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Rivals

May and Wally simply suck plus you dont even fight them after the elite four

I mean one complaint i always had in these games are the rivlas are just jokes
and ARE too nice to be rivals
 

Darth Sabreus

Want to get a soda?
There are such things as friendly rivals btw. And maybe May doesn't suck, it could be that most people are much better than her, therefore leading them to believe that she "sucks". When I first fought Wally on my first Emerald save file I had quite a bit of trouble taking him down, even though I had a balanced team that were about the same levels. And you CAN rematch him, it just takes a wee while.
 

mycooly

Banned
Honestly I have to agree
that game had some of my favorite rivals(top is gary FO SHO)
anyways back on topic, even though you say they "suck" I'd much rather have a rival help me rather then bargin in forcing a fight.
 

Aquarelle

Well-Known Member
Staff member
I actually like Wally a lot. He's one of my favourite characters in RSE. When I first played Ruby, I found him to be quite a challenge in Victory Road since I wasn't expecting him to suddenly show up at the end. A similar thing happened in Emerald when he shows up to fight you near the beginning of the cave. I often find his Gardevoir to be difficult to defeat when I play these games.

With May/Brendan, I agree that they're not the best rivals in the series. I have always found Blue, Silver, and Barry to be much more interesting characters and more challenging. However, I do like May/Brendan. I just wish they would evolve their starters and rematch you sometimes...
 

Kalosian

So long
I liked Wally as well. The fact that you could rebattle him whenever you wanted to was not bad either. He could be used for easy training if you just decided that you wanted to battle him. May/Brendan on the other hand, could have been used for more battles, there were only four battles with them (five in Emerald). I think they should have been rebattleable after beating the E4 just like the rival in DPP and both rivals in BW.
 

Lorde

Let's go to the beach, each.
I was disappointed with the rivals in these games, too. May and Brendan weren't very challenging, and I remember being upset that they had Wally battle us at Victory Road instead of those other two. It almost seemed like they gave up on May and Brendan halfway through the games. Wally's final team was pretty impressive, but it felt like they ignored May and Brendan.
 

Arlo

...and so on...
It depends on how you look at them, I guess.

Wally is one of my favorite characters in any of the games. And to me, the fact that he could be called a "rival" at all is sort of cool, really. He starts out as just this sad little kid who you help. And he starts out with a Ralts, of all things. Especially the first time I played the game and hadn't learned how great Gardevoir can be, I just felt sorry for him - poor little bugger couldn't even manage to catch a powerful pokemon. But then when he pops up again on Victory Road, and really IS a rival - really does fight hard and really is surprisingly hard to beat - I think that's just a really nice touch. I'm proud of him for coming that far.

May/Brendan - I like May. She's a "friendly rival," and that's a nice change, especially coming to these games, as I did, from FRLG - where Gary pops up at the worst possible times with his overleveled team and is just a jerk, from beginning to end. May's sort of sweet and charming and I never feel like battling her is a "challenge" in the first place - I don't feel any burning desire to just beat her into the ground like I do with Gary, just because she's nice. So the fact that she's not that tough a battler is okay. And I'm always happy to see her, just because I like her. Brendan's the only one who sort of disappoints me, I guess just because I expect him to be more of a rival. Probably just a male chauvinist thing.....
 

chocoboy

In School
I was disappointed with the rivals in these games, too. May and Brendan weren't very challenging, and I remember being upset that they had Wally battle us at Victory Road instead of those other two. It almost seemed like they gave up on May and Brendan halfway through the games. Wally's final team was pretty impressive, but it felt like they ignored May and Brendan.

I agree with you...I wanted to see May with at least a fully-evolved starter. I was a little disappointed. Wally on the other hand was quite challenging although....

I remember fighting May on that route connecting slateport and mauville with a team of basically my Marshtomp and a bunch of weak pokes...it was torture...
 

SWIZZY_101_

Dark & Dragon Master
I totally agree may and wally are not like gary who actually is the elite four champion in FR/LG which was very cool.
 

Lance The Champ

The Aura Guardian
Nice or nasty rivals should be strong not weak like May and Wally
 

Forretress Fan

Let's Go
May/Brendan never fully evolved their starter Pokemon, and were barely a challenge, kinda sad rival
 

bobandbill

Winning Smile
Staff member
Super Mod
Each to their own realy. I will agree that for me though the RSE rivals were the least engaging, what with Wally going MIA for over half the game to just turn up at the end with a full team from the lone Ralts he had before, and the fact May/Brendan would just giv up by lilycov, be way too friendly for my liking (oh I lost have another present) and try to give me advice on beating the champion despite that. Too nice or not though, the latter's characters were pretty flat as well to me. Barry/Cheren/Belle was also nice for instance but were more interesting characters.
 

Moneyy

INACTIVE
True. I hate how you can't battle them after the E4, and they both are too easy to beat.
 

bobandbill

Winning Smile
Staff member
Super Mod
I thought you could rebattle Wally after the E4 at the end of Victory Road again at times?
 

Lorde

Let's go to the beach, each.
I thought you could rebattle Wally after the E4 at the end of Victory Road again at times?

I'm pretty sure that person was talking about the main rivals (May and Brendan). I've personally never considered Wally to be a main rival. He's a lot more challenging than May and Brendan, but he lacks a certain je ne sais quoi.

Anyway, while we're on the subject of Wally: What are the criteria for rebattling him? Is it just random, or is there something else involved? I've tried to rebattle him for about a week now, but he doesn't seem interested.
 

TheEpicGoomba

Well-Known Member
I'm pretty sure that person was talking about the main rivals (May and Brendan). I've personally never considered Wally to be a main rival. He's a lot more challenging than May and Brendan, but he lacks a certain je ne sais quoi.

Anyway, while we're on the subject of Wally: What are the criteria for rebattling him? Is it just random, or is there something else involved? I've tried to rebattle him for about a week now, but he doesn't seem interested.

I think it's either random or you have to rebattle the Elite 4 a few times.
 

DasBoot

Well-Known Member
May/Brendon kinda sucked. They never had any personality.
Wally was a better rival than both of them, he had personality and a story to him.
 

Mister Melancholy

Valetshipping ♥
Actually, I really liked interacting with Brendan. He might have not been the best trainer out there, and admittedly it made me angry when he just gave up without even evolving his starter to its final stage, but I found that he wad still really amusing. Plus, the rival battle music is just plain epic.

Wally was interesting too. Honestly, I didn't pay much attention to him and initially thought he was a joke. The battle at the end of victory road really caught me off guard, but what caught me even more off guard was his Pokemon. They were strong and put up a great battle. It was nice to see the weak Wally get to strong. It would've been nice to see him get stronger alongside my own journey and battle him every now and then, but the surprise factor was nice too.

While I can't say the rivals really "sucked," I do have to agree their battling prowess, for the most part, lacked and was unsatisfying. Though I liked them as characters and found them to be a refreshing change from the two previous rivals.
 
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