What is your opinion on May and Brendan, the rivals introdcued in Gen 3?

[WaterTypeStarter]

This is primarily about the incarnations in the original games as opposed to the remakes. I haven't played as May so I can't comment much on Brendan as a rival. But playing the game for the first time, I actually quite liked May. She was the first primary girl rival. And is a fun character. Sure, she does not fully evolve her team and is quite simple as a character. But it does not make her less appealing and a major part of my enjoying the RSE games. Nor is her being friendly rather than competitive or rude a bad thing either. Since I haven't had her as player, I can't comment on Brendan but what do you think of both rivals?

 

[SunGodNika1997]

I've done at least one playthrough as May that I can remember, but played through the games as Brendan many times. I think the main difference is towards the beginning, Brendan makes a few slightly sexist comments about how he thought Norman's kid would be a guy, but other than that I think the dynamic was pretty much the same. I think the idea of having the opposing player character as your rival was very interesting at the time. However, it is pretty disappointing that you never get a big final battle with their full evolved starter in the end. Felt like they just kind of stop being your rival after Lilycove. Wally feels like more of the main rival in the end, even with far fewer encounters. I feel like they could have done more on that front.

However, even though slightly off-subject, I think they improved upon the rivals big time in ORAS. Not only were the interactions fleshed out, even with a pretty cute hint of romantic subplot, but you get a really cool final battle after the credits in the same spot where they had their first bout. It was a really cool bookend, and much appreciated by me as a huge fan of the Hoenn games.

 

[Morax]

I like them

 

[Ignition]

People get on the Kalos rivals & Hop/Hau for being the worst rivals but these 2 may just be the worst.

 

[Sakuyamon]

I liked them but they definitely should've had a much bigger role and battled more often. I remember that Emerald added an extra rival battle but that was early in the game.

 

[Leonhart]

I thought they were quite lackluster considering that they felt more like friends than genuine rivals. Even Mitsuru [Wally] had a better character arc than they had, and I wish he'd been the main R/S/E rival from the start.

 

[TwilightBlade]

They kind of sucked honestly. Neither May or Brendan were a challenge in any of the games and they weren't exciting as characters either. :[

 

[Bolt the Cat]

Probably one of if not the worst rivals ever TBF. No real motivation or challenge. Why are they even challenging you in the first place? They quit halfway through and you don't really get to battle their final team except in the ORAS credits. Also Brendan is apparently sexist (I always played as Brendan so I never experienced that myself, but I have seen videos/quotes). Like, I struggle to find any redeeming qualities for this pair, they're just... not very good characters or battles.

 

[GohMaster!]

People get on the Kalos rivals & Hop/Hau for being the worst rivals but these 2 may just be the worst.

Not sure how anyone could possibly say Hop or Hau are worse. I would say about on par or slightly under the kalos crew.

 

[jaden767]

Neither hate 'em nor like 'em. They're not the most memorable ingame rivals that I've encountered but there was nothing that bad about them either.

In fact it was kind of refreshing getting rivals who weren't straight up jerks unlike Blue and Silver lol.

 

[GohMaster!]

Neither hate 'em nor like 'em. They're not the most memorable ingame rivals that I've encountered but there was nothing that bad about them either.

In fact it was kind of refreshing getting rivals who weren't straight up jerks unlike Blue and Silver lol.

I'm totally fine with not jerk rivals, as long as they are good. I love Hau, and Cheren/Bianca mostly. Brendan/May just feel like nothing to me though.