Cynthia (Pokémon Diamond and Pearl)

As I’m sure any and everyone expects, Sinnoh’s champion comes out on top here because she is the quintessential Pokémon Champion battle. So nice and intimidating they did it twice with an entire callback battle in Pokémon Legends: Arceus that references how much the Pokémon fandom was collectively traumatized by Cynthia’s team in Diamond and Pearl

She’s not a type specialist, and her team covers so many bases with their inherent types and also varied moveset that it forces you to have your own eclectic team just to ensure you have something that can handle anything she throws at you. More recent iterations of her team have made her even more formidable, such as her Garchomp now leading with Swords Dance in the Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl remakes, and she also gives each member of her party a held item that plays into their moveset.

Each battle in a Pokémon game’s story is often hamstrung by its inability to implement real strategies before you roll over a team with a super-effective attack, but your encounter with Cynthia is about as close as a non-PvP battle gets to emulating what it’s like to play against someone who has game sense and strategy in their corner, rather than just big walls of HP. Her team is incisive, her coverage is nearly unmatched, and if you’re not leveled up properly, she just straight-up hits harder than you can dream of. She stands tall over her contemporaries because she is everything a Champion should be.

Anyway, be sure to listen to this banger on your way out: