First and foremost, real Rival, as others have mentioned I'm sure. Brenden/May started out pretty good, then just kinda fall off the face of the earth (battling-wise.... which is pretty much all I care about in a rival) after the battle on the way to the 3rd gym. And that's a tough battle, I just passed it the other day in my emerald play through. If they kept getting stronger and battled you more they could have been awesome. But no. Instead you get a rival swap in wally, who battles you with just his ralts, then suddenly shows up with a real-rival tier team at the end. Like... ugh, I want more mid-game rival battling! DPP had a good mix of having the "friend" rival and the real rival imo. If they don't want to buff the other gender char up then at least make Wally more relevant 8D He could even use mega gardevoir or something heh heh heh.