4th Gen Riolu

[Sonikkts]

Riolu was available to players in the Sinnoh region after helping Riley navigate through Iron Island and holding off Team Galactic.

What did you think of Riolu? Did you use yours?

I didn't use Riolu properly until Black/White 2 personally. I feel it's given out too late, much like Beldum in Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald.

 

[Nakasu]

I used Riolu in Pokemon Platinum. I leveled it up to a 100 Lucario for competitive battling. It was quite tedious. I might never do it again. Lucario was a good Pokemon in Gen 4, but because of it being obtainable way to far into the game, most people overlook it

 

[Bounsweet]

No, I never used Riolu. :( I wasn't a big fan of Riolu or Lucario back when Diamond and Pearl came out and I could never hatch a female one in-game because of the gender ratio. I've actually never used one for an in-game team but I have used them competitively and they're crazy strong so maybe one day when I replay one of my older game I'll use one.

 

[Sheep]

I tried to, yes. It was tough to evolve but worth it in the end because of how insanely good Lucario is in battle. The fourth gen was probably the only generation where I actually used it, lol. Guess I used it so often in D/P that it got tiring. XD;

 

[Pendraflare]

I never used it in-game seriously given how low level you get it. The first time I used Lucario wasn't really until X when I had its Mega Stone early on. Early on it doesn't have too much to utilize, although in BW2 it was a little odd that it gets its best attacks (like Aura Sphere and Close Combat) so late in the game, and in XY too (although there at least you could use Heart Scales for a few of them).

 

[Rosehip]

I wasn't one to raise Pokemon fresh from eggs, so I didn't really bother with using Riolu. For the same reason as OP, it was simply given to me way too late for me to make use of it. I usually have a Pokemon capable of filling in the holes Lucario would've filled in anyway, so it wouldn't see much use. I think the Riolu line's a really good line, though it takes effort to raise a Riolu into a Lucario, it's worth it.

 

[Altairis]

I was really disappointed with the Riolu line's presence in the DPPt games. They were one of the first Gen 4 Pokemon announced, and I really loved its design and movepool and couldn't wait to use it, but then I found out the only place I could get it from was an egg after I had basically completed the game. It wasn't that fair. I really wish that we had been able to obtain it earlier since by the time we got it, I wasn't willing to put in that much time and I instead just wanted to finish the game. Such a shame, too. I transfered one of my eggs over when I started Diamond over again and Riolu was such a beast to use earlygame.

 

[XtinaIsMeLuvinWWE]

I valued my Riolu because of Riley passing it on to you; after having battled alongside him it made it seem more special somehow :) Aside from sentimental reasons though I never used mine, as I'd always had my team sorted by then. In a way it was kinda like the Togepi in Silver and Wynaut in Emerald lol - a cool gift that I never got around to using lol.

 

[Tame]

For some reason I just didn't use it, only evolved and that was it. It looks cool though.

 

[Aether★]

I once made topic about that (forbidden now). Personally I didn't use it, because I had a solid team at the time and didn't feel like grinding again. Lucario wasn't really special back then so I had no need for it.

 

[Amore]

I actually only discovered there was more than that room on the left in Iron Island post-E4 in Diamond...in about my third play through. Quite interesting to see two Galactic Grunts who didn't realise their boss was defeated :P
Once I'd found this, Lucario quickly became one of my favourite pokémon, although I usually ended up using him on the same teams as Infernape, which always gave me significant problems trying to combat Cynthia's Garchomp and Flint's Infernape.
My first play of Platinum I used him alongside Empoleon though, and he was brilliant.

Also, seriously OP, comparing it to Beldum? You've still got two/three gym badges to go when you get your Riolu egg, whereas all you have to raise Beldum on is any un-battled trainers in Hoenn's vast oceans, and Match Call.