I think Gold/Ethan/whatever has the best male player character design and possibly better than even the best of the female player character designs.
His palette doesn't have too many or too few colors, the colors are placed in such a way that feels dynamic and natural yet eye catching. The lock of hair on the front gives him flair and attitude but not in such a way that makes him look aggressive. His hat even shares colors with an ultra ball to make him look like an upgraded version of the player character who shared colors more closely with a pokeball. His hat is even turned backwards which lets you know he's a cool cat instead of any of those boring slogs that wear their hat facing forwards like some kind of truck driver or southern gas station employee stereotype.
Overall a great design that holds up even today that I feel has yet to be topped or even matched.