Does Pokémon Legends: Z-A hate joy? The customisation options suggest yes

Yes, okay, I hear you. Pokémon isn’t about the clothes you wear, it’s about throwing a bunch of wild animals at each other and seeing what happens. However, I am a simple woman - and I simply believe that if I’m gonna go running through the streets after a giant starfish with fishnet-ready legs, I’m gonna be doing it in style. But what actually is up with the lackluster customisation options, considering Kalos’ preceding appearance was full of style and fun? I’m afraid to say it, but it seems like GameFreak bit off more uncooked gender neutral representation than they could chew, and now we all have food poisoning.

Let me backtrack. In late September, a few weeks before release, it was confirmed from multiple outlets that clothing options wouldn’t be gender-locked within the game. This meant that, whether you chose a male or female presenting character, you would have free reign of all the skirts, dresses, suits and ties that your heart desired…or so I thought. I was keen for this - Nintendo’s more recent games have been starting to explore gender representation in new ways throughout their western translations, with the notable example of a ‘style’ choice in Animal Crossing: New Horizons replacing a gender choice coming to mind as a successful reference point. Obviously, in its’ original Japanese, the game was still gendered due to language and culture conventions, but awareness of their large English-speaking fanbase containing a large percentage of queer and gender non-conforming had Nintendo referring to every player with they/them pronouns. Is it a flawless solution? Of course not, but it’s pretty good all things considered.

Now back to Z-A. In short, GameFreak did not consider the gender and pronouns of the player as relevant when it came to removing gender locks on clothing. Yes, you can wear what you want…but a female presenting body is a girl, and a male presenting body is a boy. Although this has always been the standard for pokémon games, the early announcement of fashion versus gender had allowed me to hope, and I think a small part of my soul shrivelled up when I realised there wasn’t even going to be separate pronoun selection from the appearance selection. It’s literally easier to code than a customised name - believe me, I’ve done it before.

Okay, so, you’re in Lumiose. You exit the train station, and someone is essentially making man-on-the-street content and wants you to be their next big star. My dear reader, I regret to inform you that this is where they got me a second time. I was so excited by a character who seemed to exude non-binary energy (I don’t know where I got this impression from, I’m sure now after playing the game for some time that gendered pronouns are used), that I missed something pretty key. It wasn’t until discussing the game with other members of the SIFTER team that I realised - Nom, who had chosen a female presenting character, had the same guide NPC as me - a quirky-looking, masculine-presenting trainer named Urbain - but Chris, who was playing as a male character, had a (very similar looking) female trainer named Taunie. Why, GameFreak????

Alright. Two hits so far, but we get back up again. After completing what felt like hours and hours of tutorials (check out Nom’s far more positive review HERE if you wanted to hear more about the actual game!) I finally got to take myself to the shops, ready to customise. I had heard rumours of the adorable fashions from Pokémon X and Y, although I had never played them myself, and the NPCs around the city seemed so well dressed I had found myself making mental notes of what outfits I was searching for when I finally got free for a cheeky shop. Imagine my surprise, when I couldn’t find a single one of these outfits! That’s right, our third strike and Z-A was out: clothing may not be genderlocked, but that’s because there are no explicitly feminine options. Who the hell asked for so many skorts?! 

In its decision to make all clothing accessible to all bodies, GameFreak chose to remove skirts (minus one frankly really ugly one that’s attached to some even uglier leggings) and dresses, because god forbid anyone find themselves looking girly! Call it a bitter take, but I don’t see the point in taking away the gender locks on outfits if it means you will just erase femininity. However, it is 2025, and Pokémon is arguably the best known franchise in the world, with a significant western fanbase. With queer gaming on the rise, it could be understood that a very large number of players would be open to or actively seeking representation of gender outside of the traditional binary, and it feels a little bit like GameFreak announced that they were going to buy us all ice cream, but gave us a melted bowl of slush. At that point, I don’t want ice cream anymore.

Before anyone starts about all the parkour in the game or about the freaks who would try and upskirt the player…just don’t. To quote Gianni, SIFTER’s Executive Producer and resident Battle Royaler, “They could’ve just done bike shorts like Fortnite does”. If you can leap into the air with a giant hammer in a cheerleading outfit and keep your dignity, you can jump off some scaffolding and fight a couple of Patrats. End of story. 

Is it really that important to have skirts and dresses (and more hair styles, and accessories, and, and, and…) ? It feels a bit like the principle of the thing. Yes, I have some really cute outfits, and in reality I only wear skirts and dresses so often, but that’s not the point. As a person who has always had a shifting relationship with my gender presentation and femininity, it truly does feel important to me to have those options in video games when I play as a fictional representation of myself. What likely began as a decision to keep as many people happy as possible became something far more sinister - a reminder that masculinity is the ‘default’, and if we all want to be treated equally, we have to present ourselves as such. 

So, yeah. I guess I’m disappointed. The game itself has been fun enough, but with the sheer quantity of shops being thrown at me from every corner of the map, it feels a little bit like being picked last in gym class and knowing no one really wants you on their team.

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A copy of POKEMON LEGENDS: Z-A for the Switch was provided to SIFTER for the purpose of this review.