Gary Oak Is Still Pokémon’s Best Rival

Introducing Gary Oak in Pokémon Red & Blue is one of the best decisions the series has ever made, as the rival still stands the test of time.

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There are many popular advertisement campaigns that bring in millions of dollars for companies around the world, through the use of clever commercials, catchy jingles, and memorable slogans. Gary Oak from the Pokémon anime has to be one of the greatest video game commercials of all time, as he made people want to buy Pokémon Red & Blue just so they can beat the huge jerk they saw in the cartoon.

When Pokémon Red & Green were released in Japan, they had a rival character who fought the player throughout the game. This rival (later named Blue in Pokémon Gold & Silver) managed to become the Pokémon Champion just before the player, and he was the final opponent in the game. When the Pokémon anime series debuted in Japan, the writers had the chance to flesh this character out. They named the rival Shigeru and they turned him into the biggest jerk under the sun. When the anime was localized into English, the writers named him Gary and turned his jerkiness up to eleven.

In the early seasons of the Pokémon anime, Ash Ketchum was a horribly incompetent Pokémon trainer, who barely scraped his way through each Gym battle. This was a necessary story device, as it allowed the writers to explain all of the concepts of the Pokémon universe to the viewer, with Ash as their proxy. Ash’s slow growth as a trainer made fans root for him even more, as he slowly got better with each battle and added new Pokémon to this team.

Ash wanted to become a Pokémon Master, but there was one major enemy standing in his way – Gary Oak. From the start, Gary was portrayed as the superior trainer, and he was always one step ahead of Ash. Gary drove a cool car, had a squad of squealing fangirls, and he even managed to get ten Gym Badges, even though there were only eight Gyms in the Kanto region (and he didn’t even acquire the Earth Badge, due to Giovanni using Mewtwo during their battle). In short, Gary was an awesome trainer, and he had no problem rubbing that fact in Ash’s face. This left fans rooting for Ash, and many eagerly awaited the day when he would finally crush his rival in battle.

It took a long time for Ash to beat Gary, thanks to numerous real-world delays and their climactic battle being pushed back to the Johto region. The fans could defeat Gary by proxy, however, as the release of Pokémon Red & Blue gave international players the chance to crush the character who Gary was based on. Blue was just as much of a jerk as Gary and he mocks the player all the way up to the final encounter, but unlike Gary, the player has the chance to annihilate Blue in battle, leaving him scrambling for excuses, in some of the most satisfying beatdowns in video game history.

The reason why Blue and Gary were such genius concepts is that they made you want to beat them. This is in stark comparison to the nice rivals that have plagued the Pokémon franchise since Ruby & Sapphire. Only Silver from Gold & Silver can hold a candle to Blue, as he is a jerk in a different, less flashy way. No one cares about rivals that are also friends, as there is no drive to defeat them in a fight. This is why so many of the modern rivals are so forgettable, especially when compared to the sensation of beating Blue for the first time in Professor Oak’s Lab.

Gary Oak would fade into the background over time, as he gave up being a trainer and decided to follow in his grandfather’s footsteps. Ash would go on to have other rivals over the course of the series, but none have stuck in the minds of fans as clearly as Gary Oak. He might have been a jerk, but he led to lots of people trying out Pokémon Red & Blue for the first time, just for the chance to beat someone who looked just like him.

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