Engagement replies
Barry: He is not cocky in the slightest, just annoying and loud. Also he held that title? In the same games as cynthia? Even if talking just rivals i had more trouble with hugh or silver
Cheren/Bianca: Lets be real, cheren is the rival and bianca is just trying to figure out what she wants with her life and they do that so well. Double so in the sequal when you see the payoff
Hugh: Ill defend this man with my life. Maybe he does just boil down to "TEAM PLASMA MRRAAAWR", but just having a rival whose goal is not "i want to be better than you" or just feeling like there just kinda along for the ride is special to me. Even after completing his goal and challenging you at victory road its not "now im gonna beat you and be the champ" he just wants to give you one last test to make sure your ready. A true bro
Gen 6: Ill always say it, there are no rivals in gen 6
Hop/Bede/Marnie: You didnt even mention marnie! Who argueably is the best. Also hop had different thing to hau, hau was in his quest for fun. Hop was actively trying to get out of his brothers shadow which shows in his constantly changing team. I thought it was interesting! And what potential for bede? He is just blue but worse!
Nemona: I never actually gave an opinion on nemona(i dont think i finished the game by then) but i actually like her well enough. I know alot of people gave her slack for being clingy and all but there is actually a reason for it. She just wants someone on her level cause EVERYONE in the region, even the """champ""" are beneath her. Even when she holds back she doesnt have fun battling, except you. Someone who actually can go toe to toe with her. Her battling you so much is just that, her battling alot because for once she has someone on her level to have fun with. Definetly on the upper level of rivals for me personally
Just gonna reply to a couple of these:
Barry: You're right, cocky was the wrong word. He's not unpleasant, he's just a bit hyperactive and very enthusiastic. When I say "cocky", I guess I meant "very self-confident". And yes, in Platinum you can rematch him regularly, and his team levels up every time (that, or he levels up each time you beat the League). His final team has a level 85 starter, which was only surpassed by Red's level 88 Pikachu in HGSS.
Cheren/Bianca: Yeah, fair. It's just this was the first time where they presented us with multiple recurring "rival" characters, so while Bianca isn't as strong as Cheren (or anyone), she at least starts out as a rival.
Hugh: Also fair! I guess, when I played W2 initially, I was so used to my rival generally sharing my goal, so I was a little blinded by Hugh's alternate aims. I did like his team/design/theme, I just need to replay and check out his story beats a bit closer.
Hop/Bede/Marnie: Naaaaaaah, I just can't like Hop - he was just too one-dimensional. If he was a little jealous of Leon or something, maybe, but he worshipped his brother too much, which kinda un-does any trying-to-get-out-of-his-shadow for me. The brief moment where he changes his team because Bede breaks his spirit was interesting and I wish it lasted a bit longer; but he recovers from his depression arc after about 5 minutes. There were a lot of story/character problems with SwSh, Leon himself being one of them, and Hop's relationship with him kinda made his own characterization suffer a little.
Marnie was cool, for sure, but her story... kinda had little to no impact on the overarching story? She's got a cool design, and it was a different and interesting spin to have her as the "leader" of Team Yell. It's just, we already had Hop (who wasn't great) and I feel like Bede counteracted Hop's vibe sufficiently, so Marnie was just "around" from time to time.
Nemona: Again, gotta disagree. In DPPt/BDSP, we'd seen Volkner as a burned-out trainer who was dying for another challenge; that's a valid character trait, but for Nemona they tried to stretch it out over the course of a whole story, and on a character who's wholly positive. I also didn't really like that they changed the definition of Champion for SV; it kinda dampened the goal for me when I was halfway through the story, and certainly didn't make the Nemona plotline any more appealing to me. Definitely not the worst, but more mid-range for me.