Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl Brings Back The Series’ Two Best Rivalries

Whether you choose Brilliant Diamond or Shining Pearl, you’re choosing your side.

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Pokemon is filled with famous rivalries. There’s your classic Water, Fire, Grass starter trio that has perfected the rock, paper, scissors dynamic. There’s Ash vs Team Rocket. Red vs Blue. You vs the rival you named when you were seven, so probably you vs Fart Face. The best ones though are the rivalries between Pokemon themselves, and Pokemon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl is bringing the best two back.

Pokemon has always had version exclusives. For Gen 9, it’s a trend that needs to die, but it remains a mainstay of the series. As a result, there are some Pokemon tied to one version of the game, and others to its opposite. This doesn’t necessarily mean they’re rivals though – Oddish and Bellsprout might be split across Red & Blue, but they’re not rivals. They don’t hate each other. They’re just weird little Grass pals who happen to live in alternative universes. There are two sets of version alternates that do hate each other though, and both are present across the battle lines of Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl.

The first of these are Magmar and Electabuzz, easily my favourite of the Pokemon rivalries because it’s almost entirely fan invented. I’ve written about why Magmar vs Electabuzz is Pokemon’s best story before, but here’s a brief rundown.

Ever since the original Red & Blue, Magmar and Electabuzz have been kindred spirits on the opposite side of the looking glass. Both represent the strong, single type, non-evolving bipedal Pokemon you encounter in a strange building in the late-game. They’re the best exclusive in each game in terms of stats, they’re roughly the same build, share a somewhat similar design, and learn moves at the same rate. They’ve been designed as counterpoints. As the series went on, the rivalry became even more connected.

Magmar and Electabuzz got a baby Pokemon in the same generation. They got a new evolution in the same generation. Much like the original Magmar and Electabuzz, the babies and final evolutions were equally similar to each other – both in terms of aesthetic design and technical proficiency. Based on datamined files, it appears the Electabuzz family is exclusive to Brilliant Diamond, while the Magmar family is exclusive to Shining Pearl. Our features editor Ben Sledge has already argued that Brilliant Diamond is the only option here, given the vast array of superior exclusive ’mons, and Electabuzz only adds to that claim.

This is a rivalry largely invented by the fans, and Electabuzz is the more popular of the two, which seems like case closed. However, Pokémon’s second most fascinating rivalry is not an organic invention of the players – it’s something the game itself has constructed, and this rivalry returns in Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl too. The rivalry of Zangoose and Seviper.

Zangoose is a mongoose and Seviper a snake, which casts them as natural enemies. It also means their designs are very different from one another, so they don’t immediately fit the Electabuzz/Magmar mould. However, several Pokedex entries reveal the truth here, putting them both as bitter rivals desperately avoiding each other, and sinister hunters tracking each other down. Pokemon Go leans into this too, having them either fleeing from or following after each other, depending on your perspective.

I’m happy to go on record though and say I think it’s all Seviper’s fault. It causes havoc in New Pokemon Snap even with the usually peaceful Octillery, so I’m officially on team Zangoose now.

Pokemon has always been peppered with these rivalries, and Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl is no different. I’m not going to run Electabuzz or Zangoose, because they’re both just a bit naff, but I’m glad the rivalry is still being kept alive.

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