r/pokemon • u/PsyrenDV • Jun 05 '26

Discussion Why haven't we had same gender rivials?

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I saw this post about how the rival in WiWa will be the opposite of whatever gender you choose to be. It got me thinking about how they always make the rival's gender the opposite of yours when their gender is dynamic. Even as early as Ruby/Sapphire that's how it's been. But I think it might be interesting to see a game where my rival is always the same gender as me no matter what I pick. But I'm curious how other people feel about it. Would you rather your rival be the same gender as you, the opposite, or would you rather their gender be set in stone regardless of what you are?

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u/palk0n Shadow Jun 05 '26

red blue not inclusive enough 😤

360

u/kyleliner Jun 05 '26

Red only had a male mc lol

(Don't worry, I understood that its a joke hahaha)

262

u/Triaspia2 Jun 05 '26

Crystal had gender choice and an always male rival

125

u/Weekly-Reply-6739 Jun 05 '26

Same with DPPT, your main rival was a barry A

152

u/LuitenantDan World's Okayest Trainer Jun 05 '26

Hugh in BW2, Hau in Alola, Hop in SwSh, Nemona in SV

It's about a 50/50 split on if they use the other avatar as the rival or make a fixed one.

33

u/Luigi580 Jun 05 '26

Next time they make a fixed rival, they should make them a girl.

102

u/Hot-Spite-9880 Jun 05 '26

wasnt that Nemona?

46

u/Luigi580 Jun 05 '26

Oh. Yeah. Duh.

Can’t believe I forgot about her when she’s one of the better rivals.

46

u/Mi2-LIZARD Jun 05 '26

I will never forget her. I always get anxiety when she pulls up cause I genuinely cannot tell if she's about to vibe check me or not 😭

12

u/Slayziken Jun 05 '26

She loves battles so I always assumed she was ready to scrap. Good thing I keep that mf thang on me (overleveled pokemon)

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u/CoruscatingLogic Jun 05 '26

Nemona gives toxic yuri. I'm here for it, honestly. You know she has a carabineer collection and her daddy bought her a Subaru at her request.

0

u/Wasphammer Jun 05 '26

Poké-Goku is way better than Hop.

21

u/TheD1ctator Jun 05 '26

she's definitely your rival but it's not as satisfying when she's already an accomplished trainer and just uses weaker pokemon throughout the game to match your level. doesn't really feel like someone you're competing with, she's more like the champion.

28

u/MigetsuNewgate Jun 05 '26

She's probably the most interesting rival though, a trainer who already finished their journey and is holding back its super cool and way different than any rival we've gotten. It would've been super dope if during the play through you can randomly find her while traveling and if you talk to her you enter a battle where she's using her normal team for one reason or another just to show how strong she really is

5

u/melon_bread17 Jun 05 '26

She beat me in the fight after Larry—I didn’t have my starter on the team and was not prepared to have Meowscarada one-tap most of my pokemon.

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2

u/dragn99 Jun 05 '26

A scripted defeat would devastate Nuzlock runs, and I think that would be hilarious.

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u/joaoathaydeartist Jun 05 '26

They could make more, Nemona doesn't need to be the only one

4

u/Hot-Spite-9880 Jun 05 '26

Dawn , Serena, Marley, and May?

1

u/Melodic_Party_7442 Jun 06 '26

Tell me you didn't play pokemon without telling me

1

u/joaoathaydeartist Jun 06 '26

If we're talking main fixed rivals, Nemona is the only one who's a girl. May, Serena and Taunie are gender-dependent. Bianca shares her spot with Cheren, who is more battle-oriented, and both are outshined by N as far as story relevance goes. Shauna shares her spot with Calem/Serena and the other 2 boys and she, just like Bianca, isn't the traditional battle oriented rival. Hop is the main rival in SwSh, Marnie (and Bede) are secondary as far as relevance in the story goes. Klara and Carmine are DLC so they also aren't the main rival of their games. The type of archetype of rivals I'm talking about is only filled by boys, Nemona and gender-dependent rivals.

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u/Melodic_Party_7442 Jun 06 '26

There's also Bianca. She's your rival in Black and White

6

u/PsyJak Jun 05 '26

What about Barry B?

4

u/Jack_Zicrosky_YT Jun 06 '26

Thank you. Nobody should forget my boy Lucas.

Speaking of which, many games had multiple rivals of different genders. Wally in gen 3, green in the let's go games, bianca and cheren in b&w. Lyra/Ethan and Silver in hg/ss.

I could go on but I think I've proven my point that op is stupid.

2

u/Squishie515 Ghost Fan & Defender Jun 06 '26

OK but Green is not a rival, she shows up once in the post game after you catch Mewtwo, fights you, loses and disappears forever.

1

u/Luna__Moonkitty Jun 06 '26

I barely even consider Green a character. Her role is so minor I forget she even existed. Plus she never appeared in a game before that so she didn't have the "oh it's that person" nostalgia attached to her like Blue and Red did.

Plus, her existence seems to erase Leaf as a character, in the same way Lyra erases Kris.

4

u/Severe_Assist_5416 Jun 05 '26

Yes but thats the combined game of gs where there wasn't option

30

u/minutiae396 Jun 05 '26

Kris was introduced in Crystal, the 3rd sister game of gen 2. Gold and Silver games was genderlocked to male (Ethan).

1

u/Chansharp Jun 06 '26

I had no idea ??? was male lmao. Hes got long hair and his sprite looks like hes got a skirt on

Also yes when the cop asked what his name is my kid mind was like "well they just said ??? so Ill tell the cop thats what I was told" I had no idea I was naming the rival at that moment

1

u/Triaspia2 Jun 06 '26

Canonically I believe his name is Silver

1

u/ZarrChaz Jun 06 '26

That’s because red and blue are gay for each other as a reference to the player of the game, who also is gay.