One thing that's always stood out to me and many others in the Pokemon universe is that most characters we know are either seemingly orphans, or are raised by single mothers. Just think about it. Every game you start up, you find yourself in your bedroom of your starting town, and the only other human in sight is your mother waiting downstairs. There's nothing wrong with that of course, it's nice to see that we are loved by our mom and that she supports out journey. There's just always that one question: where is our dad? Is he not around for some reason? You don't even get any mentions of the guy.

I don't know why they decided to do this game after game. I understand that Ash from the Pokemon anime famously has a dad who is MIA (though mentioned once in 5 blue moons), but does that mean they have to replicate that in the games as well?

So far there has only ever been one exception to this trend: Generation 3, the Hoenn region to be specific. We not only get mentions to our supposed Dad, but as you play through the game we even meet the man himself!

Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, Emerald, Omega Ruby, Alpha Sapphire

As you arrive in Littleroot Town and leave your bedroom for the first time, your mom rushes you in front of the TV screen. What a chore, I don't want to watch TV! Apparently our Dad is on the telly having an interview. Because we took our sweet time checking out the abs of the mover Machoke, we juuuuuust missed him. Nowadays we would rewind or our mom would have paused for us, but this was the early 2000s and people still lived in caves wearing loincloths.

To make up for our tardiness, our mom sends us on our way to meet Professor Birch and receive a Pokemon so we can go and visit our dad in person.

Eventually we arrive in the third town of the game, Petalburg City. It's here that we find the first gym building. The gym leader? Norman, our dad. He tells us that we can't challenge him yet, and that we should help this loser kid named Wally catch a Pokemon. Bummer.

Norman temporarily gives Wally a Pokemon of his that he can use to battle and catch a Pokemon of his own. When you successfully escort Wally back to the gym, Norman thanks you and wishes you luck on your journey, promising a gym fight when you become stronger.

It won't be a while until we see him again. He's actually the fifth gym leader in the region. Luckily that means that after obtaining our fourth badge from Flannery, we can immediately head over to Petalburg City and challenge the Petalburg Gym.

Norman, as his name suggests, is a Normal type expert. Veteran players will get flashbacks to the last one of those and her devastating Miltank. Spoiler alert, Norman has something that is just as scary. Guess being a basic type means you can give them something extra, huh?

In battle, Norman has some slight team differences. In Ruby, Sapphire, Omega Ruby, and Alpha Sapphire he has three Pokemon. He leads of with Slaking, a beastly Normal type from the Hoenn region. It's the fully evolved form of Slakoth, a Pokemon found in Petalburg woods early on. Slaking is famous for having the highest stats of any non-legendary Pokemon. Sounds like a broken first choice for a gym leader, right? Luckily Slaking has one thing holding it back: its Truant ability. Norman's Slaking will deal devastating damage, but will only be allowed to act once every two turns. Be careful not to status Norman's Slaking (and other Pokemon) as they all know the move Facade, a strong Normal attack that doubles in power when the user has a status condition.

Norman's second Pokemon is a Vigoroth. The... middle stage of Slakoth? It's strictly weaker than Slaking, though it does get to act every turn. Norman's final Pokemon is... another bigger stronger Slaking! Du du dunnnn! This one has Focus Punch, so you can get punished for not attacking it at every opportunity. I do find it a bit strange that he only uses Pokemon from this single evolution line. It reminds me of a Falkner or Morty from Johto. At least it's a Hoenn original line I suppose.

In Emerald, Norman only keeps the Vigoroth and his final Slaking. Replacing the first Slaking are Linoone and Spinda! Two unique Normal types native to Hoenn! I really love this change, as it allows Norman to show off more of his type found in the Hoenn region. It's not like they are less threatening than Slaking either. Okay, maybe Spinda is a fair bit weaker, but Linoone is fast and knows the move Belly Drum, giving it 6 stat buffs in attack. If you allow this to happen, Linoone can literally sweep your entire team. It goes to show that even small critters can be scary!

Beating Norman grants you your father's approval, as well as the Balance Badge. Norman doesn't show up in the remainder of the story.

In Emerald, Norman can be rematched at various points in the story, gradually increasing the strength of his team. He keeps two Slakings and the Spinda, and adds a Blissey, Tauros, and Kangaskhan to his party. Careful of Slaking's Hyper Beam! The recharge turn means nothing to Slaking, as it already needs to do this due to its ability.

Pokemon Black 2, White 2

Norman returns alongside his fellow Hoenn gym leaders for the Pokemon World Tournament. He can be fought in the Hoenn Leaders and Type Expert challenges. He uses a bunch more Hoenn Normal types, including Kecleon, Exploud, Castform, and Zangoose. It's great that Norman gives all these new Pokemon some representation, as they truly deserve it. Some other modern Pokemon he uses include the likes of Bouffalant, Staraptor, and Ambipom.

---

Norman is a really cool character. He honestly doesn't do much or show much variety in his personality, so I shouldn't really enjoy him, but it's what he represents that I enjoy. The fact that we actually meet our dad, and he's a gym leader on top of that!

I also like that they gave Norman a full Hoenn original team, although only Emerald gave him options outside the Slakoth line.

Norman does show that he's a caring individual, as he wants to help Wally achieve his dream of becoming a trainer, despite Wally's parents' wishes.

Another fun fact: the moving sequence at the start of the game has some lore to it. Norman and his family, including the protagonist, are originally from Olivine City in the Johto region! You only move to Hoenn because Norman got a job offer as gym leader overseas. I like this, it ties everything together. I do wonder if they planned that from the very start, as this was only revealed to you at the Pokemon World Tournament.