Rival fights have always been one of the most important parts of Pokemon. From 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Gen 2’s phenomenal Silver - who eventually gets a Crobat, proving that while he’s an arse to you, he loves his Pokemon - to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Sword & Shield’s near universally detested Hop, rivals have a special poꩲwer that can make or break an entire Pokemon adventure.
The funny thing is, of all the countless rival battles throughout the mainline Pokemon series, the best one is still one of the fir💙st: The fight against Blue in Saffron City’s Silph Co.
Blue Oak is largely based on Gary from the Pokemon anime, sporting spiky brown hair and a purple top adorned with a yin-yang chain. Just like Gary - 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:who is beജtter than Ash in every conceivable 🙈way, especially when you consider that 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Ash is the real villain of Pokemon - Blue is pretty full of himself. He&rs🌠quo;s an overconfident sore loser who embodies everything a Pokemon rival should be - Hop would have been significantly more compelling if he signed off with “Smell ya later!” instead of being wholesome and over-eager. Mate, we’re supposed to be rivals. Please say something mean.
Part of why Blue is so fascinating has to do with his growth throughout the series - when you meet him in Gold & Silver, which take place three years after Red & Blue, he’s far more mature an🉐d has filled the Viridian City Gym Leader role in the wake of Giovanni vacating it. To be honest, I could write an entire piece on that alone. But that’s not what this is about - this is about the greatest rival battle in 25 years of Pokemon.
Silph Co. is probably the biggest difficulty spike and most pivotal point of the Gen 1 Pokemon games. After finally gaining access to Saffron City by giving one the guards who initially deny you access a cup of tea, this is a metropolis to behold - 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:especially in Let’s Go. As well as Sabrina’s Gym, there’s also a pseudo-Gym in the Fighting Dojo, where you can nab yourself either a Hitmonlee or Hitmonchan. 25 years later, I still crumble a🎃t this decision, although I reckon my heart will always veer towards High Jump Kick (originally꧑ spelled as Hi Jump Kick, which was way cooler).
The real spectacle of Saffron City, though, is tied to the Rocket invasion of Silph Co., a cutting edge tech compan♊y that is allegedly developing next-gen PokeBalls capable of capturing any Pokemon without fail. Giovanni and his legion of grunts take the offices by storm, with the big boss man holing himself up in the president’s office at the top of the building. Your task, obviously, is to make your way up to bring him down - unfortunately, it’s not that simple.
Silph Co. is a nightmare to navigate, operating around a series of teleportation points that transport you to specific nodes on other floors. As a four-year-old, this confused me to the point of wanting to hockey my big chunꦬky Game Boy Classic off a wall. As a 25-year-old today, I still make mistakes. It’s that fact - that I still make mistakes - that allows the inevitable Blue battle to always land just as hard and fast as it did back in the ‘90s. You know the room before it - that infamous long corridor leading to the penultimate teleportation portal - but it still rips with all the spectacle of the original games.
“What kept you?” Blue asks, his typical smirk biting with the ferocity of a Gyarados’ Crunch. “Hahaha! I thought you’d turn up if I waited here! I guess Team Rocket slowed you down! Not that🌞 I care! I saw you in Saffron, so I decided to see if you got better!”
Brilliant, isn’t it? This lad co🅺uldn’t give a Ralts about the Rockets - all he wants to do is kick your ass. Instead of doing the decent thing and taking down Giovanni himself, the only thing on Blue’s mind is you. He is, without a shadow of a doubt, the quintessential Pokemon rival because he is emphatically that: A rival. Not your best bud, not your smalltown acquaintance, not some arbitrary roadblock on a linear advent🔯ure. He wants to pummel you into the dirt and stand over you, laughing his arse off. It’s fantastic.
The battle itself is great, too. Blue leads with a level 37 Pidgeot, which, at this point in the game, packs a pretty powerful punch. He also has a level 35 Alakazam and a level 40 fully evolved starter, as well as two of either a Growlithe, Exeggcute༒, or Gyarados depending on which ‘mon you chose in Oak’s lab at the beginning of the game. It’s ⛄our first proper look at how formidable his Champion team is going to be. It’s also the first point in the game where you realise that, actually, there are NPC trainers capable of ripping your team to shreds.
It comes at the perfect time in the story, but it’s also positioned with real tact. This is immediately prio🀅r to you facing Giovanni, and it serves as a bona fide test of your mettle in anticipation of that. The fact it’s preparatory doesn’t discount it, though - if anything, this fight drastically overshadows the narratively important one following it. It speaks volumes about Blue’s character, teaches you how to deal with amped up multi-type teams, and properly conveys the significance of the story. It also highlights the moral dichotomy between you and your rival - you’re here to stop Giovanni because he’s bad, Blue’s here to stop you because he wants to be the very best like no one ever was. Rockets? Who cares? I mean, as you read above, Blue quite literally doesn’t care. All he wants to do is shout “Smell ya later!” at you.
“I’m going to the Pokemon League to boot out the Elite Four!” he says after y💮ou beat him. “I’ll become the world’s most powerful trainer! Well, good luck to you! Don’t sweat it! Smell ya!” He doesn’t even grace us with a “later” this time - we’re clearly not worth it. I also l𒊎ove how he exclusively shouts in exclamation marks. This lad is your friend who comes down the pub at the weekend and is utterly incapable of using their inside voice. It’s brilliant.
After Blue storms off, you obviously proceed to take on Giovanni, but not before you get Lapras as a Gift Pokemon. To this day, Lapras is one of my favourite ‘mons of all time - I think most of that has to do with Lorelei’s Lapras, but I’d be 𓃲lying if I said the fact it’s presented to you as a reward after a battle this tense doesn’t play a part, too.
At the end of Silph 🌸Co., you’re ꩲgifted one of those rumoured Master Balls as a reward for booting out the Rockets. Ostensibly, this is tied to you defeating Giovanni - really, though, Giovanni is a bit of a pushover compared to Blue, and so it’s the rival fight in Silph Co. that truly earns you the right to your Mewtwo catcher. 25 years later, no other Pokemon battle has matched it.