6th Gen Where's Juan?

[Altairis]

Juan was a character introduced in Pokemon Emerald as the Gym Leader of Sootopolis City, replacing Wallace, who was now the Hoenn Region Champion. However, in ORAS, Juan is nowhere to be found! True, there's no role for him to fulfill, as Wallace is still the Gym Leader and Steven the Champion, but he wasn't mentioned or shown anywhere in the game.

Where do you think he is during the events of ORAS? Would you have added him into the game or do you not care for him?

 

[tokyodrift]

When ORAS was announced I was hoping they kept Wallace as the champion and Juan as the gym leader. As well as a few other aspects of Emerald. Though from what I do remember, it was originally Juan's gym and Wallace was his student, who took his place once he left. I feel like there was more they could have done with that story that they didn't do in the originals.

But I always have to tell myself that these were remakes of Ruby and Sapphire and not Emerald...

 

[Hikamaru]

I remember during pre-release for this game I was speculating if the game would incorporate story elements from Emerald, so it was kinda disappointing they stuck way too much to the original R/S plot.

Juan was a forgettable character to me, but his absence is mostly blamed on OR/AS being based more heavily on R/S than Emerald and I can accept that if nostalgia pandering was Game Freak's plan.

 

[blue]

He was part of Emerald which had a slightly altered storyline. Considering how ORAS are remakes of Ruby and Sapphire, I can't really see how he would fit into both of those games.

 

[Altairis]

I feel like Juan was this gimmicky character in a way to replace Wallace because for some reason Game Freak made Steven the "Red" (so to speak, like a wandering Trainer of sorts) of Emerald version and they had to have someone replace Wallace while he's the Champion, so I guess he was shoehorned in, was the reason he existed in the first place.

tl;dr he was such a filler character that I forgot about him in ORAS. Since Wallace returned to being a Gym Leader and Steven returned to being a Champion, there would've been really no place for someone like Juan to fit in, y'know?

I feel like maybe he coulda been a Gym Trainer, with fewer Pokemon as an easter egg of sorts for people who remembered him in Emerald. Maybe he didn't need a unique model, but that would have been nice.

It seems like the ORAS storyline is moving towards becoming more like Emerald's... not really with the Kyogre/Groudon/Rayquaza things, as that was settled already, but when Wallace offered to take Steven's place as Champion (even though Steven isn't Champion anymore hello!!!). But with Juan not anywhere, it would seem like if he replaced Wallace in the future it would mean he showed up out of nowhere. I dunno, I wish I could have seen him somewhere, even though he might have been a little out of place.

 

[mikey]

I liked Juan, and was pretty disappointed to find out he wasn't in the game. I wouldn't have minded if he wasn't the gym leader, but I would have at least liked to see him elsewhere, even briefly. Not sure where he went.

 

[Flowerchild]

It doesn't matter, he can't compare to the fashion legend that is Wallace.

But yeah, a Gym Trainer Easter Egg might've been nice. I don't believe the rules of Gym Leader promotions are ever explained - at least not in the games, and I don't watch the anime - but it would make sense that Wallace's strongest Gym Trainer would take his place while he was Champion, rather than just some random character we've never heard of before.

 

[MidnightSkye]

I guess you can say he is Juan With The Wind.

 

[Lapis]

I honestly forgot about Juan's existence. Then again, ORAS are solely based on the stories in Ruby and Sapphire so.

 

[Mimikyu402]

in emerald they said Juan was Wallace mentor that took over the gym for him after he became champion so him being a regular gym trainer in oras would not have made sense

 

[Rivvon]

He's in my heart.

Yo I totally would have added him. I don't care that these remakes have "Ruby" and "Sapphire" in the title; HGSS implemented Crystal's Suicune subplot (and other elements) into their primarily GS story, and ORAS actually did try with the Delta Episode to incorporate Rayquaza's involvement, so I don't buy the whole "They're not Emerald remakes" argument. Juan totally could have come back.

Here's what I would do: have the main story of the game play out as it did, and proceed with the Delta Episode. Once that was all done, you'd start again in your room. Your mother would call you down because three guys are there to see you--it's Steven, Wallace, and a new guy, Juan! After your mother expresses concern over Wallace's attire, they'd say they have something to tell you. Steven claims he wants to just look for rocks or whatever it is he does in whatever cave after that whole ordeal in the Delta Episode. So--Wallace is going to be taking his place as Champion if the player ever wants to challenge the Pokémon League again. This other guy is Juan, Wallace's old mentor. So Steven's gonna be in the cave place that he was in in Emerald, Wallace leaves for the Champion room, and Juan tells you that he has something he wants to show you, so go meet him at the Sootopolis Gym when you have the chance. Once there, he challenges you with the Sootopolis Gym rematch team, and once you win, he explains the system to challenge the Gym Leaders again, which has now been unlocked.

Bam! Now you've got not only Gym Leader rematches back, but you also get to play through the main story as it was (kind of) in RS, you still get to experience the Delta Episode, and you've got Champion Wallace, Rock-Searcher Steven, and Gym Leader Juan just like in Emerald in the post-game.

...Now all we're missing is the Battle Frontier...