N's arguably the odder one out. Every other one is better for battle reasons, N is really just there for story reasons. If Steven were in his place Iris would be the odder one out as she's just solid at best, and Lance if he were decent at worst. I guess hype is a more direct combination of the aesthetics and the number, and the only hype thing about Iris is Hitomi Sato's theme for her and even then it's arguably her work was way better for Nemonia in SV.
>>56007926In N's case he's kind of only Champion from a story perspective, you don't enter the Hall of Fame for beating him and you have to beat postgame Alder for that. In Red's case, he's only available after you become Champion and enter the Hall of Fame, and while it's arguable he's a former champion Lance is the current one when you fight him. They're weird edge cases compared to the other two bog standard examples. If Steven were included it would depend on what his battle background is, especially since Emerald is a lot less explicit about what his role is even compared to RS.
