The official box art for Pokémon Legends: Z-A was recently revealed alongside the game’s release date of October 16, 2025. Fans have immediately started poring over the artwork for details on the game, which hasn’t received any new updates since the end of March. While there are no major reveals hidden in the artwork, it does prominently feature a character who hasn’t appeared in any of the trailers yet.

Most fans are confident that this character is Emma, who played a minor role in Pokémon X and Y. Not only does she resemble the character on the box art, but it would alsobe a logical choice for Game Freak to bring back for Legends: Z-A. However, even though Emma could easily fit into Z-A‘s story, many fans may not know who she is.

Who Is Emma from Pokémon?

Many Players Missed Emma in Pokémon X and Y

Fans who played Pokémon X & Y but didn’t encounter Emma don’t need to feel bad. While she’s arguably the best Pokémon character fans don’t remember, she’s easy to miss, as Emma only appears in the post-game story in Lumiose City. After the player returns to Lumiose from Kiloude City and upgrades the Mega Ring to locate various Mega Stones, a call comes in from Looker, a recurring character in the series who works for the International Police.

The player teams up with Looker to investigate cases in Lumiose City. During this arc, Looker takes in Emma and her Espurr, Mimi, who are homeless, and allows them to live in his office. Grateful for his kindness, Emma takes a job testing the Expansion Suit developed by Xerosic, Team Flare’s lead scientist, under the code name Essentia in an effort to earn money and repay Looker.

Xerosic develops a remote control for the suit because Emma has never battled before and prefers playing with Pokémon over using them in fights. As Essentia, Emma steals Pokémon from various trainers around Lumiose. Eventually, Looker and the player intervene, stop Xerosic’s plans, and rescue Emma. Xerosic agrees to turn himself in and leaves with Looker, but not before gifting Emma the Expansion Suit and his Pokémon.

Looker then reveals that he left Emma ownership of the building that housed the Looker Bureau. Emma decides to continue working as a detective, now using the Expansion Suit in her investigations. After this, the player can rematch her on certain days when she’s wearing the suit. On other days, she’ll simply chat about running the bureau.

Why Do Fans Think Emma Is in Legends: Z-A?

A Character Who Looks Like an Adult Emma Appears on the Pokémon Legends: Z-A Box Art

The official box art for Pokémon Legends: Z-A features a character with dark skin and hair, styled with Emma’s distinctive bangs but without her usual braids. She’s shown wearing a tan detective coat over a black bodysuit with orange accents, which is an outfit that closely resembles the Expansion Suit from X & Y‘s post-game story.

This matches Emma’s status at the end of X & Y, where she becomes a detective in Lumiose City and continues using the Expansion Suit and her Essentia codename. The recent inclusion of a replica Expansion Suit helmet in Pokémon Scarlet & Violet‘s DLC may have been subtle foreshadowing for her future appearance, especially considering the conspicuous absence of Xerneas, Yveltal, and Zygarde from those games despite the return of nearly every other Legendary.

On the box art, the character is seen battling the player during the Z-A Royale, suggesting that Emma will play a competitive role rather than an antagonistic one. Most signs point to Emma becoming a key figure in the game’s central mystery, possibly serving as a recurring rival alongside Urbain and Taunie. Fans have already noted suspicious elements surrounding the Z-A Royale, such as the vague nature of the promised “wish” and the lack of a clearly defined entity overseeing the event. Given Emma’s role as a detective charged with protecting Lumiose, it would make sense for her to be investigating the Royale herself.

The last time Emma appeared in a mainline title, she didn’t have any Pokémon of her own, relying instead on Xerosic’s Crobat and Malamar. If she’s now participating in the Z-A Royale, it seems like she may have added a Mega Lucario to her team and developed as a trainer. There’s also a chance Emma may finally use Mimi in battle, though she rarely did so in the past. Given her prominent placement on the cover, which is second only to the protagonists and the Mega Pokémon, it’s likely that Emma will play a significant supporting role in the story.

What Does Emma’s Appearance Mean for Other Pokémon Characters?

Emma Is Connected to Many Pokémon Plotlines

Many fans hoped Emma would be one of the returning Pokémon characters in Legends: Z-A, not only because she’s one of the few characters confirmed to be active in Lumiose City, but also due to her endearing story and popularity. She grows from a girl with no experience in Pokémon battling to a capable trainer and head of a detective agency. Seeing her back in action is a welcome surprise.

Emma’s appearance means that other Pokémon characters she has close ties to will be making a comeback. If Emma’s using an upgraded Expansion Suit, then it likely came from Xerosic. That opens the door for ex-Team Flare members to return as well, especially Malva, and possibly even Lysandre, if he survived the events of X and Y.

Another interesting detail from the box art is the appearance of Jett, the CEO of Quasartico Inc., who is standing beside a strange satellite with her assistant, Vinnie. It’s possible that Quasartico Inc. has enlisted former Team Flare scientists for their current projects, whether they’re shady or legitimate. If so, Xerosic could easily be among them. In Pokémon X & Y, Xerosic and other Team Flare scientists were studying Mega Evolution, which seems to be more prominent in Legends: Z-A, so it would make sense for them to play a role in the story.

Also, while Team Flare doesn’t have a direct connection to Zygarde in the original games, they’re frequently linked to it in the Pokémon anime and manga, often shown studying Zygarde cells and cores or attempting to harness its power. It’s a logical extension of their goals in X & Y, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see that connection brought into the games retroactively.

Emma is also closely associated with Looker and, by extension, the International Police. Looker hasn’t been seen in a mainline Pokémon game since Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon, with his partner Anabel. Emma also has unique dialogue with Anabel and Looker in Pokémon Masters EX, which at least implies some connection between them.

If a mysterious tournament is bringing trainers from all over the world to compete for an unknown “wish,” it makes sense that the International Police would work with Emma to investigate it. Looker would be the key choice to bring back, considering he’s a popular recurring character who appeared in every generation between his introduction in Gen IV and Gen VII.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A Could Continue Stories from Other Games

If Looker and Anabel Are in Legends: Z-A, The Story Might Include Fallers

Potentially bringing in Looker means potentially bringing in Anabel, which in turn means potentially continuing the Faller storyline from Pokémon Sun & Moon, as the implication in that game is that Anabel came from the version of Hoenn seen in the original Game Boy Advance games. Fallers like Anabel are people who have passed through Ultra Wormholes and seem to be able to cross time and space, if not dimensions.

Most Fallers are characters from Sun & Moon, but there’s one more potential candidate: Ingo in Legends: Arceus. He’s implied to have arrived in Hisui in a different way than the player, since there’s no mention of him being involved with Arceus, and it’s unclear how he’ll get back if the player returns with Arceus. That would allow this to tie into the last Legends game more directly. The only other trait of Fallers we know of is that they produce an energy that attracts Ultra Beasts, which is something players can’t confirm or disprove in Legends: Arceus.

There’s another pin on this conspiracy board as well, because the game that introduced the idea of multiple dimensions within the Pokémon universe, specifically one where the original events of Ruby, Sapphire, and Emerald played out, was the Delta Episode of Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire. In that game, players could encounter a character washed up on the beach with no memories: Looker.

Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire also introduced the concept of the Devon Corporation using the power produced by AZ’s Ultimate Weapon as a power source, which could be tied into the villain’s plans if they involve many people using Mega Evolution in the Z-A Royale to generate energy.

Even if none of this winds up being true, the inclusion of Emma herself would be exciting. She’s a great and highly underrated character in a series with a fanbase that doesn’t focus on story that much. However, Emma is also the first domino in a line of connections that could spell a lot of interesting things for the plot of Legends Z-A, given how many characters exist within one or two degrees of separation from her.