Fans of Nintendo's Pokemon franchise will fondly remember the staple rivals that motivate players to bring their A-Game as they strived for the Pokemon Championship. Thankfully, their presence adds a unique flair that breathes new life to each Generation. Interestingly, the series has introduced interesting rivals since Blue appeared in the first Pokemon game. However, Blue's counterparts in future Generations did try to bring something new to the table. Fans of Sword and Shield will remember this in the form of Hop, the protagonist's rival.
Fans might notice that Hop doesn't just a "typical" Rival. Moreover, it seems Hop has more secrets and interesting trivia to share beyond his appearance in the game.
10 Odd Starter Choice
Fans might remember that rivals often got Starter Pokemon that are much stronger than the player's choice. Essentially, this factor means the rival will always get the Pokemon with the stronger Type than the player's. In a way, this serves as the game's way of encouraging the player to get much stronger in battle. However, in Sword and Shield, this isn't necessarily the case.
Of the player's rivals, Hop actually gets the starter Pokemon that's weaker than the player's. This caveat might be due to the fact that players can consider Wooloo, and not the starter, as Hop's main Pokemon in any of the games. In turn, Wooloo becomes a priority Pokemon in Hop's battles.
9 The Max Soup Helper
Hop has a more direct role in post-game events, even after the DLCs, such as the post-game story via The Isle of Armor DLC. However, if players complete the post-game story with an evolved Kubfu, Hop will actually help players obtain the right ingredients to create the Max Soup. After all, Urshifu needs the Max Soup to obtain his Gigantamax form.
In this new adventure, Hop and the player will first test ingredients from Applin and Lilligant's nectars until they try to get nectar from Vespiquen. However, the pair get thrust into a Max Raid Battle with a Dynamax Vespiquen, which will give them Max Honey, the right ingredient for their needs.
8 League Cards Offer More Insights
In Galar, Trainers carry something called League Cards that serve as their Trainer Passports and Trainer Cards. For players, they can customize their League Card via the Card Maker to further personalize their appearance. Moreover, players can obtain League Cards from other Trainers as they fight them throughout the game. Interestingly, players can also obtain both Normal and Rare variants of the League Cards they obtain. As for Hop, his League Cards do reveal interesting insights into his personality.
For instance, his Normal card describes him as someone who's idolized Leon and thus watched all of his matches. In turn, this reflects Hop's cheerful demeanor that hides a technical mastery of Pokemon skills. Meanwhile, his Rare card comes with his signature and a description that highlights other Trainers' appreciation of his fighting style that emphasizes his Pokemon's freedom.
7 More Into Studying Than Badges
Fans might observe that their player characters share unique encounters among their rivals throughout Sword and Shield. However, regardless of the experience, the hero will always motivate their rivals to become Gym Leaders that specialize in their favorite Type. For instance, Bede's story begins with him starting as a Psychic-Type specialist until Opal scouts him to become her successor as Ballonlea Gym's Leader. As the games progress, Bede begins specializing in Fairy-Types and even ends up officially inheriting the Ballonlea Gym Leadership.
Hop doesn't follow the same fate. Despite being the brother of former Champion Leon, Hop instead pursues a career as a Pokemon Professor. At the end of the series, players often see Hop in his lab, and they can still challenge him to battles.
6 Fond Of Fighting The Player
Fans of Sword and Shield know Hop as one of three rivals they regularly fight throughout the games. Whereas Hop uses a variety of teams across his battles with the player, fellow rivals have more specific Type preferences. For instance, core rivals, Bede and Mamie, have a penchant for Fairy and Dark-Type Pokemon, respectively. Meanwhile, additional rivals, Klara and Avery, like Poison and Psychic-Types.
Like his various teams, Hop is also the only rival to fight the player the most times within the Sword and Shield series. As it turns out, players will fight Hop a total of 10 times throughout the entire game. In other instances, Hop becomes the player's Multi-Battle Partner four times, and their Max Raid Battle Partner two times.
5 Two Gigantamax Pokemon
Gigantamax serves as a unique form of Dynamax power-ups exclusively for Generation VIII. Similar to Dynamaxing, Gigantamax not only increases a Pokemon's HP but also radically increases their size and appearance. Galar's Professor Magnolia reveals that a Pokemon undergoing Gigantamax will distort the space around them while changing their appearance.
Interestingly, Hop serves as the only NPC in the game to have two Gigantamax Pokemon. Players can remember Hop using a Gigantamaxed Corviknight whenever they fought him in the Champion tournaments. Meanwhile, Hop uses a Gigantamaxed starter in the Galarian Star Tournament. Hop might have two Gigantamax Pokemon, as Sword and Shield starters only got their Gigantamax forms by the time The Isle of Armor DLC was released.
4 Made Appearances In The Anime
Hop does make an appearance in the Sword and Shield anime that highlights Galar. For instance, Hop makes brief appearances in the episode, "Letter," featuring his friendship bracelet with Wooloo. Meanwhile, they also appear in Training and Sky where the Trainer-Pokemon duo is watching television. Lastly, "The Gathering of Stars" features Leon returning for Wyndon Stadium's Galarian Star Tournament.
In the series, Hop does star in one episode, "Buddy," where he chases Wooloo around in Galar. Sadly, Wooloo ran away from Hop when it saw its Trainer idolizing Leon's Charizard. When Hop reunites with Wooloo, he promises his Pokemon that they will challenge Leon and his Charizard together.
3 Regular Support Card In The TCG
Interestingly, even Hop makes an appearance in the Pokemon Trading Card Game. In the TCG, Hop's card makes a debut in the Sword and Shield expansion sets. As with other rivals, Hop serves as a Support Card that players can use to indirectly help their Pokemon in battle.
When activated, players can draw three cards from their deck. Hop shares this effect with other rivals that have their own Support Cards in the TCG. However, this is unfortunate, as his brother Leon also has a card in the TCG with a more unique effect. Unlike Hop, Leon adds 30 bonus damage to Active Pokemon attacks.
2 A Little Thing With Japanese
A lot of video games released internationally often have puns and small tidbits that reference one or more languages, for the entertainment of fans. Hop experiences the same thing on this end. For instance, fans might think that Hop's uniform number (189) might simply be a random number. However, fans familiar with Japanese may realize that this number choice might contain a cool piece of language trivia.
After all, fans who know how to read Japanese know that 189 can be read as "hiyaku" in Goroawase. In Japanese culture, Goroawase pertains to homophonous words (sounds alike) that obtain a new meaning when combined together. In the case of Hop's uniform number, 189 is read as "leaping," a pun for his name.
1 Language Wordplay Fun
In speaking of wordplay, even some of Hop's international names have some interesting meanings behind them. Moreover, most of his alternate names in other languages also have a reference to the action of hopping. For instance, the French translation calls Hop as Nabil, which is a reference to the Cannabaceae family that contains the hop plant. Meanwhile, his Spanish name, Paul, and Brazilian Portuguese name, Lupo are derived from "lupulo" or the common hop in the language.
Additionally, some versions of Hop's name serve as transcription and transliteration for his name. For instance, players can notice this with his Russian (Xon Khop), Chinese (Hakpou for Cantonese, Hepu for Mandarin), and Korean (Hob) counterparts.