I just realised how weird it is that Norman helps Wally get a Pokémon when moving to another town but we are canonically moving from Johto to Hoenn in RSE and we don't get shit except as an accident
I've always thought that Norman knows that Professor Birch would have given his kid a pokemon at some point, but we just happen to stumble into getting one earlier than intended.
The crazy thing about Wally is, he's almost universally seen as a good rival in the community, but if he was introduced in a modern gen everyone would agree he was bad
Good point! But that's what's really weird to me - I had the perception that everyone liked Wally but when I went researching for this video, I found so many complaints! Might be a case of vocal minority but still, it was very surprising... and after actually reading what people had to say, I understood why. It's the whole "we don't see his development/he changes nothing in the story" things I mentioned in the video. I still like him regardless but yeah, it'd be nice to see gamefreak actually use him in the plot.
@@prezmer Yeah, I wouldn't necessarily say I dislike him, ORAS were my first games, and in more recent years there has been more vocal dissent about his character, probably in retaliation for people hating on modern rivals, but admittedly even compared to rivals like Bede and Marnie, who people hate on for their irrelevance when they have infinitely more story presence and influence in the story than Wally, I feel like hate for Wally isn't as great as them. At the very least, from what I've gathered, Wally hate is very reactionary, rather than just being something generally accepted as a consequence of his poor character, though this is only my dissertation.
@@thekirbyguy4576 Definitely not just your dissertation, I think it makes a lot of sense. It's what I noticed as well, people complaining about his circumstances/usage in the story rather than his actual character. I really appreciated reading your input on this subject, thank you!
That's actually sorta what was done in the original gen 3 games! His team increased by 3 levels every rematch... but it capped at 12. It'd be nice to see his team go up further but oh well, at least in ORAS we got to see him go up to level 81!
This is a really thorough video! Thank you for the detailed analysis; I played through the original Gen 3 games as a kid and ORAS in my senior year of high school. I wasn’t aware of Wally’s Match Call dialogue in Emerald; I only discovered the instance where he’s out of service near the end of the game. I think it’s cool that you can still interact with him during the main story and that he doesn’t just disappear for 90% of the game like he does in the original RS! 21:51 This is inaccurate, though. Wally only challenges you at the beginning of Victory Road in Emerald. In RS, he challenges you at the very end, just like in ORAS. Emerald only changed it because it was kind of obligated to switch things up in as many ways as it could to throw off people who already played RS.
Yeah, I wasn't aware of the match call stuff either until I replayed for this video, and tried exploring everything I could. It really is a shame that they removed the call feature in ORAS. And thank you for the compliment on the thoroughness of the video! It's just a shame that it clearly wasn't AS thorough as possible, else I wouldn't have missed the fact he's at the end of the VR in Ruby/Sapphire ): It's funny because I actually really tried to cover my bases by looking up information on the emerald changes, but the top links all just... don't mention wally's fight changed places, so I just continued blissfully unaware of that fact hahah Not that it changes much in terms of the arguments I used but it'd have been nice to talk about it - both for the sake of having a video complete with information and to analyze the fact that there is a small but crucial difference between ORAS and RS. In the originals - at least according to a youtube video I found of the fight -, he catches up to you at the end of victory road. In the remakes, he's already waiting for you at the end. I'd have to think about what this means and look into whether evidence makes it possible or not, but off the top of my head, it could be that in the originals, right at the finish line, you actually beat him to the end. ORAS leaves no doubt about that though, making it clear he got to the end before you. Anyway, thank you for your comment, and if I may add, props to your name/pfp, absolutely love danganronpa!
Well, especially in a video game, it's more than fine if a major character doesn't really add to the main plot. Even in television shows, it's not that uncommon for an episode to have a "B-Plot" that little to no bearing on the main plot. The way I see it, even Red and Blue had this with your rival, he's not really involved with the subplot dealing with Team Rocket, the rivalry and the Rocket subplot kinda twist together at Sliph Co but then separate again immediately after. With RSE/ORAS, Wally's rivalry with you is very much a "B-Plot" that also works pretty well since I'm under the impression that much like the rest of Hoenn and the larger world, Wally is fully clued into what the evil teams were up to. And in the real world, you can have serious, life altering world events happen at the same time as smaller mundane things. I think having unrelated plotlines featuring major characters is a positive thing since it makes them seem more life-like and more understandable. Obviously there's a limit and you have to factor in focus and not have whole B-Plots that even change the game itself, but I think having a major character be a non-factor in what is considered the main conflict is fine.
That's a good point about Red/Blue, actually. And also about B-plots! But even with Red/Blue, at least there was that minimal involvement. I think the complaint people have is mostly that you can pretty much remove Wally and not really have to adapt anything in the story. But personally, I agree with you, I'm not bothered by how they presented Wally because I liked his character. Would I have loved to see him go after rayquaza like in the manga, and actively train to fight his illness? Sure, but that's not the version we got so no point in lingering on it. What we did get gave us one of the coolest victory road fights ever and a unique (at the time anyway) character, so I'll take it! Thanks for your comment!
in RSE t's possible for the Ralts wally encounters to be a shiny. it's also possible, with the right stats, damage rolls and crits for Norman's zigzagoon to KO the Ralts. because of this it's technically possible for him to fail a shiny ralts on his first encounter. One day I'm going to figure out how to RNG manipulate the game into making this happen because the little weiner deserves it for jumping me at the end of victory road when I was a child giving me trust issues.
LMFAO I never imagined the most hateful comment towards a pokémon character I've ever gotten would be directed towards Wally of all people 💀💀💀 I'm invested now, let me know if you or anyone ever figures this out
@@prezmer my first game was Ruby where he jumps you at the end of victory road and I think it scarred me a bit. but yeah, Ive hated that kid for like 20 years and revenge is a dish best served cold >:)
Dude as cliche as it is to say you really deserve more subs. This video is very well put together and your argument is well thought out and evenhanded to the strengths and weaknesses of both Emerald and ORAS. Very well done!
great video, you pointed out a lot of stuff i hadn't noticed even though i played those games more than enough lol i disagree with the sentiment that seeing wally more would make him work better in the story or a better rival tho. pokemon always shows characters whose journeys aren't the tradicional trainer journey. misty and brock in the anime, may/brandon, the kalos gang, that's always a thing. wally's journey isn't of a steady progression, that's ours (and probably why we win in the end). his is a story of meteoric ascension. a mid-level encounter with him would go against his theme. he's supposed to be ahead of us, hyperfocused on his goals. that's why we're involved with the world and he's not. i love him for that.
Glad this video could help you learn something new about the games! It's always a joy when that happens with a title you like. As for your comment, I really hadn't considered the whole meteoric ascension angle, and it makes sense. But it's very interesting how this very idea turns a lot of people off on the character, who NEED to see the development to feel connected. Personally though, I still really like Wally as a character, so it's definitely not a necessity for me. Thank you so much for this insightful comment!
Wally is a very special character to me, because I felt a connection like no other when I first faced him at Victory Road (long essay incoming, I'll leave a TL;DR, I didn't expect to write for this long, oops) My most treasured Pokemon memory is when I was around 10 years old finishing Omega Ruby, my second Pokemon game ever after X. I was a very shy kid, so when I first saw Wally I instantly related to him, and liked seeing him when he popped up. However, like almost everyone playing Hoenn, I forgot about him for most of the game, he didn't show up enough and I had my own story to make, especially because I took a lot of detours and took my sweet time progressing But then, I got to the end of Victory Road, thinking about finally getting to fight the League... but then he showed up... The passionate way of speaking, him challenging me to a full fight just before the League, the sheer fact of him being even further than I was, his upright stance instead of the nervous one he had at Mauville, the serious look he gave his first Pokemon before throwing his Pokeball, the scenery, the flying roses, and of course, the music, such a display of confidence, epicness, but most of all, growth. The cherry on top was Gallade, the tiny weak Ralts I didn't think much about is now a bladed psychic fighter, with the power of Mega Evolution, a power that I believed only I had (I didn't think much of Maxie's Mega Camerupt), showing his Mega Evolution animation, covering himself with his bright white cape before proudly showing himself, with Gallade's cry enhanced with the Mega effect (Gallade's cry is one of my favorites ever)... I was shocked, and Wally's words of hope after losing only reinforced that idea that Wally is now way more than a tiny kid I helped, he is my equal, but what really got me was that, looking inside, I felt he was my superior, as I was still this shy kid that could barely stand up for himself, while he is here travelling around the world, getting stronger, getting more courageus, and promising me that this won't stop him. He gave me a Dawn Stone as a gift of gratitude, and I instantly knew what I had to do. And so I continued, beat the game and all of that, maybe even the Delta Episode, I don't know what came first, but at one point I felt compelled to do one thing: I went to the same route Wally got his partner, and I caught my own Ralts, I trained it, I evolved it with the very stone Wally gave me, fulfilling my unspoken promise, and raised that new Gallade into Lvl. 100 Wally stayed in my mind as someone I wanted to be, representing what I was and what I could become, and Gallade, coming from the shy and weak Ralts that barely shows his eyes, turning into the noble warrior capable of protecting others, Gallade (in fact, something that I believe is a coincidence, but still means a lot to me, is that Gallade's ability was Steadfast, becoming faster after every flinch, as a way to show that every fall will only make him stronger, and then in Mega, he gets Inner Focus, as a way of finally stating that nothing will make him flinch ever again) Gallade has been my favorite Pokemon ever since, and Wally has been one of my favorite characters ever solely based on what his story made me feel back in the day, and I still feel the same way TL;DR: I liked Wally as I was a shy kid when I played ORAS, but when I fought him at the end, I found myself inferior to him, as he grew so much while I stayed the same. This compelled me to catch and train a Ralts to Lvl. 100, evolving it into Gallade with Wally's Dawn Stone, and Gallade has been my favorite Pokemn ever since As I said, sorry for the long essay, but stuff like this really comes from the heart for me, and I personally wouldn't have it any other way. This video was amazing, I pretty much agree with all of it, and now that I'm here, I'll leave my take on Wally, which is: Wally is a good to great character, but a subpar to bad rival, and that's because of what you said, he isn't our rival, WE are HIS rival, and his story is good but disconnected from what a rival must mean to the player
I COMPLETELY missed that about Gallade's ability change, and the fact that it absolutely mirrors Wally's own character development!!!! I don't think it was a coincidence to be honest. Down to the weird dissonance between his victory road soundtrack and background that I mentioned in the video, Gamefreak was shown to masterfully craft the character's journey to fulfill their vision. So given the context, I fully believe they'd make the link with Gallade's abilities on purpose. But regardless of whether or not it was intentional, this is still a REALLY cool fact that absolutely fits Wally and Gallade, so thank you for that! And in fact, thank you for the compliment to the video and for leaving such a heartfelt and personal comment. This is the sorta stuff that makes the dozens of hours I put into each of these videos worth it, so please, never apologize for leaving a comment about how much something affects you. I'm really glad you chose to share all of this here. I'm glad Wally means so much to you, and I hope you carried your Gallade with you throughout the many games that came since. Again, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and feelings!
I think Wally is a good character, but whether he's a good or bad rival depends on how you define that character role in the story. Like maybe Game freak needs to come up with "first partner" term for rivals cause he'd for sure fall under that. I think the take that HE considers YOU a rival, but the feeling isn't exactly mutual is a good one, and I think the distance between the two of you during the game really makes the relationship feel even more one-sided compared to Blue or Hau. Idk. Wally breaks the rule of "show don't tell" in the sense that we barely *see* his growth until the very end. Even though we're able to call him or hear about him on the radio, those were obscure features that the average player wasn't incentivized to explore in depth and was therefore likely to miss out on. But at the same time, Wally's disappearance and irrelevance to the Aqua/Magma plot is what makes him him, and especially in the originals this is done to highlight his independence - while you were out saving the world, he was studying the blade. I really think that the added cutscenes in ORAS with him in Petalburg and outside of Victory Road help bridge the gap between his original appearances and help the player remember him. While I would have liked an intermediate battle after the 5th gym I have a lot of respect for the decision to NOT include one since I feel like it also would have undermined the buildup to the final battle somewhat.
Sorry for the scare! But my conclusion is quite positive - great character, awesome character arc, incredible symbolism in his victory road oras fight, etc. Just wasn't really well utilized within the actual context of the game (isn't part of the main story, you're his rival rather than him being your rival given that he's gone for most of the game and you never see him as a threat until he is, etc)
Wally is great enough as he is, I love him in a vacuum and personally feel like he's serviceable enough for what he does in ORAS. However... He's the blueprint Kieran was made from. I cannot overstate how much I adore the "special rival" role they both fill, they stand out _so_ much against all the Blues or Haus pokemon has. (Also, both of them half make me want to lose, or at least give them a hug after winning against my own will.) I still have to form my own proper _Thoughts™_ on Kieran from DLC part 2 and would die for a video on him too!
Honestly, Kieran is a tough nut to crack, and definitely one of the more interesting rivals we've had in the games. You're right that he has a lot of similarities to Wally, I hadn't even noticed that. I've been toying with the idea of making a video analyzing Kieran too, but I need to buy Violet + DLCs (I have scarlet and I already finished the story there, and am not about to restart for this), so if I end up doing it, it'll take a while - but hoping to get it done this year still. And, yeah, I wanted to lose to Wally too the first time I got to his victory road fight. Kieran didn't hit me QUITE as hard but I did feel AWFUL bringing ogerpon to his indigo disk fight lmfao I LOVE OGERPON AND HAD NO IDEA KIERAN WOULD REACT BADLY😭 Anyway, thank you for the comment!!!
That Victory Road battle in ORAS is pretty cool, but I always get caught up in weird symbolism with it. The flowers there look like red spider lilies to me, flowers associated with death in Japan. Unless I'm missing a crucial facette about the flower language of that breed, this feels like it confuses whatever arc he's supposed to have. Did he conquer his illness and it's supposed to be a triumphant tune and battle? Did he pull through inspite of his illness but is still doomed? Heck if I know. The set piece is cool, but I can't think about it more than that without getting a headache. Other than that, I think he's still undercooked in ORAS. They fleshed out the presentation for his climax and beefed up the dialogue, but I think a big problem is that we interact with Pokemon characters mainly through battles. Blue ambushing you and always having quite rare pokemon to drive home your pokedex rivalry. Silver having multiple fights that could be considered difficulty spikes but also are unique because he doesn't heal his pokemon like many other major trainers. Hop actually abandoning his starter Wooloo for a bit in pursuit of finally getting powerful. All of these rely on battles for characterization. Wally's arc barely has to do with pokemon, so his team can't tell you much about his arc and even if it *could*, there are no battles to symbolize his gradual growth. You only spur him on twice (once by helping him catching a pokemon, once by lighting a fire in him by beating him) and then the next time you actually battle him, he's a badass. The contrast is harsh. It might seem reductive to just throw out all the additional dialogue and scenes, but the reality is that he is barely present for the main way you interact with character arcs in these games. Had Wally occupied at least some of the Brendan/May fights, that would have helped him tremendously in my opinion. May/Brendan aren't even on the badge journey. They occasionally talk about getting a badge, but mostly are out there to collect pokedex data - and even just leave for home midway through, but they feel more present than Wally because of their battles despite this unfocused and cut short journey of theirs.
Oh god I never even thought of this symbolism you're talking about! I think he did pull through because we saw him again in gen 7. Not that he was that much older but still, travelling to alola has got to be a huge ordeal that old, sickly wally wouldn't really manage (at least if his parents are to be believed). So I'm choosing to believe the flowers were just a symbolic defeat of death? Like, he's doing SO well he's even fighting on top of them and probs destroying multiple in the process. Who knows, you're right this gives me a headache lmao. As for the battles, someone in the comments said that this lack of battles is on purpose, to show a meteoric rise to glory. Plus, it might be the thing I mentioned in the video, where it's meant to represent that his journey is his, and his only. It's a personal fight against his illness and people's preconceptions of Wally, hence why we don't get involved. That all being said, I agree, I'd like to see more of him, even if not with battles proper. As it stands you can remove Wally from the plot without affecting anything important you do in the game, which is a bummer. Who knows, maybe some day they'll bring Wally back as a recurring character, kinda like Looker. Doubtful but eh, a guy can dream. Thank you for sharing your wonderful thoughts, loved reading especially about the symbolism!
@@prezmer I overall like the idea of "it's his story". The issue with stuff like that is that he's still treated as a major character, so the expectation of seeing his arc is there and when it plays out offscreen, it feels incomplete. Were he "just" an NPC like in, say, a Trails game or even like Luigi in Paper Mario TTYD - side characters you can check up on to hear their stuff but don't need to, I think this idea would work so much better. For the symbolism stuff, it may well be I'm looking to deep into it. What I *can* say for certain though, is that going at interpretation from that angle is a lot of fun and sometimes actually helps understand things better.
I think some other games circumvent the problem of not seeing Wally’s development because we play as someone else by having multiple POVs. We’ve never seen POV changes in Pokémon games afaik, but that’d help in cases when GF creates parallel storylines that don’t get involved in the main quest Edit: oops typed this before I got to the end where dual protagonists are mentioned mb
No need for the mb, I love it when people comment as they watch and it lines up with my own thoughts! Glad you agree that multiple POV's would be a way to fix this issue, and it would really be something new for pokémon, which the franchise could use atm. Doubt it'll happen but hey, we can dream. Thanks for watching and commenting!
In the original Ruby & Sapphire, Wally is at the very end of Victory Road. Emerald put him at the beginning for some reason, though he does come from the interior.
IMO, Wally could have replaced may/brendon in some story scenes but honestly I choose to believe he wasn’t in the main story because it wasn’t his, it was ours. He showed up some but he had his own story we didn’t get to see.
I think Wally would benefit from having a battle with you after you get Norman's badge. That way he'd have a battle after Badge 2, Badge 5, and Badge 8. It'd be pretty evenly spaced and make him less prone to disappear from your mind.
I counted 30 steps. Also, Wally in ORAS is at the end of VR because it's the same in RS but not in Emerald. In Emerald he's at the entrance because he didn't had the necessary HMs to get across VR. Which is sad. The Adventures manga version of Wally is the best. Too bad Emerald took over as the Dex Holder *sigh*
After your comment I went back and counted the steps on the video myself, got 28 💀3 different people counted and got different results, either it's hard to count at the walking speed in game or we all suck at counting. I'm choosing to believe the former! As for the reason why Wally is at the end of VR in ORAS, I actually had no idea until you and another commenter pointed it out - thanks! And you want to know the really sad bit? Despite choosing emerald for this analysis due to it being the "definitive version" of gen 3, I still looked up the changes emerald made just to make sure Wally didn't change, and the top two sites when you type "emerald changes" in google just... don't mention Wally's fight. Really goes to show how even the fanbase that's meant to catalogue this stuff forgot about him (and while the actual reason he's at the end of VR in ORAS is "just" missing info in my video rather than actually changing or invalidating an argument, I'm still peeved it's not there because damn it I tried to make sure I didn't miss any wally changes 🥲). Also, agreed on adventures Wally being the best. I just wished he was in the anime too but oh well.
Pokemon certainly did a lot better with Wally in ORAS though having multiple characters progress being constantly tracked might be a bit much. I don't think Pokemon wanted to keep as close track of your rivals as they did in Black/White
Yeah, now that you mention it, the franchise definitely has a bit of an issue keeping track of multiple rivals. This culminated in X/Y which had the group of friends - so, like, 4 rivals? And unsurpringly, not many people are fans of shauna, tierno and trevor.
I adore Wally and was really inspired by him as a kid back in the RSE days but yeah he's way too underutilised. More battles in ORAS postgame not locked behind the Battle Whatever (I always forget the name XD) would've been really appreciated, and seeing Wally attempt the E4 or something would've been fun. As for connecting him with the main plot... Honestly I think leaving him out of the main story was valid in ORAS (less so in the original RSE) but they REALLY should have included him more in the Delta Episode. Like imagine if Wally sided with/was helping Zianna when she's running around doing her sketchy stuff? It would've been really eyebrow raising and made the player go 'Wait, WHAT is going on? Why is Wally helping her???' especially if they took advantage of Wally being a character the player trusts/has friendly feelings towards and made Zianna even more sketch than she already was~ But yeah. Wally's less a rival and more a friend. Kinda wish he got to be a little more of both but still one of my fav 'rivals' in the series
Ohh, that would've been an interesting twist for the delta episode! His course of action - staying home to protect his parents - makes sense for the character, but it does further the issue of Wally just not participating in anything relevant. Some day they'll re-re-make gen 3 and we might just get our wish granted then... As for Wally being one of your favorite 'rivals', same here! You got great taste!
@@prezmer We can only hope. Though honestly I'd just be happy to see Wally get any expanded role, like IDK an older Wally helping out in some other region's post game or a DLC event like Cynthia with the Shinjo Ruins or something. Him showing up in a non randomised event (eyes Alola Pokemon League challenges) to try kicking our asses and drop odd little words of wisdom would be great! XD And thank you! Though er, given my other favs are Silver, Hau, Gladeon and Nemona your milage may vary on that? *is simply very fond of the crazy determined fighters and/or soft bois is all* XD
Thanks Tyler! It wasn't the best (hence why it took me forever to reply to yours and a bunch of other comments), but today is going by a lot better. Hope your day is going good as well!
the reason wally is at the end and not at the begining of victory road is because on Ruby and Sapphire he is the last encounter, an ambush like the typical rival (Green/Blue or Silver) do now... I think it's fine to have him on his own journey, buttt it's kinda jarring he being blissfully unaware of the near end of the world treats that were groudon and/or kyogre him not being present on any of the magma/aqua encounters is what makes sense (to me) as to why he had time to catch up and surpass the player (collecting the badges)
Yeah... I completely missed the fact he was at the end in the original RS because I went for the "definitive" version in emerald. I did try to cover all my bases by googling the changes made in emerald compared to RS but the top results I checked don't mention wally at all 💀It doesn't change much at the end of the day but still, there's some interesting points to explore there, like why emerald put him in the beginning, and the fact that ORAS is STILL different in that instead of an ambush, he's waiting for you at the end. Oh well ): And yeah, it absolutely makes sense that he managed to surpass us BECAUSE he wasn't dealing with the world ending threats. It makes a lot of sense, thanks for that perspective!
@@prezmer oh also I want to add something! when you talked about how his theme made no sense because it had huge juxtaposition between the bad ass song and the calm looking field of flowers I thought you were going to say "oh it's verdanturf town song... but remixed°
i'm a writer and we have a concept of "kill your darlings" - sometimes the parts of the story you're very fond of don't actually serve it, and they need to change or go. i suspect wally was some writer's darling, and they forgot to make him weave through the story in a way that made his presence feel significant enough to make that victory road battle worth it, and couldn't bring themself to get rid of him
I was HOPING for a comment from a writer. Your explanation makes a LOT of sense, thank you! It's just really weird how he's the only "main" character you can remove from the game entirely and not have it affect the plot at all.
I love Wally, and honestly didn't realize we saw so little of him throughout our journey because he is such a fleshed out character. This is how a friendly rival should be written- the way the future gens made the rivals- I just feel like they have no substance.
Honestly didn't realize he barely showed up in the games either until I started playing them for this video. All I remembered was that I really liked him and that ORAS gave him some great changes, so yeah, his screen time shocked me. It also made editing this video a lot harder than it should because either I used unrelated footage or repeated his few appearances 💀Agreed on some of the later rivals too. Rivals in the pokémon franchise in general are all over the place...
The rival in Black and White 2 was interesting in that he had an actual character arc related to the plot and themes of the game. I think the rival is a character that should be used to forward the plot, convey the themes of the game, or both. The "jerk rivals" have character arcs.
I actually can't even remember who BW2 rival was 💀I really need to replay those games! But I agree, rivals do need to be involved somehow... that's why I don't really see Wally as our rival, but rather, we're his rival, if that makes sense.
You know, what's funny is that I really just can't stand the pokemon manga, because while it fixes a lot of characters, it also has a weird plot that in my opinion, most often than not ruins the game's plot. Or at least just does things that isn't "pokemon"
No! When researching, I found quite a few comments saying that it's just a guitar riff, that it loops super fast, gets annoying, etc. I love it, but yeah, some fans weren't happy! But music is very personal so it makes sense.
I mean wally is a bad rival he's way to weak and a pushover but he at least tries and is a better rival unlike some of the other rivals we've been getting like nemona or hop
I believe its 27 steps
I knew someone was bound to do it but I didn't expect it to be the very first commenter, you absolute legend
I do love how his conditions improved so much that he went to Alola in Sun and moon, participating in the battle tree (or whatever it was called)
True, it was a nice surprise to see him in gen 7!
I see him as more of a Protégé than a rival and when he finally catches up to you towards the end.
That's an interesting perspective actually! We did, after all, teach him a lot and help him catch his first pokémon!
I just realised how weird it is that Norman helps Wally get a Pokémon when moving to another town but we are canonically moving from Johto to Hoenn in RSE and we don't get shit except as an accident
lmfao hadn't noticed that either but you're right! How about you throw your own kid a bone too Norman damn
I've always thought that Norman knows that Professor Birch would have given his kid a pokemon at some point, but we just happen to stumble into getting one earlier than intended.
The crazy thing about Wally is, he's almost universally seen as a good rival in the community, but if he was introduced in a modern gen everyone would agree he was bad
Good point! But that's what's really weird to me - I had the perception that everyone liked Wally but when I went researching for this video, I found so many complaints! Might be a case of vocal minority but still, it was very surprising... and after actually reading what people had to say, I understood why. It's the whole "we don't see his development/he changes nothing in the story" things I mentioned in the video. I still like him regardless but yeah, it'd be nice to see gamefreak actually use him in the plot.
@@prezmer Yeah, I wouldn't necessarily say I dislike him, ORAS were my first games, and in more recent years there has been more vocal dissent about his character, probably in retaliation for people hating on modern rivals, but admittedly even compared to rivals like Bede and Marnie, who people hate on for their irrelevance when they have infinitely more story presence and influence in the story than Wally, I feel like hate for Wally isn't as great as them. At the very least, from what I've gathered, Wally hate is very reactionary, rather than just being something generally accepted as a consequence of his poor character, though this is only my dissertation.
@@thekirbyguy4576 Definitely not just your dissertation, I think it makes a lot of sense. It's what I noticed as well, people complaining about his circumstances/usage in the story rather than his actual character. I really appreciated reading your input on this subject, thank you!
Imagine if each Victory Road rematch his team’s level increased by one
That's actually sorta what was done in the original gen 3 games! His team increased by 3 levels every rematch... but it capped at 12. It'd be nice to see his team go up further but oh well, at least in ORAS we got to see him go up to level 81!
This is a really thorough video! Thank you for the detailed analysis; I played through the original Gen 3 games as a kid and ORAS in my senior year of high school.
I wasn’t aware of Wally’s Match Call dialogue in Emerald; I only discovered the instance where he’s out of service near the end of the game. I think it’s cool that you can still interact with him during the main story and that he doesn’t just disappear for 90% of the game like he does in the original RS!
21:51 This is inaccurate, though. Wally only challenges you at the beginning of Victory Road in Emerald. In RS, he challenges you at the very end, just like in ORAS. Emerald only changed it because it was kind of obligated to switch things up in as many ways as it could to throw off people who already played RS.
Yeah, I wasn't aware of the match call stuff either until I replayed for this video, and tried exploring everything I could. It really is a shame that they removed the call feature in ORAS.
And thank you for the compliment on the thoroughness of the video! It's just a shame that it clearly wasn't AS thorough as possible, else I wouldn't have missed the fact he's at the end of the VR in Ruby/Sapphire ): It's funny because I actually really tried to cover my bases by looking up information on the emerald changes, but the top links all just... don't mention wally's fight changed places, so I just continued blissfully unaware of that fact hahah Not that it changes much in terms of the arguments I used but it'd have been nice to talk about it - both for the sake of having a video complete with information and to analyze the fact that there is a small but crucial difference between ORAS and RS. In the originals - at least according to a youtube video I found of the fight -, he catches up to you at the end of victory road. In the remakes, he's already waiting for you at the end. I'd have to think about what this means and look into whether evidence makes it possible or not, but off the top of my head, it could be that in the originals, right at the finish line, you actually beat him to the end. ORAS leaves no doubt about that though, making it clear he got to the end before you.
Anyway, thank you for your comment, and if I may add, props to your name/pfp, absolutely love danganronpa!
Wally's was a rival I actually cared about and wanted to see improve
Same!
Thank you for still posting, i care so much about your success and I dont want you to give up on UA-cam
Thanks for the support, fox
Well, especially in a video game, it's more than fine if a major character doesn't really add to the main plot. Even in television shows, it's not that uncommon for an episode to have a "B-Plot" that little to no bearing on the main plot. The way I see it, even Red and Blue had this with your rival, he's not really involved with the subplot dealing with Team Rocket, the rivalry and the Rocket subplot kinda twist together at Sliph Co but then separate again immediately after.
With RSE/ORAS, Wally's rivalry with you is very much a "B-Plot" that also works pretty well since I'm under the impression that much like the rest of Hoenn and the larger world, Wally is fully clued into what the evil teams were up to. And in the real world, you can have serious, life altering world events happen at the same time as smaller mundane things. I think having unrelated plotlines featuring major characters is a positive thing since it makes them seem more life-like and more understandable. Obviously there's a limit and you have to factor in focus and not have whole B-Plots that even change the game itself, but I think having a major character be a non-factor in what is considered the main conflict is fine.
That's a good point about Red/Blue, actually. And also about B-plots! But even with Red/Blue, at least there was that minimal involvement. I think the complaint people have is mostly that you can pretty much remove Wally and not really have to adapt anything in the story. But personally, I agree with you, I'm not bothered by how they presented Wally because I liked his character. Would I have loved to see him go after rayquaza like in the manga, and actively train to fight his illness? Sure, but that's not the version we got so no point in lingering on it. What we did get gave us one of the coolest victory road fights ever and a unique (at the time anyway) character, so I'll take it! Thanks for your comment!
in RSE t's possible for the Ralts wally encounters to be a shiny. it's also possible, with the right stats, damage rolls and crits for Norman's zigzagoon to KO the Ralts. because of this it's technically possible for him to fail a shiny ralts on his first encounter. One day I'm going to figure out how to RNG manipulate the game into making this happen because the little weiner deserves it for jumping me at the end of victory road when I was a child giving me trust issues.
LMFAO I never imagined the most hateful comment towards a pokémon character I've ever gotten would be directed towards Wally of all people 💀💀💀 I'm invested now, let me know if you or anyone ever figures this out
@@prezmer my first game was Ruby where he jumps you at the end of victory road and I think it scarred me a bit. but yeah, Ive hated that kid for like 20 years and revenge is a dish best served cold >:)
lmaooo good luck with ur rng dreams
Dude as cliche as it is to say you really deserve more subs. This video is very well put together and your argument is well thought out and evenhanded to the strengths and weaknesses of both Emerald and ORAS. Very well done!
Aahhh this made my day! Thank you so much!
great video, you pointed out a lot of stuff i hadn't noticed even though i played those games more than enough lol
i disagree with the sentiment that seeing wally more would make him work better in the story or a better rival tho. pokemon always shows characters whose journeys aren't the tradicional trainer journey. misty and brock in the anime, may/brandon, the kalos gang, that's always a thing.
wally's journey isn't of a steady progression, that's ours (and probably why we win in the end). his is a story of meteoric ascension. a mid-level encounter with him would go against his theme. he's supposed to be ahead of us, hyperfocused on his goals. that's why we're involved with the world and he's not. i love him for that.
Glad this video could help you learn something new about the games! It's always a joy when that happens with a title you like.
As for your comment, I really hadn't considered the whole meteoric ascension angle, and it makes sense. But it's very interesting how this very idea turns a lot of people off on the character, who NEED to see the development to feel connected. Personally though, I still really like Wally as a character, so it's definitely not a necessity for me. Thank you so much for this insightful comment!
Wally is a very special character to me, because I felt a connection like no other when I first faced him at Victory Road (long essay incoming, I'll leave a TL;DR, I didn't expect to write for this long, oops)
My most treasured Pokemon memory is when I was around 10 years old finishing Omega Ruby, my second Pokemon game ever after X. I was a very shy kid, so when I first saw Wally I instantly related to him, and liked seeing him when he popped up. However, like almost everyone playing Hoenn, I forgot about him for most of the game, he didn't show up enough and I had my own story to make, especially because I took a lot of detours and took my sweet time progressing
But then, I got to the end of Victory Road, thinking about finally getting to fight the League... but then he showed up...
The passionate way of speaking, him challenging me to a full fight just before the League, the sheer fact of him being even further than I was, his upright stance instead of the nervous one he had at Mauville, the serious look he gave his first Pokemon before throwing his Pokeball, the scenery, the flying roses, and of course, the music, such a display of confidence, epicness, but most of all, growth. The cherry on top was Gallade, the tiny weak Ralts I didn't think much about is now a bladed psychic fighter, with the power of Mega Evolution, a power that I believed only I had (I didn't think much of Maxie's Mega Camerupt), showing his Mega Evolution animation, covering himself with his bright white cape before proudly showing himself, with Gallade's cry enhanced with the Mega effect (Gallade's cry is one of my favorites ever)...
I was shocked, and Wally's words of hope after losing only reinforced that idea that Wally is now way more than a tiny kid I helped, he is my equal, but what really got me was that, looking inside, I felt he was my superior, as I was still this shy kid that could barely stand up for himself, while he is here travelling around the world, getting stronger, getting more courageus, and promising me that this won't stop him. He gave me a Dawn Stone as a gift of gratitude, and I instantly knew what I had to do. And so I continued, beat the game and all of that, maybe even the Delta Episode, I don't know what came first, but at one point I felt compelled to do one thing: I went to the same route Wally got his partner, and I caught my own Ralts, I trained it, I evolved it with the very stone Wally gave me, fulfilling my unspoken promise, and raised that new Gallade into Lvl. 100
Wally stayed in my mind as someone I wanted to be, representing what I was and what I could become, and Gallade, coming from the shy and weak Ralts that barely shows his eyes, turning into the noble warrior capable of protecting others, Gallade (in fact, something that I believe is a coincidence, but still means a lot to me, is that Gallade's ability was Steadfast, becoming faster after every flinch, as a way to show that every fall will only make him stronger, and then in Mega, he gets Inner Focus, as a way of finally stating that nothing will make him flinch ever again)
Gallade has been my favorite Pokemon ever since, and Wally has been one of my favorite characters ever solely based on what his story made me feel back in the day, and I still feel the same way
TL;DR: I liked Wally as I was a shy kid when I played ORAS, but when I fought him at the end, I found myself inferior to him, as he grew so much while I stayed the same. This compelled me to catch and train a Ralts to Lvl. 100, evolving it into Gallade with Wally's Dawn Stone, and Gallade has been my favorite Pokemn ever since
As I said, sorry for the long essay, but stuff like this really comes from the heart for me, and I personally wouldn't have it any other way. This video was amazing, I pretty much agree with all of it, and now that I'm here, I'll leave my take on Wally, which is: Wally is a good to great character, but a subpar to bad rival, and that's because of what you said, he isn't our rival, WE are HIS rival, and his story is good but disconnected from what a rival must mean to the player
I COMPLETELY missed that about Gallade's ability change, and the fact that it absolutely mirrors Wally's own character development!!!! I don't think it was a coincidence to be honest. Down to the weird dissonance between his victory road soundtrack and background that I mentioned in the video, Gamefreak was shown to masterfully craft the character's journey to fulfill their vision. So given the context, I fully believe they'd make the link with Gallade's abilities on purpose. But regardless of whether or not it was intentional, this is still a REALLY cool fact that absolutely fits Wally and Gallade, so thank you for that!
And in fact, thank you for the compliment to the video and for leaving such a heartfelt and personal comment. This is the sorta stuff that makes the dozens of hours I put into each of these videos worth it, so please, never apologize for leaving a comment about how much something affects you. I'm really glad you chose to share all of this here. I'm glad Wally means so much to you, and I hope you carried your Gallade with you throughout the many games that came since. Again, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and feelings!
Second favorite rival, loved the setting in his second Oras fight
Is your favorite rival Kieran? Just guessing for no reason, definitely not because of your name........
@@prezmer Yes!
I think Wally is a good character, but whether he's a good or bad rival depends on how you define that character role in the story. Like maybe Game freak needs to come up with "first partner" term for rivals cause he'd for sure fall under that. I think the take that HE considers YOU a rival, but the feeling isn't exactly mutual is a good one, and I think the distance between the two of you during the game really makes the relationship feel even more one-sided compared to Blue or Hau.
Idk. Wally breaks the rule of "show don't tell" in the sense that we barely *see* his growth until the very end. Even though we're able to call him or hear about him on the radio, those were obscure features that the average player wasn't incentivized to explore in depth and was therefore likely to miss out on. But at the same time, Wally's disappearance and irrelevance to the Aqua/Magma plot is what makes him him, and especially in the originals this is done to highlight his independence - while you were out saving the world, he was studying the blade. I really think that the added cutscenes in ORAS with him in Petalburg and outside of Victory Road help bridge the gap between his original appearances and help the player remember him. While I would have liked an intermediate battle after the 5th gym I have a lot of respect for the decision to NOT include one since I feel like it also would have undermined the buildup to the final battle somewhat.
That title scares me, Wally is my favorite pokemon character of all time.
Sorry for the scare! But my conclusion is quite positive - great character, awesome character arc, incredible symbolism in his victory road oras fight, etc. Just wasn't really well utilized within the actual context of the game (isn't part of the main story, you're his rival rather than him being your rival given that he's gone for most of the game and you never see him as a threat until he is, etc)
Wally is great enough as he is, I love him in a vacuum and personally feel like he's serviceable enough for what he does in ORAS. However...
He's the blueprint Kieran was made from. I cannot overstate how much I adore the "special rival" role they both fill, they stand out _so_ much against all the Blues or Haus pokemon has. (Also, both of them half make me want to lose, or at least give them a hug after winning against my own will.) I still have to form my own proper _Thoughts™_ on Kieran from DLC part 2 and would die for a video on him too!
Honestly, Kieran is a tough nut to crack, and definitely one of the more interesting rivals we've had in the games. You're right that he has a lot of similarities to Wally, I hadn't even noticed that. I've been toying with the idea of making a video analyzing Kieran too, but I need to buy Violet + DLCs (I have scarlet and I already finished the story there, and am not about to restart for this), so if I end up doing it, it'll take a while - but hoping to get it done this year still. And, yeah, I wanted to lose to Wally too the first time I got to his victory road fight. Kieran didn't hit me QUITE as hard but I did feel AWFUL bringing ogerpon to his indigo disk fight lmfao I LOVE OGERPON AND HAD NO IDEA KIERAN WOULD REACT BADLY😭 Anyway, thank you for the comment!!!
That Victory Road battle in ORAS is pretty cool, but I always get caught up in weird symbolism with it. The flowers there look like red spider lilies to me, flowers associated with death in Japan. Unless I'm missing a crucial facette about the flower language of that breed, this feels like it confuses whatever arc he's supposed to have. Did he conquer his illness and it's supposed to be a triumphant tune and battle? Did he pull through inspite of his illness but is still doomed? Heck if I know. The set piece is cool, but I can't think about it more than that without getting a headache.
Other than that, I think he's still undercooked in ORAS. They fleshed out the presentation for his climax and beefed up the dialogue, but I think a big problem is that we interact with Pokemon characters mainly through battles. Blue ambushing you and always having quite rare pokemon to drive home your pokedex rivalry. Silver having multiple fights that could be considered difficulty spikes but also are unique because he doesn't heal his pokemon like many other major trainers. Hop actually abandoning his starter Wooloo for a bit in pursuit of finally getting powerful.
All of these rely on battles for characterization. Wally's arc barely has to do with pokemon, so his team can't tell you much about his arc and even if it *could*, there are no battles to symbolize his gradual growth. You only spur him on twice (once by helping him catching a pokemon, once by lighting a fire in him by beating him) and then the next time you actually battle him, he's a badass. The contrast is harsh. It might seem reductive to just throw out all the additional dialogue and scenes, but the reality is that he is barely present for the main way you interact with character arcs in these games.
Had Wally occupied at least some of the Brendan/May fights, that would have helped him tremendously in my opinion. May/Brendan aren't even on the badge journey. They occasionally talk about getting a badge, but mostly are out there to collect pokedex data - and even just leave for home midway through, but they feel more present than Wally because of their battles despite this unfocused and cut short journey of theirs.
Oh god I never even thought of this symbolism you're talking about! I think he did pull through because we saw him again in gen 7. Not that he was that much older but still, travelling to alola has got to be a huge ordeal that old, sickly wally wouldn't really manage (at least if his parents are to be believed). So I'm choosing to believe the flowers were just a symbolic defeat of death? Like, he's doing SO well he's even fighting on top of them and probs destroying multiple in the process. Who knows, you're right this gives me a headache lmao.
As for the battles, someone in the comments said that this lack of battles is on purpose, to show a meteoric rise to glory. Plus, it might be the thing I mentioned in the video, where it's meant to represent that his journey is his, and his only. It's a personal fight against his illness and people's preconceptions of Wally, hence why we don't get involved. That all being said, I agree, I'd like to see more of him, even if not with battles proper. As it stands you can remove Wally from the plot without affecting anything important you do in the game, which is a bummer. Who knows, maybe some day they'll bring Wally back as a recurring character, kinda like Looker. Doubtful but eh, a guy can dream. Thank you for sharing your wonderful thoughts, loved reading especially about the symbolism!
@@prezmer I overall like the idea of "it's his story". The issue with stuff like that is that he's still treated as a major character, so the expectation of seeing his arc is there and when it plays out offscreen, it feels incomplete. Were he "just" an NPC like in, say, a Trails game or even like Luigi in Paper Mario TTYD - side characters you can check up on to hear their stuff but don't need to, I think this idea would work so much better.
For the symbolism stuff, it may well be I'm looking to deep into it. What I *can* say for certain though, is that going at interpretation from that angle is a lot of fun and sometimes actually helps understand things better.
I think some other games circumvent the problem of not seeing Wally’s development because we play as someone else by having multiple POVs. We’ve never seen POV changes in Pokémon games afaik, but that’d help in cases when GF creates parallel storylines that don’t get involved in the main quest
Edit: oops typed this before I got to the end where dual protagonists are mentioned mb
No need for the mb, I love it when people comment as they watch and it lines up with my own thoughts! Glad you agree that multiple POV's would be a way to fix this issue, and it would really be something new for pokémon, which the franchise could use atm. Doubt it'll happen but hey, we can dream. Thanks for watching and commenting!
In the original Ruby & Sapphire, Wally is at the very end of Victory Road. Emerald put him at the beginning for some reason, though he does come from the interior.
IMO, Wally could have replaced may/brendon in some story scenes but honestly I choose to believe he wasn’t in the main story because it wasn’t his, it was ours. He showed up some but he had his own story we didn’t get to see.
Yeah, that makes sense. I do hope we get to see his story someday though.
Wally could have been written better. His ancestor, Beni (from Legends Arceus), was written much better.
Agreed, Beni was really well done!
I think Wally would benefit from having a battle with you after you get Norman's badge. That way he'd have a battle after Badge 2, Badge 5, and Badge 8. It'd be pretty evenly spaced and make him less prone to disappear from your mind.
I counted 30 steps. Also, Wally in ORAS is at the end of VR because it's the same in RS but not in Emerald.
In Emerald he's at the entrance because he didn't had the necessary HMs to get across VR. Which is sad.
The Adventures manga version of Wally is the best. Too bad Emerald took over as the Dex Holder *sigh*
After your comment I went back and counted the steps on the video myself, got 28 💀3 different people counted and got different results, either it's hard to count at the walking speed in game or we all suck at counting. I'm choosing to believe the former!
As for the reason why Wally is at the end of VR in ORAS, I actually had no idea until you and another commenter pointed it out - thanks! And you want to know the really sad bit? Despite choosing emerald for this analysis due to it being the "definitive version" of gen 3, I still looked up the changes emerald made just to make sure Wally didn't change, and the top two sites when you type "emerald changes" in google just... don't mention Wally's fight. Really goes to show how even the fanbase that's meant to catalogue this stuff forgot about him (and while the actual reason he's at the end of VR in ORAS is "just" missing info in my video rather than actually changing or invalidating an argument, I'm still peeved it's not there because damn it I tried to make sure I didn't miss any wally changes 🥲). Also, agreed on adventures Wally being the best. I just wished he was in the anime too but oh well.
@@prezmer The anime had FOUR (4) Walmart Wallys - Max, Drew, Sawyer and Rinto.
@@KuroBlitz Walmart wallys made me giggle, thanks for that
Pokemon certainly did a lot better with Wally in ORAS though having multiple characters progress being constantly tracked might be a bit much. I don't think Pokemon wanted to keep as close track of your rivals as they did in Black/White
Yeah, now that you mention it, the franchise definitely has a bit of an issue keeping track of multiple rivals. This culminated in X/Y which had the group of friends - so, like, 4 rivals? And unsurpringly, not many people are fans of shauna, tierno and trevor.
I kicked wallys gardevoir with with blaze kick. I call it diable jambe and my blaziken is called sanji
I always assumed Wally had TB
I adore Wally and was really inspired by him as a kid back in the RSE days but yeah he's way too underutilised. More battles in ORAS postgame not locked behind the Battle Whatever (I always forget the name XD) would've been really appreciated, and seeing Wally attempt the E4 or something would've been fun.
As for connecting him with the main plot... Honestly I think leaving him out of the main story was valid in ORAS (less so in the original RSE) but they REALLY should have included him more in the Delta Episode. Like imagine if Wally sided with/was helping Zianna when she's running around doing her sketchy stuff? It would've been really eyebrow raising and made the player go 'Wait, WHAT is going on? Why is Wally helping her???' especially if they took advantage of Wally being a character the player trusts/has friendly feelings towards and made Zianna even more sketch than she already was~
But yeah. Wally's less a rival and more a friend. Kinda wish he got to be a little more of both but still one of my fav 'rivals' in the series
Ohh, that would've been an interesting twist for the delta episode! His course of action - staying home to protect his parents - makes sense for the character, but it does further the issue of Wally just not participating in anything relevant. Some day they'll re-re-make gen 3 and we might just get our wish granted then... As for Wally being one of your favorite 'rivals', same here! You got great taste!
@@prezmer We can only hope. Though honestly I'd just be happy to see Wally get any expanded role, like IDK an older Wally helping out in some other region's post game or a DLC event like Cynthia with the Shinjo Ruins or something. Him showing up in a non randomised event (eyes Alola Pokemon League challenges) to try kicking our asses and drop odd little words of wisdom would be great! XD
And thank you! Though er, given my other favs are Silver, Hau, Gladeon and Nemona your milage may vary on that? *is simply very fond of the crazy determined fighters and/or soft bois is all* XD
Hope you had a good day
Thanks Tyler! It wasn't the best (hence why it took me forever to reply to yours and a bunch of other comments), but today is going by a lot better. Hope your day is going good as well!
the reason wally is at the end and not at the begining of victory road is because on Ruby and Sapphire he is the last encounter, an ambush like the typical rival (Green/Blue or Silver) do
now... I think it's fine to have him on his own journey, buttt it's kinda jarring he being blissfully unaware of the near end of the world treats that were groudon and/or kyogre
him not being present on any of the magma/aqua encounters is what makes sense (to me) as to why he had time to catch up and surpass the player (collecting the badges)
Yeah... I completely missed the fact he was at the end in the original RS because I went for the "definitive" version in emerald. I did try to cover all my bases by googling the changes made in emerald compared to RS but the top results I checked don't mention wally at all 💀It doesn't change much at the end of the day but still, there's some interesting points to explore there, like why emerald put him in the beginning, and the fact that ORAS is STILL different in that instead of an ambush, he's waiting for you at the end. Oh well ): And yeah, it absolutely makes sense that he managed to surpass us BECAUSE he wasn't dealing with the world ending threats. It makes a lot of sense, thanks for that perspective!
@@prezmer oh also I want to add something! when you talked about how his theme made no sense because it had huge juxtaposition between the bad ass song and the calm looking field of flowers I thought you were going to say "oh it's verdanturf town song... but remixed°
i'm a writer and we have a concept of "kill your darlings" - sometimes the parts of the story you're very fond of don't actually serve it, and they need to change or go. i suspect wally was some writer's darling, and they forgot to make him weave through the story in a way that made his presence feel significant enough to make that victory road battle worth it, and couldn't bring themself to get rid of him
I was HOPING for a comment from a writer. Your explanation makes a LOT of sense, thank you! It's just really weird how he's the only "main" character you can remove from the game entirely and not have it affect the plot at all.
I love Wally, and honestly didn't realize we saw so little of him throughout our journey because he is such a fleshed out character. This is how a friendly rival should be written- the way the future gens made the rivals- I just feel like they have no substance.
Honestly didn't realize he barely showed up in the games either until I started playing them for this video. All I remembered was that I really liked him and that ORAS gave him some great changes, so yeah, his screen time shocked me. It also made editing this video a lot harder than it should because either I used unrelated footage or repeated his few appearances 💀Agreed on some of the later rivals too. Rivals in the pokémon franchise in general are all over the place...
The rival in Black and White 2 was interesting in that he had an actual character arc related to the plot and themes of the game. I think the rival is a character that should be used to forward the plot, convey the themes of the game, or both. The "jerk rivals" have character arcs.
I actually can't even remember who BW2 rival was 💀I really need to replay those games! But I agree, rivals do need to be involved somehow... that's why I don't really see Wally as our rival, but rather, we're his rival, if that makes sense.
You know, what's funny is that I really just can't stand the pokemon manga, because while it fixes a lot of characters, it also has a weird plot that in my opinion, most often than not ruins the game's plot. Or at least just does things that isn't "pokemon"
Am I the only one who dislikes his new battle music?
No! When researching, I found quite a few comments saying that it's just a guitar riff, that it loops super fast, gets annoying, etc. I love it, but yeah, some fans weren't happy! But music is very personal so it makes sense.
I mean wally is a bad rival he's way to weak and a pushover but he at least tries and is a better rival unlike some of the other rivals we've been getting like nemona or hop