Pokemon tends to have this trend of releasing the first games of a new Generation, only to then release another game (or multiple) several years later that are practically the same with some minor differences. Same region, same story, just a few twists or a new character or two.

Think about it: we started out with Red and Blue and a few years later here is Yellow, same region but with Pikachu and Team Rocket from the anime! Or how we had Gold and Silver, and a few years later here is Crystal version!

It wouldn't be until the 6th Generation with X and Y that this trend would be broken. So naturally that means the same happened for Generation 3, right? You'd be right in assuming that. We first got Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire, only to be blessed with the third game, Pokemon Emerald a few years after.

Honestly, Yellow and Crystal added very little and were just slightly tweaked versions of the same game. Emerald is truly when Pokemon started adding a bunch more to these third versions, often making them the game of choice when players want to play an older game as there is just more content and better quality of life available. In Emerald that includes Gym Leader rematches and of course the beloved Battle Frontier.

There are some other changes Emerald made, however. One of them being the topic of this Character Bio. You see, Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire had a certain character as the 8th and final Gym Leader of the game. Said character is deeply connected to the lore of the Hoenn region, but when players first played Emerald they would eventually come to realize that one of the big changes made in this enhanced version was the swapping of the 8th gym leader.

Pokemon Emerald

Normally in Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire, Wallace is the 8th and final gym leader. He is a Water expert and his signature Pokemon is a Milotic, a very rare and strong Hoenn water type. Wallace is actually a recently new Gym Leader, not too unlike Flannery from Lavaridge. The Sootopolis City Gym used to be kept in the hands of Wallace's mentor, Juan, until he deemed Wallace worthy enough of taking over for him. I suppose that does also answer some of my questions related to the topic of passing gyms.

In Emerald however, Wallace is no longer the gym leader of Sootopolis City. Not because he sucked and got kicked out. He actually got a promotion. Wallace is all of a sudden the CHAMPION of the Hoenn region. I'd take the pay rise and fame any day of the week if I were him too. Unfortunately that did leave the Sootopolis Gym without a gym leader. Luckily, Wallace is a fan of Basketball and just passed the ball right back to where it came from: Juan gets dragged out of retirement. Poor guy man.

Juan's gym has a really fun puzzle. I might be alone in saying that, as I heard many hate it. I say just get good and think before moving. There are ice tiles on the floor that will crack when you step on them more than once. The goal is to step on every single ice tile without cracking any, stopping in front of the staircase that will be unlocked once you do so. There are rocks etc to make the correct path more difficult to find. If you fail and fall, you will get dropped in front of about a million trainers, so getting out the gym will be difficult. To make it extra cruel, the higher up you go the more trainers you will have to deal with when you fall.

In battle, Juan has a pretty fun Water team. He starts off with Luvdisc. It's a little heart fish from Hoenn, and it looks very non threatening. It indeed doesn't deal a lot of damage, but it is made to be annoying and stall you as it uses Attract and Swagger to confuse and infatuate your Pokemon. It makes it difficult to set up stat buffs to fight Juan. After you beat it, you are welcomed by the likes of Whiscash, Sealeo, and Crawdaunt. All of them Hoenn original Water types, so good job Juan! Careful of Whiscash as that guy can use Rain Dance, powering up Juan's water attacks.

Four Hoenn originals, I wonder what his last Pokemon could be? Well, this is where Juan decides enough Hoenn is enough. His signature Pokemon is a powerful Kingdra! It has one of the best typings in the game in Water/Dragon, and will use Double Team and Rest to become invincible very quickly. It also does good damage with Water Pulse and Ice Beam. I've seen this thing solo full teams of 6 before.

Beating Juan will earn you the Rain Badge, and the right to challenge the Elite Four!

After you get his number, you can rematch him in the Post game. He will gradually increase his team's strength, until he ends up with his gym team minus Luvdisc, and adding a Lapras and Politoed. His demon Kingdra makes a return as well.

Juan doesn't do much in the story of the game, he just kind of accompanies Wallace during the events happening in Sootopolis City. Still neat to have him around though!

He doesn't appear physically in the gen 6 remakes, but gets mentioned by some characters and NPC's.

Pokemon Black 2, White 2

Juan is chosen as the Sootopolis City Gym representative for the Pokemon World Tournament. He can be fought in the Hoenn Leaders and Type Expert challenges. He uses many of the Pokemon from his Gym team, but gives some spotlight to a few forgotten Hoenn Water types like Gorebyss and Huntail! They know the broken move Shell Smash, doubling their offenses and speed in one turn, so they are a real threat. Another forgotten Hoenn Pokemon he uses is Relicanth, an ancient fish that is actually required to catch some legendaries in the Hoenn region!

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I've always had a soft spot for Juan. You can clearly see the ways in which he rubbed off on Wallace, as he is very elegant and a very eloquent speaker. I like that they didn't just reuse Wallace's gym team, but instead gave a whole new team to Juan. It really allows them to show off as many Hoenn water types as possible.

I'm also glad they at least include him in a lot of the cutscenes around Sootopolis, even though he doesn't add a lot himself. I was a little sad when he wasn't given any role in Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. I get that they had to make Wallace gym leader again, but Juan could have played a role in the Delta Episode or something!