Which region had the Pokemon contest that you enjoyed the most?

[Paulisthebest]

For the last couple of days, I was looking at some of the AG episodes and I watched the entire Advanced Challenge/Advanced Battle sagas. Some of my favorite contests were the ones where Drew and May competed in the same one, the contests where they met Grace and then the other where Savanna and her daughter are introduced. I think that Drew’s matches were my favorites; when Masquerain used Bubble/Ice Beam/Hidden Power to do a mid-air pinball game and take out Sonny’s Girafarig was impressive. Then when Grace’s Mediacham used Ice Punch to create ice pillars that deflected Roselia’s Solarbeam was exciting to watch as well as when Grace faced May in the finals and she won her first ribbon. Partly, I think it was the budding/growing romance between Drew and May made these contests some of my favorite ones.

Kanto contests were a bit rushed in my opinion, and the only great matches were held at the GF. However, I cannot count those matches because this thread is about the contests that led up to the GF. I liked the one in Spontaneous Combuskin when it learned Mega Kick in the middle of the fight along with May finding a rival not only for the contest, but for Drew’s affections as well. Most of May’s wins were cheap especially the one against Brock! That had to be my least favorite contest ever. I did enjoy the unofficial match between Ash and May except for the first half of the match when May did not give Blaziken any commands, anyone else notice that?

Oh, the one where she fought Jeremy and Venasaur was pretty entertaining and it introduced us to Frenzy Plant. So, I only like 2 of the official contests that May participated in while in Kanto.

Let’s see for Sinnoh, Dawn’s rivals were not really on par with May’s in my opinion. I will say that Dawn’s victories were more impressive than May’s except for the Aqua Ribbon, but I already made a thread about that in the past. I didn’t really find that many of Dawn’s victories that cheap at all.

I will cast my vote for Hoenn since I loved May’s rivalries much more than Dawn’s.

 

[ARC-1300]

done

 

[Zwampert]

Hoenn/Kanto. Unlike sinnoh, they actually had battles rather than making things sparkle. Not to mention they had more different battles and you never knew who May would fight until they tell you. In DP, you actually know who Dawn will face and her team in every single contest, they unleashed moves that left sparkles. That was really annoying.

 

[Ashfangirl22]

I liked both Hoenn and Kanto the best, its a tie between those two.
The battles were great, May's rivals were intresting and you actualy had a reason to be worried. Dawn's rivals, well they were some you could just walk all over on. No offense to fans of those characters but, the only rival that had an upper hand on Dawn was Zoey and it wasn't really even compettion, just friends.

 

[#Daisuke#]

To me, Sinnoh's contests were the best.

Sinnoh's contests were done the right way, IMO. Hoenn and Kanto's were practically rip-offs of regular battling. If I wanted to watch normal battling, I'd watch the gym eps.
I, for one, like teh sparkulz and the animation. That's probably why I liked Sinnoh's contests better.

Especially Dawn's depression. That played a big part in Dawn's contests. And that's another thing that made me prefer them over the older ones. Dawn's contests were more believable than May's. May always won and when she doesn't, she almost won. Dawn went through a "Break the Cutie" phase and made the newer contests' plot more interesting for me.

Plus, I'd take Flame Ice over frisbees anyday.

 

[PlatinumDude]

I don't have a favorite contest region, but if I had a choice, it would be Hoenn's because I like the rivalries that May had.

 

[Dexter]

The contest that I enjoyed the most would have to be May's first contest in Slateport City. And one thing I don't get is why everyone hates the Frisbees and the juggling? To me it shows the talent, abilities and effort the trainer and pokemon put into working on those appeals. And in regards to a pokemon aiming towards a frisbee think about this analogy: would an archer be more impressive if he was firing without a target or if he hit a bullseye. When a pokemon hits a frisbee it really shows the accuracy of the move and not just the power. End Rant.

 

[kitzsuna]

I like Hoenn and Kanto contests the best. For me, it showed that Contest battling wasn't all about sparkles and flips - it was about winning the fight while looking awesome.

Also, I found May's rivals so much more entertaining and fun (along with more dastardly) compared to Dawn's. Dawn's main rivals, Kenny and Zoey, seemed really bland to me compared to Drew and Harley. With May, Drew started off as an arrogant snot face who did nothing but antagonize her, but at the series went on the two developed a close friendship (and even a little more ;D) by him helping her. Harley was the bad guy who would do anything to win, and went to very extreme lengths to ensure May's loss, embarassment, or depression.
Dawn's rivals, on the other hand, never got that much development (in my opinion) and stuck to the "Hey, we're bffls so it doesn't matter who wins or has more sparkles " And for me, I never worried about who was going to win or lose. I thought both of her rivals were fails, but that's just me. (so don't hurt me!)

So yeah. I'm definitly going with the Hoenn and Kanto contests, because they seemed so much more epic and real.

 

[Iteru]

And one thing I don't get is why everyone hates the Frisbees and the juggling? To me it shows the talent, abilities and effort the trainer and pokemon put into working on those appeals. And in regards to a pokemon aiming towards a frisbee think about this analogy: would an archer be more impressive if he was firing without a target or if he hit a bullseye. When a pokemon hits a frisbee it really shows the accuracy of the move and not just the power. End Rant.

Hitting/catching a frisbee and juggling aren't unique. Pokémon are creatures with amazing abilities and powers, it is naff (imo) to see them doing something that a human could do. It defeats the purpose of making contests special. That is why I prefer the Sinnoh ones, they really show off what Pokémon can do.

 

[Paulisthebest]

done

Done, done with what?

Hoenn/Kanto. Unlike sinnoh, they actually had battles rather than making things sparkle. Not to mention they had more different battles and you never knew who May would fight until they tell you. In DP, you actually know who Dawn will face and her team in every single contest, they unleashed moves that left sparkles. That was really annoying.

The reason I liked Hoenn/Kanto contests a bit more was because those battles were more about battling and combinations rather than appeals. Sinnoh focused almost completely on appeal/combinations rather than defeating the opponents, just think about it how many times did Dawn actually defeat the opponent Pokemon final round of contest battles (make her opponent faint)? If mine count is right she never was really shown to do so against Kenny’s Prinplup/May’s Glaceon/Delcatty/Gabite/Plusle and Minun. She only won because she beat out the clock.

I got a bit tired of Bubble/Ice Beam appeals from both May and Dawn (her appeals were Ice Beam due to Buneary). You are right, each time in Sinnoh and appeal had to sparkle and/or explode.

The contest that I enjoyed the most would have to be May's first contest in Slateport City. And one thing I don't get is why everyone hates the Frisbees and the juggling? To me it shows the talent, abilities and effort the trainer and pokemon put into working on those appeals. And in regards to a pokemon aiming towards a frisbee think about this analogy: would an archer be more impressive if he was firing without a target or if he hit a bullseye. When a pokemon hits a frisbee it really shows the accuracy of the move and not just the power. End Rant.

Yes, it shows how you can increase a Pokemon's accuracy with those moving targets. It could have been really helpful in learning new moves and attacking fast moving opponents, just look at how Ash taught Staravia Brave Bird. Hoenn/Kanto appeal rounds with appeals like that showed more hard work rather than flashy tricks.

 

[CommanderPigg]

For appeals/battle strategies, believable victories (well, more so than the other regions) and pokemon development, I'd give it to Sinnoh.

For awesomeness of rivals, and overall enjoyment, Kanto won me over.

Hoenn was kinda "eh" for me. I love how they introduced some interesting people and all, but Kanto was when they really started to pick up the pace with appeals and character interaction. Plus, it was the beginning of Jessie's competence in contesting.

 

[pokemonloverXD]

Sinnoh's contest, nuff said.

 

[Buizelfan!]

Hoenn because it was new and fresh

 

[Snake Bandage]

I picked Sinnoh only because of Jessie's growth and success in that region. When Jessie started participating in contests during Hoenn, I never imagined she'd end up in the Top 4 of a Grand Festival. Throughout Sinnoh she learned how to train, ho to learn from mistakes, how to fight fairly, and how to treat all the Pokemon she uses (even James') with the love and respect they deserve. Not to mention the wonderful change in James and Meowth... well, okay, Kojirou and Nyasu, more like. From thinking Jessie's efforts are futile to wholeheartedly believing in her and supporting her... it was really nice to see.

Otherwise Sinnoh sucked. I liked Hoenn and Kanto's treatment of rivals better, and Kanto's contests were by far more enjoyable. But in terms of what my favorite characters were doing... yeah, Sinnoh.

 

[Hassel]

Sinnoh had Candy Musarina and Urara, so I voted for Sinnoh. Honestly, I didn't care for AG contests unless Harley was in them (and I found him funnier outside of contests anyway).

 

[Hellion]

Sinnoh, hands down, bar none, accept no substitute. The Sinnoh contests actually felt like contests and not battles with flying teapots and frisbees before.

They made the pokemon shine.

 

[Alyxy]

Kanto contests were my favorite for some reason.

 

[Grave-E]

You know, thinking about it, I'd have to say I've found contests as a whole to be largely underwhelming on average. There are honestly only one or two from each portion of the show that I'd consider to be genuinely good excuses to procrastinate for 22 minutes or so.

In any case, I'd probably go with the Kanto ones, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn''t mainly because of that one festival match, Combusken and much of Harley's crazy antics.

The only good Houen contest was the one against Grace imo, though thankfully that was an all round good episode of pokemon in general, anyway.
For Sinnoh, I liked the Mamoswine stuff, but that's all. There's 2 prominent 'swine contests though, so I guess it just barely beats out Houen in quantity.

 

[Insanish Danish]

Hoenn's contests were the best, yup yup. Contests were fresh and new back then and as a result were more fun to watch. May is the coolest coordinator ever--right up there with Drew and Harley, obviously. Speaking of, her rivals were the BEST. Nothing tops all the drama that went on behind the scenes at almost every contest. And the Hoenn GF had an epic amount of Contestshipping. W00t <3

Now I wasn't as crazy about Kanto contests but they were still cool. More Harley, yay. <3 And the Kanto GF was awesome because of May and Drew's amazing battle. I also love Solidad and the backstory about Drew. Drew crying? That's good shit right there.

Sinnoh...let's just say it failed to draw me in like Hoenn and Kanto's contests did. Dawn bores me, her rivals bore me (with the exception of Ursula of course), and they didn't give me the same excited feeling I got while watching contests in Hoenn and Kanto. I loved the Wallace Cup arc (I think that was purely because May was there though, tbh) and Jessie got great development this contest saga, but...that's it.

 

[Paulisthebest]

Hoenn's contests were the best, yup yup. Contests were fresh and new back then and as a result were more fun to watch. May is the coolest coordinator ever--right up there with Drew and Harley, obviously. Speaking of, her rivals were the BEST. Nothing tops all the drama that went on behind the scenes at almost every contest. And the Hoenn GF had an epic amount of Contestshipping. W00t <3

Now I wasn't as crazy about Kanto contests but they were still cool. More Harley, yay. <3 And the Kanto GF was awesome because of May and Drew's amazing battle. I also love Solidad and the backstory about Drew. Drew crying? That's good shit right there.

Sinnoh...let's just say it failed to draw me in like Hoenn and Kanto's contests did. Dawn bores me, her rivals bore me (with the exception of Ursula of course), and they didn't give me the same excited feeling I got while watching contests in Hoenn and Kanto. I loved the Wallace Cup arc (I think that was purely because May was there though, tbh) and Jessie got great development this contest saga, but...that's it.

I agree because each time one of May's rivals came onscreen you know that some mischief or budding romance was bound to occur. When it came to Dawn; "How are you doing? Its been a long time _____! I hope you do great in the contest!"

I understand having like one rival like that, but each one of her rivals were like that aside from Ursula. Really I did wish that she and Paul would meet. I could see him telling Ash something rude and she would instantly fall for him haha.

Anyway, Dawn was walking in big shoes; trying to be a top coordinator like her mother. Though I think May had the biggest evolution, like her mother mentioned during her match with Drew at the Hoenn GF; "Its amazing to see May work so well with her Pokemon considering how she used to hate them!"

Though Dawn went through an almost as big transformation, learning the importance of bonding/playing with your Pokemon and that losing is an important part of growing as a trainer/coordinator.