At some point Nintendo switched up their naming system when it came to their handhelds. Gone were the Gameboy this or Gameboy that, why not slap their whole IP on it and call it the Nintendo DS? A new system means new opportunities, new mechanics, and improved graphics. But more importantly it means new Pokemon games, and they delivered with Pokemon Diamond and Pearl.

Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, Brilliant Diamond, Shining Pearl

A new region, new Pokemon, and more importantly for this thread new Gym Leaders to take on!

The first one can be found in the third city you come across on your Sinnoh region adventure, Oreburgh City. It's a city thriving off a mining economy, already alluding to what type you might be facing off against first. I'll give you a hint: we've already had this one a few times by now.

When you try to enter the gym, however, your rival is standing in front of the door! Being the stubborn bastard that he is, he tells you to go look for the gym leader in the Oreburgh mine. Down there you'll meet this weird guy wearing a miner's helmet, who promptly shows off how he can break rocks with the move Rock Smash. He then introduces himself as Roark, the Oreburgh City Gym Leader, and returns to his gym to welcome your challenge.

Roark is a Rock type expert, to nobody's surprise. I mean at this point we are 3 for 4 on the first gym leader being a Rock type. The only reason we're not at 4 out of 4 is because they wanted new types in Johto. In battle he uses three Pokemon. The classic Rock must-have Geodude, and also an Onix. Essentially he has Brock's entire team, way to make my boy Brock feel obsolete. They are pretty easy beats with water or grass moves, and even the fire starter Chimchar becomes a fighting type to hit them hard. The only thing you need to be wary of is the move Stealth Rock. This will set up a trap on your side of the field: every Pokemon that switches into battle will take a set amount of damage. It's 1/8th of your HP normally, but it scales depending on how weak or resistant to Rock you are. That means a Bug/Flying type like Beautifly will take 50% of its HP for just switching in!

His final Pokemon is luckily a true Sinnoh exclusive. Cranidos is a pure Rock type dinosaur. It's one of the two Sinnoh Fossil Pokemon. Normally those base fossils are quite weak, but Cranidos has a shocking base 125 attack stat. For comparison, that is stronger than the god Pokemon Arceus. It has pretty poor speed and bulk, but a few powerful attacks can deal some real damage.

Beating Roark grants you the Coal badge. He is a bit embarrassed because he lost to a trainer who has no badges. I mean that's kind of part of the job description, no? He should get his contract checked out.

Roark doesn't make any further story appearances, but you can run into him when you gain access to the underground feature. In Sinnoh, you can dig a tunnel upon unlocking this feature after your second badge. Down in the mines you can mine for gems and ores, as well as some rare loot like fossils or nuggets. When you head down for the first time, Roark will be there to welcome you and explain everything you need to know about how that mechanic works. He then magically warps back up to surface. What happened to the tunnel and a rope?

In Platinum and in Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl, Roark can be rematched in the post game. In Platinum he will appear in the Survival Area of the Battle Zone, an island separate to mainland Sinnoh where tough trainers and routes await. He uses some classic rock Pokemon like Aerodactyl, Golem, and Tyranitar. He also uses the newly introduced Probopass, the evolution of Nosepass from Hoenn. Coincidentally that was Roxanne's signature Pokemon. His last team member is Rampardos, the evolution of his Cranidos. This thing has base 165 attack, higher than most Legendary Pokemon.

In Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, Roark will be available for a rematch in his own gym. He uses the same team as in Platinum, but adds a Relicanth and an Armaldo. I suppose he must have taken a trip to Hoenn in the off-season.

Also in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl, Roark will be a potential opponent in the Battle Tower. During a Single battle challenge he will challenge you alone, but during a Double battle challenge he will be partnered with another Sinnoh Gym Leader, Byron. You see, Roark is actually the son of Byron, who is a Steel type Gym Leader. Kind of fitting that his son would be a Rock type leader then.

According to the lore, Byron frequently visits a place called Iron Island to train. A young trainer by the name of Riley also trains at Iron Island often, and was actually the person who was supposed to inherit the Oreburgh City Gym. Riley declined the offer and suggested Byron's son Roark instead, and that's how we got to where we are. It's like nepotism in two steps. I wonder if Byron was blackmailing Riley about something... their relationship as father and son is mentioned a few times but never really explored beyond that.

Pokemon Black 2, White 2

Roark returns alongside his fellow Sinnoh Gym Leaders for the Pokemon World Tournament. He can be fought in the Sinnoh Leaders and Type Expert challenges. Most of the Pokemon he uses come from his rematch teams, but he adds some new guys like Sudowoodo, Crustle, and Archeops. His team is very offensive, focusing on powerful but inaccurate moves like Stone Edge and Head Smash.

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I think Roark is pretty neat for a first gym leader. Those usually get tossed to the wayside or given very monotonous personalities, but Roark seems to be really passionate about the mine and things related to it, on top of trying to help his city Oreburgh grow and develop. Despite being a recently new Gym Leader, he has some strong Pokemon for a first gym leader and clearly puts his all into the battle.

The 'twist' that he is the son of another Gym Leader (okay more like a reveal, it's not some groundbreaking or shocking thing) is fun. Aside from Janine taking her father Koga's place, we haven't really seen two different Gym Leaders being related to each other. I kind of hoped they would explore this dynamic more as I think there's a lot of potential. I seem to recall they did this during the anime, around the time Ash got to Canalave City to challenge Byron. Something like that in the games would have been nice to see.