Ribbons are probably the coolest feature Game Freak ever put in the games. They can give your Pokémon a cool history and legacy, and they can turn your individual adventures into one big overlapping adventure if you want to collect lots of ribbons from different games on one Pokémon.

Real shame that they're half-assed and neglected, but what can you expect from Game Freak. No Johto champion ribbon, no ribbons from Unova at all, and so many unused and unobtainable ribbons in the data.