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The crowning achievement across the games remains the same no matter the region, version, or generation in which you're playing – catch your Pokemon, train them, and become the Champion with their help. You’ll follow your player character as they take on a Gym Challenge and prove to a handful of regional professionals that they have what it takes. Only after completing this preliminary test and besting the Elite Four, you can challenge the Champion.
You’ll usually meet your Champion long before taking them on, and you’ll spend the duration of the game learning at least a little about their life outside the Championship. Many of them have auxiliary jobs, families, or passions that keep them busy when they’re not working with their Pokemon. But since there ar🅷e so many of them spread so far and wide around the Pokemon world, we wanted to take 𝓰a look back at all our Pokemon Champions so far.
Kanto: Blue
Your rival in the Gen 1 games is consistently one step ahead – it&r🍸squo;s his driving motivator.
Blue and your player character, ubiquitously known as Red in the English games, grew up together in Pallet Town. The pair were good friends growing up (depending on which game you're playing), but we learn that Blue gradually became meaner over time in his unending quest to be better than Red. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:He views you as his rival simply because you&rsq꧟uo;re the same age and height, and he’ll crop up several times in your journey across Kanto for the occasional battle, “to test your skills.”
Canonically in the Gen 1 games, Blue (or Gary, iꦍn the anime) beats the Indigo League before Red, but Red shows up to challenge him and takes the title before Professor Oak can arrive to formally recognize Blue. The team he uses in this battle is depꦿendent upon which starter you chose in Red and Blue – he’ll always have the fully-evolved version of the starter with a type advantage over yours.
After Giovanni abandons the Viridian Gym following the takedown of Team Rocket, Blue takes up the helm of Gym Leader in his absence. He refuses to be tethered to one place, though, frequently leaving to continue traveling in search of more Pokemon. He returns in the Let’s Go games and waxes poetic about his own Pokemon journey back when he was your player character’s age. 🐎Now an adult in the Switch games, he will battle you a handful of times on that journey as well.
Johto: Lance
Lance has worn his share of hats throughout his time working for the Pokemon League. In Gens 1, 3, and 7, he’s one of the Elite Four, specializing in Dragon-type Pokemon. In Gen 2, however, he takes the place of Champion for Red, your player character from the first games, who’s beaten the Leagu🐼e and become the champion but elected to continue training.
Lance comes from Blackthorn City and his family is still prominent in the region – Clair, the Dragon-type leader you’ll neeﷺd to beat for the Rising Badge at the Blackthorn Gym, is his cousin. Their grandfather is still revered🐷 for his place as an elder in a well-known clan specializing in Dragon-types.
This fan-favorite Champion will꧃ crop up a few times throughout your journey. You meet him at the Lake of Rage after he watches you battle the Red Gyarados, and you’ll see him again when he helps you fight Team Rocket at their HQ in Mahogany Town.
Since Dragon-types weren&♊rsquo;t more properly expanded until later in the series, Lance has three Dragonite during your fight with him, each with its own unique moveset. He rounds out his team of six with three other dragon-like Pokemon that don’t actually have the Dragon typing: Gyarados, Charizard, and Aerodactyl.
Hoenn: Steven
Although Wallace held the title in Emerald, Steven is the canonical Champion of Hoenn. He plays this role in Ruby and Sapphire, their remakes, and HeartGold and SoulSilver as well. His father is the president of the Devon Corporation, the mining and smelting company headquartered in Rustboro City that now ꦺmakes several useful items, including Pokeballs.
Steven, though, is focused more on rarer stones than anything, and is known to collect them avidly💞 for study. While he specializes in Steel-type Pokemon specifically, with his Metagross being his biggest threat, he uses just as many Rock-types as he does Steel. With his family’s fortune coming from the processing of rocks and iron, it’s only fitting he took them on as his primary types.
While Steven is known for being the Champion, he concedes this role to Wall⛄ace in Emerald so he can get back on the road, searching for new rocks to study. Once you’ve beaten Steven for the Championship in the games where he holds it, he’ll leave you a Beldum, his favorite Pokemon.
Sinnoh: Cynthia
The first female Champion of the mainline Pokemon games, Cynthia made her debut in the Sinnoh region in Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum. It’s speculated that she may not live ဣin Sinnoh, but she certainly stands pr🧜oudly as the Champion of it.
She’s an archeologist who you’ll encounter a few times as you traverse the region, either giving you items, sending you to deliver the Old Charm to her grandmother, or battling you for the title. She’ll also give you a Togepi Egg in Platinum, too. Her purpose for traveling across Sinnoh is to investigate the sites related to the mysterious Legendary Pokemon, and she’s even said to be 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:able to read the Unown language as well.
Her team of six in Diamond, Pearl, and their remakes is among the most varied for any Cha🐓mpion. Garchomp is her strongest and seems to be her cornerstone, but her team covers almo🧔st every type of Pokemon, making for a relatively tough, varied fight.
It’s speculated that she may also have some relation to Volo from Pokemon Legends: Arceus, too. Volo wears a necklace that looks similar to the teardrop shape on Cynthia's outfit. Plus, their faces are similar, their final teams are almost identical when you battle them, and Volo’s music is a variation of her battle theme.
Unova: Alder (Black/White)
Alder was an interesting Champion for the Pokemon series in that it takes you a while to actually fight him. The first time you finish beating the Elite Four and go on to ch𓂃allenge him, you discover that N, one of the game’s antagonists, has just finished defeating the Champion and is inꦇ the process of trying to separate the human world from the Pokemon world.
After a deviation to stop Team Plasma and N from bringing their plan to fruition, Alder is the Champion of Unova once again. You take on the Elite Four a second time and are able to fight him after this. His fight is 🌌definitely tough, but he’s ha🌳ppy to accept his defeat and help enter you into the Hall of Fame.
Though he’s said to take the role of Champion very seriously, he’s also incredibly invested in helping other trainers rise up to be the best they can, as is evidenced by him mentoring Cheren i🌞n the earlier parts of Black and White. He does his best to impart the lesson of not becoming power-hungry with your Pokemon, as it once costed him his.
Alder is a wanderer, seeking to ease the pain of losing his original Pokemon partner, which was said to have been e🎃ither a Larvesta or Volcarona. In a fight to defend his title, he once pushed it too hard, leading to the Pokemon becoming ill and passingﷺ away. He now uses the story to implore trainers to be level-headed in their battles and not push their Pokemon too hard.
Unova: Iris (Black 2/White 2)
Iris specializes in Dr🍸agon-type Pokemon, which she’s carried with her from her place as the leader of the Ope🍸lucid Gym in Pokemon White. Only two years have passed between the events of White, and Black 2/White 2, but Iris used the time to become the best in her League.
She’s present in Black as well, with Drayden, the leader of the Opelucid Gym in that title, announcing his plans to pass the gym down to her, as ಌhe’s her mentor and sees her possibilities. They’ve got the same team, in terms of Pokemon, but where his are all mal﷽e, Iris uses exclusively female Pokemon.
She’s an energetic youngster, always hungry for adventure. As o⭕ne of the Gym Leaders in White, she’s present at N’s Castle to assist in holding off the Seven Sages for you, too♌.
As the Champꦉion in Black 2/White 2, though, she’s got a full team of six Pokemon, and while they aren’t all her signature Dragon-type, each Pokemon has the ability to learn Dragon moves. Her team remains the same in the Challenge Mode, but each Pokemon will have a slightly higher level than before, as well as a different moveset than normal.
Kalos: Diantha
Before she was known for being the Champion of the Kalos League, Diantha was a famous movie star – a proper celebrity. She’s renowned for her politeness, beauty, and class, which is why she’s often found in disguise while out in public – she attracts too much attention with her looks if she doesn't.
We see Diantha maybe the lea🌺st of any of the Champions, which might be her career in acting keeping her pretty busy. You’ll only see her around Kalos a handful of times, during which she’s in🧸credibly sociable, but the final time you see her along your journey, she asks you for a battle the next time you see her. And she holds you to this – after you beat the Elite Four and learn that she’s the Kalos Champion.
Perhaps in line with the versatility that comes with being a successful actress, each Pokemon on her team is not only a different color, but each of her six excels in a different stat. It’s all rather characteristic of a woman who plays a broad ca꧅st of characters in her filmography, so famous that you can even see her on the billboards of the Prism Tower stage in Super Smash Bros.
Galar: Leon
Leon is your friend and rival (Hop's) older brother, and the two of you definitely idolize him, determined to battle your way through the League and take him on yourselves.
And Leon, always a good sport, encourages you, delighted to see passion around his hometown of Postwick. He’s been undefeated the entire time he’s been t⭕he Champion – he, too, began his journey at age ten –, but he still urges you to try your hardest. In fact, he’s the one who gives you and Hop your starter Pokemon,꧂ and he adds the starter you two don’t choose to his own party.
Leon requires that you and ꦓHop beat him in battle before endorsing you for the Gym Challenge, indicative that he takes his position seriously. He was sponsored as a boy by Chairma🌱n Rose, to whom he remains loyal until the elder man attempts to bring about the Darkest Day to supply energy for Galar. Leon is brave enough to take on Eternatus, even withstanding an energy blast from the legendary Pokemon after it breaks out when he tries to catch it.
After he recovers, you’re able to battle him, finally, and he loses with grace. After being deposed, he assumes ownership over the former Rose Tower and turns it into the Battle Tower, which he runs happily in the wake of his loss, eventually becoming the Chairman of the Galar L🅰eague as well.
The Others
Red
Red is a unique Champion in that you already know his backstory – he’s you, and you know the story because you played it. He’s foi💞led 🍰by Blue a few times but ultimately ends up successful by the end of the first games, earning the title of Champion in Gen 1.
He’s the final fight in the Gen 2 games, as the reigning Champion of the Indigo League, and his Pokemon are all incredibly strong by then, after he spent time away from theꦯ League continuing to train. He’s able to b🌞e challenged in several games throughout the series, typically as a post-story battle to see how far you’ve really come.
Trace
Your rival in 🐻the Let’s Go remakes of the Gen 1 games, Trace is the modern-day version of Blue. Unlike the brutish boy on which he’s modeled, though, Trace is actually rather nice, even somewhat cowardly at the beginning of the story. He’s demonstrated to know what he’s doing, though, helping you fight Team Rocket and offering advice and items throughout your journey.
And like Blue, he does win the title of 🌳League Champion before your player character but loses it to you before long. He’s undaunted, however, and returns to battle you again a handful of times in an attempt to re♎gain his title.
Wallace
Though Wallace is only the Hoenn League Champion in Emerald, he does appear in all the other Gen 3 games as the Leader at the Sootopolis Gym, too✱. He’s an artist and appreciator of all🐓 things beautiful, as is evidenced by him competing in the Beauty Contests.
🔯His mentor, Juan, runs the Sootopolis Gym in Emerald while Wallace is busy serving as the Champion. And although Steven is considered the canonical Champion of Hoenn, both he and Wallac🅰e have the title in the Pokemon World Tournament during Black 2/White 2.
Mustard
You don’t meet Mustard as the Galarian Champion, but you learn that he held the title for quite a while - 18 years, to be exact, the longest of anyone in the League. He lost his shine 💫a bit after the death of his partner Pokemon, and he wound up retiring from the League to travel🌄 the world.
As a former Fighting-type Gym Leader, Mustard ended up purchasing a small island and called it the Isle of Armor, where 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:he set up the Master Dojo. He resides there and serves as the master, takin🌳g on students of al🍌l ages to help them in their Pokemon journey.
Peony
He doesn’t exactly go around advertising it, but Peony is the younger brother of Chairman Rose, to whom he spent his whole life being compared to. Eventually, the pressure to live up to Rose became too much, and Peony ran away from home. He’s a Steel-type trainer who became the Leader of one ofꦫ the gyms around Galar, and was strong enough to become the League Champion, before leaving the League when his brother assumed the role of Chairman.
Now, he’s on an expedition 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:through the Crown Tundra to learn more about the Legendaries there, and he appoints your player character as the leader of his upcoming expedition. You report to him throughout the Crown Tundra DL🐽C, and he eventually tasks you with finding Ultra Beasts.