• A new LGBTQ+ forum is now being trialed and there have been changes made to the Support and Advice forum. To read more about these updates, click here.
  • Hey Trainers! Be sure to check out Corsola Beach, our newest section on the forums, in partnership with our friends at Corsola Cove! At the Beach, you can discuss the competitive side of the games, post your favorite Pokemon memes, and connect with other Pokemon creators!
  • Due to the recent changes with Twitter's API, it is no longer possible for Bulbagarden forum users to login via their Twitter account. If you signed up to Bulbagarden via Twitter and do not have another way to login, please contact us here with your Twitter username so that we can get you sorted.

The rival(s).

Bring on Gary Motherfucking Oak with girly bits!
She tries to sabotage you, purposely battles you at the worst times, a total bitch you just want to throw dirt at. She is either really energetic or really mellow but is such a jerkass that you feel special inside every time you beat her.

THAT is what I want.

Hm..How about a Gary like rival with Barry elements?

Basically acts like Gary, but accidental, naive, a goof, always doing some sort of physical goof with you (maybe a bit too close to you or always touching you), and a bit of a tsundere jerk.

..
Oh wait, did I say "Barry"? I mean Pearl. Gary? Green. Darn you people making me think of the anime names..

Also, the character being the same gender as you seems nice. Just change her to a boy if you're a boy. Maybe a dirty blond boy with Green like hair and brighter blond female with a pony tail/pig tails?
 
In D/P you had a rival that was fast and hyper so why not have a rival this time that is slow and always falling behind. Or make the rival a relative of the in-game character.
 
Bring on Gary Motherfucking Oak with girly bits!
She tries to sabotage you, purposely battles you at the worst times, a total bitch you just want to throw dirt at. She is either really energetic or really mellow but is such a jerkass that you feel special inside every time you beat her.

THAT is what I want.

Who are you and why have Gamefreak not recruited you yet?
 
I agree with those (practically everybody...) that said we should get a female rival this time. I think a real bitchy girl rival that acts like she is superior would be pretty good. Friendly rivals are okay sometimes but I don't feel like I really accomplished anything when I beat them.

A chick rival is the way to go for next gen. Let's hope GF thinks like we do.
 
I want a girl rival who IS superior, like Paul vs. Ash superior. But I want her to be another nice rival, I don't see why the nice rivals have to be weak. Being so much stronger than you would still give that sense of accomplishment.

EDIT: Found her, Beauty Julia in Erika's gym. "The kindness of a woman, and the strength of a man...That's the kind of trainer I want to be." Give me her as a rival.
 
Last edited:
this this this.

Umm lets see...onr thing all rivals have in common is that they apply the "cant cath up" trope in some sort of way,with Gary and Silver it was played straight,Wally...I guess he was kind of an inversion, and Barry was a deconstruction....

So,next rival should be a reconstruction.He should be very,very hard to beat,have pokemon unfairly stronger than you since the beggining and have a very hight AI.
1. How is Barry a deconstuction?
2. I vote an utter jerk, who defeats the voillianous team to make its own.
 
I think the blonde hair girl in the upper left corner of the hometown picture is your rival.
 
No. The worst part about RSE was the fact that you had two rivals, neither one of them fleshed out to their true potential.
 
1. How is Barry a deconstuction?
2. I vote an utter jerk, who defeats the voillianous team to make its own.

He's a deconstruction in that he completely threw out (or deconstructed) the traditional role of an ultra serious bitchy rival. In fact, he was more like you're irritating younger brother. However, he wasn't an inversion like wally as he still retained some typical rival aspects (picking the starter good against yours, always being one step ahead of you adventure wise, having a paternal family member who was a prominent figure in game [palmer], and so on.)

Wally had none of those feautures and in fact was generally behind you in terms of progress. He was also not irritating, had a sizeable family, no typical starter etc. Hence he was an inversion [to the point of almost a full role reversal between player & rival). He also didnt get a pokédex.
 
I'd like the rival to be a really popular person in the neighbourhood, and is liked by everyone, and when he sets off on his journey the player decides to set off on a journey to follow him. When the player finds this guy eventually, the player asks for a long-awaited battle, only to be turned down by having something said to them like "Why would I need to battle you, anyway?" or something like that. Thus, they become the rival, and the player has set off on a Pokemon journey only to battle him but has been turned down to a battle, making the player have to find another way to make his/her Pokemon journey enjoyable, by going to the gym!
 
I don't really get the fascination with rivials that are serious ego strokers or emo psychopaths. To be honest, I find those kinds of people extremely irritating in real life and wish to slap them in the face so hard...

What's wrong with having a rival character who isn't like that?

What would be interesting would be a rival similar to Whitney. A girl who is into cute Pokémon and is maybe slightly vain. But can be a real terror on the battle field (just like Whitney and her Miltank).
 
I don't really get the fascination with rivials that are serious ego strokers or emo psychopaths. To be honest, I find those kinds of people extremely irritating in real life and wish to slap them in the face so hard...

What's wrong with having a rival character who isn't like that?

What would be interesting would be a rival similar to Whitney. A girl who is into cute Pokémon and is maybe slightly vain. But can be a real terror on the battle field (just like Whitney and her Miltank).

THANK YOU.

I liked Jun/Barry because he wasn't all "I hate your guts and you suck". A rival doesn't HAVE to hate your guts to motivate you to become stronger than them, they merely have to BE THERE. A friendly competition is just fine, I can say from personal experience that I've had some great friendly rivals (so to speak) that have motivated me to do something. The best example I can say is all of the people I have listed as friends on my NaNoWriMo profile (go google it). If they're ahead of me in word count, I feel like I should try and get ahead of them. Do they rub it in my face like an asshole or say "I'm going to be you NO MATTER WHAT" (in a serious way) if I'm behind? No. Sure, we casually joke with each other with stuff like "aw yeah, I'm 1k words above you~ :D", and even when we're saying that in a friendly joking sort of way, it still gives that push for the other to get ahead.

Rival =/= Mean asshat.
Rival = Someone who motivates you to do better than them.

If you seriously need a mean asshat to motivate you, I think that's just kind of sad.
 
Rival =/= Mean asshat.
Rival = Someone who motivates you to do better than them.

If you seriously need a mean asshat to motivate you, I think that's just kind of sad.

I generally agree, except that you have to have a very, very "in universe" mentality to think of these characters as actual rivals who motivate you to do better (I mean, by that definition every single gym leader and bad guy boss is a rival, because their mere presence is a motivator to level up). These are characters, and broadly speaking, "villains" are more dynamic than friendly rivals.


That being said, fuck Silver and his emo douchebag ways.
 
I'd really like a female rival, other than that I really don't care much. I think somewhere between asshat and goofball would be nice though, most people are generally inbetween most characteristics, not clearly one thing or another.

I see it as it would be kinda cool to have these other two guys or a siblings (twins??) and they gang up on you all the time.

Please no, I don't want that many double battles. I hate those things so much.
 
I'd like to see a mixture of both Blue and Silver. A guy who's been picking on you for as long as you can remember and picks the starter Pokemon stronger to yours because he wants to beat you (As in, he actually says he'll pick the starter type who beats yours), then he's always causing trouble throughout the region's cities/towns, and ends up as the Pokemon League Champion, and after you dethrone him as the champion, you can meet him and battle him elsewhere once a week and he opens up to you. (As a side note, I'd like the League to actually change after you defeat the Champion. Not every time you beat him, just the first time, with each Elite Four member moving up a rank, so everyone's still there along with a new 1st E4 member.)
 
I'm kind of sick of the 'friendly' rivals. =/ I prefer Silver and Blue because they really make you hate them (at first, anyway). Yes, you can have a nicer rival because they will still motivate you... but you tend to feel more motivated if you're pushing yourself to beat someone you don't like. Or, if you're proving yourself to someone who clearly doesn't like you.
I don't really care about the gender of your rival. It'd be nice to see a female rival, but I'm not going to be too bothered if we don't get one.
 
This is an idea I got from playing another DS game. How about this.

You have two rivals, one a guy, and one a girl. The guy is kinda the "main" rival, while the girl is more of a "sub-rival" and cheerleader to the guy rival. Both have fairly bad attitudes (the guy having an attitude similar to Silver, while the girl is just cocky, rude, and insulting). You battle them one after the other (first the girl, then the guy, the girl being weaker) whenever you encounter then, and when you win, they act as annoying as Gary/Blue was. However, after something goes wrong (like something goes wrong in catching a powerful wild Pokemon), the guy flees and you save the girl. After you defeat/catch the wild Pokemon, the girl gains more respect for you and becomes more of a love interest, losing her original attitude and becomes a friend, although still rather cocky and still have a "bad girl" persona. Near the end of the game, you set the main rival (the guy) straight, and he becomes a better person (like Silver does), although still a hardheaded rival and such. He still tries to best you, but it's on a friendlier level, while the girl becomes your friend and love interest (this is, of course, talking from a male playable charcter perspective, if the player is female, she becomes just a friend). How does that sound?
 
Please note: The thread is from 14 years ago.
Please take the age of this thread into consideration in writing your reply. Depending on what exactly you wanted to say, you may want to consider if it would be better to post a new thread instead.
Back
Top Bottom