favourite rival?

Silver. Most interesting and least obnoxious.

I could get where his ego came from at least, he was essentially a criminal who abused Pokemon. Blue from gen 1 was just a spoiled child. Silver got an arc that he did change as a person, got some backstory, Blue did not at all.

And later rivals were wussified in that they could barely be called rivals at all.
 
Silver > Cheren/Bianca > Blue > Hugh > Wally > Gladion > Barry > Hau >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> the XY goons and May/Brendan (underdeveloped, a bunch of over friendly, not challenging weaklings.
 
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N. This is a sticky one because Bianca and Cheren are your rivals in name, but N is really your rival in Unova, similarly Brendan/ May are presented as the rival in Hoenn...but it really turns out to be Wally, another rival that I am very fond of.

N is introduced in the story at about the same point as Bianca and Cheren but perseveres for longer over the course of the story, collecting badges, engaging in more battles with you and ultimately is the one crowned champion. True to the original model of the great Blue (another favorite rival of mine) he also mannages to do it all before you!

You can argue that N is your antagonist and not the rival, but I personally think Ghetsis is a better example of the villain than N. N is your rival in my opinion because he begins as a young inexperienced trainer and is literally your opposite, taking the other dragon and creating a parallel to the two brothers who faught against eachother in Unova's founding myth.

I think he's the best rival because he has the most dramatic story wrapped around his character. He was an orphan and an abused child essentially locked away in a castle with the manipulative and ambitious Ghetsis, and the suffering he witnessed helped to shape his beliefs.

His story is truly unique however because he is the first rival on a higher quest beyond just wanting to be stronger than you, though that is part of it and he is very competitive towards you like a good rival should be. However, what he wants is to overthrow the current social structure, and raises some valid concerns in the process. He is intelligent, articulate and his actions serve as a catalyst for meeting amazing legendary Pokemon and reveal the ancient history of the world that the player lives in.

N gives a strong sense of being a deserving rival as oppose to fighting any old grunt or admin because he has a good soul and behaves honorobly towards you. Defeating N is a complex experience because he is sympathetic.

However, why I like N is that while he is compassionate and relatable he is also intense. I generally like more aggressive rivals such as Blue, Silver or even Gladion, and I find that N is consistent with this, rather than overly-friendly rivals who take defeats with a grin on their face. N takes his beliefs with utmost seriousness and can be a severe judge of you and others. He will not hesitate to reprimand you, call you out, question what you believe in. He is a proud individual, even at times arrogant and he may respond with admiration or with disgust depending on how you answer him. He would probably die for his beliefs and you would probably die in his perfect world if you refused to comply with what he believed was right. He is not a Mary Sue.

Overall N is a character that really came to life for me with an attractively designed trainer sprite, a great battle theme, and other strong pieces of music like the theme for his castle or his room that show different facets of his pesonality. All of the spaces he is introduced in from the ruins of his castle to ontop of the ferris wheel to the dark of mistralton cave are interesting. And he has the most development of the rivals which covers literally years, going from being your enemy BW to rescuing you from the brink of death in BW2. All of this while riding on top of a cool dragon.

There are a lot of rivals I like but N is just a very tough act to follow if you consider him your rival.
 
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Silver, because he really developed. After getting destroyed by Lance half way through the game, he slowly has a change of heart. By the end, he even has a Crobat, which could only be obtained through happiness.
 
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VisionofMilotic said:
N. This is a sticky one because Bianca and Cheren are your rivals in name, but N is really your rival in Unova, similarly Brendan/ May are presented as the rival in Hoenn...but it really turns out to be Wally, another rival that I am very fond of.

N is introduced in the story at about the same point as Bianca and Cheren but perseveres for longer over the course of the story, collecting badges, engaging in more battles with you and ultimately is the one crowned champion. True to the original model of the great Blue (another favorite rival of mine) he also mannages to do it all before you!

You can argue that N is your antagonist and not the rival, but I personally think Ghetsis is a better example of the villain than N. N is your rival in my opinion because he begins as a young inexperienced trainer and is literally your opposite, taking the other dragon and creating a parallel to the two brothers who faught against eachother in Unova's founding myth.

I think he's the best rival because he has the most dramatic story wrapped around his character. He was an orphan and an abused child essentially locked away in a castle with the manipulative and ambitious Ghetsis, and the suffering he witnessed helped to shape his beliefs.

His story is truly unique however because he is the first rival on a higher quest beyond just wanting to be stronger than you, though that is part of it and he is very competitive towards you like a good rival should be. However, what he wants is to overthrow the current social structure, and raises some valid concerns in the process. He is intelligent, articulate and his actions serve as a catalyst for meeting amazing legendary Pokemon and reveal the ancient history of the world that the player lives in.

N gives a strong sense of being a deserving rival as oppose to fighting any old grunt or admin because he has a good soul and behaves honorobly towards you. Defeating N is a complex experience because he is sympathetic.

However, why I like N is that while he is compassionate and relatable he is also intense. I generally like more aggressive rivals such as Blue, Silver or even Gladion, and I find that N is consistent with this, rather than overly-friendly rivals who take defeats with a grin on their face. N takes his beliefs with utmost seriousness and can be a severe judge of you and others. He will not hesitate to reprimand you, call you out, question what you believe in. He is a proud individual, even at times arrogant and he may respond with admiration or with disgust depending on how you answer him. He would probably die for his beliefs and you would probably die in his perfect world if you refused to comply with what he believed was right. He is not a Mary Sue.

Overall N is a character that really came to life for me with an attractively designed trainer sprite, a great battle theme, and other strong pieces of music like the theme for his castle or his room that show different facets of his pesonality. All of the spaces he is introduced in from the ruins of his castle to ontop of the ferris wheel to the dark of mistralton cave are interesting. And he has the most development of the rivals which covers literally years, going from being your enemy BW to rescuing you from the brink of death in BW2. All of this while riding on top of a cool dragon.

There are a lot of rivals I like but N is just a very tough act to follow if you consider him your rival.
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You definitely love Pokemon for more reasons than just its connection to mythology. ????
 
Hmm. This is a hard one.

I'm honestly quite fond of Bianca and Cheren.

Bianca, especially. She's incredibly genuine and kindhearted, and I find her absolutely adorable. While she isn't the most powerful rival ever, she's ambitious, which I admire. Moreover, she balances out Cheren's calculated, earnest persona, as she's quite exuberant and silly. She may come across as hyperactive and annoying to others, but I thoroughly enjoy her as my rival.

Also, her character development in Black & White 2 is astonishing. I love her more serious demeanor.

Cheren, is very brilliant, which appeals to me. His thoughts seem to be better constructed than previous rivals, who often come across a little lackluster in terms of intelligence. He isn't as lively as Bianca, and is even a bit bland. However, there's something about him that I really like. Oh, and design wise, I dig. Especially in Black & White 2.

Honorable mentions: Silver, Barry :)
 
Silver is objectively the best rival in the games. He has character, and it is really well developed in the story, especially HGSS. Also his team is really cool (especially Crobat because character <3) Done and done.

That said, Barry in DPPt is also a really great rival. He's sporadic, fun, and his team is really nice. He brings such energy to DPPt, and it's noticeable even in a high-energy region. Barry is probably my favorite rival.

And while I'm here, time to rank my favorites:
1. Barry - Explained above
2. Silver - Explained above
3. Cheren/Bianca - Honestly one of the best parts of BW. These two save the early game from disrepair.
4. Gladion - Basically a Silver clone. Seriously. Parent is head of evil organization, so he breaks off on his own to go attempt to get stronger, then ends up with friendship-evolved Pokemon in the last battle. Luckily, if they picked a really good character to copy, so it works. Also they both have awesome themes, though Gladion's is better.
4.5. N - I don't really count him, but here is where he'd be.
5. Wally - His battle theme is almost the whole reason he's here. That and how that battle starts.
6. Blue - Boring and generic, but we take those.
7. May/Brendan - Boring and generic again. Worth noting, however, that Brendan is a MUCH better character than May.
8. Hugh - God this guy's awful. "I hate team plazma" (repeat for 30 hours). That's his entire character.
9. Hau - too happy. like seriously stop.
No. The XY rivals - Again here the gender you pick plays a difference, as Serena has better lines than Calem. The other four are trash though.

Special anime shout-out to Paul. Ash and Paul's interactions are superb the entire DPPt anime, and they have a full THREE episode battle that I maintain is the best single battle in the show by far.
 
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BLUE/Gary/ YouD***. Yes I named him that in my playthrough

Mainly cause he was so cocky it was funny.
 
Enpatsu Shakugan said:
Is it just because he beats the Elite 4? Because apart from that, he loses just like every other one and seems shocked at the outcome.
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"Just because"?! Considering that beating the Elite 4 and becoming its champion is not just a great feat but also the highest achievement in the game, aside from when he battles the player (us, and for gameplay reasons), he achieves everything he sets out to do. So yes, he is competent.

apokemoncoordinator said:
green? red's rival is called blue outside of japan.
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Yes, Green. That's his original and actual name (reflected also in his appearance in the latest games).

He's only called Blue because that happened to be the version chosen (instead of Green) to be paired with Red when it was released in the West. It was something done out of convenience, not out of fidelity. I don't mind people calling him Blue, it's valid too. But let's not pretend Green is wrong, innacurate or secondary.
 
Blue and Barry.

Blue is the true rival with a strong personality and character development (which is reflected in his sprite changes throughout the battles, a little but strong detail). Also, he becomes the champion before the player which i find pretty cool. His champion theme also adds so much to him and his rivalry with the player.

Barry is also a very charismatic character with strong personality and motivations. He wants to be ahead of the player always and is a very impatient and anxious guy, his main flaws.

Both Barry and Blue's team also inspire me to create unique playthrough teams usually with underrated pok?mon and much type variety.

P.S.: The two even match each other if you connect their names
 
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I hope we have a more intimidating and un-nice rival in the next region, like Silver/Blue
 
After all these years, it's probably still Blue/Gary. I think they hit the balance just right with him - he's arrogant and obnoxious enough that you always want to kick his butt, but he's never such a jerk that you outright dislike him. And that moment where you beat Lance and go into the next room to find him waiting for you remains one of the greatest moments in any Pokemon game. I'm frankly still baffled that they haven't bothered making the rival the champion in almost any of the later games, instead going for random barely-seen-before NPCs we have no investment in. It's just so much more dramatically satisfying.

Silver comes a close second. Making him such an outright criminal and all-around douche always seemed a brave decision, although he verges on being so over-the-top that you can't always take him seriously, and his change of heart feels a bit contrived to me. With Blue, I find you develop a certain grudging respect for him, whereas SIlver increasingly comes across as a barely competent psychopath. The line that always sums him up for me as that hilarious bit where he bemoans, "Why? Why do I lose?", after his fourth or fifth defeat at your hands. Because, ultimately, he is just a pretty laughable loser, but I still like him despite all that.

The rest have always felt much the same to me. Bland, friendly, alleged "rivals", who do little but blather on about the same trite stuff about the great bond they have with their Pokemon and how fun their journey is and the like that you got from most NPCs in the game. Though, in hindsight, I do appreciate Brendan and May for the sole reason that the developers were at least trying to do something different with them - unfortunately, pretty much every single rival since has been in the exact same mould.
 
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Glazio is my favorite rival. He starts off as an edgy youth with a mysterious past that wants to do everything alone before gradually opening up to others and becoming more reasonable. His disdain for Hau was amusing and welcome since Moon only had a few chances to verbally ruin his groove.
 
Blue for actually being a threat in-game and top-tier conceit.
 
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