Juan made his debut in Pokemon Emerald replacing Wallace as the 8th Gym Leader who replaced Steven as Champion. He didn't really have much of a major role other than being a Gym Leader, he was away from Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire originally but does that mean he will be excluded from these games? Do you think Juan will return as the 8th Gym Leader? Discuss away!
This is one of the biggest changes that I'm contemplating about;
lots of things could happen. Although I played
Pokemon Sapphire before
Pokemon Emerald, Juan (particularly due to his design, outfit, and coloration) seems to mesh better with the Hoenn Gym Leaders compared to Wallace (who now seems a bit too "grand" to properly fit as a Hoenn Gym Leader XD). However, Steven Stone is classically more suited for the Champion role, in my opinion - he helps the player quite a bit, he's actively concerned about the Super-ancient Pokemon/Weather Trio Crisis (even battling alongside the player in
Emerald in the hopes of thwarting Team Magma), and he helps to diversify the Hoenn Pokemon League in terms of team Pokemon typings. He even has the audacity to
give you a potentially powerful Pokemon (Beldum) to use against him and is
still like "Come at me, bro" in
Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald. XD
Ideally, I would like Juan as the Sootopolis City Gym Leader (as the
Pokemon anime has him in this role, plus he still has something to do), Steven Stone as Champion (because that's how it was in the first place), and Wallace to serve as a roaming Pokemon Coordinator who occasionally battles (deriving inspiration from the
Pokemon anime, and also giving him something to do...maybe a battle with him could take place on the SS Tidal or Abandoned Ship, both of which are seafaring vessels).
This. Since we're getting Ruby/Sapphire remakes, I assume that we will get Steven as Champion and Wallace as Gym Leader. However, since Juan was pretty important in Emerald's storyline, I doubt that they will leave him out entirely. Do you think maybe that they'll put in a tag battle with Wallace & Juan vs. you like they did with Flint & Volkner in DPPt?
If Wallace remains as the Sootopolis Gym Leader (which I'm suspecting to be the case, in order to stay true to the original games.. :/), I'm highly anticipating such a tag battle with "Wallace & Juan" occurring.
That would honestly be a cool dynamic. Maybe he could tutor you in how Pokemon Contests work or be like Fantina and just appear there the first time but with the added bonus of competing against you in high level (what was it, Super? Master?) contests. That would be so awesome dsfskjd
This implementation would be
amazing, especially as Wallace would still have something to do if Juan is made Gym Leader. :3 He could be used in an optional Contest tutorial (since he
does know how things work in Contests) and would be perfectly suitable as a powerful/skilled Pokemon Coordinator competitor in Master Rank Contests (having a Milotic that's primarily high in the Beauty attribute of the Contest Condition, while having above-average Contest Condition levels in the other Contest attributes as well)!
Couldn't they just pull a Drayden & Iris in the Hoenn remakes, where Wallace is gym leader, Steven is champion, and Juan is free roamer in Omega Ruby, and Juan is gym leader, Wallace is champion, and Steven is free roamer in Alpha Sapphire?
The "Steven vs. Wallace" debate is one of the more prominent and contentious debates that
Pokemon Emerald incurred/spawned, so something like version-exclusive Champions would be a bit odd, especially since that proposed implementation would go against
Sapphire's roster and Steven Stone is generally preferred as the better Champion (at least where I've experienced, maybe we could have yet another poll to verify results XD), particularly due to his team diversity, coolness, and all around
senpai-ness (
Twitch Plays Pokemon Emerald says hi! :P).
Admittedly, that proposal still makes a lot of sense thematically, since each version would have a Champion using a team that ties into the game (Steel is derived from metals of the
earth, so it would be fitting to have the Steel-type-Pokemon-using Champion Steven Stone for
OmegaRuby. Similarly,
seawater dominates Hoenn, so in
AlphaSapphire, it would make more sense (although maybe more annoying?) to have the Water-type-Pokemon-using Champion Wallace, in addition to having an extra Water-type-using member for the Hoenn Pokemon League).
I like them both, really! If they wish to keep these guys, maybe they could have them exclusive to each version; perhaps Wallace could be final leader in OR while Juan does the other, or vice-versa. Either that, or it'd be nice if they could make them available in both games and allow you to choose between which you'd like to face.
Choices would be good (like the "Lati@s selection event" from
Emerald), and it would help in mitigating the debates about being forced to face an unwanted Champion. XD
Considering how FRLG and HGSS came out, it's safe to assume that ORAS will be Emerald remakes with the version differences of RS applied to them. In that case, I would like to see them "pull a BW," so to speak.
First time through, you fight Wallace as the 8th Gym Leader, and Steven as the Champion.
Defeat Steven, watch the credits roll, and Juan replaces Wallace as 8th Gym Leader. Wallace replaces Steven, and Steven goes off to Meteor Falls with a stronger team like he does in Emerald.
I have nothing against Wallace, and I love him as a Gym Leader. Juan is pretty cool as well. But having an all-Water Champion along with an all-Water Gym (and the final one, no less) severely reduces the challenge and was not a design choice I enjoyed at all. I think the method I described above helps keep things consistent between both RS and E, and gives the main part of the game a bit more challenge with diverse types amongst the league members.
I've thought about this implementation before and discarded it, but I actually seem to really like it now! The
Ruby/Sapphire League line-up gets properly integrated first, with
Emerald's League line-up modifications serving as rematches (fitting, since
Pokemon Emerald was big on both "modifications/enhancements" and "rematches"). Also, that would give Steven Stone a lot of free time, providing him with an incentive to start hunting around/explaining about Mega Stones that may crop up in Hoenn during the post-game/post-League period. I hope the Champion room is re-modeled accordingly, though (lavender/purple for Steven Stone and cyan/blue for Wallace). If this proposal were to be the case in-game, I kind of hope that Steven and Wallace are regarding as co-Champions of Hoenn (since Pokemon World Tournament of
Pokemon Black 2/White 2 seemed to envision them as such).
A possible "explanation/backstory" (which ignores the fact that the player is supposed to be the rightful Champion at the end of the game,
due to gameplay purposes) could be that Wallace was skilled enough to defeat the Elite Four themselves but only manages to tie with reigning Champion Steven Stone during their final 'qualification' battle. As a result, Steven Stone, being the nice guy that he is, offers to bestow Wallace with co-Champion status (a nice compromise in my opinion, since draws should have different results than outright wins/losses) and willingly relegates the Champion room/chamber to Wallace for the time being (basically, for all of the rematches after your first time beating the Elite Four) so he can go out and explore Meteor Falls and teach the player about Mega Stones and Mega Evolution, etc. Steven Stone still retains his Champion team and can be battled at Meteor Falls, as per
Emerald (I guess I'd prefer that Steven's rematch team would at least be at the
Emerald levels. Wallace and the Hoenn Elite 4 should still have leveled-up teams, though).
Oh, and Wallace's 3D model should be capeless during the Gym Leader battle, and cape-adorned during the subsequent Champion battles, if this proposal were to be the actual in-game execution. :P
A lot of people would object to Wallace being the champion though, since his team was so... bland. Other than Ludicolo, I feel that a few Energy Balls would wipe his team clean, and then some. At least Steven had a variety of Pokémon, even Armaldo and Cradily who aren't Steel types. And since Juan is supposed to be Wallace's 'mentor', he should be stronger than him maybe...? I agree about the Eusine part, really was confused why he was chasing after Suicune at first. Then I realised they're trying to get Crystal into the remakes.
Steven's team variety was nice.. (Although wouldn't Wallace's Gyarados be in the same boat as Ludicolo regarding Energy Ball, since they both take neutral damage? Unless Ludicolo is supposed to be more defensive/"tank-ier"...) The "mentor being weaker than student" seems weird, but I guess that's how it is supposed to be, particularly so the student can demonstrate having
learned something from said teacher. XD
My only gripe with having Wallace and Juan being "version-exclusive" Gym Leaders is that it doesn't really go on what RS or E established. Juan was introduced as a Gym Leader in Emerald because Steven stepped down for an unstated reason, and Wallace took his place.
Having Juan as a Gym Leader and Steven as a Champion would work, Type-wise (it's certainly much better than the Emerald Juan-Wallace pair), but it doesn't make sense considering that Emerald established that Juan only became the Gym Leader because Wallace became the Champion. And the PWT...well, I don't consider anything outside of the Driftveil Tournament to be canon, but it still does give us both Steven and Wallace as Champions, if that counts for anything.
And as much as I love version differences, I feel that something as important as the final boss should not change based on versions. Having a Steel-type Champion in one game and a Water-type Champion in the other is just...not a solid idea.
So basically, Juan is an Emerald addition. And to me, it just makes sense to have the third version features in both of the remakes, instead of just one.
I think I see what you mean regarding Juan... Maybe OR/AS involve some sort of rewrite/retcon where Steven has
re-assumed Champion status and has left Wallace to roam, or something.. XD
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In sum, I guess I'd prefer the execution of:
Main storyline:
-Wallace as Sootopolis City Gym Leader (and a possible optional Pokemon Contest tutor), with all the involvement that he had in
Pokemon Emerald Version save for being the initial Champion
.
-Steven Stone as Hoenn Champion, with all the involvement that he had in
Pokemon Emerald Version. Hoenn Champion chamber is colored lavender/purple.
-Juan cameoing in Sootopolis during the plotline, mentioning that he mentors Wallace.
After the player defeats the Hoenn Elite Four/Champion for the first time ever:
-Juan unexpectedly returns to take up the mantle of Sootopolis City Gym Leader.
-Wallace goes off to become Hoenn Champion, and can cameo in Contest competitions as a Master-Rank Pokemon Coordinator in Lilycove City's Contest Hall. Hoenn Champion chamber undergoes re-modeling, now being cyan/blue in coloration.
-Steven Stone is still regarded as Champion (or "Champion
emeritus", since he's just that cool), constantly remaining battleable at Meteor Falls with a strengthened team on par with or surpassing the Elite Four, but decides to take leave in order to go explore and find out/explain about Mega Stones and Mega Evolution.
![[PokeCommunity.com] Takes Juan to know Juan!](https://www.angelfire.com/pokemon2/kojiro0/Adan.jpg "[PokeCommunity.com] Takes Juan to know Juan!")
