Rival: Difference between revisions

:''For the [[Elite Four]] {{pkmn|Champion}} in {{eng|Pokémon Stadium}}, see [[Blue (game)]]''.

In the [[Version|main series]], a rival is a recurring opponent to the {{player}} throughout the game. This class of characters has appeared beginning in [[Generation I]], and in every main series game since. Typically, rivals will be met by the player early in the game, usually around the time the player receives their [[starter Pokémon]]. In most games, the rival will also obtain a starter Pokémon, and will usually participate in the player's first [[Pokémon battle]] against a Trainer. From then on, rivals will appear frequently throughout the player's journey, always being one step ahead of the player as the player moves through the region, meeting and battling the player at various points in the game with a progressively stronger and diversified [[party]]. Usually they must be defeated in order to continue the game; the most important of these battles happening either right before or during the player's challenge to the [[Elite Four]]. After the defeat of the [[Elite Four]] and the [[Pokémon Champion]], the rival can usually be battled at the player's leisure, but only at certain times with increasingly powerful Pokémon. More often than not, they will have the starter Pokémon of their home region that weakens the one the player chose at the beginning of the game, though [[Wally]], [[Bel]] and {{ga|Blue}} in [[Pokémon Yellow]] are exceptions.