Rival: Wally or Brendan/May?

I prefer Wally over Brendan/May.

1) He's way cuter than the other two.
2) His appearances show progress, especially before you challenge the Elite 4.
3) Did I mention he was adorable?

Well, it's not that I hate Brendan or May, it's just that I think they may be a little much at times. Especially on the emphasis of friendship and I feel that the rivalry between you and Brendan/May is more relaxed compared to Wally who is a bit more serious in his rivalry against you.

I'm all for Team Wally~

 

I actually used to think Brendan/May in RSE was the most boring rival, their personality seemed totally two dimensional somehow. I never felt any sort of connection to them, at all.

For that reason I used to prefer Wally by far. Wally, even though his character wasn't the strongest either, showed character development and I thought it was cool how you were by his side to catch his very first Pokémon and then got to see him grow as a trainer (well, sort of).

ORAS has changed things up a little though. I actually really liked Brendan, and I enjoyed the extra emphasis on friendship.
Post E4 spoilers:

Spoiler

The scene after the Elite Four was superb. At least to me. It was so touching the way you revisit the place you very first battled, and battled again. I don't care that his team kinda sucked, or that it did pale in comparison to the Champion battle. It was incredibly sweet and I'm a sucker for sweet/sentimental things.

ORAS just did various things here and there that made me like Brendan a lot more and feel much closer to him.

Wally seemed about the same as the originals, except quite a bit more solid and interesting as a character I think. He was super adorable and I love how you sort of watch him mature as a trainer. It's a shame he still didn't really show up much throughout the story, but it just makes it all the more impressive when you run into him on Victory Road. At least that's what I think.

Overall, I loved both characters a lot actually. I liked Brendan more as a character and friend, but I liked Wally more as a rival, since (like WainGuy said) Brendan(/May) is really more of your best friend than your rival. Wally actually uses battles against you to motivate himself and get stronger. While battles from Brendan always just kind of felt like "Well, we're both here so why not?" I dunno. That's just what I think.

 

Like the others prior to me, I prefer Wally. I did like Brendan/May however, they felt generic and expected. Game freak did a fantastic job portraying Wally's growth and how the player wouldn't expect much of him until the E4. Though I didn't dislike Brendan/May, they just felt predictable and added a warm touch to the story, but not much of rival standpoint.

 

I want to prefer Wally, but he's just such a weak child... I would like him a lot more if he were a bit stronger, or at least a bit older. If the player is supposed to be ten years old, then how old is Wally even? Seven or eight years at most...

 

I like Wally way better. His theme blew my mind and he actually has character development that is extremely amazing.

 

I don't dislike Brendan/May, but I think of them more as a friend rather than a rival. I like Wally as a rival, his growth as a trainer and a person is really nice to see.

I'm just SO glad that Brendan/May actually had fully evolved teams. @.@

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oFs7A8DTA4



...Seriously, though, Wally actually has a little storyline and develops as a character. May/Brendan isn't bad, but is still kinda just there.

 

I like May/Brendan better. They were a little more active in the storyline and they seemed like more of a friendly rival which I thought was really cool.

 

Wally, for certain! There's just something about Brendan and May that... bugs me. Maybe it's their happy-go-lucky personalities? I don't know, but I'm rather fond of Wally. He starts out pretty week, and his character develops into a trainer in top shape.

 

Hmm.. I'm gonna say Wally because he's more serious about the whole "being a trainer" business. Both Brendan/May and Wally got character improvements in this game, but Brendan/May aren't really trying to beat you or anything. They're just testing how good you are and they don't seem like they care about losing or winning. I think they're more of a supportive friend than a rival.

Like what pretty much everyone says, Wally starts out as a weak, fragile boy but through many battles he slowly becomes one of the most powerful post-game trainers. I actually felt kinda bad when I wrecked his team in the Victory Road, he looked so disappointed...

The only problem is that he doesn't show up as much as Brendan/May in the main storyline. He just battles you twice and that's it. It would have been awesome if they explained how he got the Mega Pendant. Was it given to him? Did he just pick it up somewhere? Did he fight for it? I think it would have been an interesting sub-quest or something.

Also, he's got a kickass battle theme.

 

Character-wise, I prefer Wally. His personality is seemingly much more charming. Why "seemingly", you may ask? Because, in terms of being a rival, Wally barely fits the bill. You encounter him what, a total of three times before challenging the Pokémon League? (He gets a cameo after the Cave of Origins event, but you don't actually interact with him.) It's fucking ridiculous. I was really hoping ORAS would give him a bigger role especially given how little a presence he had in RSE, but they did not and it greatly disappointed me. To make matters worse for the cutie, they gave Brendan/May more appearances. Also, Wally's VS theme, while badass, does not fit him whatsoever. Even if he became "braver" (which to me is sort of unbelievable since he doesn't seem to do anything other than challenge Gym Leaders) it still sounds too upbeat for him.

I honestly cannot consider Wally a rival at all, so he lost to the MC's neighbor in that regard.

 

Brendan and May are cute but I don't really feel that they develop much if at all throughout the story. Their personality hardly changes and they're not as involved in the overall plot as I would've liked.. though Wally is pretty much in the same boat. He's very cute and does grow to become braver as well as less timid but we hardly get to see why. We battle him a few times throughout the game so I found myself questioning how he got to that point - surely it couldn't have been just going out to travel.

Overall I feel R/S/E/OR/AS rivals are hardly even rivals with their lack of development and difficulty, though if I had to pick I'd go with Wally, mostly for his design (too bad his theme only plays when you fight him at Victory Road boo).

 

Wally.

May/Brendan are just kind of... There. they do make lots more appearances than Wally does, but all they really do is battle you an unnecessary amount of times. Given, their goal wasn't exactly to become the Champion, but still, I felt that they could've done more.

My only problem with Wally is how few times he appears. I'd much rather have seen him more throughout the story; especially his own journey. He became so badass, I could hardly believe the person I faced on Victory Road was the same Wally as the one who I met in the Petalburg gym. Everything about him just became so unbelievably amazing; he got a theme song, the setting for his fight was perfect, and even the way he threw his Pokéball was just so great. Not only that, but my battle with him really got my blood pumping; he isn't the Champion, but the fight still has the same intensity.

Not only that, but Wally almost seems to experience and learn more than your own character. He's very young for a Pokémon trainer, like you, but unlike you, he's a sickly child, who doesn't have a starter Pokémon, and can barely find the courage to do anything for himself.
He seems to be a better example than your character of the point the game, and the Pokémon franchise is trying to put across. Wally's benefited so much more from being a Pokémon trainer, and the idea that Pokémon are friends, helpers, who are the reason for a trainer's strength and being is just so much more apparent within Wally than any other character in the game.

In my opinion, he's the least forgettable rival, no, character, in the Pokémon series. I had been looking forward to that battle with him since buying Alpha Sapphire, and it greatly exceeded my expectations.