The scene before the second round of Dante vs Vergil might be the most underrated scene in all of gaming. Gaining weapons from bosses has been a staple of the DMC series since it's debut. Now your rival finds the boss YOU couldn't take down on your own, wrecks the shit out of him, and steals the weapon YOU were supposed to get. And then he's like "What are you gonna do about it?

Personally, one of the things I sincerely enjoyed about Wally in gen 3 is that he felt more like the protagonist in his fight than you did. He was the weaker character who was always one step behind you, and so you feel like the more traditional rival while fighting him. I thought it was a really interesting role reversal in a game with a fairly uninteresting main rival.

...I'd argue the comfy shorts kid is more memorable than the quartet in Gen VI...

How to make a memorable rival: Creator:hey lets make the players name their rival! Others:sounds good! Players: -death stare at rival name maker with a smirk-

Joey and his top percentage ratatta are second gen's rival. Always calling me just to stall for time and get the upper hand... I see your plan Joey...

While I do agree that Blue's battles are placed in a way that stand out, his character is just as one dimensional as those you mention for Gen 6. "He's cocky" and never really changes. At least Silver changes eventually. Blue only makes you want to be stronger only because you want to wipe that arrogant smile off his face. He's a bully. I think N is a great rival, for having a character arc, being relevant to the plot, and challenging not just your journey to the top but to your ideology as well.

I'm sorry, I just find it difficult to take a rival like Blue seriously when all he does is taunt me despite me kicking his ass at every turn. I thought Silver was an antagonistic rival done much better. However, I think Wally is the best rival, especially in ORAS. It's interesting because of the development he goes through. In a different series, he could have been a main character. Unfortunately, he was in Pokemon, so despite his growth, I still have to put him down. It made me feel a bit conflicted. Also, his post-game team got downright deadly...

One of my favorite rivals in Pokemon was silver from Pokemon HGSS and Gladion and Hau from Sun and Moon (spoilers btw) Gladion and Hau seemed like examples of two bad mindsets used by pokemon trainers. Gladion takes it too seriously while Hau uses the excuse that he's having fun and being casual to stop himself from needing to improve. Through the battles Gladion finally sees that it's ok to have fun and not take it too seriously, while Hau finally gets frustrated with losing and wants to get better shows how their character development impacts each other through the dialogue between them as the game goes on. Silver was Gary done better with an actual motivation for his actions, unlike Gary, who was mean for seemingly no reason. He tried to become a trainer to take down team rocket because of his anger that came from his father leaving him. He established himself as an aggressive trainer who only uses pokemon as tools. Throughout the game however you see him becoming more and more attached to his team, and with the motif that "Pokemon are only as bad as their trainers" he realizes that what he was doing was wrong and that he should treat his team like living things instead of tools.

I think my favourite rival is the SA-X in Fusion, honestly. She has the moveset you lose in the game's opening cutscene, essentially representing who you were. And outclasses you so much during the early portion of the game that she feels like a horror film monster - at first all you can do is hide, eventually you're able to survive long enough to run from her, and she serves as the penultimate boss (And climactic one, the final boss is just kind of thrown in there). Maybe she'd be stronger as a rival if your final moveset wasn't so closely tied to what it was in Super Metroid, but it works.

Disappointed you left out Silver from the Generation II Pokemon games. He has waaay better depth and character growth than Blue does, especially in the Generation IV remakes. There's also N in Generation V, who gives the player a true sense of urgency.

I think the Ace Attorney games are a pretty good case study about the impact of the rival character, just going through series progression. (And I do apologize in advance for only discussing the first four major attorneys, but the last game in the series I played was Apollo Justice so these are the ones I actually have experience with.) Ace Attorney in journal is all about memorable characters, but the rivals -- particularly from the original trilogy -- are special standouts. Miles Edgeworth is still a fan favorite, but you also had the lovely and insulting Fanzisca von Karma and the aloof, mysterious Godot. Each of them is introduced as hyper-competent (giving them a dangerous edge that makes besting them feel so rewarding), but they're also well-dressed and well-respected (versus Phoenix Wright, who even at his best always comes across as a bit of a scruffy loser), and *they know it*. They are *smug as hell*, self-confident, and at the start of each game invariably talk down to Our Hero to cement their position as not only a superior attorney, but a grade-A jerk who needs to be put in their place. But they aren't static, either. Edgeworth is the prime example of this (since the original AA was meant to be a standalone, so he and Phoenix have a complete arc between them), where he starts off as distant, sarcastic, and utterly above Phoenix, but after the first case against each other starts to respect Phoenix' skills and we learn about their shared history, and the things that made Edgeworth go from a defender of the weak to a vicious but still good-hearted prosecutor. (And then we have a 'final boss' in Manfred von Karma taking over Edgeworth's spot for Case 4, presenting a legitimately sinister threat instead of a good-nature rival). The original Ace Attorney brings this relationship to a head in Case 5, where Phoenix and Edgeworth defeat the final-final boss using their combined skills and verbal interplay to dismantle his web of lies. They're still rivals (defense attorney versus prosecutor), but the respect they've earned for one another and the ability to put aside their differences in pursuit of The Truth makes theirs a powerful, memorable rivalry. Franziska and Godot have their own perks (with Franziska being more memorable, with her tendency to hurl insults and the words 'foolish fool' with wild abandon and whip people she thinks are being foolish), and they each have their own in-game arcs that take them from cocky jerks you *want* to take down to deeper, more fleshed-out characters you can sympathize with, enjoy... and still want to take down. I always held these in high regard because the immediate follow-up to the AA series, Apollo Justice, introduced Klavier Gavin as your rival prosecutor. And Klavier is a good character with a lot of depth to be uncovered as the game goes on, but... he was *not* a memorable prosecutor. Sure, he had the traditional Ace Attorney goofy-ass gimmick down (he was a guitarist in a band and would sometimes rock out during a trial), but he was also entirely too chill and friendly. He was a genuinely nice guy, helping out Apollo with his side of the case and not caring if he lost (not... really a great attorney, come to think of it), and I like him as a character, but it didn't feel as satisfying to defeat Klavier (who would, IIRC, happily congratulate Apollo on his victory) as it did the previous rival attorneys. There's something to be said for rubbing it in the smug jerk's face, and being denied the pleasure made Klavier just... not as fun to go against in court. A good rival character feels like they have to have an edge of being superior, and being kind of a jerk, in order to provide the player a reason to want to best them. Friendly rivalries are fine (especially, you know, in real life), but when you're playing a game where you kind of need to exhibit aggression -- where you as a player are encouraged to *win* by the very nature of the medium -- you kind of need somebody you really want to take down, as opposed to somebody where yeah it'd be cool to win but we're bros so eh whatever.

I always considered Gladion to be more rival material than even your own character swap. The game really pushes the latter, but Gladion is just so much better at it.

Virgil and Dante's rivaly was further driven home when you play Devil May cry the original.

Anyone notice how a good deal of these rivals have palettes of only black and red?

I should have been the one to fill your dark soul with LIIGGGHT!

May be and unpopular opinion but my favorite "rivals" in Pokémon is still Cheren and Bianca. Like Blue they start our their adventure alongside you, but as the game progresses the 2 start finding new goals rather than just filling a Pokedex. Cheren is a more traditional rival in that he's always trying to beat you, while you battle with Bianca maybe twice. However the 3 of you are constantly progressing and growing in your own ways. They do fit more into the friendly rival catagory but for me that makes it better. Antagonistic rivals are good but it's to easy for them to just fall into a more generic antagonist role. I personally hated running into Blue because I never cared for him as a character. He never grew till Gen VII where he and Red actually look like friends, and I had no personal drive to beat him except for the fact he was picking a fight and the game was forcing me to fight him. I can say the opposite for Hau in Gen VII. I like his character and I never hated fighting his team, but he sucks as a rival, there's very little satisfaction in beating him because his ace will always lose to yours. Hau lacks challenge but I enjoyed watching him grow. Cheren has Blue's challenge in his team dynamic, while he and Bianca change and have an arc that makes them more engaging. This is just my opinion but I hope people can see why I think this way.

Overall, I agree, but 2 things: - Blue's jerkiness is overstated (not just by you, in general); - to say that the group of cheerleaders from Gen 6 is even close to memorable to the comfy shorts kid is BLASPHEMY!

Really respect your knowledge and appliance of Graphic Design on the channel. These analytical videos are inspiring for a graphic designer such as myself.

Dante and Vergil are my favorite characters in any series ever created. Dante was a kickass dude from the very start and the when it was revealed he had a brother, I wondered if we would ever get any sort of background for him. In DMC3, it feels like both of the characters were written perfectly and the fact that they managed to give Vergil an incredible backstory when all we ever got before 3 was knowledge of his existence.

EDGEWORTH!!!!!!!!!!!

My favorite rivalty of all time will always be Luke vs Asch It's really hard to explain without going to spoilers, but man, it's one of the best ones i ever saw

There is no one we love to hate more than Blue. He shows up at the most inconvenient times with routinely strong teams and is an asshat. Then he is trying to overshadow you at the very end by becoming the pokemon champion just before you did. The spike of rage I felt when I learned Blue had already done it was silly, but it made beating his ass, the hardest battle in the game, so satisfying.

I personally think Blue is by far the best rival of the Pokémon series. It just feels like a rival, you genuinely want to surpass him and prove that you're better than him. The fact that he is a jerk and that he's always a step ahead of you (for example, in any gym there's a list of people who won in a battle against the gymleader, and Blue always appears on it first) really feed that sentiment. As a kid I really took him seriously. I hated him, and that's what made me love his character. It just works perfectly for that role, it's kinda amazing really. That final face-off at the Pokémon League is so satisfying, because there you are finally able to make your annoying rival shut up once and for all: you definitely proved that you're the best. It's also a nice twist. Nowadays we are used to the idea of the Pokémon Champion as the final battle of the game, but back in gen 1 that wasn't established yet. Some NPCs talk about the Elite Four, but the champion of the Pokémon League is never mentioned (likely that role didn't even exist before Blue's victory against the Elite Four). So, when Lance tells you that "You are now the champion of the Pokémon League" it really gets you. I vividly remember that I genuinely believed it my first time beating the game. And I also remember how angry I got when immediately after Lance said "... Or, you would have been, but you have one more challenge left. There is one more trainer to face! His name is... BLUE! He beat the Elite Four before you. He is the real Pokèmon Champion." That was so infuriating to read. It really charges you up for that final battle. Really, really good stuff. It's this kind of things that makes me think that the gen 1 games are a bit underrated. Personally, no other game in the series was ever able to immerse me so much on an emotional level.

There's an artistic premise called "Man vs. Self" - it's one of three main driving forces (Man vs. Nature/Environment, and Man vs. Man - gender dysphoria nonwithstanding); and The Rival is the video game execution of this. Ryu/Ken, X/Zero, Madeline/Badeline, there's a lot of good examples. But yes, having that personality conflict - driving the player to *hate* the rival for being such a contrast and a constantly present obstruction, as well as a VERY HARD point in the game (arguably the hardest), and often makes for the most satisfying experience to overcome.

Always grateful for people showing my man Vergil some love, and while I don't hate the Dmc reboot (at least outside the context of the original existing), the Vergil fight was an unnecessary and weak twist. Devil May Cry 3 remains the best hack'n'slash game ever because of Vergil and how perfectly his story was told. The tight mechanics and brilliant weapon and enemy design certainly helped though xD

Anubis - Zone of The Enders. For the two games of the serie, it looks like an unreachable rival, and it scares you any time, even in the final fight.

The most memorable and interesting rival in my gaming experience is definitely the SA-X from Metroid Fusion. Spoilers after the break. The runner up would probably be Megaman X/Zero, especially if you jump directly from the original X trilogy to the Zero series. So in the beginning of Metroid Fusion your armor gets infected and most of its components need to be removed, later you discover that the infestation is an intelligent parasitic species that is able to incorporate its host DNA, because your Chozo Armor uses xeno-organic biological components it is able to interface with it. Throughout the game it becomes the symbol of the strength you have lost, it is frequently at YOUR most powerful while you are at your weakest. While having to use stealth and planning to avoid a direct conflict with this vastly overpowered entity you discover that it is pursuing its own goals on the space station, it has its own enemies. Near the climax you have a final showdown with it, proving that you have regained your power, and that you are not only the equal to your past self, but its better. However, there is an ambush final boss that was weak to the SA-X's signature power. Now that you have defeated the SA-X, all it has to do is take you out. It is in this moment of desperation that your battered rival reappears, no longer fit for combat, It sacrifices its life to grant you that weapon in order to destroy your common enemy. It has one of the best arcs in gaming I think and it does it with very little words. It starts as a horrifying perversion of your own identity, unknowable and mysterious, it becomes your predator, then it becomes a mountain to conquer, then it becomes relatable, then it becomes pitiable, then it becomes a fallen hero. X and Zero are not really spoilers, in the beginning of Megaman X, Zero is awe-inspiringly more powerful than you, by the end of the first game you become equals, and you become comrades in arms, striving to get better and better alongside eachother. [Kinda SPOILERS for Megaman Zero starting now, if you have played any of it at all though, you are probably fine] The Utopia you and X envisioned has been created, and in time faded into ruin, and then risen again into despotism, and it is your duty to X to destroy his inheritors in order to protect the vision he had for human and reploid alike. It gives the rivalry a bittersweet end, and really shows how much Zero admired and respected X. In the first X game Zero told you that you had unlimited potential you just had to reach out and seize it, and in MMZ you see that destiny fulfilled and you strive again to protect that legacy just as Zero always did in the X series.

This video was phenomenal. I'm a writer personally and I scope out great channels with content that allows me to capitalize on my storytelling and character building. When this was recommended to me I jumped on it faster than my fingers could act. The rival is beyond my favorite part of any game or story when executed correctly. We look for them in competitive fields anywhere because as humans we have a natural drive to succeed in any field we put our minds to, and what better way to do so than to surpass someone pursuing the same endeavors? I love your take on this subject and couldn't agree more with your argument as to why rivals are important and how one could make them impactful in a story. I usually watch 2-3 videos before considering subscribing so I know if I like their content, but this video alone has pulled me in to see what else you have to say.

My favorite rival in gaming has to be (spoilers ahead) Nagito from Danganronpa 2. He works as such a good foil to the main character, and always seems one step ahead, purposely trying to trip you up

Man this dude needs more subscribers

A thing to note is that designing a rival in a video game does come with a problem unique to the genre. If the protagonist ends up fighting the rival multiple times making these parts interactive can be tough. If the player is supposed to win all of these rival battles, and they do win all of them, we end up with the loser rival problem, where the story tries to make you take a rival seriously despite said rival always losing to you. Case in point, I have a hard time taking Blue seriously as my rival, since me canonically winning all of my battles against him kinda makes his trash talk very empty, as we both know that I'm better than he is (the Pokémon Origins anime for this reason handled him far better since he did kick Red's ass). This is what I like about Wally, because he isn't acting like he's better than you are. He is striving to reach your level, making you the standard he's trying to achieve, not the other way around. This can be worked around by using differing victory conditions (escape, stall for time), obvious unfair advantages (they start out injured, you have allies, you are in some temporary boosted state), perhaps a forced loss if the battle happens at an appropriate time or a rock paper scissors scenario, where it's clear that they outclass you in what would normally lead to a victory, but you outclassing them in something that is a bigger advantage in the current situation means that you get out on top; but even with such options, keeping interactivity balanced with maintenance of the rival's status can be difficult.

I had this feeling about the Gen 6 rivals for a LOOOOONG time, and I hadn't seen anyone else talking about it until now. Kudos to you!

Solid video on a topic I wouldn't have considered myself but now that you bring it up is a super interesting thought. I am a fan of breaking things down into chunks to look at individually too.

I feel like a mention should go to Kiryu's rival in Yakuza 0, Kuze. He has a awesome design, his story intertwined with the protagonists in fact Kuze outright chases Kiryu to fight him; you fight him 5 times (something unheard of at that time for the series) and he has an awesome soundtrack.

Glad you gave some of a shoutout to Eric Sparrow. Great rival that not only motivates your character, but is great at motivating you, the player. Also is the source of one of the best bonus endings in any game.

Vergil in remake could have become more strong as he "learns" from Dante, slowly but surely becoming drunk with power and that would be a good reason for his heel turn(given they would present it properly) at the end

Although you didn’t go into detail about him, I loved the nod to Steiger from FF8. Here Squall is framed as the quintessential SeeD, even though he doesn’t want to be, to the point of being appointed the SeeD leader. Meanwhile, Seifer, who can’t even qualify as a SeeD despite clearly having a similar skill level, goes off and pursues his own ambition as the Sorceress’ Knight, putting him directly at odds with SeeD and Squall.

Dude, you speak to my soul with both pokemon and devil may cry 3, and I love your video so much. Thank you!

I feel like Wally could have been an interesting rival if they'd actually given him any scenes. He's the catching tutorial, then you fight him once and he still just has the one pokemon and isn't any sort of real challenge (especially since you've just had a pretty decent fight vs Brendan/May) and then he completely disappears for the rest of the game until he's suddenly at the end of victory road with a full team. The game needed a gradual shift from your original rival to him, especially as you already have someone who is framed in every way as the rival for your journey: they have a pokedex, they have the starter that's strong against yours, and they fight you consistently for most of the game. If even one or two of the Brendan/May battles had been given to Wally maybe I would have realised that he was meant to be more than a side character, but instead he just appears with no build-up at the end of the game and I was left thinking "why is the pyjama boy here? What about my final rival battle?"

I see why people like Blue but I never will. He just comes off to me as one dimensional, he seems more like a trial than an actual character. All I remember him by is that infamous line "Smell ya later!" He's redundant and cliché with little to no development as a character. The gen 6 rivals are worse as rivals though, they aren't even designed to be rivals. Their battle theme is just "friend" even. I disagree that previous generations just did it better than gen 6, as Gen 7 did a fantastic job with Gladion. Motivation, unique Pokémon, attitude, contrast to the player, growth towards you as a character and can be an ally at one point given the circumstances. But the rivalry is real.

I absolutely love the rivalry with Solo in the Mega Man Star Force 2. I was always looking forward to the next fight against him.

Started to watch your videos very recently. I've enjoyed them quite a bit.

Excuse me, the comfy shorts kid is one of the most memorable parts of the whole series.

Speaking about Pokemon my favourite rival where.... the gen V rivals. Natural was just.... interesting he made you think he cared for his Pokemon (makes you wonder why he doesn’t fight himself) he had an arc and did things outside of your battles he did something which honestly you can’t say about everyone *coughs* genVI *coughs* he was yes idealistic but he was more he had an story and I liked learning it. Bianca...... oh dear Bianca her story was so fun to play through you see how she thinks that she will never beat and accepts that she wonders if being a trainer is her cup of tea as then the sene with her father oh boy that was hard to get through in a sense of I wish I could help her you know and seeing what she became in 2 it’s clear she found what’s right for he and that’s nice. Lastly Cheren. Man I can go on and o about this guy firstly his arc was more compelling to me then any other, why? Because well I could relate he and I where very similarities we both wanna be the best and work hard for that and see the worth In studying I mean he shares that info with you because in my eyes he wants to be the best and he can only be that if you to are the best and the end I loved it he never gave up and in 2 it payed off he isn’t a champion but at least he to got himself a cup of tea that he liked. So that’s why Gen V has the best rivals

I love everything you have on this channel, holy cow!

Ive wanted to rewrite DMC so many times, they had so many easy ways to do it, especially with a semi love interest with Kat between the two.

Hey Design Doc or rather WarBot. Grnfan was one of the first people I ever watched on KZfaq back in 2009 and by extension you. While the last I saw you was exploring the world of Noby Noby and Pikman 2 which took forever to finish it's funny being reunited with you. Glad to see you've made a name for yourself and I hope to continue following your content for now on! Take Care Man! :D

Also I like that Dante and Nero have opposite arcs about their heritage in the series. Dante rejects his demonic side initially but over time accepts it as a part of him and gains strength for it. Vergil prioritizes his demon side and the power it gives him but eventually has to try and reclaim his own humanity. We only see the start of those arcs in 3 though Mechanically it’s interesting that Vergil is straight up a playable character in the DMC 3 special edition

The Vergil analysis is great, I especially liked the deconstruction of the DmC version.

Mad respect for referencing Tales of Vesperia, brother. You have got yourself a new fan.

I'm glad Vergil is the antagonist of DmC, that stupid fedora made me want to kick his ass

I remember gen 6 rival very well, mostly because I TOTALLY WRECKED HER with ease like I've never had before.

I would put the standard for a great rival like this: They could make a convincing protagonist in a game of their own.

Tales of Vesperia! That game has, among its many other accomplishments, one of the best ideological rivalries in all of gaming. My favorite game ever

The best i would say in Zone of the Enders 2. The rivalry between Jehuty and Anubis. That is the best one! From the opening sequence/ movie and the progress to unleash the full potential of Jehuty and finally the quote of "the performance of these two bodies is even, it depends on the skill of the runner". Shivers man...

One of the actively worst counter-examples of rivalry in all gaming: Kai Leng, of Mass Effect 3 'fame'.

Or in a mausoleum “ ARE YOUR POKEMON DEAD “ *insert nervous Mmmmmm* I died. Came across the channel by accident and I gotta say it’s edited and presented so wonderfully, you sir understand what your talking about !

In pokemon gen 1 you can even lose to blue in the first and second battle Witch make you feel WAY better when you do win aginst him later

One of the best ones I've seen is Asch from Tales of the Abyss. Great vid!

Because.....he has his own theme tune that's cooler than any other song in the game.

Personally my favorite rival in Pokémon is Hugh from B/W 2. He's tough and competitive, but he's also a dork even though he looks mean. I think one if the main reasons he works as a rival is a little more complex though. Let's take Blue for example. First time through, he's pretty motivating, but once you get good and you start beating him easily his cockiness is laughable. So what if you're a step ahead of me? My team wrecks yours, so I'm superior. Most rivals are like that - no matter how tough they act, after a certain point you'll just overpower them, and in a battle based game that's all that matters. But what makes Hugh different is that he has a noble goal in mind - to get his sister's Pokémon back. And he'll do anything to recover it, including PUNCHING PLASMA GRUNTS IN THE FACE. He tears through Plasma just as much as you do, maybe even more. Grunts treat you in the typical grunt fashion "how's this kid so strong?" But they're TERRIFIED of Hugh, who can often be seen interrogating them about his sister's Pokémon. You can have tons of overleveled Pokémon, but you can't reach THAT level of awesomeness and accomplishment until you defeat Ghetsis. And Hugh does accomplish his goals, though he finds some roadblocks immediately afterward. Then he gets over them, and spends his time helping other people find their lost Pokémon. So though you can beat him, it hasn't slowed him down. There's more to his life than just you and Pokémon battles. He would probably be the Champion if he did focus on it. N also works like this, but on a more ideological kind of level. He's not quite as strong since he gets REALLY wrecked at the end of B/W. Cheren also deserves a mention, since he gets genuinely frustrated by his losses and is always trying to improve. So I guess to me a good rival is someone who isn't just strong and similar, but someone who can be respected.

I love that you used FF7 costa del sol XD. I'm new here and I'm glad I subscribed!

A good antagonist needs to be a hero in their own story.

The comfy shorts kid bit is spot-on! xD DmC3’s Dante/Vergil dynamic kinda reminds me of Kratos’s arc with Zeus, spread over the course of GoW2 and 3. The first fight is at the beginning of GoW2, when Zeus actually kills Kratos, who spends the rest of the game working his way back to that exact moment, and fights him again. There are no winners in the second fight, but rather a collateral casualty in the form of another major character. GoW3 picks up *immediately* after this, and results in Kratos being sent *back* to Hades, eventually culminating in that third and final fight at the end of the game. Edit, off topic: I’ve watched a few of your videos over the months. You have some great analyses! Got another subscriber in me :)

keep up the quality content!

The rivalry of Riou and Jowy from Suikoden 2 is extremely impactful. Two childhood friends want to protect all they hold dear but are on opposites with their own ideals. So Jowy not only becomes an antagonist but also a Villain opposite to Riou to accomplish his own goals.

Blue is also good as he's the only one who actually tailors his team depending to balance himself against your starter (or how the first couple of fights go in yellow)

This video sparked my creativity on rivals. If I lose my job, I want to make a game. This game will be mush more engaging with a rival on foot.

As average as DmC was i enjoyed it for one thing, the dynamic between Vergil and Dante. It was nice to get to team up with Vergil for once and they genuinely felt like brothers at times with the whole bigger dick banter scene the game shouldve ended with them defeating mundus together and they had their arms over each others shoulders. His Heel turn completely came out of left field and suddenly he got powers straight outta the original dmc vergil. DmC really shouldve just been a standalone title so Vergil wouldnt have to live up to the legacy of original vergil

I'm not sure you really realize how iconic the comfy shorts kid is

Vergil is simply the best.

I honestly it was more of a "Dante can do my dirty work while I hide my power" thing rather than an out of nowhere "I have a moveset now". Cuz like you said he doesn't use his powers until right at the end probably because he's so close to his goal and just wants it accomplished now.

Rivals/antagonists of Danganronpa series: Byakuya Togami from 1, Nagio Komaeda from 2 and Kokichi Ouma from V3.

The best rival for me is "the edge" from the game furi. And it actually breaks most of the rules you talked about here. But the reason it works is that he comes at a point when you start to wonder if you really are the good guy, you saw all those different people trying to take you down and you feel this uneasy feeling. And then there is this guy, that obviously has waited this fight for so long, you have no idea who he is, but he looks like you and fights like you, and he does it better, he learned to fight like you, he is not your rival, you are HIS rival, he trained for this moment. And when he realize that he can't beat you fighting like you he goes back to what is presumably his old fighting style. Like so many main character developpement realizing they have to find their own path and not try to do the same as what their rival is doing, he is using all his acquired skill and channels it into his own style for a brilliant hidden moment of character growth. He eventually loses to the player and the next fight confirms what you suspected. This guy was the good guy. You are the bad guy. You won. He lost. There would be a lot to say for each fight in furi, but this battle really is a masterpiece, especially since it needs so little words to convey it's meaning, most of it is done through mechanics and character design alone.

I really like the quality of the editing in this video. Although i disagree with you in regards to Gary. All he does is taunt you.

I still want a pokemon rival where the rival themselves gets annoyed with the player when they do things like heal mid battle, use revives, use legendaries, etc, only really respecting you if you do none of that. I mean they'd adjust their behavior in battle to mimic yours if you do so, but ideally they wouldn't want or have to. But that's kinda complicated to program in, even if pokemon really needs a bit more depth these days.

Riku and Sora classic!

Awesome video!

her defining personality trait is EXISTING I;M DYING

Well done, good sir. The only thing I would disagree with was calling those friends in Gen 6 "rivals". They don't deserve the title.

Nice! Your video shared one of the biggest problem I had with DMC: Devil May Cry. The last fight felt so forced, useless to the plot, life if the scenario writer just realized while writing the ending that Vergil was supposed to be a rival. The game really wished it was Bayonetta so hard.

CrossCode has 2 rivals, both of which use a unique best 5/9 system. Apollo is fun and provides a great test for the player early in the game. Something to mention is that the game actually lets you lose which changes up his dialogue and attitude, but regardless he ends up having his own arc which concludes after his third match. And then there's Shizuka. Shizuka is introduced before you even meet the protagonist, and then vanishes until halfway through the game and doesn't even challenge you until the end of the penultimate chapter. Even if she's only fought once, her battle is easily the most emotional in the entire game, and her AI is brutal with all your abilities including ultimates making her also one of the most intense battles in the game. Going into much more detail would be spoilers, but damn if it isn't the most memorable fight in the game.

Can i just say that the rival characters in gen 7 became so much better? You got a friendly rival, a firstly mean one, and then a friendly companion as well. And all 3 are loved a whole lot

I think concept-wise, though not execution-wise as his series unfortunately has a history of dropping old characters when a new character gets more popular, Knuckles the Echidna is one of the best rivals for a character who isn’t a player self-insert I can think of. These two are two sides of the same coin and the games that still treated them as rivals aka before Shadow rolled around made this incredibly clear. Their skills are pretty much opposites: Sonic is as fast as Knuckles is strong and Knuckles is as fast as Sonic is strong. Sonic blasts through everything with his speed based skills while Knuckles uses his strength for various exploration based skills. In battle, they always tie. Even personality- and history-wise, one is exactly what the other is not: Sonic is a social butterfly with lots of friends who loves freedom and fights for it in big epic battles and is constantly celebrated for his victories. Knuckles is an isolated loner who is trapped on a floating island guarding an omnipotent rock because he has to pay for the sins of his ancestors. We don’t actually know how many times he successfully defended the Master Emerald because when he does, no one except him and his opponent will ever know. The only time when anything relevant happens and we actually get to see him is when he fails which the other characters tend to berate him for. And yet, they are very similar: They both want to protect what they hold dear, are very prideful about their ideals and don’t always make the best decisions as they both often act before they think and rush into things that end up biting them in the butt. I used to really like their dynamic, but then insecurity struck and SEGA removed most of Sonic’s flaws and just had him either berate or roll his eyes at the other characters who were made out to be a lot more flawed than they originally were aka they turned Knuckles from Sonic’s physical and mental equal into a weak village idiot Sonic can roll his eyes at because of how little of a match he is. The introductions of Shadow, Blaze and Jet didn’t help Knuckles‘ case either as those characters were explicitly written to out-rival the previous rivals though I‘m glad Shadow was the one who stuck around out of those three. He isn’t a bad rival at all and actually a pretty good character regardless of his rivalry with Sonic, but their rivalry is more of a stock Light vs. Dark rivalry while the one with Knuckles was actually custom made and unique to this franchise.

I liked Castor from Last Scenario, if you can count him as a rival. The attempt at giving him a meaningful relationship with the protagonist was a little forced, but from a gameplay and narrative perspective he mirrors Vergil -- in a game defined by its tough boss fights, his first fight is a brick wall, his second is a challenge, and his third is barely a speedbump. It's really satisfying to finally, FINALLY deal him a meaningful defeat after he spends so long taunting you and shrugging off your best efforts.

Tales of Vesperia has such great characters that I feel it does kind of underappreciated sometimes.

Sad to see that everyone in this comment section is only talking about pokémon. Pokémon is one of my favorite franchises of all time (as you can clearly see from my profile picture lol), but Devil May Cry deserves so much more love. Truly, DMC3 and DMC5 are absolute masterpieces in every possible way, and DMC4 has probably the best combat in any videogame ever. Play DMC, everyone! (DMC1, 3, 4 and 5, btw. You shouldn't play DMC2 or Ninja Theory's DmC. These are bad games)

4:09 it's so relatable though... I also always do that and intend on continuing to do so

I also love how the rivalry between Kratos and Zeus takes shape over the span of 3 games..

There is one thing that Devil May Cry fans all agree on. WE DON'T TALK ABOUT DmC!

My favourite rival from any game is Granberia from the eroge Monster Girl quest. All of the four heavenly knights are in a way rivals to the main character Luka, but Granberia is the most traditional. For most of the story she is far stronger than Luka, during the first fight she doesn't fight too seriously, but respects his courage, and becomes interested in him because he uses the same sword fighting style as her, though on vastly different levels. During the fights she occasionally uses the same skills you have. By the second to last fight she considers Luka a worthy opponent, and at the end od the fight she attacks you with her strongest attack, which you need to counter with a similar technique. You still lose, but she is impressed and wants to see you get even stronger. During the final fight against her, you attack her with all the elemental powered up versions of your main skills. Which includes her ultimate skill. Which she then counters, and beats with the skill you used to counter hers in the previous fight. At the very end of the fight, she wants Luka to use his ultimate attack, which takes several turns to prepare, and gets cancelled if you are ever hit. So she lets Luka prepare it, and though she tries to counter it with her own strongest skill, you finally defeat her with it. In the final part of the story she and the other four heavenly knights are fighting for the same, and the enemy has made a special chimera to counter each of the heavenly knights effectively giving each of them another rival once Luka has surpassed them. In the eventual fight between Granberia and the chimera made to counter her, she eventually defeats it by using Luka's ultimate attack that defeated her before.

I'm surprised you didn't use FFX's Tidus's party against Sin as example, but I'm pretty happy with the video. Does DMC3 a lot of justice over DMC: Disappointment Edition

I saw gladion and his theme started blaring in my head

Hoo boy, I was hoping you'd talk about Vergil.

Gen 5 had some good rivals as well.

As cool of a rival that edgeworth is, godot feels way more personal and feels more like a rival.

I find that the buddy rivalry can be done well if writers made the rival and player help each other get strong. My friend and I play yugioh and hope the other gets stronger, our decks are different yet equal in power and we'll help each other equal in strength. If writers and desighners can do something like that, that would make that rivalry easier for the players to get attached to. Let's say the brains and brawn duo were to be buddy rivals, the brains would be the smart and tricky fighter and the brawn would just be able to hit hard. The brawn would give strong weapons to the brains for fighting techniques.

Another interesting rival fight, with admittedly not much going on as far as story goes, comes in the form of the Zodiac Phantom Aqua secret boss fight in Kingdom Hearts 0.2. Both she and the player are Aqua (practically the exact same character), and she largely has a similar move set as you, but is flat-out stronger in basically every way, with most of her moves being impossible to block. The only way to beat her is to learn how to dodge and counter her attacks in the very few opportunities you’re given. You’re forced to play passively throughout the fight, resolving just to chip away at her health until you eventually win. It’s almost a war of attrition.

Vergil is... THE STORM THAT IS APPROACHING

"Who are you, that you do not know your history?" ~ Ulysses, Fallout: New Vegas DLC. One of my personal favourite "rival" characters, if mainly because you can defeat him either through skill in combat, or skill in understanding his story.