are, sure, he just rubs me the wrong way. I found Silver to be a rival I wanted to best. I could not stand the thought of letting him win. He drove me through some slow parts of the game.

 

[Aslan]

I used to say Barry was the better out of the two but he's more of a friend than a rival, honestly. Yeah, he wants to beat you. It's only natural that people want to come out on top of everything including pokemon battles. But he felt more like a companion who would pop up from time to time, challenge you for fun or to see how he compares then run off. He wouldn't get mad at himself for losing to you and while I'll admit that I loved his hyperactive and comedic personality - Silver was just the better one, rival-wise. I actually felt compelled to beat him and smash his sorry face into the ground while Barry was more of a 'eh ok let's battle for fun' sort of guy.

Character development wise, Wilhelm actually makes a really good point. They both develop a lot more than people realise. Its evident that Barry matures, Silver becomes less of a douche and everything's pretty swell in the world of rivals. But really, Silver was much more competitive and unwilling to lose. He wouldn't stop until he beat you. He'd still believe he was better and he wanted to prove that. I feel like he was more of a rival, always wanting to battle and show himself worthier than his opponent. And if you beat him, he wouldn't even say a good job or anything. He'd just run off and prepare himself for next time. That's what made him more of a rival for me than Barry.

On the other hand, Barry was my favourite of the two but he doesn't really fit the idea of a rival. So yeah, I'd say Silver.

 

[Hiatus]

Of these two characters, I would say I prefer Silver a little more than Barry.

Silver's design seems to be very fitting for him; his red hair does his signify some of his personality traits (such as overconfidence), and it goes along with his overall outfit (I probably would not have felt the same about him if latter were different, but... still, haha). Plus, this person also seems to be competitive, which is something I do like to see in rivals!

As for Barry, he does seem to have some of that competitive nature in him, but one thing that puts me off is how rushing he can be at times. If it weren't for this, I likely would have been able to tolerate him more.

 

[PokeFrontier]

No question for me it's gotta be Barry. Barry was fun and enjoyable in both the games and in the anime. Silver was way to serious and after a conversation in the games I'd always want to punch him in the face. I mean come on it's a Pokemon game sure there's going to be those parts in the story where it's going to be serious, but I never thought Pokemon in general should be very serious. You play Pokemon to have fun and I think Barry really fit the bill.

You might see him as the jerk but he has a hatred towards team rocket maybe it affected his personality since he was kidnapped by ice i like him because he likes tododile as much as i do! XD

 

[kyuubi93]

In terms of character personality, I have to go with Silver. I've always liked him the best out of all the Rivals (close second to Blue, of course), but in terms of who I like to battle more, Barry is a better trainer. Silver was always quit easy to wreck in battle, while I usually had some trouble with Barry. He is a serious battler, that's for sure.

In the end though, I have to choose Silver as my favorite rival of generation 4.