Thread: Which goal is more difficult; Pokemon Trainer or Coordinator?

The coordinator goal is obviously more difficult for the reasons stated above.

Pokemon Contests are only held once a year in each of the marked locations. There can only be one winner in each Pokemon Contest. Coordinators like Dawn, Zoey, Jessalina, and Kenny have lost at least one contest in the Sinnoh Region. The Pokemon Contests have an appeal round that will eliminate the bulk of the competition before the battling rounds can truly begin. At the very most, only eight registered contestants will advance to the battling rounds in typical contests. 30 or more coordinators will attempt to register for each contest. Well over 200 coordinators in each region may be eligible to compete in regional Grand Festivals. In the Sinnoh region, some contest halls might host double performance appeal rounds, intensifying the competition by placing further emphasis on how each pokemon can shine.

As a result, there will be a greater priority for coordinators training alongside their pokemon and attempting to perfect combinations. There is a lot of uncertainty in the contest arena, as the coordinator will have no idea who he or she will be competing against in contest battles and/or appeals. This lack of information or knowledge beforehand may make or break the coordinator's success rate, as opposed to a pokemon trainer who may be acquainted with the gym leader prior to the start of their match.

When one competes for Gym Badges instead, there will be less pressure on the trainer's behalf. If a trainer loses against a Gym Leader, he or she can simply rechallenge that Gym Leader at a later time. Furthermore, there will be less hassle on the trainer's part because Gym Leaders have relatively flexible schedules in which they will be able to battle challengers. There will always be Gym Leaders who will abandon the maintenence of their gyms or deny requests from challengers for personal manners, but such cases are very rare. [In the Kanto region, the Pokemon League Association penalizes gym leaders, or during extreme measures, shuts down the operations of pokemon gyms entirely if gym leaders do not adhere to their guidelines.]

Most Gym Leaders tend to specialize in one type of pokemon attacks, giving the challenger some flexibility in selecting which of their pokemon can be used in battle. These matches are typical 3-on-3 eliminations with no time limit, but may even be as large as 5-on-5 and 6-on-6 full battles. Contest battles tend to be 1-on-1 eliminations with a 5 minute time limit, adding more pressure on a coordinator to advance to the next round. In addition, gym challengers may be given the luxury to switch out their pokemon. This luxury is something that the gym leader may be denied. Of course, certain gym leaders like Lenora were able to switch out their pokemon against their challengers. This luxury is typically provided to the challenger regardless, but it may or may not be an advantage depending on the circumstances of each individual gym's rules.

The only disadvantage that a trainer has against a coordinator is the number of tokens that are required to enter the regional competition. Pokemon trainers need at least eight badges to compete in their regional league competition, whereas pokemon coordinators will only need five contest ribbons to compete in each regional Grand Festival. Of course, given the restricted nature of pokemon contests in general (as well as the number of contests that are held in a region each year), this "advantage" should also be discarded.

Pokemon trainers have a greater opportunity to reach their goal. That's not to say that coordinators aren't capable of reaching the Grand Festival or become the top of their class. This goal will require much more time and focus since pokemon contests not only judge the succession and efficiency of a pokemon's attacks, but will also judge the way a pokemon dodges or counters an opponent's attacks. Pokemon coordinators will be penalized if their pokemon's attacks do not land a hit against their opponent's. Pokemon trainers can simply disregard this and continue their battling.

Originally Posted by Ampharos King

The coordinator goal is obviously more difficult for the reasons stated above.

Pokemon Contests are only held once a year in each of the marked locations. There can only be one winner in each Pokemon Contest. Coordinators like Dawn, Zoey, Jessalina, and Kenny have lost at least one contest in the Sinnoh Region. The Pokemon Contests have an appeal round that will eliminate the bulk of the competition before the battling rounds can truly begin. At the very most, only eight registered contestants will advance to the battling rounds in typical contests. 30 or more coordinators will attempt to register for each contest. Well over 200 coordinators in each region may be eligible to compete in regional Grand Festivals. In the Sinnoh region, some contest halls might host double performance appeal rounds, intensifying the competition by placing further emphasis on how each pokemon can shine.

As a result, there will be a greater priority for coordinators training alongside their pokemon and attempting to perfect combinations. There is a lot of uncertainty in the contest arena, as the coordinator will have no idea who he or she will be competing against in contest battles and/or appeals. This lack of information or knowledge beforehand may make or break the coordinator's success rate, as opposed to a pokemon trainer who may be acquainted with the gym leader prior to the start of their match.

When one competes for Gym Badges instead, there will be less pressure on the trainer's behalf. If a trainer loses against a Gym Leader, he or she can simply rechallenge that Gym Leader at a later time. Furthermore, there will be less hassle on the trainer's part because Gym Leaders have relatively flexible schedules in which they will be able to battle challengers. There will always be Gym Leaders who will abandon the maintenence of their gyms or deny requests from challengers for personal manners, but such cases are very rare. [In the Kanto region, the Pokemon League Association penalizes gym leaders, or during extreme measures, shuts down the operations of pokemon gyms entirely if gym leaders do not adhere to their guidelines.]

Most Gym Leaders tend to specialize in one type of pokemon attacks, giving the challenger some flexibility in selecting which of their pokemon can be used in battle. These matches are typical 3-on-3 eliminations with no time limit, but may even be as large as 5-on-5 and 6-on-6 full battles. Contest battles tend to be 1-on-1 eliminations with a 5 minute time limit, adding more pressure on a coordinator to advance to the next round. In addition, gym challengers may be given the luxury to switch out their pokemon. This luxury is something that the gym leader may be denied. Of course, certain gym leaders like Lenora were able to switch out their pokemon against their challengers. This luxury is typically provided to the challenger regardless, but it may or may not be an advantage depending on the circumstances of each individual gym's rules.

The only disadvantage that a trainer has against a coordinator is the number of tokens that are required to enter the regional competition. Pokemon trainers need at least eight badges to compete in their regional league competition, whereas pokemon coordinators will only need five contest ribbons to compete in each regional Grand Festival. Of course, given the restricted nature of pokemon contests in general (as well as the number of contests that are held in a region each year), this "advantage" should also be discarded.

Pokemon trainers have a greater opportunity to reach their goal. That's not to say that coordinators aren't capable of reaching the Grand Festival or become the top of their class. This goal will require much more time and focus since pokemon contests not only judge the succession and efficiency of a pokemon's attacks, but will also judge the way a pokemon dodges or counters an opponent's attacks. Pokemon coordinators will be penalized if their pokemon's attacks do not land a hit against their opponent's. Pokemon trainers can simply disregard this and continue their battling.

That makes sense except the competition is way tougher for trainer because far more people care about the league. Evidenced by Ash not knowing about the damn contest until he competed in the league TWICE. I remember Gliscor'd mentioning that Kenny worked so hard and lost at the appear round. What about the screening rounds? Heatran guy didn't get to fight and he had a bloody Heatran.

Like Paulisthebest said to be a pokemon master you have to win the tournament beat the elite four beat the champion. Then do something else. Some people define it as catching all the pokemon. You know hard that sounds?

To be a top coordinator you have win once. To get Wallace status you have to win until you're famous which shouldn't be that hard after you won once. Also if Ash is any model the league pressures you into raising more Pokemon than six witch takes far more time and effort. Dawn has six pokemon and she almost won. Ash has crazy amount pokemon and just recently made it to the semifinals.

People keep mentioning you have to compete against other people to get ribbons. But gym leaders in canon are not push overs. Remember that kid was impressed with Ash's TWO BADGES. Not to mention you have to get eight badges.

I'd have to say they balance out, too. Being a trainer, indeed, you can fight the gyms over and over, but the League is extremely tense. We've seen it could take years to become skilled enough to win a League. I'm not even going to touch upon the Champion League, because I assume not everyone opts for that. But indeed, it could take a while to get anywhere there as well. For Contests, indeed it is like constantly being in the League. You're always in a tournament structure, and then the GF itself is like a larger scale version of that, equal to the League. The road is harder, but to make up for it, they give you more chances. Who knows how many contests a region can have before the GF comes around? The means for both are difficult for different reasons, but they both involve strategy. I guess technically, Coordinators do have it rougher, but their goal is just as taxing as winning a League. As for Nando, that would indeed be incredibly difficult, but if done correctly, they may be even stronger than regular trainers since their lives are about finding different ways to do their moves. Trainers often have to take longer to discover the same things.

It all really depends on what one aims at as a Coordinator or Trainer. But if we take into consideration the highest known achievements of both, Elite Four Champion and Grand Festival Champion. Then trainer. Cause seriously..Zoey won a GF on her first try..wtf?

They're hard in their own ways. But I guess it could be much more challenging for people who go for both

Both of goals are challenging in their own ways, but I think it's much harder to get into the Grand Festival than into a Pokemon League. Earning eight Gym badges isn't an easy task, but the same ones can be re-challenged over and over again until they win a badge. With losing a Contest, one would have to travel around to another town that's holding a Contest and even then, winning a ribbon is a bit more complicated than defeating their opponents. They could do that to breeze through the battle rounds, but they would need to have a great appeal too. Winning a League is probably just about as challenging as winning a Grand Festival, if not a bit more so, because of all of the battles they would have to go through in order to win it all. Trainers like Nando trying to do both must be extremely difficult given the different challenges in both goals.