Pokemon Legends Z-A needs to be more inclusive and there’s an obvious place to start

Pokemon Legends Z-A is on the horizon and fans are already tangled up in theories about what the game might look like. It could act as a breath of fresh air for the franchise – or it could keep the series running down the same, familiar path.

One area where Pokemon Legends Z-A could really make a difference is character creation and freedom of expression for players.

If you’re part of the Pokemon community, you’ll know fans of the series take their character customization seriously, praising smart aesthetic choices endlessly and slamming any changes to avatars or clothing options ruthlessly.

Pokemon is an inherently personal experience, especially thanks to the newer open-world style that the modern games are pushing.

Instead of playing as the cookie-cutter main character of a predefined story, you get to play as yourself (or a version of yourself, inspired by the characters from the anime and manga), carving out your own path.

This is why so many Pokemon fans get upset over unwanted avatar changes or ecstatic over new customization options being added to their games. It’s not just a change to a premade character – it’s a change to how they’re represented.

Speaking of representation, that’s another reason why Legends Z-A holds so much potential when it comes to refreshing the character creation system.

For many people, Pokemon games are comforting. They’re non-threatening, cozy games that bring on feelings of happiness – albeit with mild frustration against tricky battles or glitches – and can be a safe space to explore one’s identity in the form of character customization.

This may sound odd if you’re someone who’s not considered changing their name or pronouns, but for argument’s sake, consider that you’re about to make a change like this. Wouldn’t a cozy, single-player game be the perfect place to privately test out a new name?

This is something I’ve personally experienced as a non-binary person. I’ve changed my name a couple of times while learning to understand myself better, and I always started trying out names in comfort games like Pokemon to see what it felt like to be called by that name, using different character sprites to see how I felt about it.

There’s a huge LGBTQ+ portion of the Pokemon community, and recent Pokemon games have started to move towards offering a more inclusive character customization process, which has been incredibly exciting. Legends Z-A desperately needs to expand on this.

Pokemon Scarlet & Violet offered a variety of avatars that could all access the same haircuts, make-up, and accessories. The player character models were fairly androgynous, but users could customize them to represent themselves better.

However, the lack of clothing options and model customization was underwhelming. When the game came out, many players felt irritated about having to stick to a school uniform constantly – despite it technically making sense in the story – and reminisced about games with better aesthetic options, like Sword & Shield.

The lack of sliders to change your character’s complexion were also notably absent. Players got eight static options to pick from, meaning they were limited in their options. Sliders or color palette tools could’ve been a more meaningful inclusion here.

Pokemon Legends Z-A will, presumably, not take place in a school setting, meaning players won’t be confined to specific outfit options.

To help as many players feel comfortable and represented as possible, Pokemon Legends Z-A cannot gender-lock any outfits or aesthetic options. Keeping every option open to every player will help to create an inclusive character creation process.

On top of this, adding the option to customize your character’s pronouns would be a powerful move for the Pokemon character creation process. Simply having a “fill in the blanks” section for players to use if desired would be a meaningful inclusion for many players – and it could simply be skipped if others didn’t want to use it.

The important thing is having the option when building your character. Pre-made models and pronoun sets are fantastic for some players, but having the ability to change them to feel more represented is just as important.

While there’s been no confirmation on what the character creation process will look like in Pokemon Legends Z-A – or what the character models will even look like – it’s possible we may see some of these changes being implemented.

The community has made it incredibly clear that they value high-quality aesthetic options, and the arrival of a new Pokemon game provides the perfect opportunity to make the character customization option even richer and more meaningful for a wider chunk of the player base.

If Pokemon Legends Z-A is going to carry the torch for Pokemon being an inclusive, comforting franchise for players, it must consider expanding upon the character customization and personalization process.

The progress made in Gen 9 was exciting – but it’s not enough yet. Legends Z-A is the chance for a fresh start with new, player-centric options, and introducing even more ways for players to express themselves can only be a positive thing.

While you wait for the next Legends game to hit the ground, make sure to have a look at our list of all the confirmed Pokemon so far and what we know about the game location. From what we’ve seen so far, it’s looking like it’s going to be a spectacular experience.