It can be argued that in the world of Pokemon, most of these creatures are natural allies. When they're out and about in the wild, they form ecosystems, partnerships, and symbiotic relationships that mirror nature. Most Pokedex entries or anime scenes show them living together and finding balance in their environments.
But this is not that list. This is the list of Pokemon that are natural rivals and creatures that outright hate each other. These rivalries fuel battles, drive storylines, and sometimes even add a bit of dark humor to the otherwise juvenile world of Pokemon.
Which Pokemon Hate Each Other?
The answer lies in pairs that Game Freak has highlighted as eternal rivals. Some of these rivalries are symbolic, drawn from real-life animals like mongooses and snakes. Others lean into fantasy, representing predator-prey relationships or mythic clashes of elemental forces.
Examples like Pinsir and Heracross, Heatmor and Durant, or Zangoose and Seviper showcase Pokemon at their most competitive, combative, and sometimes even cruel. Keep reading, because these rivalries might just make you look at certain Pokemon and pick a side.
Let’s start with a rivalry that almost no one recognizes. Pinsir and Heracross. These two Bug-types embody the contest between stag beetles and rhino beetles. Their rivalry is so imbued into their design that it's impossible to imagine them without the other. Japanese pop culture, including the game Mushiking, has long realized beetle battles as a form of entertainment and Pokemon borrowed from that tradition.
Their conflict even appears in New Pokemon Snap, where you can watch them lock horns in a battle of brute strength. If you want to see Pokemon acting like pure animals in nature, nothing sells it better than watching Pinsir and Heracross butt heads.
Then there’s Heatmor and Durant, a rivalry straight out of the food chain. Heatmor is a Fire-type anteater and Durant is literally an iron ant. The Pokedex flat out says that Heatmor melts Durants to eat them, which is about as morbid as it gets. On paper, this looks like a one-sided rivalry since Durant has a 4x weakness to Fire.
But Durant’s strength is in numbers and they are resilient bugs that often hunt in swarms. Even if one Durant falls, a colony is not so easy to take out. This makes their relationship fascinating because it isn’t just one Pokemon hunting another because it’s an ongoing picture of survival.
On the funnier but crueler side of things, we have Tinkaton and Corviknight, one of the newest rivalries introduced in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet. Unlike Heatmor and Durant’s predator-prey conflict, this one is just petty bullying. Tinkaton wields an enormous hammer and according to lore, that hammer is made from the scavenged parts of Corviknights it has attacked.
Imagine being a Corviknight flying peacefully in the Paldean skies only to get smacked out of the air by a mischievous little gremlin with a hammer thrice its size. If I were a Corviknight, I’d hate Tinkaton forever.
Of course, no list of rivalries is complete without Groudon and Kyogre. These legendary kaijus are the Pokemon equivalent of elemental gods clashing in a battle for dominance. Groudon represents land and expansion while Kyogre embodies the sea and flooding.
Their fights are so intense that they terraform the geography of the Pokemon world itself with legends describing entire continents and oceans being born from their tantrums. Their feud is central to the storyline of Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald and their remakes and it always takes Rayquaza’s intervention to bring peace. This rivalry is larger than life, quite literally.
Then finally, we have Zangoose and Seviper, arguably the most famous rivalry in all of Pokemon. Based on the real-world hate between mongooses and snakes, their hatred is written directly into their lore. Zangoose’s Pokedex entries constantly mention its lifelong feud with Seviper and Seviper’s entries often return the blow.
Their designs even reflect their rivalry with Zangoose bearing scars from battles with Seviper while Seviper’s long fangs are clearly meant to pierce its foe. This is a rivalry that feels natural, visceral, and eternal. You cannot think of one without immediately picturing the other lurking in the tall grass gearing up for a fight.
Rivalries in Pokemon remind us that this world is not just about peaceful relationships and harmony. They bring tension, drama, and a sense of realism that makes the ecosystem feel truly alive. Whether it is bugs clashing for entertainment, predators hunting prey, bullies smashing metal birds, or godlike beings waging elemental wars, these conflicts add richness to the Pokemon universe. The rivalries highlight that Pokemon, much like real animals, do not always get along.
So the next time you play a Pokemon game or read a Pokedex entry, pay close attention. Those rivalries are more than flavor text because they are windows into a wilder, harsher, and more real side of the Pokemon world.