With three minutes of runtime, the Pokémon Winds and Waves debut trailer reveals way more than just the new regional starters and returning series monsters. But if you blinked, you might have missed the quick appearance of a franchise stalwart: the Pokémon Center nurse. The pink-haired diva who dutifully heals your Pokémon for free looks a little different than what we’re used to.
This iteration of Nurse Joy — as fans like to call her — is still draped in white, but the look is more summery than usual. She’s got a sun hat, a tan, and what appears to be a ponytail. But since we only see the nurse from an angle, it’s possible that Pokémon Winds and Waves‘ nurse still has her signature hair pigtail hoops.
Notably, this Pokémon center features open-air construction much like we saw in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet. It is unclear if all Pokémon Centers will look like this, but given Winds and Waves‘ apparent open world and its focus on the wilderness, we’ll likely be seeing a lot of this type of pit stop.
The nurse clerk, however, might not be the same everywhere. In Pokémon Legends: Z-A, the series introduced variants of the medical attendant who were unique to their locale. Depending on where you went, the nurse could have different skin tones, eye shapes, eyebrows, and more. You could also battle against Nurse Joy as well. But as a spin-off, Legends has more freedom to experiment than mainline games do. Scarlet and Violet, by comparison, offered the same Nurse Joy throughout its adventure.
At the same time, even Scarlet and Violet shook things up a little. The DLC for the last generation of Pokémon games saw a more Gen-Z iteration of Nurse Joy, who seemed somewhat indifferent about her job. This healer did not wear a uniform, and she actively scrolled her phone while interacting with the player. “This nurse joy in kitakami was playing candy crush on her phone when my Jigglypuff needed revived,” one Pokémon fan joked in late 2025.
Based on the anime, we know that the world of Pokémon does feature male Pokémon Center nurses as well, so there are lots of opportunities for Winds and Waves to switch things up for players. But so long as she keeps my Gecqua alive, Nurse Joy can do whatever she wants as far as I’m concerned.
