@@ravsucksbtw have u seen the sonic3 trailer??? I know it’s not a prediction video but ur 100% right about knuckles getting replaced shadow and in the new trailer i was like “ now that’s a good example of when rivals get replaced “ lol but yeah big respect to u my dude👍🏻👍🏻
Metal Sonic might as well be replacing Shadow now with how consistently he's been beating him through the floor in the IDW comics. Shadow has fallen off so hard.
@@dixonb.tweenerlegs4225Being Metal Sonic is suffering Due to the nature of video game his job is to lose constantly, so his cool factor dies a firey death but he's super reliant on that if you're not doing a Japanese styled plot about transhumanism or something
@@ravsucks Metal Sonic has the luxury of being a permanent villain the othe rivals are now friends with sonic and their rivalries are now more friendly rivalries while Metal Sonic will forever be the antagonistic rival which means he can be used way more.
Knuckles is the Anti-Sonic. Sonic's antithesis, his counter-opposite. If Sonic is like the wind, Knuckles is the mountain. Speed vs Power. He guards the Master Emerald, which neutralizes the Chaos Emeralds that Sonic is legendary at using. Shadow is the Dark Sonic. Sonic's dark reflection, his spitting image sharing identical speed and abilities. Where Sonic embodies the correct way to use the Chaos Emeralds, Shadow's specialty is using that power to warp time and space with "Chaos Control". Blaze is the Nega-Sonic. Similar to Knuckles, she is Sonic's polar opposite. Like Yin and Yang, or the North and South magnetic poles, much like the Sol Emeralds are to the Chaos Emeralds. She fills a similar role to Sonic in her own world. Silver is the Light Sonic. Where Shadow is a dark mirror, Silver is a light mirror. More specifically, he is the last light of hope in a dark, post apocalyptic world of ruin. Like an angel living in a chaotic inferno. Each of these characters, in spite of sharing a similar status as being Sonic's rivals, each fill fundamentally different roles in that respect. Knuckles is "The Rival" character who can stand alongside Sonic as part of the same team, as close friends and allies who constantly clash with each other. Shadow, on the other hand, is firmly on his own "Dark side" in opposition to Sonic's "Hero side", only occasionally joining forces when needed. Blaze is less of a rival and more like a foil to Sonic, like the Lancer role to his Leader role. And Silver is the equivalent of Batman Beyond or Spider-Man 2099, serving as the "Sonic" of the future generation. It is impossible for Shadow to truly replace Knuckles, because of the fundamentally different role they serve as characters. If anything, Shadow is a replacement to Metal Sonic, because both serve the purpose of being a dark mirror of Sonic. Aside from that, Knuckles & Shadow, along with Silver & Blaze, each have their own place alongside Sonic in the cast.
Knuckles hasn't really be anti sonic since the 90s tbh especially in terms of personality. The movie kinda brought his "reverse sonic" personality back but as far as the games go its basically dead
Shadow was locked away over 50 years before Sonic came about. So Shadow is not Sonic's dark reflection, but a hedgehog of the dark past which would explain his black and crimson fur, blood and darkness. The crimson explains the murder of both Maria and Gerald Robotnik. The black explains the secret to be locked away and hidden in the dark by GUN. That's my thought about it.
This all reminds me of the Sonic Rivals games on PSP because of your mention of "chaotic inferno" (the final zone in the sequel) I don't think there was much of a story besides contriving reasons to have characters race against each other but it would have been nice to explore the relationships Sonic has with each of his rivals in a single game.
@@galaxystudios370tbh the first thing Bulma did when she met Goku was run him over and the second was to empty her clip on him. Every one of Goku's friends has tried to kill him except Krillin
I will say, Proto Man has always had more aura than Bass imo. Bass has a simple goal to prove he's the strongest robot master, but Proto Man just dips in and out, usually to kick someones ass, and then leaves without saying a word. At this point, hes mostly a hero, but even now, he's a total enigma.
@@Rediscool9 good point - though I feel Donkey Kong and Wario have switched off the rival role over time. Donkey Kong fought Mario first, then Wario came around, but quickly became his own main character. Thanks to the Mario movie, now Donkey Kong is returning more to the rival seat.
@@ravsucks honestly I'd say donkey kong fully branched off from mario. Dude has his own games, he had his own cartoon, and his own cast of character that don't interact with the rest of the mario world. Outside of diddy kong
@@samuraibear5102 Wario kinda did too with Warioware and the Wario Land series. Which I think is a good direction to take the characters, instead of being tied down by Mario.
@@ravsucks true but them all most immediately deciding to not make wario mario rival has left waluigi to the wayside. Plus I really would have liked wapeach design be used in a game
Silver isn’t really a rival in my opinion. He was a misguided antagonist who opposed Sonic who he believed caused the tragic future. Apart from their looks and both being hedgehogs Sonic and Silver have vastly different powers, Sonic is a speeding blur while Silver is telekinetic. Shadow and Knuckles are both fast, rivalling Sonic in terms of speed with a possible edge in power but Silver isn’t inherently fast, he’s only able to move fast by using his telekinesis on himself and isn’t really able to keep pace when Sonic starts running. Honestly Silver needs his own spin off to give him a chance to shine, he’ll never be able to shine in the mainline games as his powers are not comparable to those of Sonic and the other speedsters. This was a good video looking at the role of a rival and the editing is great too. I hope you keep up the good work and looking forward to seeing more of your content.
@@zenithstrikerz1720 Yeah, it was a stretch on my part. Honestly Jet might’ve been a better choice. But I absolutely think he deserves a second chance - when he gets a chance to shine in the comics, he’s so fun to watch. Thank you!
There’s one franchise that I don’t think can ever replace the rival: Devil May Cry. Vergil is the perfect counterpart to Dante and has been since their childhood, and he’s more of a threat than almost any of the main villains of the series. In a way, he’s able to occupy both roles in the story, being both the main villain and the personal rival to Dante.
I remember when dmc4 first came out and Nero was introduced in the trailers, I was worried he was supposed to replace Vergil as Dante's rival, who was already a perfect rival. Thankfully that wasn't the case; and it turned out he was there to represent a future successor to Dante.
ok I agree with most of this video, except the kirby portion, the only time I would say Dedede was the main villain was in dreamland and ever since every fight is either, someone being tricked, Dedede being possessed, or just friendly rivalry
@@ravsucksI would say in the games Dedede takes a rather unique role as essentially a sub-rival. He's still rather standoffish and fights Kirby, but he does seem more like a rival than a full on villain. The interesting thing is unlike other examples this doesn't detract from Meta Knight's role as the rival.
In fact Kirby fighters 2 shows exactly that Ddd and meta knight doing a team up against Kirby as a the true final boss of the game They are both friendly rivals Meta knight just has less of a grudge against Kirby, and if a spin off is on the works, ddd is the mostly likely candidate to go evil for this case
I agree, Dedede is more of a rival nowadays, Meta Knight still remains a rival despite this change with Dedede. I guess reasoning for Dedede becoming a rival is due to kirby and company having to face a bigger treat per game.
I see Dedede as the bigger rival as he learns Kirby's techniques(floating and inhale), Hammer being based on Dedede's hammer, and and being eating as Kirby.
Ichigo has a rival for 10 minutes then switches to another one xD That said, none of them get shafted at all, they all get at least some development, sooner or later
Personally I like how the Mega Man: Battle Network series rebuilds the dynamic between Mega Man, Proto Man and Bass. I haven't read the manga since I was a kid, but from what I hear, it did that really well
Marvel's Scorpion was the Anti-Spider-Man way before Venom showed up. In fact, that costume he was put in and the mutagenic treatment they gave him was specifically created to match and counter the Wall-Crawler. Plus, the scorpion gimmick was chosen because scorpions are natural predators of the spider. Ironically, Mac Gargan (Scorpion) would later become Venom's new host after it left Eddie Brock.
I could argue another example of this in the Godzilla franchise, although it's a bit of a stretch. Godzilla's first ever opponent was Anguirus, who was an ankylosaurus bearing similar radioactive origins to Godzilla. Anguirus boasted high defense while Godzilla boasted immense destructive power, with the movie even going as far as saying the two were natural enemies. After his debut though Anguirus ended up being relegated to an ally for the rest of the early movies, with his mantle as "rival" eventually being taken up by Mechagodzilla. The funniest part is that in Mecha's debut he ended up fighting and ruthlessly beating Anguirus, prompting the real Godzilla to come and twist Mecha's head off like a bottle cap.
0:46 Incorrect. Shadow was never manipulated into fighting Sonic by Eggman. It was Shadow(technically being manipulated by Prof. Gerald) that was manipulating Eggman into carrying out Gerald's revenge plan.
@@ivancastro365 Honestly in Z Piccolo is always doing shit in every arc. Fighting Raddiz, Nappa, Frieza, Cell first form, C17, he helps for Buu. He does feel a bit left behind compared to Vegeta but he is still very much relevant till the end unlike Tien or the rest of the Z fighters.
Top Tier Rival that everyone sleeps on: Dark Pit. A character created out of Pit's dark side made to destroy the original but maintained his willpower and serves to be Pit but better. Hell, he even replaced Pit's original rival and the only other character that was known before the KI revival; Eggplant Wizard
King Dedede being a villain is the only false example here that I'm aware of. If you don't count spinoffs and retellings, he's only been an actual villain like twice in the entire series. In other cases he's either mind controlled or misunderstood by Kirby. He's been depicted as a friendly rival for many years now, in Forgotten Land there's even a collectible trophy outright describing him and Kirby as such. This is actually interesting for this topic cuz that's a somewhat rare case of the series having two constantly relevant rivals without one replacing the other (Meta Knight and Dedede). In Kirby Fighters 2, a recent game, they even team up not for any evil intent, but to finally settle the score
@@ravsucks In your defense, he's mind controlled to be the villain pretty often, usually as a fake out at the beginning of the games, which maybe puts him closer narratively to a villain than a rival? Basically imagine if mega man had to do something like the Dark Man twist for protoman nearly every time he appeared. It's an odd situation.
Dedede is like a villain, but more like a friendly villain, he does things for himself and Kirby wants to stop him, but he isn't evil, more like egotistical and stupid.
@@ericktn-pr Yeah King Dedede was more like Wario a greedy and arrogant king but pretty dumb. Metaknight was more serious and intelligent but even then he was more of an extremist who saw his methods as justified than a truly evil person.
Knuckles was such a good rival that challenged Sonic with strength not speed. But I think each of Sonic’s rivals challenge him in different ways. Knuckles his strength. Metal his “humanity” and limits that come with it, and Shadow his beliefs. “What you see is what you get”
This guy is perfect friend you could wish for he likes at least one thing out of these franchises even Megaman this guy is a keeper can’t wait for your upcoming content
Dedede was only truly a villain in the first game. The second game shows him trying to protect Dreamland in his own dumb way, and from there he becomes more of a comedic rival until 64 where he moves into an outright ally role and the excuse for fights with Dedede from then on is him getting mind controled by the villain.
Yugioh did this a lot. While the original series was consistent with Kaiba, GX replaced rivals at least once a season. The next few series followed suit. Fist of the North Star was interesting in that Ken went through rivals like copy paper. However, it turned out to be plot-relevant, since the accumulated grief is what led Ken to victory in his final battle with Raoh. The only rival whose death doesn't impact the series is Jagi, mainly because he was the only one who never got a redemption arc.
Jagi felt less like a rival in the end and more like that character who wanted to be the rival, but was under qualified to fit the role. I.e. Chazz in Yugioh gx.
Jagi did the worst damage to Kenshiro than anyone else in the series: He convinced Shin to turn evil and steal Yuria, he pretended to be him, he tried to use two boys against him, and tried to kill him when he didn't become the successor.
Calling Nui a rival just because she wields the other half of the scissor blade would unironically make her tear apart the screen to get you. My girl is a certified Evil-doer
I don't know why people consider silver a "rival" to sonic. Just bc they were at odds once doesn't mean they're rivals. A rival is somebody you're constantly trying to one up and vice versa, like goku and vegeta or sonic and shadow. Silver doesn't have that dynamic at all with sonic they're usually friendly or when sonic is trying to challenge silver he's just kinda like "okay". Silver isn't much like sonic either, he's a hedgehog and that's pretty much where the similarities end
One amazing example of how a previously abandoned rival can reclaim their position is in Yu-Gi-Oh ZEXAL. (Specifically the Japanese version, since it handles its characters 100x better.) Shark starts out the series as a main antagonist in the first duel, however he quickly turns into a rival to Yuma after he is defeated. Yuma is an energetic and optimistic protagonist who uses mostly a mix of different level monsters, but mostly focuses on level 4s with vastly different types. Meanwhile, Shark has a calm demeanor but can be easily agitated who mostly uses a balance between level 3 and 4 sharks. Later on, Kaito is introduced as a new rival who is extremely calm and calculated who, like both Shark and Yuma, cares deeply for his family, but goes to much greater and sinister lengths to protect his brother when he is in danger. He uses mostly level 4 warriors like Yuma, but his Boss Monster is a level 8 dragon. During the second series, ZEXAL Second, more of Shark's backstory is revealed that explains why he can wield powerful monsters that possess people without any special powers like Yuma or Kaito. This new revelation puts him at odds with both Yuma and Kaito. Now Shark has reclaimed his throne of being the main rival whilst Kaito is now put into the role of being a major ally to Yuma. _How the tables have turned._ I always loved the rivals in the Yu-Gi-Oh series since they are so well executed with their believable motivations, incredible character, and the threat they are able to present to the protagonist. And this is one of my favorite examples of rival execution in the entire franchise.
This happened a lot in Yu-Gi-Oh Gx since Gx was the first spin-off, and they didn't have the formula quite down yet. So Jaden cycled through many rivals. In season 1 alone, he had Zane, The Chazz, and Bastion. Season 2 introduced Aster and did away with Bastion and Zane, but kept The Chazz for a bit. Until Season 3, when even Aster and The Chazz were phased out of the rival role, and we got Jesse all the way to season 4.
Silver was never a rival to Sonic! He was just a temporary antagonist because of the situation. Besides that, the video is spot on. Im still of the camp that Shadow should stop being Sonic's rival (and he should stop having those entirely unless they join the roster later on) because he's so much more than second fiddle
@@ChampionAzure Fair enough, though I wonder if he could’ve become one, had 06 not failed. Silver is such an interesting character because it’s hard to tell what SEGA had planned for him, given that he’s fallen so much by the wayside since. Someone pointed out Metal Sonic serves as a better rival to Sonic, given he’ll never stop trying to be faster, stronger, better.
@@ravsucks I agree. Metal should def be Sonic's only rival, because I feel like Knuckles, Shadow, Blaze, and Silver are way too unique to be rivals. Like Vergil in DMC should get something like their own game.
Except for one thing, you can't stop Shadow being Sonic's rival unless you change fundamental parts of their respective characters. The two reasons why they clash is because 1. Shadow's cool-headed nature in pursuing his goals by any means necessary, sometimes conflicts with Sonic's nature. (As stated by Iizuka, Sonic will take detours to help those in trouble on the wayside, while Shadow will not stop to help. He will stay on the path to achieve his goal) 2. As head of sonic team states, Sonic is the one who's see's Shadow as his rival & will challenge him because they're practically 1:1 & he likes having fun. That's just how Sonic is. Shadow himself doesn't share that sentiment & thinks of Sonic as this annoying guy who likes to get in his way. Sonic enjoys how similar they are, Shadow doesn't, but they still respect eachother in spite of that.
@@kez1z I don't think how Shadow views Sonic is fundamental, tbh. Kinda like IDW did it, I think they could clash off of missing context but then ally for the rest of the adventure. Reminder that this is all conjecture based on how I want Shadow to operate. At its most extreme I think he should have a different gamplay style instead of being similar to Sonic to showcase his "at any cost" mentality.
In Devil May Cry 1, your rival is a dark knight named Nelo Angelo. Towards the end of the game, Nelo Angelo is revealed to be a mind controlled version of Dante's secret brother, Vergil. In Devil May Cry 3, Vergil himself, not mind controlled, is the main rival throughout the game and the main antagonist, and returns as the main rival and antagonist in Devil May Cry 5. You can argue that Nelo Angelo was replaced by Vergil, but they're both the same person. Still, Nelo had a different moveset than Vergil and was mind controlled and didn't have the same personality as Vergil.
I find it fascinating Kid Icarus went to the Shadow/Bass/Vegeta-style rival right away with Dark Pit -- almost consciously so. Maybe that's why there was animosity towards him when he joined Smash 4. It feels like the Kid Icarus roster was missing a step, when it really wasn't. Though this shows that despite those new rivals being loved now, for older fans they are a sign of decline, that there aren't any more interesting ideas than giving the protagonist a literal 'dark' counterpart.
If I remember correctly, the main reason wasn't because "dark edgy copy character." It was because his moveset and Pit's were so similar that it felt like a waste of a character slot that could've gone to someone more unique (which was already an issue with other Smash characters like Dr.Mario or Lucina). Heck originally Dark Pit was supposed to be a *costume* for Pit too before they changed their mind. As a *character* people actually don't mind him since he adds more to Kid Icarus (i.e. calling out the gods for their hubris and pettiness, or Pit with his almost blind devotion to them).
Heres a tip for finding more rivals, looking up the lancer trope. Lancer is similar to a rival, but it's on the same team. Topically second to command the opposite to the leader. Raphiel to Leo, Batman to Superman, Lancelot to Sir Arthur. Anything that's a foil is a lancer, topically the smart to dumb, the nice to mean, the level headed to the hotheaded, the silly or stoic to serious or edgy.
I think adding Silver to this list isn't really accurate. He was clearly meant to be the third addition to Sonic and Shadow's dynamic? He's the Trunks (in both a nearly literal sense) to Sonic's Goku and Shadow's Vegeta, not meant to be a direct rival, in the way Shadow or Knuckles are, but part of what I guess was going to be a Sonic Trinity. His powers don't reflect or contrast Sonic's in the way that Shadow and Knuckles do either.
@@CometX-ing I guess I was thinking about early in the game, when he appears as this mysterious hedgehog hunting Sonic. Though with enough people noting it, yeah, I probably should’ve omitted him from the list.
Spider-Cide is the more so to Scarlet Spider, Ben, and Kaine is the more so the Spider-Cide. Though Spider-Cide was stupid and deserves to be forgotten, a comic book historian would begrudgingly note Kaine's big moment was kicking in the heads of Spider-Man, Scalet Spider and Spider-Cide all by himself when they ganged up on him.
I feel like sonic is in the most danger of being phased out. Every time a new character is added that's just someone else with super speed, a spin dash, a homing attack and a super form
This trend really happens VERY often with super heroes. Case in point: Captain Marvel who went through like three different rivals within the span of 5 years. First there was Captain Nazi who started out being imagined as his evil counterpart. Then there was Ibac who was like the first more appropriate word of power villain that the character face. And then came Black Adam, his definitive rival, who is pretty much like the inspiration for characters like Shadow in terms of darker version of heroes theme.
It’s always hard for me to call Dedede a villain since he’s not necessarily a “bad guy”. He’s self centered but has always had good intentions for planet popstar (even if he sucks at it).
9:40 it's important to add that Piccolo's goal wasn't exactly to get stronger, but to take over the world like his father did. Becoming stronger and defeating Goku was just a byproduct of that. Eventually, his friendship with Gohan softened Piccolo to the point he dropped that goal entirely and essentially became a full on good guy, who got stronger with the focus of protecting the earth and his friends. Vegeta in the other hand wanted power like Freeza at first, sure, but his main focus was always strength: "I'm the prince of all saiyans, I'm the strongest saiyan there is" his battle with Goku damaged this specific part of his ego, and after he lost his chance at immortality against Freeza, his main goal became surpassing Goku in strength, that's why Vegeta is a much better rival to Goku, bc they both want the exact same thing but go around it in different ways: Goku wants to become stronger out of a sense of personal self-growth and love for fighting. Vegeta wants to become stronger out of a sense of pride and ego.
I think the dynamic just shifts and gets better when the rival goes from being the antithesis of the hero character to a different character that’s more just the darker aspect of the main character
@@MartezDGoat you missed my point entirely . Bigelow Piccolo is a perfect example of being the Edgelord til Vegeta took his thunder. Now fans saw geets as the 'edgiest'...even though Bigelow took out Goku & Raditz....some fans forgot that.
Blue lock is a really interesting example for this trope as it seems like it would really lean really hard into it way more than even these much longer running series but actually bucks the trend by managing to keep all of them relevant. The mc has had about 4 of these very significant rivalries introduced overtime and they have all coexisted as major focuses and more minor ones srick around as well.
In the comics, Zoom and Savitar fill different roles (Also Savitar was introduced first). Savitar is kind of more like an evil version of Max Mercury as one who understands the speedforce more who leads a speedster ninja cult. Godspeed is probably the closest a speedster gets to rival having a we should kill the villains dynamic. Zoom meanwhile is a guy who wants to make Wally a better hero by giving him more tragedy. Trajectory in the comics is just a teen that Lex screwed over. Also of note is the evil johny quick which CW Zoom seems mostly inspired by seeing as how he's the evil Flash of a different universe where villains are heroes and vice versa
Bass in a nutshell: -wants to be strong -loses to mega man every time -does what he wants -gets his ass kicked in every time hes a boss -hates his creator dr wahwee -loves his dog -has no friends -appers in games then dissappears the next game -only playable in megaman 7 secret mode mega man power battle 1 and 2 megaman 10 megaman and bass and megaman and bass challenger of the future
The EXE net Navi versions of Mega man and Bass should also be another honorable mention, heck they even fuse into Bass Cross Megaman in both the anime and manga just like Goku and Vegeta fused into Vegito or Gogeta.
I agree with most of that assessment... Especially with the need for the new rival replacement to be DIFFERENT than the old rival instead of a quick reskin of the old rival... But slightly stronger or more evil. Also loved how many people referenced the Sonic 2 movie with Knuckles being the rival with the grab and punch moment. Really highlighting the difference between Knuckles and other rivals Sonic had fought. As for Kirby? I always thought the King got bumped from villain to rival. Leaving Meta knight to be Rival/Mentor/Test. As he tends to appear to test Kirby to see if he is ready for something rather than what most rivals tend to do. While the King is more willing to challenge Kirby in just about anything... from fighting, to eating, to racing, to whatever new mini game they threw in.
Dedede hasn't been a villain since his first appearance. He is easily brainwashed but he always ends up helping Kirby or saving the world himself. He's a straight up hero.
It's because as the old generation grows up they rivals of their time just look like normal cast members. Hell I remember watching dbz as a kid and knowing nothing of piccolo. But when I saw him and goku go to fight raditz I knew they had beef but I always thought of piccolo as gokus friend so when vegeta came along that's when it clicked "Oh this is gokus rival" now knowing everything I do and actually watching og dragon ball I gotta say I still love the change. It makes piccolos character so much more heart felt. The Son/clone of demon king piccolo kamis pure evil half. Reborn and given a second chance at life. After his battle with goku he goes and trains. And after killing goku and avenging his father by also killing raditz he trains gokus son which is just beautiful btw. Can we just... 😥 toriyama was such a good writer man.
Pretty good video. And while Classic Bass is somewhat cool, I have grown a preference to his Battle Network counterpart, especially his portrayal in the manga.
Let's also not forget the biggest irony to this topic: Sonic HIMSELF was intentionally created as a Rival to Mario, but one designed to actually triumph, not as a trope.
more video essays
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When did This video get so popular?😭
Remember me Plz
@@ToblueRBLX idk how it blew up like this it’s crazy 😭 but dw i’ll remember you
GREAT VIDEO
@@BrandonScott-mi5pz thanks!
@@ravsucksbtw have u seen the sonic3 trailer??? I know it’s not a prediction video but ur 100% right about knuckles getting replaced shadow and in the new trailer i was like “ now that’s a good example of when rivals get replaced “ lol but yeah big respect to u my dude👍🏻👍🏻
Metal sonic just chilling in the back
@@CSGami Poor Metal got sidelined right after his first game until Heroes, though he’s been making a comeback recently
The downside of being in the less popular sequel locked to a less popular add-on...
Metal Sonic might as well be replacing Shadow now with how consistently he's been beating him through the floor in the IDW comics. Shadow has fallen off so hard.
@@dixonb.tweenerlegs4225Being Metal Sonic is suffering
Due to the nature of video game his job is to lose constantly, so his cool factor dies a firey death but he's super reliant on that if you're not doing a Japanese styled plot about transhumanism or something
@@ravsucks Metal Sonic has the luxury of being a permanent villain the othe rivals are now friends with sonic and their rivalries are now more friendly rivalries while Metal Sonic will forever be the antagonistic rival which means he can be used way more.
Knuckles is the Anti-Sonic. Sonic's antithesis, his counter-opposite. If Sonic is like the wind, Knuckles is the mountain. Speed vs Power. He guards the Master Emerald, which neutralizes the Chaos Emeralds that Sonic is legendary at using.
Shadow is the Dark Sonic. Sonic's dark reflection, his spitting image sharing identical speed and abilities. Where Sonic embodies the correct way to use the Chaos Emeralds, Shadow's specialty is using that power to warp time and space with "Chaos Control".
Blaze is the Nega-Sonic. Similar to Knuckles, she is Sonic's polar opposite. Like Yin and Yang, or the North and South magnetic poles, much like the Sol Emeralds are to the Chaos Emeralds. She fills a similar role to Sonic in her own world.
Silver is the Light Sonic. Where Shadow is a dark mirror, Silver is a light mirror. More specifically, he is the last light of hope in a dark, post apocalyptic world of ruin. Like an angel living in a chaotic inferno.
Each of these characters, in spite of sharing a similar status as being Sonic's rivals, each fill fundamentally different roles in that respect. Knuckles is "The Rival" character who can stand alongside Sonic as part of the same team, as close friends and allies who constantly clash with each other. Shadow, on the other hand, is firmly on his own "Dark side" in opposition to Sonic's "Hero side", only occasionally joining forces when needed. Blaze is less of a rival and more like a foil to Sonic, like the Lancer role to his Leader role. And Silver is the equivalent of Batman Beyond or Spider-Man 2099, serving as the "Sonic" of the future generation.
It is impossible for Shadow to truly replace Knuckles, because of the fundamentally different role they serve as characters. If anything, Shadow is a replacement to Metal Sonic, because both serve the purpose of being a dark mirror of Sonic. Aside from that, Knuckles & Shadow, along with Silver & Blaze, each have their own place alongside Sonic in the cast.
@@thesoniczone11 ngl this comment would make for a cool ass video script on its own
Knuckles hasn't really be anti sonic since the 90s tbh especially in terms of personality. The movie kinda brought his "reverse sonic" personality back but as far as the games go its basically dead
Shadow was locked away over 50 years before Sonic came about. So Shadow is not Sonic's dark reflection, but a hedgehog of the dark past which would explain his black and crimson fur, blood and darkness. The crimson explains the murder of both Maria and Gerald Robotnik. The black explains the secret to be locked away and hidden in the dark by GUN.
That's my thought about it.
hey don't forget metal!
This all reminds me of the Sonic Rivals games on PSP because of your mention of "chaotic inferno" (the final zone in the sequel) I don't think there was much of a story besides contriving reasons to have characters race against each other but it would have been nice to explore the relationships Sonic has with each of his rivals in a single game.
First rival becomes a bro, second rival stays a rival even after he turns good.
I mean, the entire point in DB is that Goku can turn his rivals into allies. Krillin was his first rival turned ally.
Well, I wouldn't say Krilin wasn't an ally to begin with
Yamcha was
I’d say it was maybe Oolong.
@@WikiHLHe wasn’t. They were rivals
@@galaxystudios370tbh the first thing Bulma did when she met Goku was run him over and the second was to empty her clip on him. Every one of Goku's friends has tried to kill him except Krillin
Another Example of a rival replacement I can think of is Kevin from Ben 10 getting replaced by Albedo as Ben’s evil counterpart.
Good one
I will say, Proto Man has always had more aura than Bass imo. Bass has a simple goal to prove he's the strongest robot master, but Proto Man just dips in and out, usually to kick someones ass, and then leaves without saying a word. At this point, hes mostly a hero, but even now, he's a total enigma.
@@geminiguy6032 facts
Proto Man fits the older brother archetype pretty well, and Bass is just angry all the time
I like protoman better as an anti-hero than bass. Bass should’ve had more of a villainous role
Why wasn't Zero mentioned I wonder
@@chiefdaddy271because zero wasn’t really X’s rival nor was he ever replaced
You forgot to bring up Mario, Donkey Kong, Wario, and Bowser in regards to the whole Hero vs Rival vs Villain dynamics
@@Rediscool9 good point - though I feel Donkey Kong and Wario have switched off the rival role over time. Donkey Kong fought Mario first, then Wario came around, but quickly became his own main character. Thanks to the Mario movie, now Donkey Kong is returning more to the rival seat.
@@ravsucks honestly I'd say donkey kong fully branched off from mario. Dude has his own games, he had his own cartoon, and his own cast of character that don't interact with the rest of the mario world. Outside of diddy kong
@@samuraibear5102 Wario kinda did too with Warioware and the Wario Land series. Which I think is a good direction to take the characters, instead of being tied down by Mario.
@@ravsucks true but them all most immediately deciding to not make wario mario rival has left waluigi to the wayside. Plus I really would have liked wapeach design be used in a game
@@samuraibear5102 Funky Kong, Dixie Kong, Tiny Kong, King K. Rool, and the Kremlings have appeared in Mario spin-offs tho.
Goku: “if I held a little thing like trying to kill me against people, I’d have very few friends.”
Silver isn’t really a rival in my opinion. He was a misguided antagonist who opposed Sonic who he believed caused the tragic future. Apart from their looks and both being hedgehogs Sonic and Silver have vastly different powers, Sonic is a speeding blur while Silver is telekinetic.
Shadow and Knuckles are both fast, rivalling Sonic in terms of speed with a possible edge in power but Silver isn’t inherently fast, he’s only able to move fast by using his telekinesis on himself and isn’t really able to keep pace when Sonic starts running.
Honestly Silver needs his own spin off to give him a chance to shine, he’ll never be able to shine in the mainline games as his powers are not comparable to those of Sonic and the other speedsters.
This was a good video looking at the role of a rival and the editing is great too. I hope you keep up the good work and looking forward to seeing more of your content.
@@zenithstrikerz1720 Yeah, it was a stretch on my part. Honestly Jet might’ve been a better choice. But I absolutely think he deserves a second chance - when he gets a chance to shine in the comics, he’s so fun to watch. Thank you!
There’s one franchise that I don’t think can ever replace the rival: Devil May Cry. Vergil is the perfect counterpart to Dante and has been since their childhood, and he’s more of a threat than almost any of the main villains of the series. In a way, he’s able to occupy both roles in the story, being both the main villain and the personal rival to Dante.
I remember when dmc4 first came out and Nero was introduced in the trailers, I was worried he was supposed to replace Vergil as Dante's rival, who was already a perfect rival. Thankfully that wasn't the case; and it turned out he was there to represent a future successor to Dante.
ok I agree with most of this video, except the kirby portion, the only time I would say Dedede was the main villain was in dreamland and ever since every fight is either, someone being tricked, Dedede being possessed, or just friendly rivalry
@@jmtthepixelmon16 fair enough. he just physically and personality wise fits the villain niche so well. i was also considering his role in the anime
@@ravsucksI would say in the games Dedede takes a rather unique role as essentially a sub-rival. He's still rather standoffish and fights Kirby, but he does seem more like a rival than a full on villain. The interesting thing is unlike other examples this doesn't detract from Meta Knight's role as the rival.
In fact
Kirby fighters 2 shows exactly that
Ddd and meta knight doing a team up against Kirby as a the true final boss of the game
They are both friendly rivals
Meta knight just has less of a grudge against Kirby, and if a spin off is on the works, ddd is the mostly likely candidate to go evil for this case
I agree, Dedede is more of a rival nowadays, Meta Knight still remains a rival despite this change with Dedede.
I guess reasoning for Dedede becoming a rival is due to kirby and company having to face a bigger treat per game.
I see Dedede as the bigger rival as he learns Kirby's techniques(floating and inhale), Hammer being based on Dedede's hammer, and and being eating as Kirby.
Sonic and Megaman and Dragon ball are my favourite franchises and are so similiar
I see Sonic and Mega Man parallels to be stronger than Sonic and Dragon Ball parallels tbh
@@KKHell same
bass and shadow = knuckles and Proto man
If you considerate that DB and Megaman influenced sonic than that's not as odd as it seems
@@triangulolegal6189 Megaman not really
Ichigo has a rival for 10 minutes then switches to another one xD
That said, none of them get shafted at all, they all get at least some development, sooner or later
Okay, kudos to the editing for the series transitions here, that's really clean.
@@Sorain1 Thanks!!
Personally I like how the Mega Man: Battle Network series rebuilds the dynamic between Mega Man, Proto Man and Bass. I haven't read the manga since I was a kid, but from what I hear, it did that really well
Marvel's Scorpion was the Anti-Spider-Man way before Venom showed up. In fact, that costume he was put in and the mutagenic treatment they gave him was specifically created to match and counter the Wall-Crawler. Plus, the scorpion gimmick was chosen because scorpions are natural predators of the spider. Ironically, Mac Gargan (Scorpion) would later become Venom's new host after it left Eddie Brock.
I could argue another example of this in the Godzilla franchise, although it's a bit of a stretch. Godzilla's first ever opponent was Anguirus, who was an ankylosaurus bearing similar radioactive origins to Godzilla. Anguirus boasted high defense while Godzilla boasted immense destructive power, with the movie even going as far as saying the two were natural enemies.
After his debut though Anguirus ended up being relegated to an ally for the rest of the early movies, with his mantle as "rival" eventually being taken up by Mechagodzilla. The funniest part is that in Mecha's debut he ended up fighting and ruthlessly beating Anguirus, prompting the real Godzilla to come and twist Mecha's head off like a bottle cap.
@@thatgamingkiwi1630 Ohhh, interesting! I was never a big Godzilla fan, but I think that’s a spot on example!
cool video. idk if this was the intention but it game me some random ideas about characters for my own stories
0:46 Incorrect. Shadow was never manipulated into fighting Sonic by Eggman. It was Shadow(technically being manipulated by Prof. Gerald) that was manipulating Eggman into carrying out Gerald's revenge plan.
Bro was basically in control of whether everyone dies or not
Piccolo was the man. Shoulda stayed the rival
He became something even better...The Godfather
@@amanzeihedioha I mean i like your comment but I think he was left behind
@@ivancastro365 Honestly in Z Piccolo is always doing shit in every arc. Fighting Raddiz, Nappa, Frieza, Cell first form, C17, he helps for Buu. He does feel a bit left behind compared to Vegeta but he is still very much relevant till the end unlike Tien or the rest of the Z fighters.
Top Tier Rival that everyone sleeps on: Dark Pit.
A character created out of Pit's dark side made to destroy the original but maintained his willpower and serves to be Pit but better.
Hell, he even replaced Pit's original rival and the only other character that was known before the KI revival; Eggplant Wizard
Funny how ppl forget Tien was Goku's rival too xD
they didnt forget they just didnt know since alot of ppl havent watched og DB
@@shadowofthenorthstar989 But Piccolo was Goku's rival in OG DB too and he's recognized as a rival xD?
King Dedede being a villain is the only false example here that I'm aware of. If you don't count spinoffs and retellings, he's only been an actual villain like twice in the entire series. In other cases he's either mind controlled or misunderstood by Kirby. He's been depicted as a friendly rival for many years now, in Forgotten Land there's even a collectible trophy outright describing him and Kirby as such. This is actually interesting for this topic cuz that's a somewhat rare case of the series having two constantly relevant rivals without one replacing the other (Meta Knight and Dedede). In Kirby Fighters 2, a recent game, they even team up not for any evil intent, but to finally settle the score
@@NikBarTrash Yeah, that’s what most people have called me out on 😅 He just fits the villain role so well design wise, even more so in the anime
@@ravsucks In your defense, he's mind controlled to be the villain pretty often, usually as a fake out at the beginning of the games, which maybe puts him closer narratively to a villain than a rival? Basically imagine if mega man had to do something like the Dark Man twist for protoman nearly every time he appeared. It's an odd situation.
Dedede is like a villain, but more like a friendly villain, he does things for himself and Kirby wants to stop him, but he isn't evil, more like egotistical and stupid.
@@ericktn-pr
Yeah King Dedede was more like Wario a greedy and arrogant king but pretty dumb.
Metaknight was more serious and intelligent but even then he was more of an extremist who saw his methods as justified than a truly evil person.
Your transition edits are so clean
Keep making videos like these and your channel can really take off
@@juwanhoward196 can only hope 🤞
It's actually insane how underutilized Bass/Forte is. So much potential...
from speed vs strength to speed vs speed and edge
Yes
This video feels like it should be viral ngl
@@Taekaleaf one day bro lol
Seriously, it’s really good!
@@RanchHog oh, you make me blush. i think i could’ve standard to analyze the trope more than list it, but i’m happy that people liked it!
@@RanchHogI’m Gona cm
Especially since it has acknowledgement of Mega Man.
Knuckles was such a good rival that challenged Sonic with strength not speed. But I think each of Sonic’s rivals challenge him in different ways. Knuckles his strength. Metal his “humanity” and limits that come with it, and Shadow his beliefs. “What you see is what you get”
The archie comics made blues my favorite. His conflict with mega man made sense and he had an actual reason to fight his brother.
I like how all the rivals have all the same personalities
Ironically even though Vegeta has taken the role as rival he still takes more Ls in the series than anyone not named Krillin
I'd say more than Krillin.
I feel like vegeta is getting a dose of his own medicine as if frieza gonna replace him as the rival
I'm unsure that could happen
Never gonna happen they got goku & vegeta too linked together
Love how TH-cam is pushing smaller creators with amazing content, keep it up man
@@hatezomm thank you! i’m very glad the algorithm found me
Nice video and editing. Your gonna go far
@@cavolink861 thank you!! all i can hope is that i make stuff people like
This was a great video! keep it up big man
@@KingTheodore100 thanks!!!
This is a great video! Definitely subscribing
This is one of the best analyseee's Ive ever watched.
Great video and great concept for a video
Bass isn't fighting against Willy, he just destroys Willy's other robot masters out of jealousy.
This guy is perfect friend you could wish for he likes at least one thing out of these franchises even Megaman this guy is a keeper can’t wait for your upcoming content
@@drfirebone1-936 aww, thank you! i’ll make sure to keep it coming!
Awesome video dude I really enjoyed it!
Dedede was only truly a villain in the first game. The second game shows him trying to protect Dreamland in his own dumb way, and from there he becomes more of a comedic rival until 64 where he moves into an outright ally role and the excuse for fights with Dedede from then on is him getting mind controled by the villain.
Yugioh did this a lot. While the original series was consistent with Kaiba, GX replaced rivals at least once a season. The next few series followed suit.
Fist of the North Star was interesting in that Ken went through rivals like copy paper. However, it turned out to be plot-relevant, since the accumulated grief is what led Ken to victory in his final battle with Raoh. The only rival whose death doesn't impact the series is Jagi, mainly because he was the only one who never got a redemption arc.
Jagi felt less like a rival in the end and more like that character who wanted to be the rival, but was under qualified to fit the role. I.e. Chazz in Yugioh gx.
Jagi did the worst damage to Kenshiro than anyone else in the series: He convinced Shin to turn evil and steal Yuria, he pretended to be him, he tried to use two boys against him, and tried to kill him when he didn't become the successor.
@@ricardonb6375 Makes him sound more like a Lex Luthor style mastermind, than a rival.
Calling Nui a rival just because she wields the other half of the scissor blade would unironically make her tear apart the screen to get you. My girl is a certified Evil-doer
How does not have many views. Great job man
@@FullmetalYonko tysm!
This vid is well made and edited keep it up
Great freaking video mate
@@ZenthForm thanks!!
I don't know why people consider silver a "rival" to sonic. Just bc they were at odds once doesn't mean they're rivals. A rival is somebody you're constantly trying to one up and vice versa, like goku and vegeta or sonic and shadow. Silver doesn't have that dynamic at all with sonic they're usually friendly or when sonic is trying to challenge silver he's just kinda like "okay". Silver isn't much like sonic either, he's a hedgehog and that's pretty much where the similarities end
One amazing example of how a previously abandoned rival can reclaim their position is in Yu-Gi-Oh ZEXAL. (Specifically the Japanese version, since it handles its characters 100x better.)
Shark starts out the series as a main antagonist in the first duel, however he quickly turns into a rival to Yuma after he is defeated.
Yuma is an energetic and optimistic protagonist who uses mostly a mix of different level monsters, but mostly focuses on level 4s with vastly different types. Meanwhile, Shark has a calm demeanor but can be easily agitated who mostly uses a balance between level 3 and 4 sharks.
Later on, Kaito is introduced as a new rival who is extremely calm and calculated who, like both Shark and Yuma, cares deeply for his family, but goes to much greater and sinister lengths to protect his brother when he is in danger. He uses mostly level 4 warriors like Yuma, but his Boss Monster is a level 8 dragon.
During the second series, ZEXAL Second, more of Shark's backstory is revealed that explains why he can wield powerful monsters that possess people without any special powers like Yuma or Kaito. This new revelation puts him at odds with both Yuma and Kaito.
Now Shark has reclaimed his throne of being the main rival whilst Kaito is now put into the role of being a major ally to Yuma.
_How the tables have turned._
I always loved the rivals in the Yu-Gi-Oh series since they are so well executed with their believable motivations, incredible character, and the threat they are able to present to the protagonist. And this is one of my favorite examples of rival execution in the entire franchise.
This happened a lot in Yu-Gi-Oh Gx since Gx was the first spin-off, and they didn't have the formula quite down yet. So Jaden cycled through many rivals. In season 1 alone, he had Zane, The Chazz, and Bastion. Season 2 introduced Aster and did away with Bastion and Zane, but kept The Chazz for a bit. Until Season 3, when even Aster and The Chazz were phased out of the rival role, and we got Jesse all the way to season 4.
this vid is so good i edged to it. i'm definitely subbing
@@ToblueRBLX you’re subbing AND edging? freaky
Silver was never a rival to Sonic! He was just a temporary antagonist because of the situation. Besides that, the video is spot on. Im still of the camp that Shadow should stop being Sonic's rival (and he should stop having those entirely unless they join the roster later on) because he's so much more than second fiddle
@@ChampionAzure Fair enough, though I wonder if he could’ve become one, had 06 not failed. Silver is such an interesting character because it’s hard to tell what SEGA had planned for him, given that he’s fallen so much by the wayside since. Someone pointed out Metal Sonic serves as a better rival to Sonic, given he’ll never stop trying to be faster, stronger, better.
@@ravsucks I agree. Metal should def be Sonic's only rival, because I feel like Knuckles, Shadow, Blaze, and Silver are way too unique to be rivals. Like Vergil in DMC should get something like their own game.
If we exclude 06, Silver's debut game is Sonic Rivals.
Except for one thing, you can't stop Shadow being Sonic's rival unless you change fundamental parts of their respective characters.
The two reasons why they clash is because 1. Shadow's cool-headed nature in pursuing his goals by any means necessary, sometimes conflicts with Sonic's nature.
(As stated by Iizuka, Sonic will take detours to help those in trouble on the wayside, while Shadow will not stop to help. He will stay on the path to achieve his goal)
2. As head of sonic team states, Sonic is the one who's see's Shadow as his rival & will challenge him because they're practically 1:1 & he likes having fun. That's just how Sonic is.
Shadow himself doesn't share that sentiment & thinks of Sonic as this annoying guy who likes to get in his way. Sonic enjoys how similar they are, Shadow doesn't, but they still respect eachother in spite of that.
@@kez1z I don't think how Shadow views Sonic is fundamental, tbh. Kinda like IDW did it, I think they could clash off of missing context but then ally for the rest of the adventure. Reminder that this is all conjecture based on how I want Shadow to operate. At its most extreme I think he should have a different gamplay style instead of being similar to Sonic to showcase his "at any cost" mentality.
In the Archie Comics Shadow got his own Carnage, an alien super soldier called Eclipse the Darkling.
@@rjd1922 I LOVE ECLIPSE TY FOR MENTIONING
Banger, I wish we had more knuckles and shadow interactions
Bro, Metal Sonic is the definition of "getting hoed by the writers"😭. After Heroes, bro hasn't gotten any kind of W.
@@dralx2042 he feels like an afterthought now, though he at least gets some love in the comics
@@ravsucksthe comics do metal some justice. He’s a real threat
He's been smacking Shadow back to back in the comics. The roles have been reversed and Shadow's been the one getting hoed for the past few years
Bro put BEN REILLY SCARLET SPIDER when talking evil spidey😭😭😭
This channel needs more love, great video!
thank you!!
In Devil May Cry 1, your rival is a dark knight named Nelo Angelo. Towards the end of the game, Nelo Angelo is revealed to be a mind controlled version of Dante's secret brother, Vergil. In Devil May Cry 3, Vergil himself, not mind controlled, is the main rival throughout the game and the main antagonist, and returns as the main rival and antagonist in Devil May Cry 5.
You can argue that Nelo Angelo was replaced by Vergil, but they're both the same person. Still, Nelo had a different moveset than Vergil and was mind controlled and didn't have the same personality as Vergil.
Great vid man keep it up!
@@Kyeuss thanks!
I find it fascinating Kid Icarus went to the Shadow/Bass/Vegeta-style rival right away with Dark Pit -- almost consciously so.
Maybe that's why there was animosity towards him when he joined Smash 4. It feels like the Kid Icarus roster was missing a step, when it really wasn't.
Though this shows that despite those new rivals being loved now, for older fans they are a sign of decline, that there aren't any more interesting ideas than giving the protagonist a literal 'dark' counterpart.
If I remember correctly, the main reason wasn't because "dark edgy copy character." It was because his moveset and Pit's were so similar that it felt like a waste of a character slot that could've gone to someone more unique (which was already an issue with other Smash characters like Dr.Mario or Lucina).
Heck originally Dark Pit was supposed to be a *costume* for Pit too before they changed their mind.
As a *character* people actually don't mind him since he adds more to Kid Icarus (i.e. calling out the gods for their hubris and pettiness, or Pit with his almost blind devotion to them).
Knuckles was Sonic's first rival then Shadow took his place
shadow better ngl
he's very edgy
@@ToblueRBLX yah that's true shadows really cool 😎
@@ToblueRBLXThat’s based on opinion. Shadow is a better villain definitely, but to me Knuckles is way cooler.
Knuckles the best
Shadow technically copied knuckles and sonic he copied sonic look and knuckles attitude
"Evil versions of Spider-Man"
*Sees Ben Reilly*
How dare you?
@@shockhedgehog4771 didn’t even notice the deadpool i snuck in there
I miss Knuckles as a rival
2:18 Naruto does the “hero but evil” thing perfectly imo. Pretty much every villian until the otsuki is just natuto if he lost his joy
10:14 yes I will drink water like Foo Fighters
🥤
Heres a tip for finding more rivals, looking up the lancer trope. Lancer is similar to a rival, but it's on the same team. Topically second to command the opposite to the leader. Raphiel to Leo, Batman to Superman, Lancelot to Sir Arthur. Anything that's a foil is a lancer, topically the smart to dumb, the nice to mean, the level headed to the hotheaded, the silly or stoic to serious or edgy.
@@mak3x7 Good idea for a sequel! Maybe one day…
I think adding Silver to this list isn't really accurate. He was clearly meant to be the third addition to Sonic and Shadow's dynamic? He's the Trunks (in both a nearly literal sense) to Sonic's Goku and Shadow's Vegeta, not meant to be a direct rival, in the way Shadow or Knuckles are, but part of what I guess was going to be a Sonic Trinity. His powers don't reflect or contrast Sonic's in the way that Shadow and Knuckles do either.
@@CometX-ing I guess I was thinking about early in the game, when he appears as this mysterious hedgehog hunting Sonic. Though with enough people noting it, yeah, I probably should’ve omitted him from the list.
nice video bro keep it up man I enjoy your content big fan of 90% of these series you talk about
video was sensational🙇🏾♂️
@@realestAG thank you!! glad you enjoyed it
Spider-Cide is the more so to Scarlet Spider, Ben, and Kaine is the more so the Spider-Cide. Though Spider-Cide was stupid and deserves to be forgotten, a comic book historian would begrudgingly note Kaine's big moment was kicking in the heads of Spider-Man, Scalet Spider and Spider-Cide all by himself when they ganged up on him.
I feel like sonic is in the most danger of being phased out. Every time a new character is added that's just someone else with super speed, a spin dash, a homing attack and a super form
Canonically it’s only really Sonic and Shadow who actually have those abilities regularly.
Funnily enough, out of all those Evil Flashes, The Rival is actually the oldest one
dont you DARE shitalk Silver
I miss the Sonic & Knuckles rivalry so much.
As a Knuckles fan, same.
This trend really happens VERY often with super heroes.
Case in point: Captain Marvel who went through like three different rivals within the span of 5 years. First there was Captain Nazi who started out being imagined as his evil counterpart. Then there was Ibac who was like the first more appropriate word of power villain that the character face. And then came Black Adam, his definitive rival, who is pretty much like the inspiration for characters like Shadow in terms of darker version of heroes theme.
3:54 "Kirby is the hero"
*correct buzz sound*
3:56: "Dedede is the villain"
*LOUD INCORRECT BUZZ*
It’s always hard for me to call Dedede a villain since he’s not necessarily a “bad guy”. He’s self centered but has always had good intentions for planet popstar (even if he sucks at it).
9:40 it's important to add that Piccolo's goal wasn't exactly to get stronger, but to take over the world like his father did. Becoming stronger and defeating Goku was just a byproduct of that. Eventually, his friendship with Gohan softened Piccolo to the point he dropped that goal entirely and essentially became a full on good guy, who got stronger with the focus of protecting the earth and his friends. Vegeta in the other hand wanted power like Freeza at first, sure, but his main focus was always strength: "I'm the prince of all saiyans, I'm the strongest saiyan there is" his battle with Goku damaged this specific part of his ego, and after he lost his chance at immortality against Freeza, his main goal became surpassing Goku in strength, that's why Vegeta is a much better rival to Goku, bc they both want the exact same thing but go around it in different ways: Goku wants to become stronger out of a sense of personal self-growth and love for fighting. Vegeta wants to become stronger out of a sense of pride and ego.
I think the dynamic just shifts and gets better when the rival goes from being the antithesis of the hero character to a different character that’s more just the darker aspect of the main character
I swear every rival has to be acotited with the color black
Okay, but what happens when the VILLAIN has a rival? Are they the opposite of the hero's rival?
Oh yeah this is the good stuff. I ate food while watching this.
true😐
@@ammarsiddiqui6696 what is food without youtube
Sonic's true rival is Jet the Hawk.
Fuck Shadow!
Fang the Sniper
Jet is a meme character lol
These rivals got robbed by ' edgier' iterations that impressionable fans quickly forget the originals. Its a shame really. 😢
Piccolo is pure-edge before the tail-end of the saiyan saga dude, wdym 😂
@@MartezDGoat you missed my point entirely . Bigelow Piccolo is a perfect example of being the Edgelord til Vegeta took his thunder. Now fans saw geets as the 'edgiest'...even though Bigelow took out Goku & Raditz....some fans forgot that.
Vegeta isn't just "edgier", he's just more entertaining to watch. You can't just chalk up his popularity to edge
There should be a story where the old rival absolutely trashes the new rival and keeps their spot. That would be fun.
Blue lock is a really interesting example for this trope as it seems like it would really lean really hard into it way more than even these much longer running series but actually bucks the trend by managing to keep all of them relevant.
The mc has had about 4 of these very significant rivalries introduced overtime and they have all coexisted as major focuses and more minor ones srick around as well.
In the comics, Zoom and Savitar fill different roles (Also Savitar was introduced first). Savitar is kind of more like an evil version of Max Mercury as one who understands the speedforce more who leads a speedster ninja cult. Godspeed is probably the closest a speedster gets to rival having a we should kill the villains dynamic. Zoom meanwhile is a guy who wants to make Wally a better hero by giving him more tragedy. Trajectory in the comics is just a teen that Lex screwed over. Also of note is the evil johny quick which CW Zoom seems mostly inspired by seeing as how he's the evil Flash of a different universe where villains are heroes and vice versa
Bass in a nutshell:
-wants to be strong
-loses to mega man every time
-does what he wants
-gets his ass kicked in every time hes a boss
-hates his creator dr wahwee
-loves his dog
-has no friends
-appers in games then dissappears the next game
-only playable in megaman 7 secret mode mega man power battle 1 and 2 megaman 10 megaman and bass and megaman and bass challenger of the future
6:10 Literally Green Goblin lol
The EXE net Navi versions of Mega man and Bass should also be another honorable mention, heck they even fuse into Bass Cross Megaman in both the anime and manga just like Goku and Vegeta fused into Vegito or Gogeta.
I agree with most of that assessment... Especially with the need for the new rival replacement to be DIFFERENT than the old rival instead of a quick reskin of the old rival... But slightly stronger or more evil.
Also loved how many people referenced the Sonic 2 movie with Knuckles being the rival with the grab and punch moment.
Really highlighting the difference between Knuckles and other rivals Sonic had fought.
As for Kirby?
I always thought the King got bumped from villain to rival.
Leaving Meta knight to be Rival/Mentor/Test.
As he tends to appear to test Kirby to see if he is ready for something rather than what most rivals tend to do.
While the King is more willing to challenge Kirby in just about anything... from fighting, to eating, to racing, to whatever new mini game they threw in.
BASS IN THE THUMBNAIL RAAAHHHH BASS MENTIONED I LOVE BASS
Dedede hasn't been a villain since his first appearance. He is easily brainwashed but he always ends up helping Kirby or saving the world himself. He's a straight up hero.
It's because as the old generation grows up they rivals of their time just look like normal cast members. Hell I remember watching dbz as a kid and knowing nothing of piccolo. But when I saw him and goku go to fight raditz I knew they had beef but I always thought of piccolo as gokus friend so when vegeta came along that's when it clicked "Oh this is gokus rival" now knowing everything I do and actually watching og dragon ball I gotta say I still love the change. It makes piccolos character so much more heart felt. The Son/clone of demon king piccolo kamis pure evil half. Reborn and given a second chance at life. After his battle with goku he goes and trains. And after killing goku and avenging his father by also killing raditz he trains gokus son which is just beautiful btw. Can we just... 😥 toriyama was such a good writer man.
They replaced Knuckles original role with Shadow, and they dumbed down Knuckles character so much as a result. Shit hurts.
They dumbed down Shadow's too so they got that in common xD.
that happened to a lot of characters in the 2010s in the Sonic series
Broly like, WHERE TF am I ?
Pretty good video.
And while Classic Bass is somewhat cool, I have grown a preference to his Battle Network counterpart, especially his portrayal in the manga.
@@sonloto I really need to play more of the series besides classic and X, I’m missing out
Let's also not forget the biggest irony to this topic:
Sonic HIMSELF was intentionally created as a Rival to Mario, but one designed to actually triumph, not as a trope.