Players encounter many characters in the Pokemon franchise, whether they're NPCs, supporting characters, Gym Leaders, or any of the villain teams they face, like Team Rocket. However, the Pokemon franchise also has a lot of recognizable rival characters that players encounter in the games.
There have been many rivals in the Pokemon games, all of whom have unique designs, personalities, goals, and Pokemon teams. Most players might be familiar with the rival character Blue from the original Pokemon Red and Blue games. Since there have been so many rivals, it's hard to say who players think is the best rival, but one fan wanted to see if they can figure it out.
Several days ago, a Reddit user called VSkyRimWalker made a poll on the Pokemon subreddit for fans to vote on whom they think is their favorite rival. The rival characters in the poll include Blue from Pokemon Blue, Silver from Pokemon Gold, Silver, and Crystal, along with May from Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald. The last three rivals on the poll are Barry from Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum, Hau from Pokemon Sun and Moon, and Hop from Pokemon Sword and Shield.
The user stated that they wanted people to not only vote for their favorite rival on the list but to also share why. For VSkyRimWalker, their favorite was Barry from Pokemon Diamond and Pearl because of how much his hyperactive nature reminded them of when they were a kid. According to the post, the poll had a total of 10.8K users vote. Hau had 452 votes, Hop had 524 votes, Barry had 1.3K votes, May had 1.8K votes, Silver received 3K votes, and Blue took the number one spot with 3.7K votes.
Of course, the poll itself doesn't have a list of all the rival characters that appeared in all the major Pokemon games. So there were bound to be rival characters who were left out of the poll for one reason or another by the post's creator. Commenters voiced some of their favorite picks for rivals who were not used in the poll. Some of the most recurring Pokemon rivals mentioned were Brendan from Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, and Wally from Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald, who also appears in the games Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire.
A particular set of rival characters that were frequently brought up by commenters were rivals from Pokemon Generation 5, such as N, Bianca, and Cheren from Pokemon Black and White and Hugh from Pokemon Black 2 and White 2. These characters were frequently brought up by commenters, who discussed how their personalities, beliefs, and personal journeys made them great rivals to face in the games. While the poll didn't feature all the biggest rivals, it did spur discussion about what makes great rivals in Pokemon.