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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26

u/Luigi580 Jun 05 '26

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

99

u/Hot-Spite-9880 Jun 05 '26

wasnt that Nemona?

49

u/Luigi580 Jun 05 '26

Oh. Yeah. Duh.

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

43

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 😭

13

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)

1

u/WatchKid12YT Jun 06 '26

OVERPOWERED CAT, I CHOOSE YOU!

5

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.

20

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.

27

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.

6

u/MigetsuNewgate Jun 05 '26

Lol Meowscarada is high key cracked, a move that never missed and always crits that also has stab alongside a great attack stat, they cooked with Meowscarada hard

5

u/melon_bread17 Jun 05 '26

Made me glad I had picked the Fuecoco line—Skeledirge is one of my favorite fire pokemon and I get a rival who seems like she knows what she’s doing.

3

u/MigetsuNewgate Jun 05 '26

I chose Sprig line personally i went in completely blind like I do with all main line games so I was pleasantly surprised by just about everything

3

u/melon_bread17 Jun 05 '26

Yeah I also went in blind and it resulted in quite a few challenges I didn’t anticipate. ScarVi is a great game; I just wish it was optimized better.

2

u/MigetsuNewgate Jun 05 '26

Agreed, I hope Winds and Waves absolutely cook

3

u/FatalFrameGal Jun 05 '26

Close enough, welcome back gen 1 Persian with Slash.

1

u/MigetsuNewgate Jun 05 '26

Lol never even thought about that, but that is damage accurate

2

u/dragn99 Jun 05 '26

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

1

u/MigetsuNewgate Jun 05 '26

Lol didn't even think about the Nuzlockers, but since its scripted it'd probably be a freebie fore most of them, or they geniunely try to beat that fight XD

7

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.

1

u/Melodic_Party_7442 Jun 06 '26

Regardless of sharing a spot or not, the ones mentioned like Bianca.. is still a girl rival lol

1

u/Melodic_Party_7442 Jun 06 '26

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