[Media] Best champion in the series? Worst in the series?

[Empoleon671]

For me, it's easily Cynthia

She's incredibly modest and private which to me is pretty relatable. In the villa she mentions that her house is hidden and that even the region is a secret.... however i interpreted it as she does live in sinnoh but says this to not confirm to the player she lives there. that's something i would do as being cautious about my whereabouts is in line to how i imagine Cynthia being. there's also the case in BW2 a trainer mentions that they sometimes see Cynthia swim late at night combined with the fact she openly states she is stumped by how many swimsuits she bought also screams to me how private she wants to be, by even ensuring her attempt at having no one see her in a swim suit is just kind of charming. Doesn't really help she's designed pretty well, simple but fashionable and timeless. She's aged really well imho. she has this atmosphere of both intrique and mystery for me.

Her involvement in the story... alot of people have issues with this but i didn't. in my eyes, she watched you grow as a trainer enough to let you handle things as you have proven time and time again to be capable of. she gives you much of the regions lore and actually interacts with you throughout your journey, even going as far as jumping into another dimension WITH you to support you on your main protagonist quest.

Her team and difficulty was insane. Even going back as an adult, while i didn't lose, i had to SPAM items and use a strategy of spam switching luxray and staraptor to stack intimidate on her garchomp. no other champ made me change my playstyle that much. note i didn't grind and i love that without grinding, cynthia is basically guaranteed atleast 10x levels on you with her insane lv 66 garchomp while your team is low 50's. i get some people found her easy, but having played nearly every game except for XY, it seems the general opinion is cynthia is the hardest. every champion since cynthia has been a literal cakewalk... where i usually crush my opposition 6-0...

anyways, my least favorite?

probably Leon. didn't really appear to have much of a personality or trait i liked. i was constantly reminded how great he was and that he was indeed, the champion of this game throughout my game. maybe it was the game, but my team was completely overleveled by the time i got to him (my highs were 70s) , and i just kind of stomped him? big man talks alot but cant really back it up i guess. i think i wanted to like him, but i just don't. he's too hyped up for what a letdown he ultimately is. i think i also dislike his team, charizard has been pandered too for the last like, 3 generations? it's crazy how much attention the red lizard gets.

 

[BoulderSmolder]

Blue has my favorite role in the game and as a character. Your snobby rival is always two steps ahead of you, even when you beat the apparent final boss, Lance. Blue's is enough of a smug jerk that you root for his downfall, while still tame enough to feel appropriate for a childhood spat. His team on paper is super intimidating, with the statistically strongest Pokemon in Gen 1 plus his starter and the first Pokemon he ever caught.

The only area where Blue loses is the actual challenge; he's not very hard as a champion in any game. His strong Pokemon are hindered by awful movesets and the player's prior experience battling him. But I think outside difficulty, Blue is easily the best champion in the series.

Honorable mentions

• Cynthia was the first champion to have a really optimized team, as well as the first female champion. She has a cool design, a memorably tough battle, excellent music, and an intimidating presence that no champion has matched since. My one issue with Cynthia is she's kinda boring. Her team has no overall theme beyond "strength", and in the story she's really just a Steven clone.
• Iris is awesome. Her bubbly pink charm is so unique after the stoic and serious champions of previous generations. Her team has a clear theme, but is still very strong and provides unique challenges. I love how Iris has a Life Orb Sheer Force Druddigon and a Focus Sash Haxorus, making both Pokemon feel just as threatening as her pseudo legendary Hydreigon. The biggest place where Iris suffers is her lack of presence in the story. She's a non-entity. But still, Iris is probably my second pick behind Blue.

For least favorite champion, Trace is obvious. He's just Blue but with less player investment.

Dishonorable mentions

• Diantha is sad. I like the concept as a once-famed actress who gracefully accepts the passage of time. But she barely appears in the story, and her personality is the same bland wise mentor we've already gotten too many times from Champions. Then comes the actual fight with Diantha and... She's a joke. Her team is a weird mix of good to mediocre Gen VI Pokemon with no real theme, only a bunch of shared weaknesses.
• Lance in GSC. Not HGSS, just GSC. As a kid, I remember beating Lance in Gold and then going, "Okay, where's the champion?" I legitimately forgot Lance wasn't the final Elite 4 member anymore, because he still felt like one. It felt like such a downgrade to go from Blue to the guy whose entire team just dies to Ice Beam. HGSS Lance is exempt since his team is much more threatening.

One thing I've noticed: I miss themed teams. Way too many Champions are just "ace Pokemon + random collection of Pokemon of diverse types with good coverage moves", but Cynthia already nailed that concept. It's not like it's impossible to make a challenging champion with a type theme; Iris is one of the most challenging champions in the series.

 

[Empoleon671]

The only area where Blue loses is the actual challenge; he's not very hard as a champion in any game. His strong Pokemon are hindered by awful movesets and the player's prior experience battling him. But I think outside difficulty, Blue is easily the best champion in the series.

i respect that. having pretty much only played firered, i think my issue is that i only ever tended to think of him as my rival and not the champion. unfortunately never both.

Cynthia was the first champion to have a really optimized team, as well as the first female champion. She has a cool design, a memorably tough battle, excellent music, and an intimidating presence that no champion has matched since. My one issue with Cynthia is she's kinda boring. Her team has no overall theme beyond "strength", and in the story she's really just a Steven clone.

not to really argue but i definitely disagree. maybe it's the bias but... i didn't think she was boring.

When you first meet her, she doesn't make it apparent that she is the champion, only that she is a regular trainer, same as you. In all her interactions, even when you finally do challenge her, she never makes it a point to declare a position of superiority to you. And she never makes it a point to interfere with your journey.

You meet Cynthia in the middle of your journey, and she encourages you to continue onwards. When you face Cynthia in battle, she prefaces by thanking you for your involvement in stopping Cyrus. she never unveils her team at all until your battle with her.

Cynthia is a humble champion that helps you in your journey. Cynthia also has life outside as a champion. For one, I know in other regions she's just another regular trainer battling for funOutside Pokemon however, she has a job and (as of the movie) has a family and a daughter now, she's a landlord too as she owns houses that she rents. At first I thought she was a Mythologist or something but it turns out its just her hobby to study about Sinnohan Mythology.

All of those qualities makes her human to me. So hard disagree on her being a steven clone.

and personally, i like varied teams more than theme. Cynthia's team may not be abundantly clear with a theme, but champions to me are supposed to be the strongest trainer in the region, not someone i can just spam one SE move on the entire team without much hassle (like Lance in your example)

 

[Bellsprout]

My favorite has always fallen between Steven or Cynthia. As I've gotten older I find myself a bit annoyed that Steven is considered a steel type expert, but only has three steel types on his team. But I always enjoyed his involvements in the game, especially in Emerald. Cynthia makes for a good match and she has a great theme. They both have relaxed personalities and never come off as annoying to me. I'm going to have to leave them at tied.

As for worst I have to say Alder. I just never liked the guy. I feel like I have unjustly judged him lol, but I've never been able to come around to him. The elite four in his gen might honestly be my favorite and maybe it's just the contrast between how good they are compared to him that does it for me.

 

[Corveone]

Personal favorite is Cyntha. I liked her personality, the way she's introduced and how she participates in the plot a few times, and her team was also really interesting and challenging. Liked how her team wasn't about using a strong type, but about using Pokémon that have different types of strengths.

Steven was also a good champion. Liked how his team follows a theme that makes sense with the character.

Worst for me is Blue. I hate the dumb flat rival cliché who only cares about becoming the best for the sake of becoming the best, and I also don't like rival and champion being the same person. It's also funny that upon beating him, uncle Oak comes saying he's disappointed and tells him that he lost because he didn't treat his Pokémon with care. Well bro, he has just beaten the supposedly four strongest trainers in the region, so it looks like he did raise his Pokémon pretty well, give the guy some credit :P

 

[Zeostar]

Leon is my favorite. I loved the build up and hype around the fight.

He's also very upbeat for someone in that position.

 

[Geewithabee]

Favorite would have to be Steven, while least favorite would go to Alder, or maybe your buddy Trace from the Let's Go games.

 

[Sheep]

Cynthia and Steven are easy favorites - they both have awesome character designs, had good development, and are just cool in general. I love the improvements made to Steven in ORAS. ❤️ Leon is also high up there!

Don't know if I have a least favorite that I want to outright call that because they're all good in their own ways, but Alder, while being cool and from my favorite generation, is least memorable to me.

 

[Latios_Enjoyer]

who the hell even was gen 7's champion, being the only champion I can't remember is a one way street to the worst.

The best is either Cynthia or Blue. Cynthia for being just awesome and blue for being the most involved and the best rival (N doesn't count).

Honorable mentions
Leon: his team is cool.
Iris: Dragons.

Dishonorable mentions
Alder: You only fight him in the post-game, If I could remembers gen 7's champion's name he would be the worst.
False Blue: his Pokémon have three moves, you need to go out of your way to be this stupid.
Lance: clickbait, he's a bird boy.

 

[ReKoil]

Steven stone is most memorable to me. Never particularly cared for any of the other ones, including Cynthia.

Worst is probably Alder as I completely forgot he even was a champion 😂

who the hell even was gen 7's champion, being the only champion I can't remember is a one way street to the worst.

You just fight Professor Kukui in Sun Moon.
In USUM I think it's Hau.

 

[synrec]

Cynthia. Is Red considered a champion? If so, he was the first ever to break the mold requiring 16 gym badges and is above Cynthia for me.

I really like how stupid Lance is as a champion running a half dragonite team tho. You either preped for him or didn't.

Blue was nice tho kinda off for me.

 

[Shrew]

My Favorite champion is N. I see it as a remastered version of the champion fight in Red/Blue.

I like how in the first pokemon games, the champion was a surprise. You expect it to just be an elite 4, but when you walk into the final chamber, you discover there's a secret fifth foe, who was your rival all along. It's my firm belief that Blue only had to beat the Elite 4, and didn't have to beat a champion to become champion, and that the champion role was vacant before Blue. The champion wasn't so much a role, but more of a tiebreaker for the unexpected case where to trainers completed the same challenges.

With N, it hits all of the above. GenII-GenV conditioned us to expect a champion like Alder at the end, but we're given the mild surprise that N became champion. I like how well he's developed as a character, and how it allows for the climax of the evil villain plot to coincide with the climax of your own journey.

Some places like Bulbapedia don't list N as a champion, but he did beat the elite 4 and Alder, so I count him.

My Least favorite is Diantha.

 

[colours]

favourite: Cynthia. it doesn't need to be said how completely badass she makes herself out to be and it works.

least favourite/"worst": diantha, she only shows up maybe twice ever in her own game and doesn't really help you out with anything, nor pay much attention to you as the player whatsoever. how she became a champion, and what her story was is something completely up the air. not that i think deep lore when it comes to champions are strictly mandatory for them to be likeable, but i'd like... something at least to remember her by.