Worst rival is probably Hop. He kinda feels like an afterthought. For a solid chunk of the game his team is just aimless and you don't see progression with it like you do with other rivals. I understand that's to illustrate his character arc of trying to be like his brother Leon and then realizing that he isn't a great battler like him and deciding another career path where he can truly shine instead of living in his brother's shadow, but it just falls flat for me. Every rival faced the same kind of defeat Hop did, there aren't any battles they canonically won, so Hop taking defeat like such a bitch to where he gave up his dream and changed it entirely is just more sad than anything. Every other rival took defeat in stride (or just got all huffy, taunted you, and left) and they grew as characters to become stronger. Barry and Silver are especially good examples of this. I haven't finished SV but I would also like to say Nemona's an interesting rival character and I'm enjoying her so far. I can't think of another rival character that views themself as your mentor and I also like that they're taking advantage of the academy's wide variety of ages that attend and make Nemona clearly older. I don't think there's been another rival character that isn't around the player's in game age. Her hyperfixation on battles makes for some funny interactions and I enjoy that she sees you winning as her mentoring working.
