Pokemon Legends: Z-A seemingly features a returning X and Y character who has fans going feral after spotting her in the RPG's cover art

If you take a quick glance at the Pokemon subreddit or are in its Twitter fandom, you'll likely have seen lots of posts praising the return of Emma in the Pokemon Legends: Z-A box art. If, like me, you asked yourself, "Who's Emma?" then you've come to the right place.

Emma is a character that many of you will have missed if, like me, you became the Pokemon League champion in X and Y and then restarted the game or moved on to something else. She's a huge part of the postgame and a central character in Looker's questline.

When you first encounter her, she's an illiterate street urchin with some surprisingly powerful Pokemon at her side. I won't spoil her story, but it takes some wild turns, revealing a truly tragic piece of Looker's past and ending in a very sci-fi way.

Clearly, her tale resonated with a lot of fans. They've spotted a character they believe to be her in the Z-A box art, and as she doesn't seem too much older, they believe the time jump isn't that long.

"My girl Emma is on the box art for Pokemon Legends: Z-A, I used to dream of days like this," writes one of Emma's biggest fans. "TIMESKIP EMMA!!! Yep Legends: Z-A is already the best game in the series," writes another emotional Emma supporter.

In the box art, Emma has a Mega Lucario, Pikachu, and Mega Gardevoir next to her, and it looks like she's facing off against the protagonist. The protagonist is throwing a lone Chikorita at Emma, and I don't fancy the little Grass-type 'mon's chances against that beefy team Emma has.

This battle scene suggests that Emma could be a friendly rival or even an antagonist in this new game, which would certainly be an interesting evolution of her X & Y story.

What role do you think Emma will play?

In the meantime, check out our ranking of the best Pokemon games.