As with many other titles in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:the Pokemon franchise, the fight against t𒊎he first Gym Leader in Diamond, Pearl and P💧latinum signifies the true beginning of the games. Though he can be dismissed as a mere hurdle for longtime fans of the series, there is more to learn about Roark than players might expect.
Presiding over the Oreburgh Gym, Roark is a responsible character that also acts as the supervisor of the city's mines. Being the first of eight Gym Leaders to be revealed in Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, the Rock-type specialist has a special place in the hearts of many players as their introduction to Gym battles.
10 ♊ 🃏 Voice Actors
Like all characters in the core series, Roark does not receive any voiced lines in his main appearances. In Pokemon Masters, Roark is given a voice by Alejandro Saab, who also voices Professor Kukui in the game as well as Leon in the English dub of the Pokemon anime.
Outside of games, Roark has appeared in at least 6 episodes of the anime where he is voiced by Craig Blair. Blair has voiced other major players in the show sꦓuch as Tracey Sketchit and Giovanni, and also provided the voice for Ivysaur in Super Smash Bros. Brawl. A young version of Roark seen in a flashback is voiced by Zoe Martin.
9 🌠 A Solid Team 🌠
During the development of Pokemon Platinum, many NPC Trainer teams were slightly altered from Diamond & Pearl to create an improved leveling curve for 🎉players. Some of these alterations included switching movesets, raising and loweꦑring levels, and even replacing certain Pokemon.
Roark however, is the only Gym Leader whose initial team in Platinum is exactly the same as in Diamond & Pearl, consisting of a Geodude, Onix, and Cranidos. He is ﷺalso the only Gym Leader🥂 in the Sinnoh region to not use any fully-evolved Pokemon in his first battle.
8 Name Ori🐷gins
Roark's name origins are a bit obvious in English; the sign outside the Oreburgh Gym even reads "Call me Roark the Rock!" In Japanese however, his name is Hyouta, deriving from the word hyōtan, meaning calabash gourd.
The calabash gourd plant is significant in Asian and African archaeology for being hollowed out and used as a container in civilizations before the widespread practice of pottery. The name pairs well with his father Byron's Japanese name, Tougan, which is derived from the Japanese word tōgan for the wax gourd.
7 A Rocky Road With Byronꦅ
Several interactions in the games with Roark and his father, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:fellow Gym Leader Byron, will reveal that their relationship is awkward at best. While both seem to have good intentions for one another, neither are good at communicating.
When challenging Byron for the first 🍸time, he vows to defeat the player in place of his son, yet later claims it would be too embarrassing to try training together with him. Similarly, at the Battleground, Roark says, "When I became a Gym Leader, I finally realized how great my dad is.
Not that I'd ever admit that to him, of course." Roark and Byron's badges, the Coal Badge and the Mine Badge, collectively refer to a coal mine.
6 He's An Avid Miner
The first time players enter Oreburgh City in the games, they'll find Roark is absent from the Gym and must search for him in the Oreburgh Mines. Once he's found, Roark can be seen chipping away at the large slab and demonstrates how to use Rock Smash.
After the ensuing Gym Battle, Roark is the one to welcome players to the Underground the very first time they travel there. As revealed in the trailer for Pokemon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, it appears Ro🐭ark will reprise this role, welcoming🔯 players to the new Grand Underground.
5 🌸 His Signature Pokemon 🦩
Across all of Roark's appearances, his signature Pokemon is the pure Rock-type Cranidos, which later evolves into Rampardos for rematches in Pokemon Platinum. This evolution is also depicted in the Pokemon anime and manga. His ace Pokemon is usually sent out last and is always male except in Pokemon Black 2 & White 2, where its gender is random.
Cranidos and Rampardos will always know either Headbutt or Zen Headbutt, taking advantage of the Pokemon's biggest strength. Roark forms a sync pair 🌠with Cranidos in Pokemon Masters, where he recalls being inspired by a time that his Pokemon broke a rock that was said to be unb🥂reakable. Cranidos can evolve into Rampardos after defeating Hoenn Gym Leader Roxanne.
4 ♚ G♚ym Similarities
The reason Roark's Gym might be so familiar to fans of the Pokemon games is due to the strong similarities it bears with other Rock-type Gyms. Both 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Gym Leaders Brock and Roxanne from previous games𝕴 are Rock-type specialists whose Gyms are chall🐈enged first.
In addition, all three of their Gyms have easy routes to skip around the Gym Trainers that players may want to avoid challenging. Also like Brock and Roxanne, Roark uses a Geodude the f๊irst time he is challenged and later📖 evolves it into Golem for rematches.
3 Love of Fossil Pokemon ꧃
Much of Roark's dialogue in Diamond & Pearl reflects his passion for fossils, but his rematch teams in later games reflect this as well. Roark has 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:more Fossil Pokemon than even his father, using a total of 3. In addition to his Rampardos, (which💧 is revived as a Cranidos via the Skull Fossil) Roark uses 🍃an Aerodactyl in Platinum and an Archeops in Pokemon Black 2 & White 2.
Aerodactyl is revived from the Old Amber, whi🐻le Archeops is revived as an Archen via the Plume Fossil. Roark also uses Relicanth in the Generation V games, a Pokemon that is considered to be a l✨iving fossil.
2 🦩 Another Relative ꦜ
While his relationship with Byron in the games is well-established, missable NPC dialogue reveals that Roark has another relative 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:who lives in Eterna City. According to a random woman in Sunyshore City, Roark and his father are related to the Underground Man, an NPC that gives the player their Explorer Kit.
The connection to the Underground Man is unclear, though it is speculated that he may be Roark's grandfather due to his elderly appearance. The woman in Sunyshore claims that the three of them make "a trio of dedicated diggers."
1 He Almost Wasn't The Gym Leader
According to some of Byron's dialogue in Platinum, he and Roark often have differences of opinion which lead to battles between them. When the player visits Iron Island for the first time, they encounter a mysterious trainer named Riley who teams up with them to investigate why the Pokemon of the area are agitated.
While speaking to Riley, he casually mentions that Byron approached him to become the Gym Leader of Oreburgh, though Riley declined the position in consideration of Roark. Strangely, Riley also owns a Rampardos, whic𝔍h he uses in tag battles at the Battle Frontier in𓃲 Platinum, HeartGold, and SoulSilver.
