Even the badge he gives you is called the Basic Badge. Cheren also returns as a gym leader, which seems cool until you realize he specializes in Normal Pokemon.
That being said, Bianca is clearly the more likeable of the two, with a strong sense of personality and a friendly demeanour, not to mention going on to have a burgeoning scientific career as a lab assistant in Black 2 and White 2. They're not particularly rich as characters, but they have their moments and even little arcs that make them more than just powerful trainers. It begins with the three of you hanging out in your room and breaking things by accident - a perfect summary of most childhood relationships. Cheren/BiancaĬheren and Bianca have much of the same problem of the X/Y group in refusing to leave you alone for five minutes, but Black and White does a much better job of setting you up as close friends. Why get psyched about rivals who can't even summon the energy to show up? Pokemon Black and White might have been the best generation, but it didn't have a surplus of memorable rivals. Hell, they don't even reach the final evolution of their starter Pokemon in the original Ruby and Sapphire (Editor-in-Chief Kat really hates that). Brendan and May are pleasant enough, but considering they quit halfway, like somebody at a party who's got work in the morning, it's hard to get really enthusiastic about them. From then on the role of rival has to be held by Wally, a much better character you helped grow as a person earlier on. The last time you battle them is about halfway through the game, whereupon they suddenly decide to go home and barely show up again. Brendan/Mayīrendan and May are marked this low for just being rather poor rivals. Brendan and May were the earliest examples of the lame rival that would come to dominate Pokemon. One of his worst lines is, "My Pokémon seems to be in pain! My partner's pain is my pain!" No wonder it's hard to care.Īside from that, there's a conscious effort to make the character a little edgy and cool, in a way that usually comes across as eye-rollingly lame. It's a feeling that doesn't even relate to you in any way, and looking back at Hugh's role in the plot, you realise that you don't really have to be there for any of his story, that neither of you are meaningfully important to each other's goals. Going back to remind myself, I realized he's basically got one trait-hating the villainous Team Plasma-and it's not long before it gets old. I had no memory of Hugh despite having played Black 2 a couple of times, and the fact that he slid off my consciousness so entirely means that clearly there's very little to the character. Hugh? I mean, who? An easy joke, but no less true because of it. Fighting them is a tiresome chore, not a pleasure, and so for being annoying in a hundred different ways, they get to come last.
With four separate characters all having to share the singular role of being the rival, they show up constantly and instantly drag the pacing down to a screaming halt. Maybe it wouldn't be so egregious if they didn't pop up so often.
and then they clearly ran out of ideas, because the last two are a girl who's just hanging out with the rest and another kid who likes dancing. There's one kid who wants to be champion, one who wants to fill their Pokedex. The idea makes sense in theory: to have one rival for each facet of Pokemon gameplay. I'll be frank: I hate the Burger King Kids Club that trails around after you in X and Y. If somebody starts off picking a Pokemon alongside you, that's the rival. Oh, and keep in mind we're not doing all the rivals from each game, just the main ones.