Pokémon Scarlet and Violet’s story is perhaps one of the best in years, and a big part of that is that the characters are finally likable. Since Ruby and Sapphire, Pokémon games have had rivals that are nice to the player, in contrast to Blue and Silver in the older games. These friendly rivals range in quality from harmless like Brendan/May and Bianca, enjoyable like Barry, or obnoxious like the rivals from X & Y onwards, with Hop being the worst by far. Generation 9’s cast is a return to form and really changes the perception that it was the friendliness of the rivals that made them such uninteresting characters.
The most traditional rival in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet is Nemona, who Twitter has compared to Goku. She meets up with the player regularly as part of the Victory Road storyline. An expert battler, she decides to build a new team in order to help build the player’s battling skills. Her confidence and obsession with battling make sense in this context, unlike previous rivals who could come across as patronizing, and they also play with her obsession of battling for laughs, making her a much more enjoyable character, even if she can be a little intense sometimes.
Pokémon Scarlet & Violet’s Other Rivals Are Unconventional, But Excellent
Arven is another one of the main characters throughout Scarlet and Violet, and perhaps the most different from the more conventional rivals. His initial encounter with the player is somewhat adversarial, mostly due to his rivalry with Nemona. Without delving too much into Scarlet & Violet’s biggest story spoilers, the Path of Legends storyline shows a much softer side to the Professor’s son, making him a real standout character in the game’s already exceptional cast. Rather than trying to surpass you, the reason he battles you is to see if you’re up to the test of helping retrieve his parent from Area Zero, home to the dangerous Paradox Pokémon.
By the end of the story, it really feels as if the player has formed a solid friendship with their rivals, as well as Penny, another student who plays a role in the Starfall Street storyline. In that storyline, it becomes apparent that the new Pokémon evil team isn’t even evil (yet again), but it’s done in a much better way than in the previous games. Once all three branches of the story have been completed, all four main characters meet up for the final fourth storyline.
Throughout this additional story, the group explores the dangerous Area Zero, chatting away quite naturally as they make it further down the crater at the center of Paldea. Their interactions feel believable and genuine, certainly much more than previous friend groups from the series, anyway, adding a new dynamic to the gameplay. It really makes Pokémon Scarlet and Violet feel like a coming-of-age story where the Pokémon trainers’ friendships help them evolve and become more well-rounded individuals. It’s exactly the type of wholesome vibe that Pokémon games have seemingly aimed for in recent years, only actually done well this time.
Without a doubt, the games following Pokémon Scarlet and Violet will likely introduce friendly rivals of their own. Hopefully, these characters don’t just come across as pale imitations of the Paldean cast, but take that standard of writing and apply it in new and inventive ways. The Pokémon franchise is massive, and despite the latest game’s flaws, it got the characters right for sure.
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Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet