The Pokémon world can feel a bit idyllic at times to imagine, especially when you think of the free universal healthcare via magic healing machines provided to all Pokémon at any Pokémon Center. Since the very first games, these Pokémon Centers have been staffed by a roster of completely identical women (skin, hair, eyes, expression, everything!), all known in the anime as Nurse Joy.
But in Pokémon Legends: Z-A, for the first time, working Nurse Joys can be a little different.
Pokémon Legends: Z-A introduces unique Nurse Joys at every Pokémon Center for the first time in a Pokémon game. While the first one you’re likely to encounter looks like a fairly standard Joy, every woman staffing a Center has slightly different features: different skin tones, different eyes, different mouths, and different eyebrows. They’re all still in the same uniform and still sporting the same red loopy pigtails, but they now are giving a lot less pre-1980s Rockette.
This is in keeping with one of the features I’ve really enjoyed about Z-A so far: its character diversity. In past Pokemon games, towns could start to look a little samey, as every character of a single trainer class would have the exact same features copy-pasted. That has started to change in more recent games, but Scarlet and Violet took a bit of a step backward by dressing most of its cast in samey uniforms, again creating the illusion that every character looked the same.
In Z-A, though, not only do NPCs all have different facial features, their outfits can change things up a bit too. You still might see a couple of matching characters here or there, but I’ve spotted athletes sprinting through town in different colored workout gear, and artists with different colored aprons. It’s a small touch, but it adds a lot to the feeling that Lumiose City is actually populated by real people and not a lot of weird clones.
So congrats to every woman who didn’t look exactly like the original Nurse Joy in Pokémon Red and Blue (read: every woman), the job is now open to you, if you want it! Sorry to the gents though, as I still haven’t seen any men in the profession. Hopefully next game we can move into the 21st century on that front.
My review-in-progress of Pokémon Legends: Z-A is now live, if you want to check out my impressions of the first 24 hours, with a full review coming next week.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. You can find her posting on BlueSky @duckvalentine.bsky.social. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
