The Right and Wrong Way to make a Rival

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Honestly, I really like the rival trope, especially whenever the two characters actually have a deep respect for each other. Like, Vergil and Dante respect each other, but always end up battling each other and laugh it off as just "How they've been since they were kids" or how Sonic and Knuckles compete but in a more friendlier manner and turn things into a silly competition.

The fact that Vergil and Sam having the same Japanese VA (Hiroaki Hirata) makes it even better.

To me, I think rivalry is about the motivation of the characters and not just for the sake of being bad. And it could take on different forms besides the villains or jerk tropes. Depending on the story, it can bring the characters more in depth and flesh them out more

My favorite dynamic in media is the triangle between hero, villain and rival. Usually the rival isn't the big villain of the story, but will work either along side the villain or against them, but also against the hero. It always culminates satisfyingly.

I love how Vergil , while not the progenitor of rival characters, was done so well that having a character that mirrors the protagonist became a staple of character action games Hell, even Platinum games , a studio largely made up of the people who made the first DMC, took notes from this and have included a rival character with this philosophy in mind, for almost every major game they've made since Jeanne and Jetstream Sam are just the most popular examples

One thing I wanna add about Dante and Vergil is how they fight when they have each other’s weapons. Vergil fights very similar to Dante when using the force edge, just not doing some things like the sword master skills. Dante, when using the Yamato in DMC 4, uses it like a side-arm in combat, but still knows how to use it like Vergil, showing that they both know how each other fights, likely from observing one another in battle

Vergi is not just a rival, he's an indirect teacher of the game too. He punishes and humiliates button mashers and rewards those who takes the time to learn Dante.

There's a lot more you can add to wanting Vergil to win. You almost want him to win, because he's processing through his grief in the worst way. Throughout the whole series, Vergil is obsessed with power. Obsessed with the power he didn't have to be able to protect his family. To protect his mother. He becomes so obsessed with it that he's even willing to kill his twin brother, Dante. Time passes on, and Dante has been able to move past his grief. Especially after he meets a young devil hunter with a mysterious arm, Nero. He sorta becomes a mentor figure for him, and it becomes stronger when you eventually learn that Nero is Vergil's son. Dante was finally able to find people he can be close to again. He finally had some semblance of a family. Vergil was alone. He had nobody, because he shut everyone away in his pursuit of ultimate power. In DMC 5, he's literally willing to split his humanity away if it meant he'd be unstoppable. However, Dante was able to connect to both sides of himself. He acknowledges that he's a human that's half demon, instead of demon who's half human. Dante had something Vergil never did, and that's what always allowed him to defeat him. It's not until the end of DMC 5 where he starts to question what his life could've been like. And it's only until he's finally able to connect to his brother and son that he's able to find something he never had. If we get another game, maybe they'll explore more with that. Who knows what they have in store for one of gaming's greatest rival's. I just hope that it's a jackpot.

"You just find him hot" You described every white-haired villain especially if from Japanese entertainment

Personally, my favorite Rival in gaming is Dark Pit from Kid Icarus Uprising. For one, he's the physical manifestation of Pit's inner demons. Not only is he stark black compared to Pit's white, but he's also Pit's complete opposite personality-wise. While Pit is heroic, kind, and fiercely loyal to his goddess, Dark Pit is destructive, mean, and disloyal to literally everyone. He refuses to serve anyone and values his freedom too much. In fact, that's the biggest thing about Dark Pit. After stealing Pandora's powers, he gains infinite flight which is something Pit yearns for but can never achieve. Dark Pit can choose whether or not he wants to help someone while Pit has to serve his goddess' every command, almost simp-like even. When you get down to it, one is free, and the other isn't and likely never will be.

Ever consider of doing a video about good and bad ways of having enemies teaming up against a powerful foe?

Using your sonic example, I personally love the "win through any means" type of rivals. The example being Metal Sonic. The character simply wanting to prove superiority makes things simple enough where ya can take em really any direction. Metal's been the big bad, the lackey, and in the comics even a reformed good guy. They can have codes, be absolute bastards, help or only hinder the hero's simply cause they wanna win or at least have the chance later to win. To me at least this makes a good rival

When you think about it, Sonic’s got a number of rivals, each with their own goals and reasons to be Sonic’s foils You already talked about Knuckles You have Shadow, a brooding edge lord variant of the speedy blue hedgehog, with the same power and abilities plus his own. Including tapping into the chaos energies, something only Sonic could do in his super form. Unlike Sonic, Shadow uses his power to destroy the world, before he had a quick change of heart Then there’s Jet the Hawk. Cocky, arrogant, carefree and speedy like Sonic, but unlike Sonic being selfless and somewhat altruist, Jet’s a greedy @$$hole who takes whatever he wants, regardless if who gets hurt Then there’s Metal, Sonic’s evil robot doppelgänger. This one’s a bit of a twist. Instead of the protagonist trying to be better than the rival, it’s the other way around. Metal is obsessed with being better than Sonic. Heroes being a prime example. Each fight in the game, Metal is secretly hiding in the shadows,analyzing Sonic and his friends. All to evolve into his perfect form Edit: HOLY [Cungadero] I was not expecting that many likes Edit 2: 500+ Likes? WHERE ARE YOU PEOPLE COMING FROM?!

The best rivalry trope: when they actively protect each other because they want to fight each other at their peak, or want the satisfaction of beating them themselves.

I have to say, Majima is one of the greatest rivals, IMO. I love his insane attitude and how his one goal is to live crazy and make Kiryu stronger to have a better rival overall. It's pretty nice

You know I finally noticed that jet stream Sam made Jack armless just like him. I just finally noticed that hahahahah.😹

Honestly I love how before Vergil, video games didn't have the giant push to put a rival into every action game they made. Sure I guess sonic adventure 2 and a few others had it, but it never became apparent until after DMC 3. Even games like metal gear rising and Asura's wrath had to have a rival

Rivals make everything better. Kirby vs meta knight. Raiden vs Sam. Dante vs Vergil. They’re all just chefs kiss and extremely iconic

Something that really elevates Vergil is how in every game he's in (even when he was Nelo Angelo or Urizen) he is given three dedicated boss fights, where the first time you fight him he wins, the second time even after getting a little stronger is defeated because Dante has grown at a faster rate, and by the third fight he's also stepped up his game and is stronger than ever. It really drives home that not only does the rival push the hero to become stronger, but the hero also pushes the rival. If the rival is always losing they don't feel as much like a rival but just a recurring enemy, and if they're always winning they feel more like they're just a monolith that is always being chased instead of someone who is also growing alongside the MC. For longer running series where rule of 3 can't really hold on it's more about letting the rival and hero trade wins and losses and ensure that they get upgrades in pairs instead of all the new fancy stuff being given to the hero.