Junichi Masuda explains with rivals in Pokemon games aren't such huge jerks anymore

Remember when your rivals in Pokemon games used to be really big jerks? Those days have come and gone, with rivals in Pokemon games nowadays coming across a lot friendlier. Ever wonder why that change was made? Pokemon's Junichi Masuda shared the following with GameSpot.

"I think the biggest reason that rivals were more of a jerk in the early days is that we were just limited in what we could express with the pixel graphics. There's not much that you can do with that kind of little sprite on the screen, so we worked harder to characterize them through dialogue and give them certain personalities.

Also, because it's just dialogue and there's not a whole lot going on on the screen, it doesn't give as harsh of an impression even if they're jerks, I think. Now we have HD graphics and the visuals are much more impressive. If you also made him a jerk, the impression would be a lot stronger on players. Another thing, just my own personal take, is that it feels that people with those kinds of personalities these days are just not as accepted by players as they were back then."